Game of the Month: April 2010
After the triple-A gaming onslaught witnessed during the first few months of 2010, things have, unsurprisingly, cooled down somewhat. Indeed, while not measuring up to the intricate, QTE shenanigans afforded by February’s Heavy Rain or the gut-ripping, muscle-busting antics of Kratos’ God of War in March, April has still provided its fair share of gaming goodies, signaling a state of perpetual emptiness for our poor wallets for yet another month.
Among the cream of the crop this month includes fantastic footie outing FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa, the adrenaline-fuelled action romp Just Cause 2, Capcom’s gripping Super Street Fighter IV and the nostalgic wonderland that is 3D Dot Game Heroes. All worthy of your hard earned cash, but as always, there can only be one game that successfully bags our Game of the Month accolade – and in this case, SSFIV wins that title by a comfortable margin.
Highest Level of Cash in the Casinos & Gaming Industry Detected in Shares of Las Vegas Sands (LVS, MGM, WYNN, PENN, SGMS)
Below are the top five cash rich companies in the Casinos & Gaming industry as ranked by Cash Equivalents (CE). Analysts use CE as a measure to compare the cash cushion of companies in the same industry.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) ranks first with CE of $4.96B; MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM) ranks second with CE of $2.06B; and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) ranks third with CE of $1.99B.
Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN) follows with a CE of $713.12M and Scientific Games (NASDAQ:SGMS) rounds out the top five with a CE of $260.13M.
SmarTrend is bullish on shares of LVS and our subscribers were alerted to Buy on November 11, 2009 at $17.51. The stock has risen 42% since the alert was issued.
Scheyer puts on gaming event for players, fans
By John McCann, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.
May 2–DURHAM — On the same floor where they didn’t lose a game all season, Duke University basketball players on Saturday put their home-court winning streak on the line.
The game was soccer — FIFA 2010. And they played some Halo 3, too. Video games.
Graduating Blue Devil point guard Jon Scheyer called that play. The Saturday fundraiser inside Cameron Indoor Stadium was an offshoot of The Jon Scheyer Foundation. Proceeds from “May Madness: Gaming to Give” were to benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Emily Krzyzewski Center.
So there was Brian “Zoubs” Zoubek with his beard.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Durham’s Janie Latorre said.
Young guard Andre Dawkins flashed his smile for fans with cameras.
And the versatile backcourt star Nolan Smith, sitting in a chair, somehow managed to rub a Sharpie marker over basketballs and T-shirts while gnawing on the contents inside a Bojangles’ chicken box and playing Halo with a guy.
“He don’t play video games,” said Tyree Graham, who used to play basketball for Southern High School.
Graham, who was on the basketball team at Texas Tech University, said this season he will play for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He and Smith are really close friends, Graham said.
Smith finally got a little break from signing autographs and focused on his Halo game against Scott Spencer, a Duke student.
“About to get destroyed,” Graham said about his basketball brother.
Right about then, Smith grimaced.
“What I tell you?” Graham said.
Jennifer Aguilar said she didn’t drive from Sampson County for the video games. She wanted to see the NCAA national champs, as did another young lady who was walking toward the historic arena that features Coach K’s name on the floor and asked the person accompanying her, “Are you going to have the courage to go up to Jon Scheyer?”
Scheyer was great with the fans. He gets it. Instead of waiting until signing a professional contract to play basketball, Scheyer said he understood the influence he already has to effect change, to do good things, like groom kids into great leaders, which is what his foundation is all about.
But aren’t leaders born that way?
“Some are,” Scheyer said.
Yet the floor general who led Duke to the mountaintop pointed out he’s benefited from some fine tutors. The basketball coach for whom he dribbled, passed and shot these last four years is pretty decent one.
“He’s the ultimate leader,” Scheyer said about Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski.
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To see more of The Herald-Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-sun.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
First gaming tournament and expo attracts 500
Two elite fighters battled with flip kicks and fists in front of an exploding volcano. “Super Street Fighter IV” was just one way gamers were testing their talent Saturday at a gaming tournament at the La Crosse Center.
For experienced players, gaming is a lot like chess, some longtime gamers said. You have to “get into your opponent’s head,” know the moves, and pick the perfect one to outwit them, said Zac Paletta, of Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Paletta travels all over the country, including New York and Chicago, to “Madden NFL 10” gaming tournaments. He was excited to see a tournament so close to home in La Crosse. It was the first gaming expo and
tournament organized by any of the sponsors — the La Crosse Public Library, Gaming Generations and 95.7 The Rock. More than 500 people attended, many from outside the area. Organizers plan to continue the event once or twice a year, said David Goldfein, technology manager for the La Crosse Public Library.
Gaming popularity is growing, sponsors said. A recent gaming event at the La Crosse Public Library drew about 170 people, nearly three times what they expected, said Kelly Krieg-Sigman, library director.
“That was the biggest draw for gaming at the public library,” she said.
With more adults interested in gaming, the library wants to schedule a regular night for gaming for adults to add to their teen programming, said Krieg-Sigman. Nintendo was born in the 1980s, and many of those initial fans are still playing as the technology continues to evolve, said Evan Mau, owner of Gaming Generations.
“They are always coming up with something new to push the limit and keep you hooked,” said Jordan Moton, 19, of Stevens Point, Wis.
Moton and some of his friends from Stevens Point said this was their first time competing in a gaming tournament.
“You get a little nervous, but after you get into it you’re good to go,” said Alex Schurbert, 18, of Stevens Point.
Gaming can be a great way to socialize, they said. Through games they’ve met people from as far away as Australia and Great Britain. Now they’re meeting some friendly people in La Crosse, they said.
“It brings people together, ” said Moton.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_022d7168-5598-11df-924c-001cc4c03286.html
Chinese Online Game Developer The9 Invests $20M In Red 5 Studios
With the move, the Chinese online gaming company says it is beginning to shape its global strategy. For Red 5, the additional capital means more means and potential users for the game(s) that they’re currently developing and extra resources to effectively turn the company into a multi-game studio.
The9 Limited is a relatively unknown, publicly listed online game company located in Shanghai, China, whose business is primarily focused on developing and operating games for the Web. The9 directly, or through affiliates, operates licensed MMORPGs and casual games including Soul of The Ultimate Nation, EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 and Atlantica, as well as its proprietary games World of Fighter and Jiu Zhou Zhan Ji, in mainland China (with more in development). The company has also obtained exclusive licenses to operate other games in mainland China, including Audition 2 and Kingdom Heroes 2 Online.
Red 5 Studios is an online game developer located in California, formed in 2006 by former executives and developers from Blizzard Entertainment.
The pitch from its corporate website is quite intriguing:
We believe that the future of games lies in connecting millions of gamers together into shared, epic, and fantastic experiences. These online communities, these tribes, are what make online gaming a richer and deeper experience than any standalone game.
We imagine bold new worlds for our players to inhabit, explore and adventure within. Original story, art, sound and code meld together into powerful and wonderful new ways creating not just games, but worlds for players to live out their heroic alter egos.
We always ask ourselves “what’s next?” We want to transform gaming through our online technologies. We ask ourselves “what we would create in a future where bandwidth was free, where players had unlimited storage, and our games were powered by
