News and Analysis

Economic Misery News!

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Well time for me to be bearer of bad economic tidings again.  So here's what's in the headlines today.

Kodak stock falls on rumors of bankrupcy.  It sounds like they don't need rumors – the company seems to be in trouble and is trying to stay afloat selling assets.

Takeaways:

  • They don't sound long for this world, frankly – so if you're there, consider getting out.
  • If they do go bankrupt/out of business, it'll have some impact psychologically, but frankly no one will be that surprised.
  • If they get bought out/broken up there may be some opportuities.

American Economic Mobility is kinda bad.  This is not news to anyone who's been paying attention, but the fact it's getting this much discussion is important – and this article takes a look at some fine details that take it out of the "oh, yeah" class of writing.  Lots to chew on here, and a few surprises (I wasn't aware of some of the family demographic details, for instance).

– Steven Savage

 

Career-relevant news in gaming!

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Career Alert: A new game site appears to be in the works. Start looking people – it seems the folks at Vox Media's been grabbing talent. You might find some oppose here.

Takeaways:

  • Vox has a past history of making things work – this may succeed.
  • A success may be especially bad for kotaku, in my opinion, which seems to have become "lamer" content wise (and they just lost some of their talent).
  • There may be job opportunities here.

Gaikai lines up more partnerships, showing the major rival to OnLive has major plans. Though I'm not sure that Best Buy partnership is going to last long-term.

Gaikai has a lot of ambition and one gutsy founder, and a deadline – new demos deployed on the web in 2012. Ambitious. Intriguing, and they're building some big partnerships.

Takeaways:

  • Have you sent them a resume? They are hiring.
  • This is not just an "OnLive" competitor – these people do streaming. Much like OnLive they can become a Netflix competitor.
  • The web-embed technology gives them a chance to reach people and provide more services. They may make some deals that may not have them being public – but their technology will be.

– Steven Savage

News Roundup for 1/3/2012

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Asus' new Transformer will run Ice Cream Sandwich, leading to an obvious visual joke in the article, but opening the opportunity for Team Fortress Sandvich jokes as well. Anyway, yes the new Power Tablet is going to get the next iteration of Android. However more interesting than that is the fact Asus recognizes the modder community and is working on a tool to undo the secure/firm bootloader – a quick turnaround. I think I'm gonna have to get me one . . .

This is also further embrace of the modder/hack community, a trend that I think had its most public showcasing with the Kinect. It's one to watch (and encourage – great marketing)

RIM is considering new chairmen, which is a good strategy in the "stop sucking" effort they need to make. However I still vote they're too far gone and see them shrinking to something that actually works, or getting bought. In short yes – If you work there look to get out.

Indie game Bastion sells over half a million copies. I'm biased – it was a great game and worth every penny. It also is a good example of an indie success story and worth following.

Weird – A drop off on Star Wars: The Old Republic sales in the UK. I won't jump to any conclusions – it's one market in one demographic. I do however want to watch this because it's a big-budget, big-name game. I am hearing good things from people already . . .

– Steven Savage