Arkadium and PCHGames.com have launched a new online Bingo game that puts players more in the driver’s seat and changes the pace of this “church basement classic.” Bingo Charms features all the fun of Bingo with the help of Charms, that can bring additional points, currency, and luck to your game. This adds a little bit of strategy to an otherwise destiny-dependent game, making it more intriguing and appealing. To top it off, each day eligible players can win instantly up to $500 or in-game currency thanks to Publishers Clearing House.

“We are moving aggressively in response to our customer feedback to provide more winning opportunities online and through social media,” said Josh Glantz, vice president and general manager of PCH Online. “Bingo Charms is a fun way for us to engage Facebook fans and introduce them to our sweepstakes and PCHGames.com.”

Bingo Charms works much like any other Facebook game in that it helps to have friends who also play the game, enabling additional card slots, free numbers, and faster level climbing. You can post your achievements on your wall, but I don’t feel the same limitations (so far) as I do in other games where so many of my friends aren’t playing (yet) and I am not paying for content. That’s something that’s important to me. I want to share games with people, not feel like I have to force games onto them. I am more drawn to games like Bingo Charms for that reason.

“Playing Bingo has always been a very a social experience and we’re excited about this game’s potential on Facebook. The innovations we’ve added will really set it apart from the competition,” said Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO of Arkadium. “The best part about Bingo Charms is the player’s ability to improve their luck during a game.”

Publishers Clearing House Online has integrated messaging into the game that links back to PCHGames.com and allows players to also enter to win cash and other prizes daily.

Come play with me!

It wasn’t too long ago that I had a friend who taught English at the university level ask me, “What are you doing to the kids? They can’t write.”  Of course, I smiled, crooked my head to one side and said. “To be honest with you, I don’t know.” I have been attempting in these last two years, to help develop my student’s writing abilities and trust me, it is not an easy task.  ”ur” is You’re or Your, “@” is at, and BTW is often the way sentences are started. Capitalization is no longer used, and when it does get used, it’s sparingly.  Sentence fragments are all too common and there is rarely any use of punctuation, except to create emoticons. I spend the majority of my time fixing these mistakes, giving assignments back to students only to see no improvement in their work. Sure, this can be frustrating when correcting a paper and seeing a mess of spelling and grammar mistakes.

When I saw this article within the local newspaper, my interest was piqued. A study was performed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where they attribute social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as factors in the “downfall” of the English Language. Social Networking sites are where most people of this generation are doing the majority of their writing. They aren’t writing emails, they are texting and tweeting within that 140 character limit. Having to spell out each word means not fitting as much information into a single text or tweet, and can mean spending more money (if they’re paying for their own texts).

To summarize the study: students current have a 30% failure rate of on the general writing skills exam that students have to complete before entering post-secondary schools such as Simon Fraser and Waterloo.  This has jumped from up 5% in the last few years.  The article is also filled with sources from the post-secondary level of how terrible student’s grammar has become.  In other linked articles, there are a number of people that believe that the fault lies with the grade school teacher for not teaching “proper” grammar and spelling.

To those of you that think that this is all the grade school teacher’s fault; here’s what’s required in a typical English class: four novels, two plays, a short story unit, a poetry unit, an essay/research paper unit, each required to be at least a month long with only ten periods in a fourteen day cycle. (Do the math.) What about a writing course? Well, dear readers they exist, but are not mandatory in order to graduate.  If you had a choice between gym and a writing course, what do you think many students are going to choose?

In my personal opinion, I would change the word “downfall” to “evolution”. That’s right, evolution. The English language has and will forever be changing; the words we use, how we speak, and then how we write, changes. Sure, there is a time and place for everything. Sure, the “golden age” of English language has gone, but the “golden age”  is also relative.  When Old English (Anglo-Saxon) transitioned to Middle English, do you think that people where having a fit? Saying “The kids today, don’t know how to speak?”. The same thing happened when Middle English transitioned to Modern English.  Now, it is just happening again, maybe it will be called “Future” English, or “Tech English” or whatever. We just have to try our best to keep formal writing, looking formal, and work to accept change.

