News and Analysis

Late Breaking Geekery: Netflix Rage

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Thanks to our regular Rob, for the news about People Being Unhappy at Netflix over their prices.

I'm still figuring Netflix' strategy, and from what I can figure:

  • They want to focus on streaming.
  • They will probably phase out DVDs in the next five years (which is expensive)
  • They are making some radical change now at the top of their game as opposed to when it can hurt them more.
  • People won't quit as much as the threaten.

So your takes?

– Steven Savage

Games And Tradition in The Video Game Age

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There are games out there that are traditional.  Dungeons and Dragons in all its incarnations.  Settlers of Cataan.  Cosmic Encounter.  Risk.  Axis and Allies.  There are pen and paper games, board games that are older than many people, games people have played from childhood to adulthood.  There are games that, for many, are traditions.

By traditions I mean games that people play for a considerable time, may identify with, and that act as cultural touchstones.  How many of us (older geeks at least) remember Monopoly or D&D from Days Gone By, and played them for years and decades?  How many times did we use certain games as references or ways to sync up with others?

So I began to wonder about computer games.

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News Of The Day 7/12/2011

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Lots is going on with EA, Ireland is in the crapper, and Dropbox is going BIG! Lots is up, folks.

Career:
Social media is becoming big for recruiting. We knew this, but this spells out some juicy details.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Moody downgraded Ireland's rating to junk. Well not that I think highly of Moody's, but still that's bad. Greece, now Ireland . . .

Geek Law:
That streaming bill?  There are reasons for gamers to worry beyond what you may think.

Media:
BBC Worldwide is going to rent out Doctor Who eps – using Facebook credits. An interesting little media convergence for your consideration. Warner now BBC? Maybe Facebook has some advantages over Google+ right now . . .

Social Media:
Facebook makes its way onto feature phones, which is an interesting backward-step in a way, but also can open a wider market (Japan for instance is big on feature phones). A subtle move that tells me Facebook is still looking for ways to penetrate markets that aren't always obvious.

Technology:
Dropbox is raising a ton of money and is highly valued. This is a serious success story, and has quite a history worth reading about. It may also be worth throwing them a resume.

Video:
Netflix is going to raise its prices which means a lot of people aren't happy. It's a kind of heavy hike, so I'm not sure why they're doing it. Were they cutting corners? Do they have plans? Are they just greedy?

Video Games:
EA has bought Popcap games, though the exact amount between stock and cash sort of seems a bit unsure. Not surprising to any of us, and I figure that means a nice stock of more games in EA's steamalike. Though I still wonder what this means for Amazon.

For that matter, notice EA bought Ohai as well. Busy folks there – not sure it's time to throw them a resume since there will doubrlessly be post-purchase cuts.

Interesting! AT&T is going to have the Sony Ericsson Xperia.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So just how many more companies is EA going to buy?

– Steven Savage