Steven Savage

Hellgate London is back, we may be kinda screwed economically, Twitter is under investigation, but Google+ looks good! let's get to the news.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have declining serious delinquency rates. Of course this is still high and we've got years to get it to normal. Is it just me or does it seem like around 5 years at this rate is what is needed for any normalcy?

A look at the kleptocracy involved in Greece and plenty of thoughts about it. I still think Greece is going to become a massive scapegoat while others try to get away scott free (or hope to). Eventually it's going to get ugly, but I think people will want to hold the EU and the Euro together enough to fix things – just not very fast.

MUST SEE: A nice infographic on the too big to fail mess. Read this then pass it around.

California going to levy sales tax on Amazon, Amazon responds. States are strapped for cash and sales are moving online – so this is going to keep happening. If enough states do it, Amazon (and others) won't have much choice. Here's an intelligent response to Amazon. My take is Amazon is risking making a lot of enemies in a fight it will, eventually loose, in a way that could hurt its prospects – and if they don't think competitors are just waiting to give them the shaft, they're wrong.

Demographics:
Some good thoughts on the challenges smaller cities face in business downtown. A good read if you're not in a megaregion – or even if you are.  With shifts in where people work, the changes may not be the same form smaller cities.  As the recovery is very "spiky" you're going to want to watch the spikes.

Geek Law:
Twitter is under FTC investigation. Why is a bit of a question – the author suspects is how they dealt with 3rd-party apps. Watch this as whatever it is might set a precedent.  I also don't think we have the entire story here, and am waiting to see what comes out.

Social Media:
Impressions of Google+ – Which is so far the same as mine – it seems pretty good.

It also seems Social Game developers like what they see as well. The 'Circles' seem to lead naturally to gaming interfaces and teaming.  If Social Game developers back Google+ that could be a big boost.

My take on Google+ so far is it's a Facebook competitor that's Facebook but not Facebook – as XKCD puts it so well. Its not exactly innovative, but it does things well and ties different functions together. I like it far better than Buzz and like some of the clean, simple designs.

Tablets:
The HP Touchpad seems to be flawed but not terrible – more shows potential than anything else.Well it seems to be getting a better response than the Xoom.

Video Games:
The troubled 'Hellgate London' is back as a free-to-play. I'm curious to see how this goes because it's literally a resurrection of a property – and may point the way to future similar endeavors.  What else is out there waiting to come back?

Meanwhile reactions to the shutting down of 'Star Wars Galaxies' are coming in. Some hard issues are discussed here. Watch THIS one because it may give you an idea of what can doom a game, when it can't be saved, and public reaction.

Finally there is a Beta for the Dragonball Online game. I'm curious about this because series creator Akira Toriyama is plotting it, and from what little I've seen, it looks surprisingly peppy and fun. DBZ is not exactly known for it's depth, but I can see it being a good basis for a fun actioner (and a success would inspire others).

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So what do you think is going on with Twitter?

– Steven Savage

World of Warcraft explores a free model, MySpace is sold, and assorted other stuff happens, but it's kind of easy to forget with THAT news . . .

Career:
Sounds like there's two books we need to read: Do The Work and Anything You Want.

Marketing lessosn from the Greatful Dead? I am so reading this as well.

Economics/Geekonomics:
A sarcastic guide to writing about Greece when you hate it that nicely mocks the media. Included as I'm a cynical bastard.

Greece has some kind of budget agreement, but Barry Ritholz notes it's really more the creditors. I don't think this is going to go over well, and I suspect the Greeks will be bitter for a decade or more. Sure their tax system was a disaster and their government corrupt, but they're still not happy.

The job recovery looks U-shaped. Which right now indicates we won't be fully recovered for 5 more years.

Bank of America settles a lawsuit with investors to the tune of $8.5 billion. Essentially they were told to buy back lousy mortgages they sold in the form of bonds. This is a big loss to the bank – and they were posting a loss anyway. This may open the floodgates to all sorts of lawsuits – but oddly seems to up investor confidence.

Ecosystems:
Amazon appears to be getting deeper into advertising. More evolution of them as an Ecosystem . . .

Movies:
The He-Man movie may be back.  The 80's are rich opportunities to mine concepts . . .

Social Media:
MySpace being sold to Specific Media for $35 million. The staff is getting cut in half. Specific Media is an online advertising/media company, so I'm not sure what they're going to do with it.

Technology:
Face it, Apps bring in a lot of revenue. This may explain the seemingly odd attempts to make new app stores.  Not every app store can survive, but this may show that it's a worthwhile risk for some companies – and we may not see the end of My Little App Store for awhile.

Oracle is buying a lot of companies. Not sure what they're up to, but it's something to check to see if you or someone you know is in the cross-hairs. Probably means they're will be some restructuring in the years to follow – and that means layoffs – so caution when approaching Oracle.

How sloppy reporting gives people the wrong idea about the value of Facebook and its owners.  Not that we haven't seen a lot of bad reporting on economics the last decade . . .

Video Games:

MUST READ: Blizzard jumps on the free-to-play model, making the first 20 character levels free. Let's see how it plays out for them – because this could lead to the evolution of various models (and point to how mature games can keep bringing people in). For instance I can see games starting with paid options, then introducing free if they're successful.

Gamevil is going to invest $10 million in American game companies. Go for it people, there's cash out there.  Interesting too in the light of Perfet World acquiring Cryptic – more Asian attention on our game companies comping?

Zynga is apparently filing an IPO. I'm sure it will be overvalued – thats the market, not Zynga's fault.

Zynga is going to provide mobile games and content for AT&T. Smart move, and lets them be less dependent on Facebook. If you do mobile Zynga may be a good target for your skills.

EA Game's President Frank Gibeau sounds awful impressed with the Wii U. I'm curious as to how EA's online initiatives are going to tie into this – could Nintendo be making EA their app source/store, or one of them? Specific deals? I'd like to know more . .

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who's next on the going-to-free game model?

– Steven Savage