Another big CatchUp CoverAll jackpot!

Yesterday we had yet another big jackpot win! This time congratulations go out to lucky Gamesviller Peachcobbler602 of Commerce, GA, who hit the jackpot in CatchUp CoverAll and took home $443 in cold hard cash!

But that's not all! When Peachcobbler602 scored the jackpot, FOUR OTHER players with the same Lucky Ball choice as Peachcobbler602 each won $25 cash! Just like that! Congratulations to all our Lucky Ball winners:

Okiegal91800

Sueleo88

Tarheelgirl1nc

 

Allen_40342

 

Best known as the creator and head writer of the well-known television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, the Gamesville team humbly considers Joss Whedon to be a television visionary. The Academy Award-nominated writer is now prepping for the premier of his newest project, FOX's Dollhouse. The premise of the show revolves around the illegal operation of the "Dollhouse" where a series volunteers work to enhance human "Dolls" who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. We recently had the chance to talk with Joss about Dollhouse and his reflections on the project.

Gamesville: Can you tell us a little bit about the genesis of the show?

I had lunch with Eliza Dushku, where we started talking about what kind of stuff she should play. I thought she should play lots of different things, and then the show happened. As for the other characters, I wanted to have a strong ensemble around Eliza, because I didn’t want her to have to carry the burden of every single day of shooting.

Beyond that, I’m very interested in concepts of identity-- can people actually change, what do we expect from each other, how much do we use each other and manipulate each other, and what would we do if we had this kind of power over each other?  And in this, our increasingly virtual world, self-definition has become a very amorphous concept, so it just felt what was on my mind.

Are these “Dolls” supposed to be empty vessels with new personalities each week?

They’re supposed to be empty vessels and the constant struggle with Dollhouse is that they’re not quite empty and that Echo is clearly evolving in a way that they have not imprinted her to do. The idea is to create people that people can relate to, because they were so helpless and so innocent, and then let them have these latent senses of identity and of their surroundings, and create sympathies through that, as well as through the characters that they become.

Why was Eliza the right actress to build this around?

Eliza has a genuinely powerful, electric, and luminous quality that I’ve rarely seen.  She’s also a really solid person.  She’s a good friend, a feminist, an activist.  She’s interested in the people around her.  She has a lot of different things going on, and I’ve watched her over the years, as a friend, try to take control of her career and protect the ethos and the message of what it was that she was doing, and I respect that enormously.

What can you tell us about the other dolls that are in the Dollhouse?

Obviously we start out focusing on Echo, Eliza's character, but the friends that she makes, in particular, Sierra, all have their own stories, their own reasons for being there, and their own reaction to things.  As her friendships are formed more, we get to spend more time with the other dolls, and we get real tastes of how difficult their lives can be.

There are a lot of other Whedon alumni in your cast, can you talk a little bit about your other cast members?

The basic mandate for me was to find new people, because I had Eliza and I didn’t want to feel like it was going to be just a reunion for my pals or anything like that, and I found some not only amazing new actors, but amazing new friends.

What is your reaction to the Friday night time slot and what challenges or maybe even opportunities you see there?

I really do see the opportunity. It’s about growing a fan base, both for Dollhouse and Terminator.  I’ve always worked best under the radar.  Most of my shows people have come to after they stopped airing, but I would like to buck that trend, and at the same time, it is part of how I work that you stay with it and it grows on you and it becomes family, and the Friday night is a much better place for that to actually happen.

You’ve gone through the process of launching this show several times now, so how has the process changed for you since you launched Buffy?

You know, in many ways, it hasn’t changed at all.  We were held to mid-season on Buffy.  There was a certain amount of birth pains.  We were re-shooting things for the first episode during the last episode.  So I think part of this is either the same, or I just really haven’t learned anything about how to do it better.  But I think the changes have really been that the media is constantly making new demands. There’s just more to it than going in there and telling your story.  The marketing of the thing and the story itself are intertwined in ways that create opportunities

Given the pressures of being a creative person working within television, what keeps you going?

Ultimately, it’s two things.  It’s the story and it’s the people I’m working with.  I’ve gotten pretty good at putting together a group of people, both in the writing and in the acting fields who are not just really gifted and delightful to learn from and to watch, but are just good people to be around.

Dollhouse premieres on Friday, February 13th, 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time.

Online Bingo keeps you youthful?

If you're not already hooked on Online Bingo for the fun, recent research has shown that playing Bingo can also help improve your mental health. Aside from all the real cash prizes that sites like Gamesville offer, studies are now showing that bingo can help your mental fitness in several ways, including maintaining memory skills, improving concentration and providing social interaction.

A new article describes how Online Bingo excercises three essential areas-- the eyes, brain and body. Read the full article here...

So give your brain a workout! Flex your mental muscles in one of our three varieties of bingo games today!

Yet another reason to celebrate!

Congratulations to Gamesviller Djh069 of Butler, PA, who hit the jackpot yesterday playing Magic 21 and took home $3,449 in cold hard cash!

Useless Facts!