Previous: Day 1 “Four Days Challenge” Investigation
Previous: Day 2 & 3 “Four Days Challenge” Investigation
Previous: Day 4 “Four Days Challenge” Investigation

6:40 PM 02.05.10 Day 5-8

The past few days haven’t been as foggy as last week, when I was only beginning to comprehend what the hell is going on. Why is this happening to me? I still continue to ask this question …without answers. “@PerfectFolds” is doing a splendid job of setting up a witch hunt, wouldn’t you say? I feel like I’ve wasted so much time thinking harder than I should; this is probably my biggest downfall. Thinking too much is a disease, honestly. All these wasted days trying to understand the significance of all those Twitter accounts. Ungh, it just makes my head spin. I just… don’t understand. The FBI came to my door the other day. Apparently word gets around when you’re a suspected killer, twittering away. Or is it “tweeting?” Whatever, I’m tired. They asked me for my cooperation and let me listen to a recorded 911 call from a terrified woman:

According to her, she witnessed a strange man lingering outside. She shut off her lights and watched him, utterly frightened, through her window. Luckily, they kept her on the phone long enough to get some information out of her. Good thing the police arrived in-time, because she quickly caught his eye.

Our town is turning into some-kind of Hitchcock movie.

I’m just glad she’s ok… for now. Shortly thereafter, the FBI must’ve got ahold of a few witnesses aside from the woman on the phone. One of them was a peculiar man, “@SleeperInTheSun,” who claimed he may have witnessed a murder. I don’t… I don’t even want to talk about this. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I want to get away from here but… “@SleeperInTheSun” helped us more than anyone else. The FBI lead me to http://www.precinct52.com where I had to wait 24-hours for evidence pick-up. Yesterday, they had my full cooperation when they handed me a slightly crinkled letter addressed to yours truly.

I used everything that “@SleeperInTheSun” mentioned. I knew there were clues in his words, big clues. They needed four pieces of evidence and I never thought I’d be able to pick-apart this nightmare, but the FBI informed me that I had been the biggest help of all. I haven’t felt this useful in a long, long time. I guess we don’t necessarily need to be “important” to help people. Who cares about reputation, right? Anyway, I feel good. I fgured I’d do good to share with everyone the evidence I hand-picked and why. Information is power. Knowledge is power. I know it’s sounds so… corny, but I’m starting to understand this now. I just never thought I’d have to be placed in such excruciating circumstances to figure this out. We learn the hard way, don’t we? Thanks to the evidence, http://www.precinct52.com was able to pick-out two suspects with a link to their Facebookpages: Roland Narwood and DeShaun Snap Knapp. Piece of cake, right?

1117/B “@SleeperInTheSun” mentioned how a woman across the street from him smokes cigarettes, but only takes a few puffs and throws ‘em out. Naturally, I went with the short one without lipstick. Mr. Narwood mentioned he’s fond of smoking, too.

1117/E “Think like a killer…”

1117/C A picture of a coffee shop was displayed on the evidence board via http://www.precinct52.com. “@SleeperInTheSun” mentioned that he doesn’t drink coffee, but does have a substance abuse addiction to alcohol. He also mentioned how this particular cup of coffee looked expensive, most likely from an “up-town” place. I matched the logos from the coffee to the company logo on the outside of the coffee shop.

1117/H Suspect DeShaun Snap Knapp mentioned how he loves “imports,” so I went with the tires from an imported model. “@SleeperInTheSun” was also adamant about the suspect driving away in the passenger’s seat. Many European cars are RHD (right-hand drive), where the driver’s seat is on the right side. I’m guessing it was an “import.”

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(For more information, sign-up at http://www.heavyrainps3.com. You’ll need an e-mail to begin your search. Goodluck!)

“* Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience is a live event which plays

out in real time across three weeks. Between Tuesday and Friday every week there will be daily tasks for you to complete. Each task will lead you onto the next part of the journey. At key stages you will be prompted, whilst on other occasions you will need to deduce the right thing to do. You will receive an instructional email at the beginning of each of the three weekly events, and you can always turn to the Facebook Fan Page Community for help and discussion http://www.facebook.com/heavyrainofficialfanpage.”

Remember – make your choices, and live with the consequences. Because your smallest decisions can change everything…”

10:28 PM 01.28.10 Day 3

Hello, you. Yeah, yeah… I know this is …Well, let’s properly label this “Day 3,” but yesterday only left me in a pile of my own drool. I remember lifting my head upright at the sound of some five different Twitter applications. “@PerfectFolds” seemed as restless as I’ve been feeling because he’d been pouring his innermost thoughts all day. I couldn’t sleep last night, either. I suppose this means “@PerfectFolds” and I are becoming close companions on our descent into madness…I mean, sleep deprivation. The guy can’t even spell properly anymore, as you’ve probably noticed.

