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At the invitation of Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, the FBI has commenced an inquiry into whether virtual currency which can be bought with real money contradicts a U.S. statue introduced last year banning online casinos.
Coverage at: http://bloggeykong.blogspot.com/2007/04/fbi-to-investigate-second-life-gambling.html (Bloggey Kong)
The CBC recently reported that Ontario Lottery and Gaming pulled 87 slot machines out of service or physically removed them from casinos following a CBC investigation that uncovered flashing “winning” jackpot symbols in Konami’s “Most Wanted”, “Sergeant Fritter”, and “Billionaires” game machines - each of which appeared to be subliminally encouraging people to keep gambling. According the CBC, there didn’t appear to be anything unusual about the games - that is, until they slowed down the video recordings taken of the games. In slow motion, each of the three games clearly flashed winning jackpot symbols. Other provinces are investigating the matter.
Konami’s response? According to Konami spokesman Steve Sutherland, “it is simply a software glitch that our engineers have identified in four game titles, and we have identified [that] three of those title have been shipped into Canada”. The fourth title, “Sticks and Stones” is sold in the U.S. but not Canada. Whether or not it proves to be a technical problem, U.S. authorities are taking the CBC report seriously and have hired Gaming Laboratories International to investigate Konami slot machines in the U.S.
Marketing in the form of subliminal messages is nothing new. Think back to the controversial Camel cigarette pack. People today are still debating about whether there is a naked man on the pack or not. Did you know that some people have even claimed to see a likeness of Mae West?
It’s all fun and games - until it isn’t.
Coverage at: http://tinyurl.com/275ruy (Gamespot) and at http://tinyurl.com/3dvsgd (CBC)
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