The site just wrapped up its testing phase, and it'll launch publicly at 6 p.m. PT tonight. Go there right now, though, and you'll just see the message: "We apologize! We have been overwhelmed by the interest in GameCrush and we have the smoking servers to prove it! We are working on a fix and we are very sorry for the inconvenience."
It looks like gamer boys really want to meet gamer girls — or at least people are amused by the novelty of the service.
When it's working again, each user will choose to be either a "Player" (mostly males) or a "PlayDate" (mostly females). Players will choose PlayDates they'd like to play either Xbox 360 games (like Halo 3 or Grand Theft Auto IV) or browser-based computer games with. A game date lasts about 10 minutes, and it costs real money in the form of game points.
That's where it gets a little weird. Players are expected to tip most of their points to the PlayDates, and the PlayDates can trade those points for real cash. So in a way this is less a dating site and more a sort of virtual escort service or at least a phone sex line with a focus on simple flirting rather than sex (maybe).
Sure, you could argue that in traditional dating, a guy might pay for a girl's dinner, and this is the same as that — except that in this day and age, that tradition is hardly universal anymore. Is this a way for folks to find love through a shared hobby or is it a geeky phone sex line for guys (and sometimes gals) who don't get out much?
[via GeekSugar]