New partner, WorldCon, and more...

Prairie Games, Inc has partnered with industry veteran Randel Reiss! We're very excited to work with Randel on MoM and future MMORPG technology and games :) I've included the press release regarding this below...

I'm also very pleased to report that Minions of Mirth recently surpassed 15,000 player registrations! We're quite happy with this metric. There is also no indication that it's slowing down. :)

Garage Games has been very important to our company's success... and not solely from a technology standpoint. These guys are taking their hard won experience, contacts, and work and putting it into making independent games a viable industry. The amount of "street cred" that GG adds to the whole indie scene is just awesome. I think this is often overlooked and it's extremely important...

I've learned a whole lot in the last few years. I really look forward to leveraging the upcoming GarageGames tools and technology in production. The news items follow:

-Josh Ritter
President
Prairie Games, Inc
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Prairie Games at the 64th World Science Fiction Convention

WorldCon Flyer Front:

WorldCon Flyer Back:


Party hearty in the name of Prairie Games' hugely successful, one-time-fee, MMORPG Minions of Mirth at:

The 64th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon)
Wednesday, August 23rd through Sunday, August 27th, 2006
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, CA 92802

Prairie Games' Minions of Mirth celebration will run:

Friday, August 25th, 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm
& Saturday, August 26th, 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm

On the Lanai Party floor of
The Hilton Anaheim
777 W. Convention Way
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 750-4321

FREE food, and we mean GOOD stuff, FREE drinks. See what everyone is talking about as players will be playing live from the celebration.

Contact: savage@prairiegames.com

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Prairie Games has a new partner!!!

Long-Time Game Industry Veteran Randel Reiss Acquires Major Stake in Prairie Games, Inc.

New Chairman Makes 'One-Time Fee' For "Minions of Mirth" MMORPG Permanent Feature

Wishek, North Dakota - Former Technopop President and Founder Randel B. Reiss has announced today that he has acquired a major stake in Wishek, North Dakota's Prairie Games, Inc. Mr. Reiss' first act as the company's new Chairman was to announce that the 'one-time fee' offering on Prairie's flagship "Minion's of Mirth" massively multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG) title will now be a permanent feature of the game.

Originally conceived as a promotional device to help Minions of Mirth attract customers and gain market share, the "pay once and play as long as you like" subscription model has proven to be very effective. The use of this approach helped Minions of Mirth practically quadruple its numbers from 4,000 subscribers to 15,000 subscribers in a matter of weeks.

"Minions of Mirth is an MMORPG that you can play right now!" says Prairie Games President Josh Ritter. "While there is a tidal wave of MMORPG hype hitting the industry every day, the lion's share of these titles are still in development. This is very confusing for game players that want to play games and not just look at ads."

As for Prairie's new Chairman and his ability to hit the ground running, the team in North Dakota is very excited about working with Randel Reiss. Mr. Reiss has been described as a lifer in the software entertainment industry. He joined the industry when the concept of the computer game was still in its infancy and has been a dedicated participant throughout the industry's rollercoaster like history.

The concept of a 'one-time fee' MMORPG is very novel given the expectations of most of today's MMORPG subscribers. Typically, MMORPG players have to pay a subscription fee every month in order to stay in the game and maintain their characters and relationships. The pay once concept may be seen as a competitive threat by some of the established MMORPG vendors.

According to Mr. Reiss, "I loved the idea of the one-pay approach the first time I heard it. It gives the players more control over their own game and their own finances. While this may be viewed as heresy by some of the other game companies, I see making this a permanent feature as my own personal contribution to the evolution of the MMORPG."

As far as upsetting other game companies that may see one-pay as cutting into their profit margins, Mr. Reiss is not concerned. He sees the evolution of the MMORPG model as inevitable.

"I'm sure that Blockbuster was rattled when Net Flix came out with no-late-fees," says Prairie Games Vice President Lara Engebretson. "Blockbuster made a ton of free money off of those late fees. The fact is nobody can stop progress and if Net Flix hadn't done it someone else would have. Given the choice, I would rather be the company introducing the new way of doing business, rather than the company fighting it."

About Prairie Games, Inc:
Prairie Games, Inc is an independent game company dedicated to creating fresh and innovative role-playing games and technology. The company has offices in Wishek, North Dakota and Redwood City, California. Minions of Mirth, its debut title, is available on Windows and OSX. The company's website is: http://www.prairiegames.com. Contact is: info@prairiegames.com.