High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks 
Sunday Comics: Dead Island You may already know about 7-Eleven buddying up with Zynga, the maker of Farmville and Mafia Wars, for farm-flavoured ice cream, but are you aware that purchasing one of the convenience store’s hot dogs gets you a bulletproof vest?
FarmVille looks to overrun your corner convenience store mid-year, thanks to a cross promotion that’ll have 7-Elevens in the US hawking exclusive items for the casual game, plus others from the Zynga family.
A Slurpee and a used copy of Prototype? It’s more likely than you think. 7-Eleven is teaming up with Game Trading Technologies to offer a wide selection of “Great Games Below $US20″ at franchise locations throughout the US.
Earlier today I posted a rumour about the price and release date for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It came from, of all places, 7-Eleven. Turns out that the convenience chain is growing increasingly interesting in the gamer demographic.
How interested? Interested enough to start tracking sales and, over the course of the next few months, to start taking pre-orders on a number of video games.
Our Slurpee-sources tell us these 7-Eleven gaming facts:
One out of ever two 7-Eleven customers own a gaming system.
Nearly 3,200 stores had considerable Madden sales the first week of the game’s release.
More than 25 percent of Madden sales at 7-Elevens occurred between midnight and 1 a.m.
What’s that mean to you John Q Customer? Why that starting this month 7-Eleven is going to start selling the seven “highest potential games” introduced for the holiday wind up.
Those games include Lich, Guitar Hero World Tour, Fallout 3, 007: Quantum of Solace and Gears of War 2.
The stores will soon have point of purchase signs set up for video game pre-sales.
Games will all be available at midnight on the day the game is released.
Any slight itching I may have had to try out Nexon’s MapleStory just went completely down the toilet. Today the company announces that prepaid Nexon cards will be available for purchase at 7-Eleven stores around the country, offering teens and ‘tweens’ a more convenient way to spend all of their parent’s money on virtual frippery in any of Nexon’s online games. Pretty nifty, until I read this: An animated version of a 7-Eleven store and an employee will appear in the popular MapleStory MMOG. This type of integration is cutting-edge, according to Nexon. It brings relevant content to consumers and provides 7-Eleven with a new way to use virtual worlds to expand its marketing.
First off, calling a 7-Eleven employee ‘animated’ is being far too generous with the definition of the word. Secondly, this is not cutting-edge. This is cutting-stupid. It’s one thing to run a 7-Eleven ad on the splash page. It is something completely different to create a virtual 7-Eleven store in a fantasy-themed MMO. Gah.
First: Yes, 7-Eleven in Japan sells video game consoles. Onward! This December, Lost Odyssey is getting its December 6th Japanese release, and the convenience store is offering this Lost Odyssey. Reservations will be accepted until December 4th for the &39,880 ($US 346) bundle that includes an Xbox 360, 20GB HDD, wireless controller, Forza 2, Viva Piñata and Lost Odyssey. Hey Japan, this is a good deal — even if Viva Piñata is like $US 10 in the Akihabara bargain bins! Bundle [7-Elevan via Famitsu]
