Why you want to do business with reputable suppliers is illustrated by this story from the Better Business Bureau.

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo made settlement agreements in June 2009 with seven online electronics stores located in New York for engaging in illegal and fraudulent business practices that scammed consumers.

“These companies engaged in the worst kinds of consumer fraud, from classic bait-and-switch schemes to blatant lies and bullying sales tactics,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Today’s agreements will protect consumers nationwide from these types of predatory online merchants, as well as deliver much-needed restitution to hundreds of individuals who fell victim to these illegal practices. Let this be a message to online merchants everywhere: such abuse of consumers and violation of the law will not be tolerated.”

How the scams worked: the article explains

“Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation revealed that these seven companies would advertise consumer electronics, such as cameras, camcorders, projectors, and related accessories online at prices significantly lower than their competitors to induce consumers to place orders via the internet. Once an order was placed, the companies would call consumers and try to sell them additional or “upgraded” merchandise at inflated prices. If the consumer refused to purchase the additional merchandise, the companies would cancel the sale or claim the item was backordered for months. If the consumer did agree to purchase the additional merchandise, the companies would send them lower quality merchandise than what was promised, or merchandise that the consumer never ordered in the first place. When customers tried to return the items, they would either be denied or be slammed with undisclosed fees.”

The companies also used fake testimonials, and astroturfing. Here are the company names:

“Under the agreements secured today by Cuomo, two of the companies, Camera Wiz and Sonic Cameras, will dissolve completely. The following five companies will completely revamp their business practices and be subject to ongoing monitoring: Best Price Camera, Foto Connection, 1 Way Photo, 86th Street Photo and Broadway Photo, LLC.”

To read the full article, visit the BBB website.

Game news from Slashdot
The Installer writes with news that Nintendo is seeing a significant financial downturn to match the general slowdown in the rest of the industry. “Sales of the once unstoppable Wii console have tumbled for the first time since its launch three years ago, sending the gaming giant’s quarterly profit down 61 percent.” Meanwhile, Sony is feeling the pain as well; the company sold 500,000 fewer PS3 consoles than in the previous quarter, and PSP sales saw an even bigger drop. Interestingly, Sony also revealed that the manufacturing cost of the PS3 has now dropped 70% since it was released. The drop in sales has caused the resurgence of rumors about console price cuts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By Soulskill

Rumor: Legendary Pictures Possible Acquisition of Epic Games

Rumors have arisen once again for game giant Epic Games. The game development company is famous for its top selling Gears of War which is in the process of being made into a full length motion picture.

The company that has partnered with Epic, Legendary Pictures is also the company rumored to be negotiating with the company for possible acquisition. This information is based on an article posted Friday October 24, 2008 by WRAL Local Tech Wire. According to the article executives from both companies denied comment and no mention of the rumor is to be found on Epic’s website.

Epic is located in Cary, North Carolina, a great town between Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Programmers and artists might like to know that the Epic website has a page about jobs for Xbox and next-gen PC development teams. They like C++ (doesn’t everybody?).

]]> http://emergentgametech.com/business-developers/business-epic-games/feed/ 0 http://emergentgametech.com/business-developers/nintendo-plans-for-a-strong-future/ http://emergentgametech.com/business-developers/nintendo-plans-for-a-strong-future/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:54:22 +0000 Lloyd23 http://emergentgametech.com/?p=10

Monday August 4, 2008 the Wall Street Journal featured an interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. Iwata discussed the future of Nintendo as well as some of the Wii accessories that we can expect to see in stores soon. The two accessories unveiled by Nintendo this month are: the Wii Motion Plus and the Wii Speak. Wii Motion Plus is an attachment that makes the Wii controller more responsive to the movements of its operator. Wii Speak enables players to be able to communicate with other players remotely while a game is being played.
Iwata said that most of the ideas that the company had for Wii accessories have already debuted and that there are not plans of releasing very many more. According to Iwata the Wii accessories are to enhance the Wii experience as well as help to incorporate a larger customer base.
Iwata also addressed the fact that Nintendo is making strides beyond the Wii to reach out to a larger gaming demographic. With the launch of the portable Nintendo DS in November of 2004, Nintendo has attracted an increasing amount of women and older consumers. Iwata stated that Nintendo DS is working towards gaining features that will encourage consumers to carry their DS with them at all times. Some of the features that are now offered on the DS system are its wireless features that enable to device to receive airport transfer information and even order food at a sporting event remotely.
Nintendo is working hard to remain where it is in the industry and constantly striving to secure that position by increasing the base consumer.

Women are making an increasing appearance in the gaming arena. Wii and interactive PC games respond to the niche created by gaming women. Nintendo Wii is among the first systems to implement programming specifically to target the older, non-gaming and female audiences.
Wii creators have realized their explosion into a larger demographic, but is everyone else keeping up? The answer is yes, or at least attempting to do so. The PlayStation 3 has also tried to break out of its “shell” but with less success. The price of the PS3 helps to limit the amount of consoles available to young gamers, especially children. Many parents are hesitant to pay $599 so that their ten year old can increase his gaming abilities. In order to increase its appeal to the masses PS3 creators tend to advertise the consoles Blue-ray and CELL technologies, instead of the focus of its predecessors. In an attempt to make this a more “adult friendly” machine, the PlayStation may have in fact detached itself from its most reliable demographic, young teenage males counting on getting the latest and greatest from their parents for Christmas. Only time will tell how the PS3 holds up to the competition.
Nielsen studies track the booming generation of women participating in online gaming communities. What is being done to address the need for more “female friendly” gaming opportunities? Little adjustments here and there, major changes are now popping up in all systems that change the stereotype of antisocial, basement gamer. The most popular systems: Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 are all built around networking capabilities that allow interaction between participants. As a gamer, female or male, you are no longer isolated to play by yourself but automatically plugged into a virtually endless community. As programmers and developers work at increasing their demographic and chasing the flagship waves created by the Nintendo Wii we can look forward to more interaction and a definite change in the stereotypical “gamer”.