Home Depot is celebrating Halloween with their own Facebook game called Zombie Mulch {page no longer active}. Anyone can play, but those in the Garden Club get more mulch and potentially earn Lawn & Garden coupons at the Home Depot!
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Playnomics recently published their third quarter 2012 social player engagement report. In this report, they found that almost 95 percent of all U.S. players acquired in the first part of Q3 were inactive by the end of Q3 and about 85 percent of U.S. players acquired in Q3 do not return after their first day.
U.S. females churn at slightly higher rates than U.S. males but tend to play longer before doing so. Also non-churners play about twice as long on their first day as eventual churners.
Other interesting trivia shows that while players are most likely to play on Saturdays, they play the longest on Mondays. Friday and Saturday is also when players are likely to pay the most in these social games.
The study found that play time tended to be cumulative the longer a player is engaged. Even getting a player to return after one day yields significant dividends.
Source: Playnomics {link no longer available}
Adweek version of report
Reports are that Best Buy will launch a tablet called “Insignia Flex” for between $239 to $259. The device is expected to have a 1GHz processor, 10-hour battery life and a 9.7-inch screen
The price point would put the Insignia Flex in competition with Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 7 and the forthcoming iPad Mini, but the larger screen could be a distinct advantage. Reportedly, Insignia Flex will not influence Best Buy’s decision to carry rival brands.
Source: Reuters
The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that the average holiday shopper will spend $749.51 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, compared to the $740.57 they actually spent last year. Their 2012 Holiday Consumer Spending Survey estimates that holiday sales will increase 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion.
“We’ve seen this pattern of cautious optimism all year and despite the challenges that still exist in our economy, it looks as if consumers are eager to celebrate with friends and family,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO.
The average spender will put $51.99 into decorations, with décor spending at $6.9 billion total. On various eccentricities, consumers will spend on average $100.76 on food and candy, $28.66 on greeting cards, and $19.55 on flowers.
The biggest portion of shoppers’ budgets this year will go toward gifts for family members, with $421.82 going towards gifts for children, parents, aunts, uncles and others. Additionally, people will spend $75.13 on friends, $23.48 on co-workers and $28.13 on others, such as pets and community members.
52.3 percent said the state of the U.S. economy will affect their spending plans, down from 62.2 percent last year, showing improving dispositions over the economy as a whole. 31.4 percent of consumers affected by the economy will comparative shop online more often, 46.4 percent will shop for sales more often, 23.2 percent will travel less or not at all, and 6.0 percent will comparative shop using their mobile device.
If you’ve been annoyed by those holiday shopping ads before Halloween, you won’t see those going away as 41.4 percent of Americans said they will begin holiday shopping before Halloween. 22.1 percent said they will begin in October, up from 20.3 percent last year and 39 percent will begin in November, 16.2 percent will begin in first two weeks of December and only 3.5 percent will wait until the very last minute and shop in the last two weeks of December.
65.3 percent of Americans will shop at discount stores and more than half 57.8 percent will shop at department stores. Clothing stores 36.2 percent, electronics stores 31.8 percent and specialty stores 16.7 percent will be popular with holiday shoppers as well, while 51.8 percent will shop at a grocery store for holiday items, up from 48.8 percent last year.
More than half, or 51.8 percent, will shop online for gifts and other items this holiday season, up from 46.7 percent last year, setting a new high and the average person will complete about 38.8 percent of their shopping on retailers’ and other companies’ websites, another survey high. Shop.org, NRF’s digital division, is forecasting online holiday sales will grow 12 percent to as much as $96 billion.
Non-gifts will be big this year, as 59.0 percent plan to spend an average of $139.92 on “self-gifting” this holiday season. 59.8 percent of those polled said they’d like to receive gift cards this year, up from 57.7 percent last year and the most in the survey’s history, while 49.1 percent said they would like clothing, 45.7 percent said books, CD, DVDs, videos, or video games, and more than one-third 35.8 percent are requesting electronics or computer-related accessories, while 24.0 percent want jewelry, the most seen since 2008.
The most important factors in deciding where to shop are offers for sales and discounts for 36.6 percent, while 16.1 percent said the most important factor is selection of merchandise and 13.7 percent said quality of merchandise. More than half 52.9 percent of those who own smartphones and nearly two-thirds 64.1 percent of those who own tablets plan to use their devices to research and purchase holiday gifts, décor, food items, and more.
Source: HomeAccentsToday.com
Zynga has settled its lawsuit with studio Kobojo over the game PyramidVille. The suit originated over the trademark of titles like Farmville and Cityville and the game’s name has since been changed to PyramidValley.
“Although the terms of the parties’ settlement are confidential, the parties can confirm that neither party made any payment as part of the settlement,” said a Kobojo spokesperson.
Source: Gamasutra
FiveThirtyEight created a great visual resource to look at how states have swung from 1952 up until today, demonstrating that they used to be far less immutable. In 2012 the focus of both Presidential campaigns is largely on about 10 states, and only half of those appear to have any chance of shifting from their present course before election night.
Source: New York Times
Reports are that the first auction of items from 38 Studios netted $180,000. This money was generated by roughly 950 items from 38 Studios’ Big Huge Games office in Maryland.
A second auction focused on 38 Studios’ headquarters in Rhode Island is set for Tuesday. The company’s outstanding debts are estimated to be around $150.7 million.
Source: Associated Press {link no longer active}
Lance Armstrong has stepped down chairman of Livestrong, his cancer foundation and has also been dropped by Nike, RadioShack and Anheuser-Busch. This follows a week after the United States Anti-Doping Agency made public its evidence against the cyclist.
“I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation’s chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities,” Armstrong said in a statement. “Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.”
“Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him,” the statement said. “Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.”
There’s plenty of Assassin’s Creed swag out there, but this is one of the neater items to come out in a while. This Assassin’s Creed III Flag is available to GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards members with 10,000 points.
Source: Facebook.com {page no longer active}
It has been reported that those those that pre-order Tomb Raider from GameStop will receive the Challenge Tomb. This separate challenge area will feature unique environmental puzzles for Lara to tackle.
Those who purchase from Best Buy will receive an exclusive Tomb Raider: The Beginnings graphic novel along with an Aviatrix Skin, a “1930s adventurer outfit” that dresses Lara in a bomber jacket. The book is written by the game’s lead writer Rhianna Pratchett with art by Brian Horton.
As previously announced, customers who pre-order at Amazon will receive the Final Hours Edition of Tomb Raider, with an exclusive 32-page art book assembled by art director Brian Horton along with a a “Hunter Skin” that puts Lara in “action-movie-style” natural camouflage. It will also feature a download of The Final Hours of Tomb Raider: Director’s Cut, a behind-the scenes documentary about the making of the game.
Source: IGN
