The first Technical Guidelines 4.0 gaming machines are going into the market from maker Bally Wulff Entertainment. The German market does not have to change from its current 3.3 guidelines until the end of 2010.

Bally Wulff has put over 2,000 of its new Game Station multiplayer video AWPs into the market and in a bold move is backing the games and the new technology with a four-month free trial period at the end of which operators may return the machines or buy them.

They also come with up to 14 games, including at least one of the current crop of games designed for Aristocrat casino machines and added to the Bally Wulff range under an exclusive deal with Aristocrat.

“It illustrates a firm belief in what we are doing,” said joint Managing Director Tim Wittenbecher. “It also represents a major investment.”

Bally Wulff has become much more aggressive since the Berlin company was acquired by a mystery Swiss investor last year. That investor’s representative on the Bally Wulff board is Ulli Schmidt, the noted German arcade operator who runs SFW Group with 170 of the country’s top locations.

Schmidt’s advice will certainly be of help to Bally Wulff, as his locations have the highest income in Germany at €500 average per day compared with the national average of €160.