This column, while I try to do it regularly once a month, is really an event driven item. Generally it only occurs to me to write it when I either don’t feel like writing anything (when you have nothing to say, let somebody else say it for you I guess) or when somebody sends me something so ridiculous that I am compelled to put one in the “mail bag” category.
This month, it is the latter condition. So this month we’ll start off with the grand prize and then taper off into obscure stuff so the whole post will seem like a let down by the time you get to the end.
Sorry in advance to the focus of the end story.
Where DUI Meets Home Theater
I am no stranger to the sponsored blog post offer, but this one this one seemed to deliver a new twist.
I’d like to inquire about doing a sponsored blog post – about 150-300 words that talks a little bit about DUI law and links back to our site [redacted]. We provide premier Custom Design, Engineering and Installation for home theater and I thought we might be a good fit for your readers/visitors on tagn.wordpress.com.
That’s correct, we are speaking of a post about DUI law that links back to a custom home theater which would be a perfect fit for an online gaming blog.
So is that the best breathalyzer you sell?
(Apologies to McIntosh Labs, makers of completely awesome high end audio equipment which does not in anyway endorse this blog post or, I am going to guess, the selling of home audio equipment via blog posts about DUI law. But I am pretty sure that if they did make breathalyzers, they would be the best you could get.)
But this custom home theater site does have a budget for this sort of placement thing.
Our budget is around $15 for the post. Is this something you’d be open to?
Also we might be interested in a small banner ad if the price is right.
Our budget is $40/year
Woo hoo! That will get me a case of Lucky Lager and some pretzels to go with! I just love the puzzles in the cap.
I’m sorry, but at one point I was getting like $22 a month per link to put URLs in my side bar from a company trying to game Google Page Rank. (It was $30 a month when I was page rank 5, but I fell down to 4.) Granted, they stopped returning my calls after a while, but while it lasted that fat PayPal payment spoiled me and now I won’t even get out of bed for less that $10.
Still, if this sounds like a deal to you, I can put in a good word.
Also if you have some other sites just send them over and we might be interested in doing a sponsored post on there as well!
Just drop me a note and we’ll talk!
More Press Releases!
Laura at Cision US, Inc. dropped me a note to tell me that my blog has caught their attention and they are adding it to their database. I will be henceforth known and listed by them as:
Mr. Wilhelm Arcturus, Blogger of the Computers & Video Games Beat.
That is almost validation of my existence. And I love to get press releases!
Thanks Laura!
I’ll have to send her a thank you note.
Treasure Awaits, My Lord!
Lord of Ultima sends me a note reminding me that I have a daily prize waiting for me if I fail to log on for a week or so. That always prompts me to actually log on, collect my prize, check what has happened to my empire, which is generally nothing.
Still, this seems to be working for me. I have moved from around 350th place in the rankings to about 200th place by doing nothing. I play on world 31 which is a truncated world with extra small landmasses, so basically about three weeks into the game all available room to build on was taken. Since then the game has been a matter of waiting for people to give up so you can take over their abandoned towns and castles. This has been going on for somethings like six months! Whee, a hell of a ride! I’m sooo drunk!
Gamingo-go-go!
The Gamingo PR Team sends me lots of press releases about their browser based games. They just aren’t all that interesting to me. None of them would warrant a post by themselves. But since they are so nice and persistent and no doubt live for the days when I deign to acknowledge their existence, and never use DUI laws as a troll for links, here is a list of the games they mentioned to me in January.
It Is So Komplex!
Ioana Buliga, a musical name if ever there was one, wanted to let me know about her company, Lucid Philosophy, and their new free to play browser based game, TwinKomplex. Probably the coolest thing about them is that there offices are in the old Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. I am tempted to sing “Ten Tons to Templehof” and other songs of the airlift, which I learned in my mis-spent youth. Don’t ask.
Simply Unpronounceable
The site… or company… the email isn’t clear… named Gamelosophers wants me to be a partner in… something. DUI legislation maybe? All I know is that they are from Amsterdam and that they need a new name. Really. I once worked for a company called “Smarketing,” so I know.
Oh, and make your damn URL resolve correctly without the “www” prefix. Amateurs, I swear!
Amplify This
Emma with Amplified Media has… well… something coherent and possibly true to say about the site that implies that she or somebody at her company might have actually visited.
We love your collection of thoughts and stories on the world of online gaming. Your insights on the gaming highs and lows of 2011 was a great end-of-year piece.
If nothing else, that actually makes this email stand out from many of the others than don’t even get posted with a DUI reference. I might have to respond to that one and find out what opportunities Amplified Media has in mind.
Always End With Namaste
Kelly Heckman, Community Manager and Cat Herder for Namaste Entertainment wants me to know beta is still coming up and that they have forums now so they can answer all of your Storybricks questions.
And, judging from the side bar, they might be at GDC or something. I’m not sure I will make it to GDC this year. The usual source of Expo passes for Potshot and myself, Darren, seems to have gone off MMOs completely. Instead he is all philosophical these days and is, if I understand it right, about to launch an offensive on the Twilight franchise.
Hey, this last entry wasn’t such a let down after all, now was it?
Anyway, until next month, respect the mail bag!
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
“..offices are in the old Tempelhof Airport in Berlin..”
That’s fairly cool, but a buddy of mine worked for a game engine company whose offices were in the grandstand of a greyhound racing track. Seems greyhound racing isn’t as huge as it once was, so they lease out the innards of the grandstand for office space.
LikeLike
“Get a Catholic to say they are right…or even a Christian,…”
from Darren’s blog. so confused by this statement. really miss the commensense guy.
LikeLike
I recommend you take all the DUI cash you can get. I don’t mind. As long as you continue to post your mussings on gaming, I can ignore the other posts no problem.
LikeLike
You drink lucky lager and you’re in the CFC. I just found a new EVE blog to follow.
LikeLike
I’ve been authorized by the Storybricks team to offer you all the coupons I don’t use from my mailbox (easily more than a $15 value) and a gorgeous, full-color pin-up pic of my beard for pimping us. What do you say?
On a more serious note, if you do head up for GDC, let me know. I’ll be heading up one day at least to meet with people, even if I don’t attend the conference proper. Loved chatting with you and Potshot when we met up last time.
LikeLike
@John: Nope. No tickets fo ch’you. Actually, company is not going to GDC either so I couldn’t get you one if I wanted to…and I do.
@gnome: send me an email darren.at.catholicgamer.com and we can discuss. I don’t understand the context of that quote nor do I get why you’re confused.
LikeLike
I’m curious – did you ever respond to Amplified Media? I received a similar email today which makes it sound like they’ve actually visited my site and I’m curious to see if anyone has bothered finding out what they’re looking for.
LikeLike
@Karen – I did hear back, almost immediately. They were nice and polite and wanted pretty much the same thing that the home theater guys wanted, though not necessarily with a post about DUI laws. I declined to follow up after that. I would be fine with stuff in the side bar, but I really hate to make my content any worse by putting that sort of thing on the site.
LikeLike