Shanda - A Diamond in the Rough - Online Gaming Versus Online Gambling

Everyone thought that even though land-based casino revenues worldwide are taking a hit because of this incredibly tough recession that online gaming revenue on the other hand would be new to the tough economic times because of the little amount of expenses it takes to operate an online casino but this hasn't been the case.

Even online casinos worldwide are starting to feel the pinch of a recession that borders on the depression and you can see this not only from the numbers but from all of their forward outlook on future revenues, but there are still some diamonds in the rough as far as online gambling companies to either gamble at or invest in through the stock market. One of the online gaming companies that is growing revenue and net income like gangbusters is the Chinese online gaming firm Shanda.

While everyone else is losing their shirt financially Shanda has announced incredible revenue gains for the third quarter of 2008. Their revenues have increased by 41% over last year's third-quarter revenues and net income increased over 20% from last year.

Shanda has done so well because it has decided to focus more on online games and online board games rather than online gambling games . The potential for online game playing in China is incredible and if they could do this well during the recession imagine how well it will do when we come out of this recession. Even though online gambling hasn't been hit as hard as land-based gambling in China, the one area that seems to be outpacing them all is the online game arena. I think that American gambling companies should learn a lesson from this company and try to shift their focus more so away from online gambling during the recession to online games because of the fact that online games have become almost a culture unto itself with the younger generation as we start to move online at a younger age every year.

I know this because I have a 42-year-old brother that still plays games on his Xbox with his kids and it has gotten to the point where they are almost addicted to these games so it goes to show that online games as well as online gambling have a big influence even culturally among our young and among our middle-age population.

Author loves to write about online casinos related subjects and also about texas holdem poker related subjects.

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New Era Halloween Online Games

Traditionally, Halloween stands for fear, spookiness, ghost and ghouls and on Halloween night people try to test the fear factor by organizing scary games and getting up in spooky costumes. However, in recent times, the age-old traditions of Halloween games have shifted from party games to online games and people in general, love playing Halloween online games with their friends and family.

Seeing the addiction of the internet amongst people, it is not surprising that online games have completely taken over home games. Everyone finds it less cumbersome to organize these games physically when a good time can be had at the click of a mouse. Halloween's popularity has spilled over to online games with a vengeance and children and adults alike enjoy staying up playing games on the net.

A plethora of online Halloween games are available and most offer the usual jigsaws, puzzles and memory games. Some are specifically designed for pre-school kids and are brightly colored to attract the children's attention. These may include, scissor crafts, jigsaw puzzles, story boards which are all related to the theme of Halloween.

A large assortment of links and free games suitable for children are readily accessed online. Interactive games for both adults and children are all over the net. Some may have to be downloaded for a small fee while others can be played for free.

For those who are raring for a 'spooky' time, there are endless games to delight even the 'darkest' of hearts! Games like Super Mario Halloween, Bashing Pumpkins, Halloween Pumpkins, Kill the Witches and Grave Robber are only some of the popular games to send a delicious shiver down your spine.

Children find Halloween Pumpkins an awesome game because they get to shoot all the ghouls and ghosts before they get you and you have to be really fast to shoot. Zombie Infection is not for the younger players. Girls specifically can enjoy dressing up in the scariest costumes in the Dress Up game. Smaller children can enjoy Feed the Hungry Ghost while older ones will probably freak out on Halloween Hangman.

Headless Havoc, Tomb Chess, Phantom Mansion Red, Hidden Zombie and Revenge of the Stick - the names of these games are evocative enough to induce a spine-chilling thrill on Halloween night. The Ghoul Academy recreates the classroom atmosphere where the classroom has to be protected, the things collected while simultaneously zapping the baddies.

On a lighter note, there is the Halloween Carver which lets you personalize a greeting for Halloween and send it to your friends and family. Your very own Jack-O -Lantern can be carved and a message written. It is good fun and a less scary way of getting into the festive spirit. In the true spirit of Halloween, many online gaming sites offer 'treats' at the end of successfully playing 'tricky' games. The games may range from really scary to outright silly.

So, all you 'would-be ghouls and ghosts', dress up in your scariest costumes and get set to test your mettle against real online witches and spooks on the dark, dark night of Halloween!

Do you love Halloween? Then visit the Halloween Fun and Games website where you can learn about Halloween Games, Halloween recipes and everything else to do with Halloween, including outrageous Halloween costumes and the history of Halloween.

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Free Online Gaming Competition - A Beautiful Feature of Online Games

Free online games are objects which receive the maximum amount of attention from perhaps almost a mammoth portion of human beings. Hence the persons who play these games are normally involved in doing so, even if the time is midnight or when the sun is just about to show its face.

The business capabilities of websites which offer the feature of these online games are now being recognized by most of the websites which are involved in conducting their business in an online manner either completely or to some extent. Hence these websites have some of the latest games in the present scenario and are also quite capable of taking the traffic received by the gaming websites to record levels.

The attention towards these games has therefore increased and hence most of the games that are featured on the websites are done so, under different categories which are more commonly known as genres. Hence the user can enjoy playing arcade type of games, and also action games as well as gamers can also take on the role of historical figures and go on glorious wars in various role playing games. Both the aspects of online games, the stand alone ones, and also the multi Player ones are responsible for improving the popularity of the different gaming websites and hence these games are now becoming quite an important aspect, requiring considerable amounts of attention.

The innovations are there in most of the online gaming websites as well as the online gaming portals and some of them are not only good but they are brilliant. A major example is the contests that are normally organized and these contests give away amounts of money as prizes for the different contests. Hence the person playing the game is not only given the magnificent opportunity of playing these wonderful games but he is also given the opportunity to earn lots of money in the form of cash prizes.

The basic feature of these competitions is that they are organized for games that are free. The process that is normally required is also quite simple and enjoyment and fun of a competition is normally the focus.

Free online games are hence now receiving lots of attention from the software developers and some companies which operate websites, which are primarily gaming websites, have a talented team of game developers with the result being the appearance of wonderful online games in many gaming websites. The games which are now available for the users to play have extraordinary graphics and also excellent sound as well. The overall game play of these games are brilliant and hence these free online games, now have the capability of creating world records in the total number of hits that their parent gaming websites receive.

Aradhana Gupta is an expert author. She has written many articles on Free Online Games and Online Video.

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