Bet on video game ratings? Sounds boring.

" @Axxol:  I disagree, i think it's a fantastic idea.   I think its good to actually have a use for quest XP, well done good sir! "

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I put a bunch more work into it over the past six-and-a-half hours, and now placing bets works pretty much 100%, and "redeeming" bets (after the game is released) is about 80% done now. I might open the site up to beta testing in a couple days at this rate, assuming I don't get swamped with homework this week. I'm also thinking about pulling your wiki points from Giant Bomb and letting you bet with those too, since that would lead to more people doing wiki tasks and stuff for points, which would actually help the site in the long run. Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to change this later or not, but, right now, you can bet on any game that hasn't been reviewed yet, even if it's like, a 2600 game. My justification for this is that Jeff reviewed some Game Room games a little while ago, but it's actually just because I'm lazy and dealing with releases in the Giant Bomb API is incredibly daunting. Because of this, I'm going to add a feature to let you revoke a bet at any time and get 75% of what you put in back. 
 
So yeah, by the time I next post a blog, there's a pretty good chance I'll be asking for testers. :D 
 
EDIT: Also got leaderboards working.

This sounds like it could be really cool.

" @SamFo said:

" @Axxol:  I disagree, i think it's a fantastic idea.   I think its good to actually have a use for quest XP, well done good sir! "

You mean besides the spells? Wait, you're not supposed to know about those yet. MIND ERASE!!!! *casts Mind Erase* "

Alright one last quick update and then I'll probably stay quiet until beta launch in a couple days. I did a ton of work today on making the "cash in your bets" screen work, and it's about 90% functional, and the UI need a little work, too, but here it is: 

Sounds really awesome! I love quest and am happy you are making them more meaning full. Do you know what you are going to do if they give multiple review scores to the same game on different platforms like what happened with Bayonetta?

" Sounds really awesome! I love quest and am happy you are making them more meaning full. Do you know what you are going to do if they give multiple review scores to the same game on different platforms like what happened with Bayonetta? "

this looks awesome and really exciting 
it would def be a great thing for the site

I think the 3,000 people who completed the last community quest set so fast might argue with you about how quests on the site have become so unpopular but none the less this looks like a great concept, good luck with it.

Interesting stuff.  Might check it out, but it at the very least gives an idea for what could be achieved with the API stuff which I haven't seen many people take advantage of with novel applications.

wow this is amazing! doing this in your spare time and the great idea makes this whole endeavour most impressive :D. though i'm no gambler this might be a fun way to pass the time (and get more points, cause, lets be honest, achievements, even in games hold no real appeal to me). but i will most definitely blame you for any sort of gambling addiction i develop because of this. be warned! :DD

Liking the look of this - if you clean up the interface a bit, it would totally be an awesome addition to the site (although I get that you're probably just trying to get it up and running as opposed to being the prettiest girl at the ball at this point)

" @takua108:  I have a suggestion about the review prediction thingy. You should replace Vinny with an "Other" category. Vinny rarely reviews games. It's about as common as Dave, Drew or Alex reviewing a game. So replacing him with an "other" category would cover you whoever reviews the game. "

I'm a bit confused... so can you actually lose quest xp? Like, you can't actually change how much quest xp a person has on the site, so you'd have to essentially import that number from the site and then track wins/losses on yours, correct?

" I'm a bit confused... so can you actually lose quest xp? Like, you can't actually change how much quest xp a person has on the site, so you'd have to essentially import that number from the site and then track wins/losses on yours, correct? "

Quick update: I bought http://imcalling.it ! I'm currently working out DNS settings and whatnot to make everything work (I had to buy the domain from GoDaddy because my domain and hosting provider, 1and1, doesn't sell .it domains), but once everything's in order, it's going to be awesome. I just hope this project doesn't go entirely belly-up, because it costs $35/year for this domain (apparently foreign domains have weird negotiation things that have to happen to get them). 
 
Also, I wrote some code to extract your friends list (people that you're following who're also following you) from Giant Bomb, so I can make, like, leaderboards that show you where you stand compared to your friends. You can test out the friend list extraction by going to http://api.imcalling.it/?act=user_friends&user=takua108 (or put your own username there). 
 
Which leads me to my last mini-development. I'm going to release the Giant Bomb-related PHP code open-source once I'm done with the project, so people will hopefully develop more cool stuff. My GiantBomb class has rudimentary GB API access methods, but also has extract_xp, extract_friends, user_exists, and soon, extract_wikipoints, extract_triviascore, and more. It also includes a system to let you "connect" your Giant Bomb account to whatever project you're working on, just like ici. While the Giant Bomb API is fine and dandy for accessing their database, I'm hoping some people will make cool meta-sites like ici using this stuff. I'm also considering having an API for ici so you can use some of this stuff without having to mess with the PHP. 
 
EDIT: I ended up making a cool little interface for my API-in-progress! :D

This is a great idea but something about it just seems so weird to me...

" @takua108: Dude, I'd be down.  Sign me up for that superXbeeta list! "

Whoa. Totally missed this a week ago. Cool stuff. 
 
Edit: 
Hey, what the hell?! I demand to be on ze bee-ta testers list!!  :P

" Whoa. Totally missed this a week ago. Cool stuff.  Edit: Hey, what the hell?! I demand to be on ze bee-ta testers list!!  :P "

Found the Easter Egg. Come on, man, that was TOO obvious! Great none the less.
 
Anyway, looking forward to this.

" Found the Easter Egg. Come on, man, that was TOO obvious! Great none the less.  Anyway, looking forward to this. "

" @GlenTennis said:

" Found the Easter Egg. Come on, man, that was TOO obvious! Great none the less.  Anyway, looking forward to this. "

I think you're the first to find it, though :D "

This looks awesome. Really glad that you decided to work on something like this!

Placing a comment so i can come back and check on this later - i love quests and this looks like an awesome idea on top of those, keep up the work dude!