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Konami using subliminal messages to promote gambling.
Meiz
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Ontario's provincial gambling operator has pulled 87 video slot machines out of service or physically removed them from its casinos after a CBC investigation found what appear to be subliminal messages flashing at players.
Ontario Lottery and Gaming, the recently rebranded Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., is concerned about three games on video slots made by a company called Konami. It shut them down as a precaution on Friday, and is looking into the issue.The games flash winning jackpot symbols at players for a fifth of a second, long enough for the brain to detect even if the players are not aware of the message, some psychologists told CBC News.Every time this video lottery game is played, it briefly shows a jackpot result.
(CBC)
It's not clear if messages are influencing gamblers' behaviour. That would take further testing, experts said.
But players who stick to a machine are seeing a winning image every two seconds, the time it takes for one spin, and that concerns Roger Horbay, an electronic gaming specialist who has treated hundreds of problem gamblers.
"I think it's part of them trying to make their games more attractive to the players to keep them at the game longer so their machines are more profitable," he said.
However, Konami, the company behind the games, said the jackpot symbols are a technical problem that it is fixing.
"It is simply a software glitch that our engineers have identified in four game titles, and we have identified [that] three of those titles have been shipped into Canada," said Konami spokesman Steve Sutherland.
"The company is not going to risk its licensing to do this. It is purely a software error that the company is fixing."
The game titles with the symbols are: Most Wanted, Sergeant Fritter and Billionaires. (A fourth called Sticks and Stones has only had limited release in the United States.)
But OLG, similar bodies in other jurisdictions and the Ontario gaming regulator, are all taking the messages seriously.
"Well, we are going to take a look at it further and see if there really is anything that we need to do and we will take the appropriate action," said Sukhi Grewal, head of game testing at the regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Full article:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/02/25/video-lottery.html
So was it a simple glitch or was it actually a clever ploy on Konami's part in order to boost sales over the long term?
Subliminal messages have been used before but in every instance there's a controlled test focused on determining the actual effects, they are deemed to have little to no effect.
I don't think I'll have any moral dilemma personally when the next Castlevania game comes out, but perhaps that's just Konami telling me to do so.
Meiz on
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I doubt it was a glitch, but I find it hard to care.
Fixed?
According to a few Japanese game-music composers I've spoken to (not naming any names), Konami has pretty strong ties to the Yakuza, so it makes sense for the company to be involved with slot machines. I'm pretty sure there are a few Konami-owned pachinko parlours around as well.
(Of course, I can't confirm that Konami is run by an organised crime syndicate - that's just what I hear. Although it would explain a lot...)
This is Canada, though, and I am unfamiliar with their gaming regulation.
Slots aren't real gambling imo anyways. Just entertainment, variably expensive entertainment.
*Apple* *Apple* "C'mon Apple!" *Orange*
"Snake? Snake!? SNAAAAAAKE!"
You don't know how much that frightens all the old people and worries the security.
Long story short, it's no glitch. Bad Konami, baaaad.