News and Analysis

RUMOR: Amazon Phyiscal Store?

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If this rumor is true, then Apple is going to try a physical store as an experiment in Seattle.  I have no idea how to take this, it may never happen, it could be a way to mess with people's minds.  But I put this out there to keep you all informed.

Of course if they did, this is going to push them into completely unknown territory, so I'm not sure they could pull it off.  If they did do it, it may take awhile for it to be evaluated – UNLESS the goal is to deliver a blow to multiple competitors.

I also suspect an Amazon store would only do well in a limited selection of locations.

But, we will see.

– Steven Savage

Economic News Roundup 2/3/2011

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Oh what a lot of juicy economic news we have.

The latest NFP report on employment is surprisingly good.

A NY Lawsuit over MERS could get very complicated and may push some of the banking issues into/back into public conciousness.  Read the whole thing.  I'm still waiting for MERS issues to explode, and despite conflicting policies on the state and federal level, something's going to give.

Layoffs may be coming at Microsoft.  Rumor stage, but worth watching (and a thought – if it is coming this is a good time to do it and hope for not too much press).  Do I see it as a real deal?  I can't say either way, but the area of layoffs make sense.

MUST READ: A look at unemployment that answers the big questions people have.  Just go take a look and analyze (for instance, education affects your chance to be unemployed, but not the duration).

– Steven Savage

For Love of Tower Defense

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When Skyrim was done sucking down my spare and not-so-spare time, I tried some smaller downloadable games.  First I played "Dungeon Defenders", a tower defense/RPG fusion.  Next (well, at the same time), I played "Orcs Must Die," a case of truth in advertising that was . . . an RPG/Tower Defense Fusion.

Starting to see a trend?

In fact, Microsoft apparently did, they even had a Tower Defense discount/special on XBox.  It appears that Tower Defense has become pretty popular and produced some good games lately, even if the genre has been around for awhile (such as "Trapt/Dark Illusion") 

This made me wonder, just are these games popular?  Why was I enjoying them?  Why did these RPG-style fusions seem especially enjoyable and well-received?  I mean, yes, Tower defense was and is popular, but these games seemed to reach something in me and other gamers that made us play for hours and speculate on new ways to immolate orcs (I recommend a spring trap that throws them back into Brimstone, by the way).

For you current and future game professionals, here's my analysis.

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