Currently, the Nintendo console on the market, the Wii, is by no means on its way out. It’s been around for about four and a half years, which is still considered young in video game console terms. And yet, here we are, being teased with words of its successor, thanks to sources at GameInformer and IGN. What details have been leaked, exactly, you ask? Let’s break it down.

• The console will be capable of full HD, perhaps even more powerful than the PS3 and X Box 360
• Its CPU will be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset
• It will likely be backward compatible with all Wii games
• It will implement an entirely new controller, with a built-in touchscreen which will stream content directly from the console
• The controller is rumored to have the form-factor of a tablet
• Retail price will be in the $350-400 range
• Console size will be comparable to the original X Box, but appearance will suggest a modernized version of the Super Nintendo
• It will be revealed by Nintendo at this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
• A 2011 release date is unlikely

Well, isn’t that tantalizing? From the sounds of it, Nintendo isn’t pulling any punches this round. With the Wii, they opted for a much wider audience and were not concerned with matching the HD capabilities of their competitors. Now it seems Nintendo is fixing their radar on the core gamer audience, who will no doubt be watching and listening intently during the E3 Press Conference. In only a short time Nintendo will put the cards on the table during the expo, which starts June 7.

Of course, we raffled off our Nintendo® Wii™. After pulling seventeen business cards, we finally found our winner, Ronald Bradford! Congratulations are extended on behalf of the entire eZanga team.

We will be attending Search Engine Strategies (SES) in New York on March 24th and 25th. Make sure to stop by our booth (# 121), and drop in your business card for your chance to win a Nintendo®Wii™! Remember, you must be present during the time of the drawing in order to win the Wii.

It feels good to be home. The trade show had an amazing turn out, as usual. We gave away our Nintendo® Wii™ in our business card raffle. It took us FIVE drawings before we found our winner!  We would like to congratulate Sara Mahmoodi from Baytech Interactive Web Solutions! Hope you enjoy your Wii. Better luck next time to everyone who entered. Make sure you’re present during the business card drawing to claim your prize!

On February 10th, CEO Rich Kahn gave a presentation on, “Using SEM to survive in today’s economy.” Rich gave a very thoughtful and informative presentation that struck home to all the viewers.

If you want to see how much fun we had during our trip, click here to see photo highlights of SMX!

Here is a little video put together by one of our employees:

Internet-based sweepstakes, cash giveaways, and contests, on the other hand may be less high profile, but they have been popular for many years, and their use is increasing according to internet experts.

Consumers throughout the US and the world have entered offline contests to win free prizes and money since before the 1930s, and the trade-off has usually been that they thereafter been exposed to large amounts of direct mail and other marketing offers. 

One online social network, HopOnThis.com (http://www.HopOnThis.com) is out to change that basic paradigm and simply reward its users with free goodies for doing what comes naturally, namely sharing their photos, blogging, and inviting friends and colleagues to join them in a virtual community.

The new social network is a recently launched outgrowth of ‘meta’ search engine eZanga.com (http://www.eZanga.com) and it expands on the giveaway traditions that eZanga has become famous for.  The company launched the HopOnThis network a little over a month ago, and their user base has steadily increased since then. 

According to the company their main user base is women between 25 and 45.  It is probably no coincidence that some of the most cost-saving focused consumers are this exact demographic who often are tasked with raising their families on limited budgets.

Search engine marketing expert Rich Kahn is the CEO and co-founder of eZanga.com and HopOnThis.com, and he claims that his companies have given away, “Over $100,000 in cash and prizes over the past five years.  We started our social network because the regular users of our search engine wanted to find more ways to get free prizes like Wii systems as well as cash.  They wanted to refer their friends and to be rewarded for it.  We just listened to them.”

SOURCE: OBSNews.com

You can also find us on MarketWatch and CNBC.

This week we are in Chicago for the Search Engine Strategies Expo located at the Hilton Hotel.  The event is from December 9th to the 10th, and you can check us out at booth #217.  Make sure you stop by our booth on Wednesday to see what we will be giving away…

November 4th, the second day of the trade show, was very busy for eZanga!  Our CEO, Rich Kahn, gave a presentation to the attending press about our newly designed search engine. Rich explained how our new eZanga search engine can pull results from more than 100 unique content sources in real time, while sorting and displaying them in a user friendly format in about one second!  He also informed the press how our five year old Cash Giveaway Program has transformed into an Incentive Social Network, HopOnThis.com, with even more raffles and prizes than before!  Our members are now able to stay connected and win cool prizes!

We also did our business card drawing for a Nintendo Wii gaming system.  Fifteen cards were pulled before we found a winner! Remember, in order to win you must be present for the drawing. eZanga would like to congratulate Dan Waxman for being there to claim his Wii!  Here’s a picture of Rich and the Wii winner Dan: