Barrett-Jackson Fantasy Bidding

AUTOS: Barrett-Jackson Fantasy Bidding

SPEED.com has readied an extensive amount of multi-platform coverage for this year’s Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event Auction in Scottsdale. The lineup is highlighted by live streaming from multiple camera angles, the popular Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game and original video content as part of SPEED’s 40 hours of live coverage celebrating the auction company’s 40th anniversary.

The broadcast begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, while the Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game starts on Thursday at the same time.

For the all-no-reserve auction’s entirety, three live-steaming cameras are using an optimized feed for Apple iPad, iPhone, iTouch and Android 2.0 applications, covering all the action in and around the WestWorld auction tent. On-the-block reporter Steve Magnante is hosting web-exclusive “Magnante Minutes” video blogs, while SPEED.com Automotive Editor Bob Golfen is collecting the latest news, notes, reactions and personality storylines that are shaping the collector car marketplace in Scottsdale throughout the week.

Also on tap is an online chat, photo galleries, collector car trivia, “Ask the Broadcast Booth” and a new SPEED Facebook Barrett-Jackson content application capturing the entire interactive experience.

Beginning with SPEED’s live coverage on Thursday, collector-car experts Rick DeBruhl and Justin Bell are featuring 30 cars during this year’s interactive Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game. Once introduced, fantasy bidders have an opportunity to guess the final “gaveled” price of each vehicle through multiple points of entry (log onto SpeedFantasyBid.com or the SPEED.com Barrett-Jackson landing page for more details).

Fantasy bidding closes once each car rolls onto the main auction block with per-car, daily and overall prizes being awarded throughout the game to the closest guesstimated price not exceeding the final auction number. Incremental points are also assigned upon the aforementioned rules baseline.

“Our fantasy bid game is the best-integrated and most-popular multi-platform package on SPEED and SPEED.com,” said Kevin Annison, SPEED VP of Digital Interactive & Media. “We had almost one million fantasy bids throughout the four (Scottsdale; Palm Beach, Fla.; Orange County, Calif.; and Las Vegas) Barrett-Jackson broadcasts in 2010. It’s a great interactive game that gets our audience more engaged. One of our goals is to continue giving away great prizes, increase our numbers and let the viewers have some fun with the broadcast.

“We’re also offering a two-screen experience with our unique camera angles and content,” Annison added. “And our new interactive Facebook application allows all of our SPEED.com users to experience the auction on other platforms.”

The grand prize for winning the Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game for the player who accumulates the most points throughout four days is a 46-inch Samsung, 3D, LED, LCD, high-definition television with a Samsung 3D, Blu-Ray DVD player. The game’s runner-up wins an Xbox 360 gaming console with interactive Kinect technology, while the third-place player grabs a Sony Cyber-shot digital camera.

For those accumulating the most points on a daily basis, a 32-inch Sony LCD high-definition television is awarded, while those whom guess the closest gaveled price on each car win a 16-gigabyte iPad.

Here is the SPEED schedule of live TV coverage of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale. All times are in Eastern Time, and the schedule is subject to change:

Tuesday, Jan. 18
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 7 p.m. - Midnight

Wednesday, Jan. 19
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 7 p.m. - Midnight

Thursday, Jan. 20
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 7 p.m. - Midnight
Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game: 7 p.m. - Midnight

Friday, Jan. 21
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 2 p.m. - Midnight
Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game: 2 p.m. - Midnight

Saturday, Jan. 22
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 2 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game: 2 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Sunday, Jan. 23
Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event: 2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Hagerty Fantasy Bid Game: 2 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Square Enix May Have Registered Final Fantasy XIII-2

Square Enix May Have Registered Final Fantasy XIII-2 Domain

Seems as if Square Enix has locked down the web domain for a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII.

As reported on the superannuation Twitter account (via NeoGAF), the domain registrar that Square Enix has used in the past has now registered www.finalfantasy13-2game.com.

While most Final Fantasy games have featured an entirely new cast and world, Square Enix has dabbled in storyline sequels in the past. In 2003, it created Final Fantasy X-2, which reused much of the character and environment assets of the original game. I’m pretty sure I predicted in no uncertain terms that it would do the same thing for the very expensive XIII on an episode of Active Time Babble, although I am not going to sit here for two hours and listen to it to fact-check that.