Comments on: Streamed Gameshow PlayCafe Takes Funding

By: On Gaming… » Blog Archive » Gameshastra Online Gaming System (OGS)

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:06:44 +0000

[...] http://www.techcrunch.com/2008.....s-funding/ [...]

By: Muhammad

Muhammad — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:37:40 +0000

I just caught the end of the show. The concept is great, and the show is really fun. Can’t wait to catch tomorrow’s program from the start.

By: Brad Hunstable

Brad Hunstable — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:36:34 +0000

Congrats to Mark and all the Playcafe team. Best of luck..

Brad Hunstable
Ustream.TV

By: Mark w/Playcafe

Mark w/Playcafe — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:38:37 +0000

Hi insider, we’ve placed a few checks in place to make prize fraud pretty difficult. I can’t go into all of them but a main one is that our prize payouts are partly skill-based and partly probabilistic, so even if you knew every answer, you’re not guaranteed a prize. (The converse is also happily true - you can get a few answers and still win a prize.)

By: insider

insider — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:51:53 +0000

this model is cool, but it is RIPE for hacking and fraud and corruption

its only a matter of time before someone on the inside leaks content/answers/clues/directions/whatever to someone on the outside in order to (no pun intended) game the system

sony tried this in the 90’s with jeopardy - the system got gamed so bad so fast (by a bunch of harvard students, if memory serves) that sony yanked the live-action with prizes game in a nanosecond and buried the whole thing, never to return

doing games and game shows with prizes looks easy but its extremely delicate and difficult (and often regulated)

By: Avi

Avi — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:57:56 +0000

Congrats to the Playcafe team! The beta is addictive and im looking forward to more!

By: Gabe

Gabe — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:22:26 +0000

This is awesome! The company’s business model is well established on European TV, and is likely to be a big hit online here as well.

There is no limit to American appetites for gameshows, and bringing the model to the web using video seems like the right way to do it.

By: Biology Journal

Biology Journal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:35:06 +0000

well, good luck to playcafe team,
Being in US is great plus for startups, outside US and Europe its almost impossible to get funding:(

By: Mark w/Playcafe

Mark w/Playcafe — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:21:21 +0000

Hi everyone, I’m with PlayCafe. I’m happy to answer any questions or emails. You can reach me at mark@playcafe.com.

You’ll see that our show production is still bare-bones but we’re amping up the look and feel over the coming weeks. If you’d like to play, the live games are Mon-Fri, 6-8pm PST.

P.S. To #2, the hosts are smart and friendly, too.

By: Simon Ovidiu

Simon Ovidiu — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:16:35 +0000

[...]the camera motion made me sea sick.[...] very very boring!!!

By: Tippo

Tippo — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:09:37 +0000

Increasing the time from two to four hours is a good thing but it looks like they have a lot of work ahead to reach the 24 hour coverage mark.

By: david amodt

david amodt — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:44:30 +0000

wow.. venture funding for that? put a hot girl in front of a camera and with blurry public access cable footage and you’re an online hit…

agree w/ JHC above, blurry, camera motion… yuck

By: Jesus H Christ

Jesus H Christ — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:15:24 +0000

the camera motion made me sea sick. Reminds me of early 90s MTV shows.