Noted game publisher Konami is in a bit of a bind today as some of the company's video slot machines apparently contain what the Ontario provincial gambling operator considers to be subliminal messages.  The machines in question have been pulled from Ontario's casinos and other such venues while the issue is under investigation.  The subliminal message involves a flashing JACKPOT message during each spin.

[P]layers who stick to a machine are seeing a winning image every two seconds, the time it takes for one spin, and that concerns Roger Horbay, an electronic gaming specialist who has treated hundreds of problem gamblers.

"I think it's part of them trying to make their games more attractive to the players to keep them at the game longer so their machines are more profitable," he said.  However, Konami, the company behind the games, said the jackpot symbols are a technical problem that it is fixing.

Better be careful.  Until those machines are replaced gamblers will have to go elsewhere for their slot machine needs.  You never know how many customers can be lost in that kind of situation.  Kick the messages to the curb and explain just why the machines were acting this way.  Otherwise the company will have all kinds of bad publicity to deal with.  Next thing you know we'll have to start monitoring other media for these kinds of things And that's something anybody wants to do.  Major problems, that.  I certainly don't like having my brain meddled with, thank you very much.

(via BoingBoing)

Did you find the subliminal message in this blog entry?