gambling
News
Aussie Prof Connects A Lot Of Dots Between Games And Gamblin’
5:00AM Owen Good | A study of young people who are also pathological gamers, sooprise, turns up a connection to video games, in a report on Australia’s ABC News. Notably, however, another researcher knocks down the suggestion of a causal link. More »
Culture
Grade School Suicide Leads To Mass Game Website Closings
12:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Thai courts have order the closure of online gaming and gambling websites after a 12-year-old boy jumped to his death from a sixth-floor balcony after being banned from gaming by his father. More »
News
Cocky & Cash-rich? BringIt Will Allow ‘It’ To Be Brung.
5:20AM Stuart Houghton | Internet gaming is serious business, where a simple insult or misplaced “LOL! I PWN J00!” can result in a bitter feud. In the real world – say at a pool table – loudmouth players can be quickly made schtum with a gentlemanly wager. But how can you make those eejits on LIVE put their money where their mouths are? New Internet thing BringIt aims to solve this conundrum. The site acts as a secure third party that can let you set up cash prizes for games. Just set up a challenge – one on one or tournament and agree a prize amount. Monies are held in escrow by BringIt once the game is afoot, so nobody can run off with the pot. Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, & Wii games are supported (no PC – presumably it is too easy to cheat) as long as you have a decent, stable net connection. (full press release after the jump) More »Resident Evil Pachinko Shows More Than Jill Sandwiches
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | In Japan, it’s pretty common for video games to have pachinko machines. Heck! Movies, anime and manga character even get pachinko machines based on them. It’s not just spinning metal balls! New pachinko machines even feature large LCD-type displays to keep players engaged. Pachinko maker Yamasa’s Resident Evil machine puts poor Jill Valentine through the standard series of scares and shootings — if only for suggestive glances! More »
News
Square Enix Crushes Final Fantasy XIII Pachinko Rumours
7:00PM Brian Ashcraft | In Japan, lots of video games get turned into pachinko or pachislot machines. No biggie! SNK, Sega and Konami have all spun off selected titles into pachinko parlours across the country. So when a rumour popped up that Square Enix was doing the same for Final Fantasy XIII, it did seem possible that, yes, Japan would be getting a FFXIII pachinko machine. No way! says Square Enix. In an official statement, the company says: That is completely false information. Regarding FF, our company works very hard every day so that everyone can enjoy it as a game. There is currently no development being made [to bring FF to pachinko/pachi-slot machines]. Good, because Square Enix needs to focus on FFXIII and not other stuff. 『FFXIII』がパチンコ、パチスロに？” [Famitsu] More »
New Resident Evil May Take More Than It Gives
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Yes, it’s another videogame franchise licensed out to adorn a pachislot machine. You’ve seen them before. Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter, Fatal Fury, Beatmania, Devil May Cry… they’re all the rage in Japan. This latest venture, however, might be the biggest of the lot. If only because it’s Resident Evil, which gives them licence to release not only a second, third and fourth machine, but they can then come back later and remake half of them, while re-releasing the other half into joints across the street. Resident Evil infects pachislot parlors [Siliconera] More »
Online Gaming Grows Up – Gambling and Pyramid Schemes!
8:30AM Kotaku US Edition | Giant Interactive’s Zhengtu has been getting some attention lately, mostly for its unholy mix of gambling, regular MMORPG high jinxs, and RMT – now they’re getting ready to launch a new game, Giant Online. The hook? 500 RMB in virtual currency (almost $70) incentive to sign up and play. Steve at PlayNoEvil says: The company portrays itself as a traditional online game firm, however, it is fairly clear that they are stretching the boundaries of online gaming and gambling …. And, from the look of things, it is very clear that they are planning to continue pushing the limits of gambling. After all, who else is going to give you 500 Yuan (almost $US 70) in incentives to play? I certainly recognise this marketing pattern from the spam that floods my email box from various Internet casinos …. The other “fun” trend is marketing pyramid schemes built around gaming. The one I’ve been seeing a bit of lately is uVme. Ah, growing pains. I doubt we’ll be seeing the gambling craze spreading, but one never knows. Giant Online – You know its online gambling when…. [PlayNoEvil] More »
Place Your Bets On Holiday Bestsellers…Literally
4:00AM Mark Wilson | Irish gambling site Paddy Power is taking bets on which video game will come out on top the week before Christmas (ending November 22nd). While most Kotaku readers surely know gaming so well that it’s almost cheating, betting is off limits to US residents. Still, we had a good time looking through the odds. More »
Cryptologic Buys Stake In Chinese Company 568
6:30AM Maggie Greene | 568 Inc. is a China-based company that has developed card and casual games for the Chinese market, as well as a couple of MMORPGs that I’ve not seen any press about, and Cryptologic (a company specialising in casino software) has just bought a stake valued at $US1.2 million in the company. A lot of Western companies have been trying to make the leap to the potentially really, really, really lucrative Chinese market; the difference with Cryptologic is that they’re going after the ’skill based games’ sector instead of your average MMO addict. PlayNoEvil notes that this just further blurs the market between online gaming for fun and gaming for profit, and could perhaps open the industry up to more stringent regulation (as if they need it in China). The agreement enables 568 Inc. and CryptoLogic to establish a new China-based venture that will develop and distribute casual, skill-based games for the local and overseas Chinese-language markets. Games will include single- and multi-player mahjong, poker, online pool, puzzle challenges and approved card games including Chinese poker variants. Having listened to majiang addicts shuffle their tiles for hours on end (alone, at 4 am, so they can learn the feel of the tiles by nothing more than touch), I’m not sure they need any more ways to gamble away lots of money – though I suppose it will save their neighbours from the sound of swirling tiles, which are louder than you’d probably think. CryptoLogic Makes Strategic Investment to Further Asian Strategy [Yahoo Finance via PlayNoEvil] More »