“someombody ened sto do something!,” he says. I’m trying. I’m trying really hard to do something but I’m only lead further into anxiety and confusion. I’ve never envied detectives. I didn’t sign-up for this. Who am I kidding? We’ve all willingly signed ourselves up for misery at some point in our lives…haven’t we? All I know is…I’m scared.

There is something so indescribably disturbing about this …person. His tweets have been almost manic-depressive. He even posted newspaper cutouts tonight and I can’t help but fear these clippings tell stories of his own childhood tragedies. In my mind, I’ve never really questioned to blame my parents for things I wish I hadn’t done. I guess…I mean, I know they’ve, thankfully, played an important role in stupidity versus common sense but I’ve always felt that I was in-control. This person isn’t. This person probably doesn’t even feel compelled to take control. I feel like he’ll do…has done…or worse…is doing something ….something bad. I say these things more out of fear than being sure of myself. I don’t know what drives murderers, rapists, and abusers to act on violent impulse or where this impulse comes from. Did I mention I dropped Psychology as my major? All I know is I found “@Dakker75” today. I suppose my question would have to be why a Triptocane-addicted FBI profiler would be so hell-bent on aggravating this “@PerfectFolds” person on a well-known social networking site.

I sat at my desk for hours trying to decipher how any of these articles could possibly correlate with one another. I still feel like I’m missing something:

“For Being Different.”
I noticed Mr. Jayden, “@Dakker75″ responded to this article saying: “see the last paragraph ? Does it remind you of your childhood ?”

“For Money.”
I don’t understand… is that… a hand? Pointing to something?

“Ahh For Love.”
“The Country’s Worst Dad,” it says; why was it ripped?

Last but not least, “For Fun” was definitely the most odd clipping of the bunch. How could I miss that large “PicXaminer” advertisement on the side? I immediately recalled the e-mail I recieved prior from an unknown party:

“Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience… You’re about to embark on a unique series of three live four-day challenges that will draw you inexorably into the universe of Heavy Rain – and the first challenge has begun…

The rain is already falling – look there for answers…
http://www.heavyrainps3.com/rainisfalling

Follow – and you’ll find yourself witnessing a disintegrating mind.  Listen and observe, even if your skin is crawling. Look for clues. Peel back the layers. Just because you don’t see it straight away, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Keep your eyes open. With careful X-amination, new secrets could be revealed.

You’ll have seen a sick mind at work. Then, as you see just how far their influence may have spread, it’ll be time to turn the search inwards. Ask yourself the question, what would you do for love?”

I sent in the “Aah For Love” picture to http://www.picxaminer.com/. I used their one-time free trial deal. I don’t know what I’m expecting them to find, I just wish it didn’t take 24-hours for my mind’s sake. I don’t even know if I picked-out the right clipping. Love, or lackthereof, is all he/she ever goes on about…

I’m about to sign-off of “Day 3″ for the night and once again, I’ll probably be waiting into the early AM. “@PerfectFolds” sounds like he’s about to break and I’ll probably be wide awake to witness it. I’ll be under my sheets, rustling nervously. As confused as I remain, I feel like I’m on some kind-of path. I see a very lonely, self-pitied man at work, yes,  but… “sick?” I’m not so sure. I’m not so sure I want to be proven wrong, either. I see something coming. Until next time, brain.

————————————————————————————————————

(For more information, sign-up at http://www.heavyrainps3.com. You’ll need an e-mail to begin your search. Goodluck!)

“* Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience is a live event which plays out in real time across three weeks. Between Tuesday and Friday every week there will be daily tasks for you to complete. Each task will lead you onto the next part of the journey. At key stages you will be prompted, whilst on other occasions you will need to deduce the right thing to do. You will receive an instructional email at the beginning of each of the three weekly events, and you can always turn to the Facebook Fan Page Community for help and discussion http://www.facebook.com/heavyrainofficialfanpage.”

Remember – make your choices, and live with the consequences. Because your smallest decisions can change everything…”

This is honestly pretty amazing, and a good thing for Zynga and other companies looking to social media to build game applications. At the same time I’m left wondering more about the details as not much is mentioned in the New York Times article about the deal. It’s interesting to see how a small app on a social networking site can blow up and become such a huge entity that they can get big investors.

So what’s next for Zynga? Their competitors, Playfish, were recently bought by EA for $300 million, so the future could be bright. I think my magic 8 ball would say “Ask again later.”

