Gaming // Current

PETA Releases ‘Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals’ Videogame

Well the lunatics at Peta are at it again. According to the article: "Not to spoil the ending, but after preparing the... more

YesWeDid
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18 hours ago

Market drama continues with Eurozone admitting recession

World stock markets took another tumble last week with the major US indices penetrating the October lows intraday. The FTSE finished the week down around 4%, but it was UK plc that took a battering. The Pound fell to record lows against the European single currency, even breaking through the synthetic Euro/ Deutsche Mark lows from 1996.The week’s action was all the more damning considering the Eurozone’s admission that it too is in a recession. The Euro managed to end the slightly down against the dollar, but the pound plunged through the 1.5000 level for the first time since 2002. However there is still some way to go before the low of 1.3685 from 2001 is breached.

Financials were amongst the worst performing companies as Libor broke its 23 day decline. 3 month Libor increased to 2.15% and overnight Libor also pushed higher. The main catalyst was Paulson's announcements of changes to the Troubled Asset Relief Program. As this originally was seen as getting to the heart of the matter in terms of offloading toxic assets, investors are confused as to what this means for future prospects for financial firms in the US. In the US, the insurance giant AIG had its earnings estimates cut, as did Wells Fargo. Much worse are the rumours that Fannie May may have to tap into US government cash to avoid liquidation. Previously unaffected stocks such as HSBC were also down hard after poor results, and there was speculation that it too may need to follow Santander's lead in raising money through a rights issue. Until very recently HSBC and Santander were seen as being at arm’s length to the current crisis due to their relatively low exposure to the US housing market. However, with news of the UK property crash worsening and Asian markets faltering, HSBC is coming under increasing pressure.

More than anything market participants hate confusion or indecision, with the common reaction being "if in doubt, get out". This is reflected in the performance of financial shares across the globe. Even when the wider market attempted a rally, financials were weighing on sentiment, like a ship trying to sail with its anchor still deployed...................

For complete article, please visit http://www.regentmarkets.com/subpress_143.phpWorld stock markets took another tumble last week with the major US indices penetrating the October lows intraday. The FTSE... more

cordieliea
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1 day ago

Surprisingly Enough, Game Sales Soar During Roughest Economy

NEW YORK -- Video game sales are expected to be strong this year and in 2009, despite the economic troubles that have hurt some... more

YesWeDid
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1 day ago

The 50 best rock & roll video games of all time

Great list, really kool! • 1978: Simon • 1978: KISS Pinball • 1983: Journey • 1984: Will... more

BuddyP
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6 responses

4 days ago

Street Fighter IV: release date confirmed

A solid date for the fourth (technically third) World Warrior Championship. Street Fighter IV is being released Feb. 17 (N.... more

Owwmykneecap
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2 responses

4 days ago

Christian groups upset over satanic Guitar Hero edition?

This can't be real can it?

saytenvoneryk
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11 responses

5 days ago

BetOnMarkets Awarded "Best Fixed-Odds Financial Trading Provider" Again

BetOnMarkets.com is pleased to announce being voted the 'Best Fixed-Odds Financial Trading Provider' once again at the... more

cordieliea
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5 days ago

Fans queing for World of Warcraft expansion

Despite the rest of the world starting to count their pennies, World of Warcraft fans queued up to buy the latest expansion The... more

phillyharper
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6 days ago

To Treat The Threat of Economic Turmoil

Last week the Bank of England hit the headlines with an unexpected 1.5% rate cut. The move was largely pre meditated as a shock tactic to boost the ailing UK economy ahead of the all important Christmas period. Spreading the cut over a number of months would have had much less of an impact as it can take many months for the benefits of a rate cut to filter down to consumers. This is especially the case now with banks being slow to pass on cuts to customers. The MPC have sent out a message that they are prepared to treat the threat posed by the global slowdown very seriously. Unfortunately this message is a double edged sword, the euphoria that immediately met the rate cut was short lived and the FTSE soon rolled over and headed back towards the lows of the day.

There is also the possibility that today's rate cut might make it less likely that the MPC will cut again in the near future. Experts had been calling for cuts of this magnitude over a number of months, but the MPC may have bundled all their planned rate cuts in one dramatic roll of the dice. It may be some time before they cut again, preferring to let the dust settle on the biggest single cut in a generation.

Friday's US payroll figures were ugly by any measure, with the reported loss of 240,000 jobs slightly worse than expected. The worse data point to come out was actually the downwards revision to Septembers payroll figures, which pushed September payrolls down from -159,000 to -284,000. This means that so far in 2008, over 1 million jobs have been lost, most of these have been in the financial sector but the slump is prevalent in virtually every US sector.

On the face of it, it was perhaps surprising to see equity markets rebound so strongly on Friday, especially in the face of accelerating unemployment in the world's biggest economy. However, the reality is that financial markets are forward looking, which means that most of the time the bad news is already taken into account when it comes. Friday’s payroll figures could have been even worse than they were and judging by the rebound we're seeing, a significant part of the falls on Wednesday and Thursday may have been traders rushing in to sell ahead of Friday’s numbers. The net result is that the preceding two day sell off appears to have overshot slightly.

On the credit markets, libor and credit default swaps continue to improve for the worlds largest financial firms. The cost of insuring against companies defaulting on their debt is still very high by historical standards, but they have still come down a long way in the last few weeks. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs still remain a concern while the UK's HSBC currently has the lowest CDS of the remaining major independent banks and brokers. In short, things have most certainly improved since the dark days of October, but there is a long way to go before we can say safely say that this credit crisis is over.... full article on http://www.regentmarkets.com/subpress_142.php

"A bull trade predicting that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will be higher than 9500 in 6 months time could return 102% at BetOnMarkets."Last week the Bank of England hit the headlines with an unexpected 1.5% rate cut. The move was largely pre meditated as a shock... more

cordieliea
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6 days ago

New online game lets players catch a criminal

A Japanese firm said today it would launch an internet-based slot machine game using mug shots of criminal suspects on the... more

TravG73
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6 days ago

Killer: Online gaming made me crazy

Just as China declares internet addiction a "mental disorder," 22 year-old Hu Ange from Sichuan Province is now trying... more

tinfoilnirvana
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13 responses

7 days ago

Gaming innovations you never even noticed

"Lara's dirty legs manage to, for the first time ever, make us realise how much we've put our character through... more

mischabarrett
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13 responses

11 days ago

Whiteboard PONG

This game looks UBER challenging...

phillyharper
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6 responses

12 days ago

Gloomy weather overshadows world economy

Last week global equities finally managed to finish the week with significant gains, but October was still a very poor month overall. Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture highlighted just how volatile the last month has been. October was the worst month for the S&P 500 since the 1987 stock market crash, not only that, it was also the most volatile in the market’s 80 year history. There was also volatility on the currency markets as the Dollar managed to reverse most of the week’s early losses against the Pound and Euro. This volatility is partly a function of the unwinding of the global carry trade, and a rapid depreciation in most other western currencies. Many have attributed the recent rise of the Dollar to confidence in the strength of the US economy. This may not be the case, recent currency movements may be primarily a rebalancing act, as currency traders adjust their positions to factor in European and UK rates plummeting to nearer 2% over the next 6 months. America and Japan already have the lowest rates in the western world, but other western nations are set to follow with further deep cuts. Last week’s volatility was a function of continuing speculation of how quickly and how far the MPC and ECB will go in following the FOMC’s and BOJ's lead.

Last week’s rally is all the more impressive as it came in the face of more gloomy economic news. At times, this wave of poor economic data has kept a lid on any sustained buying. US house prices are down 16.6% year on year, having slumped over 30% since their peak in 2004. In the face of a continual erosion of the value of their homes, and the ever present warnings about the biggest slow-down since the great depression, it is little wonder that US consumer confidence figures came out at record levels. Today’s reading of 38.0 is the lowest in the indicator’s history going back to 1967. Interestingly consumer confidence if often a timely contrarian indicator in the medium term and if last week’s rally is anything to go by, it may be again.

Markets were still extremely jittery as evidenced by Tuesday’s wild ride on Volkswagen, which temporarily became the world’s largest company by market capitalization. It overtook ExxonMobil for a short while when it rose above 1,000 Euros in the morning. Just two days previously, it was trading at 200 Euros. Porsche increased their stake in the company to 75%, but the real reason for the huge spike was the squeeze on short traders. Volkswagen has the highest short interest of any stock on the German DAX index. Although shareholders in Volkswagen are rather happy right now, last week’s spike is more a symptom of the lack of liquidity in today’s market place. The German DAX index massively outperformed other markets, with the Volkswagen spike having a disproportionate effect on Germany’s benchmark index.

Analysts are expecting the bank of England to cut rates down to 4% next week, but industry leaders are calling for deeper cuts to help reduce the severity the coming recession. Last week the pound recovered some of the ground lost against the dollar, but this may only be a temporary respite, especially with the current level of debt taken on by the UK government. Last week the GBP/ USD exchange rate held above the 1.5000, but that level may not hold for long. A one touch trade with BetOnMarkets predicting that the GBP/ USD exchange rate will touch 1.5000 at any time during the next year could return 23%.Last week global equities finally managed to finish the week with significant gains, but October was still a very poor month... more