Steven Savage

DC's big changes are set forth, NY Comic Con gets more game-oriented, and by the way, Pokemon is big. Must-Know Geek News, I choose you!

Yes, we know about the Twitter Exploit. Here's Slashdot, whose comments have some nice details.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Seth Godin has an oddly poetic thought on the 'two recessions' and makes the point we've got fundamental change here.

Looks like a long recovery from the recession, Godin's comments nonwithstanding.

Comics:
DC's multimedia options move to Los Angeles. Publishing stays in New York. It's a clearly stated move to help develop film and digital property. I'm betting not everyone in NY moves to LA – so this might be a job opportunity if you're in LA (and a recruiting opportunity otherwise), and perhaps a source of conflict for people who don't want to move.

On top of the move, the Wildstorm imprint is cancelled at DC, and ZUDA moves under the DC banner.

Technology:
Cool companies with investment roundup: 3D light source maker Laser Light gets $13 million in investment which isn't surprising with the continuing (if subdued) interest in 3D. Data Management company ActiFio gets $16 million, seems very ambitious, and is in the ever-geeky Boston area. Resumes out, people . . .

Google sets up a service to show where governments have requested information or demanded things be taken down. An interesting way to counteract censorship and embarass censors perhaps? Maybe Google is finding ways to strike back, and this sounds rather clever.

Video Egg to buy Six Apart. I can't say it's a bad deal actually, and the combined entity may be broad yet powerful – sounds like the goal is a comprehensive media company. As we're hosted on TypePad I kind of hope for the best, obviously. Sounds like there won't be any or many layoffs – and I'd watch to see how this pays off, VideoEgg might be a company to work for in the future.

Video:
Netflix to launch streaming in Canada tomorrow – and it sounds like it's an experiment for further expansion. Looks like it'll butt heads with Zip.ca, Canada's equivalent of Redbox – who wants to go into streaming. This could get interesting – though I'm impressed with Netflix enough that I think they can offer strong competition in to anyone.

Video Games:
There will be a large video game presence at the NY Comic-Con. Which is not surprising as the geek-marketing-convention fusion continues at several major events. I'm sure this will also raise controversy about the purpose of these events and their focus – but lets face it, if you want marketing and presence . . .

Bigpoint to launch an MMO using Silverlight. I present this more as a curiosity about Silverlight adaption for you technically-minded folks.

Shocking no-one, Pokemon Black and White is selling well in Japan. On that note, have a brilliant fake 'Gritty Pokemon' trailer – and notice Brock never opens his eyes . . .

MUST READ: How to add game mechanics to a non-gaming service. Really thought-provoking.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Just what online services could use a little "gameness"?

– Steven Savage

We're out of the Recession despite things still being lousy, There's more anime-based film on the way despite a big cancellation, and the Move isn't really inspiring anyone despite being motion control. Despite the ups and downs, let's look at your must-know geek news!

Career:
Why only 1% of people make money online.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Buying a foreclosed home? Guess what, you may find you don't have a right to it, and your insurance doesn't help. Remember how we were discussing issues in determining actual ownership of a home? Gets worse when banks are selling them. Even worse if you bought one . . . so expect more lawsuits, and when this hits the wide news-o-sphere, people more reluctant to buy foreclosed homes.

Pension fund managers are sticking with stale assumptions. Yes, yet another economic time-bomb.

We are apparently out of the recession. It's just that the economy still stinks, and stinks badly for a lot of people. I still buy a potential for a double-dip, but even if not things are going to be tough for awhile.

Where did our money get invested in the last decade? Yep, housing.

Location:
Richard Florida shows us Artistic/Cultural Creative density of various regions – and there's a few surprises. More on his great population-density series, and invaluable for people thinking of moving.

Culture:
Is 'The Social Network' a kind of hit piece against Facebook founder Zuckerberg? This author thinks so and goes into some depth.

Anime and Manga:
Looks like the Cowboy Bebop film is dead. Meanwhile we have a spectacular live adaption of Space Battleship Yamato coming. The latter I see, with a good dub or sub, doing well over in North America – that might do more to open western-eastern adaptions.

Multimedia:
Doctor Who Games get a 'second season'. Looks like this bit of multimedia synergy is paying off – and I've heard the games are decent to good. The fact the games are apparently in continuity (for such continuity Doctor Who has) is also intriguing – I'd love to find out if that adds appeal, though I suspect it does.

Technology:
Citras, a cloud-storage technology company comes out of stealth mode, has raised $10 million, and some neat new technology to make cloud data management easier. Plus they're in San Jose. Resume time people . . . they can't spend $10 million all on their own.

Video Games:
Slashdot has a rundown of Playstation Move reviews, none of which sound surprising – works good, some calibration issues, not a lot of titles. As I'll post later this week, I think motion controls are just going to be "normal" . . .

Gameloft has sold 20 million games through the app store. They've published 100 different games in that time – I'd love to see some stats on what sold.

QUESTION: If Space Battleship Yamato does well internationally, what other adaptions could it spawn – and could live-action anime be a boost for Japan's media?

– Steven Savage