Live casino platforms: Flash versus Java

So what’s the best platform to run a live casino on…Flash or Java?

Before I get into it I really should preface the discussion with the admission that I’m no techie so I’ll be coming at it from more a user/player perspective.  However for the other technophobes out there I should at least have a crack at explaining what Flash and Java are before looking at their application in the live gaming space.

Flash, Java, what are they?

Flash is a is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages (thanks wiki).  It supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera (again, thanks wiki).  You know all those fancy (dare I say flashy) animations with super smooth transitions and high resolution that you see on web pages (unless you’re browsing on your iPhone)?  Well these are built using Flash. As it happens, so are most live casino interfaces.

Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems back in the mid 1990’s.  It’s portability and robustness have seen it become one of the most popular programming languages used to develop both application software and web applications.  It’s also the foundation of Vuetec’s ‘real casino’ games.

What’s best for live gaming?

If you were to take the casino software developer’s choice as a decisive indicator, you’d have to say Flash wins hands down (dozen+ platforms to one).  And to be honest, my initial assessments from a player’s perspective were also wholeheartedly pro-Flash.  It looks so much better.  Graphics are sharper, transitions are smoother, it just seems to give the developers a much bigger bag of tricks to draw from.  By comparison Vuetec’s Java games (right) can look a little on the underwhelming side.

But Java is not not without its advantages.  A couple of the major ones were emphasized in a recent presentation by Vuetec’s Grant Frazer.  He defended their decision to use Java and suggested there were no plans to move to a Flash based platform, primarily because it allows for better quality video over a broader viewing spectrum.  So regardless of your connection speed, or connection type (within reason), you should a pretty decent view of the deal.

And I have to say, having spent many hours playing all of these games at different casinos over the last 18 months these claims are consistent with my observations.   At high connection speeds, the embedded videos in the Flash games (and indeed the games generally) are awesome.  At slow connections you do get annoying freeze frames and deal lag or latency.  At these same slower speeds the video in Vutec’s Java platform seems to hold up considerably better.

So maybe the conclusion to be drawn is this…if your connection is sub-optimal you might want to give Dublinbet or Lucky Live Casino .  If you have a cracking connection, you have a much longer list of casinos to choose from.