Lycos' Gamesville Casual Portal Relaunches

Officials from veteran web portal Lycos have announced the relaunch of the website's Gamesville casual games portal with a retro style, as well as a new video advertising model for casual gamers. First acquired by Lycos in 1999, the now 11 year old Gamesville site allows registered users to meet and compete for cash prizes in proprietary casual games such as poker and other card games, sports, trivia and bingo. The new site has now be relaunched with an aesthetic reminiscent of its original style while offering newly revamped games, such as the Magic 21 card game. In addition, the popular card game also marks the introduction of a new advertising model, whereby interstitial video ads, or “emercials,” will be served up between each five-minute game. Advertisers taking advantage of this video ad platform on Gamesville include Oreo Cookies, Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, Honda and Chili’s Grill & Bar. Gamesville also boast a more “game show experience” for casual gamers, including daily trivia games, a 'tell-all' blog, and avatars. The new avatar system allows Gamesville members to create their online gaming presence, and Lycos officials note that soon members will be able to export their Gamesville avatars to their personal web sites, blogs and social networking profile pages. “Here at Gamesville, we believe the famous line ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry,’ is a bunch of bologna,” said Chris Cummings, senior product manager for Lycos Gamesville. “Over the past few years, sweeping changes were made to Gamesville that many of our users didn’t like. We heard our dedicated users loud and clear and decided to apologize and bring back the Gamesville our users remember and, hopefully, enjoy and also engage new gamers who want to have fun and meet new, interesting people.”