Since Djh069's hometown of Butler, PA is such an interesting place we couldn't help but share several useless facts about the city:

• The modern Jeep was invented in Butler, PA, by the American Bantam Car Company, an early producer of small fuel-efficient vehicles. Big military contracts eventually went to Willys and Ford, and the Bantam factory failed during World War II.
• Cult classic Night of the Living Dead was filmed in Butler County, in Evans City. Butler is referenced in the movie when the city's name appears on a television set.
• In the 1950s, Butler became one of the first cities to install bells at crosswalks, a common practice today.
• The first all steel rail car was manufactured at the Pullman Standard plant in Butler.
• The Connoquenessing Creek, which was ranked the second most polluted waterway in the United States in 2000, flows through the city.
  

Facts courtesy of Wikipedia. Find out more about Butler, PA...

Distinguishing Personality Traits

Minnow5 says, "This is a picture of our two dogs sleeping, Bandit on the left and Bella on the right. Bandit is our 17-month-old Chihuahua and Bella is a 14-month-old mixed Schnauzer mutt. We got Bandit in February of 2008 and Bella came along 2 months later, when we found her wandering the streets in Sherwood, Oregon and took her in. They took to each other right away and love each other very much, albeit a little camera-shy as you can tell by this photo. They always look out for each other and hate it when one of them has to leave the house for awhile to go to the vet or something. When they wrestle Bandit makes weird noises like a little alien from outer space. He's always picking on Bella, but she's very patient with him and lets him know when she's had enough. She just likes to pretend jump on him.  We love our dogs!"

Want to share photos of your own favorite pet with the Gamesville community?

Send photos to: members@gamesville.com

In addition to your pet's picture, please be sure to include:

• Your Gamesville member name
• Your pet's most distinguishing personality trait

If we publish your pet as a "Best Pet," we'll give you 5,000 GV Rewards. Submit your pet today!

And the hits just keep on coming!

Yesterday we had yet another big jackpot hit! This time congratulations go out to lucky Gamesviller Walker030907 of Sonora, CA, who hit the jackpot yesterday in CatchUp CoverAll and took home $461 in cold hard cash!

Walker030907's win comes hot on the heels of Gamelvr323's DOUBLE JACKPOT win last week. (How'd she win double the stated jackpot? Just for being a GV Gold member. Just another reason why it pays to Go Gold!)

Today we're announcing a fun way to pass the time between rounds of your favorite Gamesville games, exclusively for our GV Gold members! Play games, while you're playing games!

Since the launch of our GV Gold member program back in February of last year, GV Gold members have had fun trivia and pop quizzes to answer and converse about in between rounds. Starting today, GV Gold members now have the option of 5 mini-games and interactive animations to play in between rounds of your favorite Gamesville game show!

And as always, GV Gold members receive an Ad-free experience as well as access to special members-only rooms for each Gamesville game, exclusive items for your Gamesville Avatar, bonus GV Rewards and so much more.

What are you waiting for? Come join the fun: Go Gold today!

Gamesviller Pavpeg of Pavilion, NY, recently won $378 while playing CatchUp CoverAll.

What was her moment of victory like? What type of game would she like to see here at Gamesville? Find out below...

What will you spend your winnings on?
No special plans for the winnings just yet, but this time of year in western New York is expensive, so it will come in handy.

What do you do for a living?
I am a stay at home mom whoes kids have all grown up, so you might say I am under-employed.

If you were an animal in the wild, what would you be?
I really don't know, perhaps something that spends its days sleeping in the sun.

What is your most treasured possession and why?
My 7-month-old pug puppy! She is a doll and one of these days I am going to enter her in your pet contest.

What does your Gamesville member name mean?
My member name comes from a combination of my name, Peg, and the town where I live, Pavilion.

What game would you like to see Gamesville make next?

I would like to see just a traditional bingo game, much like Bingo Zone, only with the options of regular bingo and a full card. It may also be fun in Magic 21 if there were a prize for having three 7's on your initial board.  This happened to me the other day and made me think of it.  Kind of like pulling three 7's on a slot!  Also, that would add something else to the game as you have in so many of your other games.

Thanks, Pavpeg - and congratulations again on your win!

PEW PEW PEW! Fans of retro gaming are in for a real treat.

Originally released in 1978, Space Invaders has seen many iterations and in it's upcoming release on the Nintendo DS will be featuring a new mode of play near and dear to our hearts.

The classic Space Invaders has been beefed up with the addition with a Gamesville favorite: Bingo Mode! In the all new bingo mode a grid is lit up during the course of a stage as invaders are shot. To win at Bingo, key spots on the grid must light up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Here's a screen courtesy of Kotaku of the space bingo action:

Space Invaders Extreme 2 is currently scheduled to ship in Japan on March 26, 2009 for the Ninenedo DS portable gaming system.

Sound off!

What other retro games could be improved with the addition of bingo play? What recent releases would you love to see include one of your favorite tried-and-true games? Let us know with your comments!

Is it time to head for the hills? No, at least not yet.

As it turns out, these signs of warning were merely hacked construction road signs by a group of pranksters in Austin, Texas. Read the full story here...

In case you're wondering? Gamesville: Zombie-free since 1999. (There was that one incident back in 1998 that we don't like to talk about. Suffice it to say most of us survived.)