Online poker sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt have been in the news of late, with each making big improvements to their online poker software in an attempt to attract more casual gamers from the broader gaming market.
PokerStars has made some big improvements for 2010 to its player loyalty and rewards program, with an eye towards giving players quicker cash bonuses when they play on the site. In the past players would have to accumulate more points from playing hands before being eligible for cash bonuses, but now it’s easy for even recreational players that only have a few minutes to play each day to turn their loyalty points into real cash money.
Full Tilt has gone one step further and introduced a new game called Rush Poker that is squarely aimed at increasing the excitement for beginning and casual players. Rush Poker shares all the rules and gameplay of traditional poker, but with one key difference: players are given the option to fold immediately (even before the action is to them), at which point they’re whisked away to another table and instantly dealt a new hand. It looks like a small simple change on the surface but it really amps up the action and the pace and removes a lot of the boring elements of poker, as far as waiting to fold and then sitting there as the hand plays out.
Atlus has pusehd back the North American release of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey to March 23 (Nintendo announced it as March 10 yesterday). The good news is that each copy of the game will come with a soundtrack. I’m so confused, I don’t know if I should be mad or happy. Or both at the same time.
They fix the Javelin glitch and introduce two great new ones: infinite ammo on everything (no cooldown on the C-130’s guns, for instance) and joining random private matches when searching for games. Awesome. I’ve had a lot of trouble the past couple of days joining the same game with my party, which is amazingly annoying. These problems seem to effect the Xbox 360, only. Apparently Infinity Ward is aware of the problem, though. From their Twitter:
Preparing an in depth #MW2 Status Report for players to stay aware of what we’re addressing & how it’s progressing. Lots of updates in works
After playing the demo…I want to get this game. The demo really sold it for me, the videos never really got me wanting the game, but the demo was fun. Anyway, the video shows off using enemy weapons, which is pretty cool.
Valve’s WAR! Update Team Fortress 2 will be adding in a new crafting system. Basically, you find blueprints (or otherwise discover, I guess some are “secret”), smelt all your useless duplicates weapons to scrap parts, and use those to make a weapon you actually want! I honestly think it’s a great way to go, my inventory is completely full of useless duplicates. Or was when I stopped playing a while ago.
Anyway, with these constant, free updates to Team Fortress 2, Valve is quickly becoming the most awesome game company. Ever.
Pretty interesting list of games. I think I’m most looking forward to Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey from Atlus on the DS (March 10). Capcom also has some pretty good games coming: Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom on Wii, Phoenix Wright on WiiWare, Ace Attorney Investigations on DS, and Mega Man 10, the sequel to the download-only Mega Man 9.
Square Enix’s announced that their XBLA shooter 0 Day Attack on Earth will be out next week. It looks pretty interesting, and you can check out the official website here
How about making some money while playing online? Visit the fun 888.com and play all of your favorite casino table and skill games online. Learn strategies and play some fun games such as blackjack, Texas Holdem, bingo and many more.