AWESOME.

Today at 12pm PST, there is a live broadcast from Double Fine Productions where they will be answering your questions from Facebook and Twitter. They’ll also be giving away “Brutal” prizes and going over spoilers.

Watch the entire event here and hope that Ormagoden is happy so we all don’t get Sine Flu.

Brutal Legend

Want another chance to win an Eddie Riggs statue? Here is another chance to win one of five limited edition Eddie Riggs status.

To enter, become a fan of the official Brutal Legend Facebook page at www.facebook.com/brutallegend. Once there, post your Brutal Legend fan art onto the official Brutal Legend Facebook wall with “Fan Art Contest” in the title.

Only five people can win and sorry all our International angels, this contest is only open to the US.

Get creative and good luck!

Omerta

Omerta is celebrating the re-launch of it’s online mafia game, Omerta by giving away a special in-game bonus via Twitter.

“We are proud to have re-launched Omerta with such a bang. The game forums have been a hive of activity. New family rivalries have been played out with over 5,000 deaths, largely as a results of the new weapons like grenades and C4 explosives adding extra impact to an attack. The introduction of new bodyguards has changed the gameplay totally. Wars are fought totally different, as no one can pre-empt the amount of bullets it will take to perform a kill” contributed Otto Adang, Lead Designer on the new version of Omerta.

To celebrate the re-launch Omerta will be giving away lots of riches through Twitter. The riches range from a bonus of $500,000, 10,000 bullets, and a Mercedez Benz W25 Avus Streamliner.

“We used Twitter successfully during the build up to, and following the re-launch of the new version to communicate important updates and bug fixes to our player community. We now have a healthy community of supporters spreading the word about Omerta. So it was only natural to reward them with a contest fit for a Don “said Craig Albeck, Communications Director at Omerta Game Ltd.

The contest will start Monday, August 31 and continue for five days. Entrants will need to be registered on Twitter and follow Omerta3.

Ever which you could create a coversation on a web site which you couldn’t?  Well now you can with Blerp!

“The idea behind Blerp is to take every comment board and forum online and unify them into a single platform,” says Hoffman, “where users are in control and have the tools to post not only text, but anything that has been widgetized, including games, animations and applications.”

What this add on to your web browser does is create a conversation about the website in general.  Which is the aim by the company. They want users to be engaged with the sites they are visiting.

What is interesting is the fact that Blerp is not limited to just comment post. You will have the ability to intergrate forms of media into the website as well. What they have done is used advanced wigets which can have the ability to ass, maps, movie reviews, live polls, trivia and other interactive objects. This is not the limitation for a user can add videos and photographs as well.

In order for a person to be into that conversation they have to download the add on, avaiable in beta stage for both Internet Explore and Firefox. They have to make an account, which can be linked with your facebook, twitter or any other social network site, and then your in.
What I did find wonderful about this account making was that I was able to begin using the system before I recieved the confermation email. Also, the sigh up for this new feature literally took one min. Which is wonderful for those of use on the run.

For those of you wishing to try it out, I have begun a conversation on the GamingAngels.com web site’ s front page.  I will state that sometimes I have error messages, but it is worth checking out, even for interest.  What do you think of this technology? Do you think that it will create freedom for users? Are users ready for this freedom?

More and more companies are starting to use Twitter to release information. Game companies use it to announce everything from new websites to new game releases. Journalists then pounce and use the 140 character tweet as a source in an article. We’ve been guilty of it too. But does that make it right? Should we be putting so much weight to something on twitter?

Recently David Jaffe said something about an upcoming announcement in a recent tweet (only part of it).. “..but please buy our new game, to be announced soon! ”

That day gaming blogs ran with that and posted that Jaffe was going to be announcing a new game. We didn’t run it because there was no other information. No date, no title, no to be announced at blank con.

*warning explicit text- it’s Jaffe what do you expect?*

Even Jaffe thought it was insane that his tweet became news.
” Yeah I expected them to do it. Fucking fuckers. By the way, what a stupid news story. An announce of an announce?!?”

Earlier today, EA posted a link to a website which we did post about. Ten minutes after posting, I received a press release about the title of the game and what company is behind it. Sure would have been nice to have that information to begin with.

What I wonder from you is what do you think about Game company tweets? Do you enjoy the code giveaways? Do you think Twitter teases should not be news? How do you wish Game companies would use Twitter more effectively?