Video Game News and Miscellany

Steiny, have you updated PvZ lately? The last update came with like 200,000 coins to let the casual among us unlock some of the new play.
 
I just read an article how Zynga's acquisition of OMGPOP the makers of Draw Something cost Zynga 450 grand a day from acquisition date to the closure of the studio. That's just acquisition costs, not including salaries, etc.

They make some pretty boneheaded decisions.
 
This is ether the second or third round of layoffs at Zynga this year. I don't see them lasting more than a year or two at this rate.
 
This is ether the second or third round of layoffs at Zynga this year. I don't see them lasting more than a year or two at this rate.

Eh, I wouldn't put it that way yet. They need to shrink. They're a huge company considering their portfolio. More likely they will shrink until their company size makes more sense, and by then they'll have started offering online gambling services (in the US, they already have it in the UK).
 
Eh, I wouldn't put it that way yet. They need to shrink. They're a huge company considering their portfolio. More likely they will shrink until their company size makes more sense, and by then they'll have started offering online gambling services (in the US, they already have it in the UK).
I seriously doubt Facebook would allow them to do online gambling. Every state has a different law on whether or not it's acceptable and you'd be blocking out vast swaths of the US.
 
I seriously doubt Facebook would allow them to do online gambling. Every state has a different law on whether or not it's acceptable and you'd be blocking out vast swaths of the US.

They don't need Facebook to do it. They're licensed for it in Nevada already, will probably licensed in NJ by the end of the year, it's mostly about getting it up and running and legally-approved. The nice thing about gambling is that it tends to focus on very specific areas in the US. Between Nevada and Atlantic City, that's a huge chunk of people they can offer their services to.

It's less about whether the market is there, and more about whether they can use their social apps to bring it to the casino operators who are also jumping on the online bandwagon with *a lot* more experience with actual gambling.
 
They don't need Facebook to do it. They're licensed for it in Nevada already, will probably licensed in NJ by the end of the year, it's mostly about getting it up and running and legally-approved. The nice thing about gambling is that it tends to focus on very specific areas in the US. Between Nevada and Atlantic City, that's a huge chunk of people they can offer their services to.

It's less about whether the market is there, and more about whether they can use their social apps to bring it to the casino operators who are also jumping on the online bandwagon with *a lot* more experience with actual gambling.
Licensed in Nevada only means that they can do it in Nevada, not run it from Nevada. It's illegal to run an online gambling site in the US and it's illegal to gamble online in the US. They have already started seizing assets related to this kind of thing. It's not going to happen.
 
Only if by laughingstock you mean utterly criminal. They've been sued more than once and lost.
Well, yes, but I meant a lot of gamers don't take them seriously now. That can't be good for the promotion of their products, can it. How can a company survive when customers automatically associate them with an inferior product?
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Well, yes, but I meant a lot of gamers don't take them seriously now. That can't be good for the promotion of their products, can it. How can a company survive when customers automatically associate them with an inferior product?
"Gamers" aren't their target market. The people they're aiming at have no idea who makes the games they're playing, they just know it's what their friends are playing, or it's what's advertised in their Facebook feed.
 
"Gamers" aren't their target market. The people they're aiming at have no idea who makes the games they're playing, they just know it's what their friends are playing, or it's what's advertised in their Facebook feed.
I've always said the world would be a better place if more people were gamers, and I'm proven right once again.
 
Licensed in Nevada only means that they can do it in Nevada, not run it from Nevada.
Yes, exactly. Nevada, where the entire damn country goes to gamble. Saying that they can only run an online gambling site in Nevada to people currently in Nevada is like saying you can only sell subway fares to people currently in NYC. It's not much of a limitation.

It's illegal to run an online gambling site in the US and it's illegal to gamble online in the US. They have already started seizing assets related to this kind of thing. It's not going to happen.
That article is severely out of date. The DoJ re-adjusted their view of the Wire Act in 2011 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanv...t-of-justice-flip-flops-on-internet-gambling/), and since then 3 states have explicitly legalized a regulated form of gambling, mostly poker, and a bunch of others are discussing it.

Station Casino's UltimatePoker site is already online and offering real-money poker if you're in Vegas (and social casino gaming everywhere else. The World Series of Poker is planning to release their own online real-money poker site to coincide with the tournament. It's already happened.

Full Tilt Poker tried to buy a casino in Alantic City so they would have the right to run online gambling in NJ, but the NJ Gaming Board was all, "yeeeeah, no, we're not really comfortable with you guys owning a casino here."
 
I'll never understand that kind of reaction, but Gamespot is famous for it. When Jeff Gerstman gave a Zelda game an 8.something or other people were calling for his job.

Klepek of Giant Bomb mentions that the game is so bleak and depressing that it definitely won't resonate with everyone.

Naughty Dog are talented developers. So long as they stick on Sony consoles, I probably will too. Their games have been my favorite console games of the last generation.
 
I'm really looking forward to seeing that Naughty Dog is really capable of given a crack at a game with a more serious tone instead of the 'summer blockbuster' type of games they've been making. Which were good, don't get me wrong, but I want to see them stretch their creative muscles.

Also, somewhere along the line, games started getting reviewed on an arbitrary scale of 8-10. It won't be too long before reviews inflate even higher. "Given that the controls are crap, the artwork is terrible, and the game crashes every 15 seconds, we can only give this game a 9.9 out of 10."
 
And that's really the thing, isn't it? So many places these days hand out 9s and 10s like candy that it becomes meaningless. Years ago, I did some comic book reviews for a website (411mania.com). I really hated one of my co-reviewers, Jesse Baker, who I guess has a reputation these days for being an idiot on some wrestling or comic sites and forums.

Anyway, we did a review together one time. It was a Reviewer vs. Reviewer type of thing. He pointed out a number of negative things about the book. Nothing incredibly major, but still definite cons...and then tried to still give it a 10 in the end. Since it was a Vs, and in chat, I was able to call him out on it. He lowered it to an 8.
 
The Sess and the Rev3 crew are basically the only people I trust for reviews anymore, excepting maybe Giant Bomb and Rock Paper Shotgun.
 
Keifer Sutherland is playing Snake in the next Metal Gear Solid. I'm still sure this is all just an elaborate Kojima hoax.

But, Ubisoft replaced Michael Ironside with some new guy, who's to say Konami wouldn't.
 
Keifer Sutherland is playing Snake in the next Metal Gear Solid. I'm still sure this is all just an elaborate Kojima hoax.

But, Ubisoft replaced Michael Ironside with some new guy, who's to say Konami wouldn't.
It is entirely possible, if you believe the New Coke Theory. But it's equally likely they thought getting a famous actor to do Snake's voice would give them more mainstream appeal, despite the fact that Metal Gear games already sell shitloads of copies. I doubt this is Hayter asking for too much money, because they didn't even approach him this time.
 
I was kidding...mostly.

Just read that Interplay bought the Freespace IP from THQ/Volition for 7500 dollars. I COULD HAVE BOUGHT THE FUCKING THING.
 
Does anyone care that Game Gear games are coming to the 3DS eshop?

Because I fucking don't. Bring us the GBA games, Nintendo. I already have the Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube; I don't need this crap. (Yes, I know people are excited for Shining Force II, but still.)
 
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