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RIM has announced the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 to the world today, and TechRadar got some good face-time with the new phone at the press conference in Germany.
The new Bold is a remodelled version of the original model - the Bold 9000 - meaning it once again packs 3G connectivity, which most in the BlackBerry range don't have.
It's been downsized quite significantly over the original Bold, which may be an issue for fans of the original - many were attracted to the larger screen and well-spaced keyboard.
RIM has announced the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 to the world today, and TechRadar got some good face-time with the new phone at the press conference in Germany. The new Bold is a remodelled version of the original model - the Bold 9000[ - meaning it once again packs 3G connectivity, which most in the BlackBerry range don't have. It'sbeen downsized quite significantly over the original Bold, which may bean issue for fans of the original - many were attracted to the largerscreen and well-spaced keyboard. Inpractice, we didn't find it much of an issue. The keyboard is nicelyraised for easy keystrikes, and while we might have been a tiny bitless accurate inputting text, the Bold 9700's svelte frame more thanmade up for it by sitting more comfortably in the palm. Anotherbig update is the loss of the trackball - it's been replaced with thesame optical trackpad seen on the Curve 8520 and some Samsung handsetstoo. It'sa nice update to the hardware, and while BlackBerry is extolling theimproved feel and accuracy of the optical trackpad, the main sellingpoint is there will be no more broken trackballs - something whichanecdotally has affected a fairly high number of phones. The outside of the phone is also similar to the Curve 8520,with rubberised buttons for the volume, camera shutter and functionkeys. The headphone jack has also been recessed into the curvedchassis, which we felt wasn't as nice as a flat port, as the 3.5mm pinsticks out slightly on the new Bold 9700. We'renot huge fans of the faux-leather rear either - it's an odd one as RIMclearly favours it for the BlackBerry range, being used on the previousBold as well. Ituses microUSB with an open port on the side for charging and PCconnection (BlackBerry Media Sync is included for connection to iTunesand Windows Media Player) so you might need to watch out for dust andother such nasties collecting in there when in the pocket.
Thescreen is bright and vibrant though, with the BlackBerry 5 OS workingnicely with a good layout. The home screen isn't going to be anythingnew to BB fans, but at least the new user will be able to work outwhat's going on instantly. Onenice element to the Bold 9700 is the 624MHz processor under the hood -it's not in the same league as the Snapdragon 1GHz from Qualcomm butthe interface really zips along with the new Bold. GoogleMaps was very quick to load up for instance, and generally opening andshutting applications was as fast as you can hope for, with the littlepausing timer icon a rarity to see. Andwhile the screen may have been reduced to 2.44-inches for the Bold9700, video looks phenomenal and high resolution, despite only beingHVGA in terms of the number of pixels. Overall,we were impressed with the new Bold 9700 - it's not a game changer byany stretch of the imagination for RIM, but the company has built areputation on slowly releasing ever better handsets (with the Storm perhaps an exception, although the new release does go some way to tempering that). Givena UK release date for the start of November, we're awaiting news ofwhich vendors will be carrying it, with O2 reportedly at the head ofthe queue.
By now, you've seen the Windows 7 commercials and read the reviews. PCMag will have far more to say in the coming days and weeks about the quality and performance of Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, as well as how it stacks up against its primary competition, Apple's Snow Leopard. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could watch executives from both companies really have at it? Not with snarky commercials, but with an honest discussion of the technologies that drive these operating systems? It won't happen, of course, but this is pretty close.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a surprise offer: Apple wanted to go on record and talk about why Snow Leopard is better than Windows 7. Apple's Senior Director of Mac OS X Product Marketing Brian Croll gave me his side of the story. Then I interviewed Microsoft's Jay Paulus, Director, Product Management Windows Client, to let him make his case. Although the interviews were conducted separately, I've tried to blend the comments to make it something of an ex post facto debate. It seems fair enough, as each side knew I would be talking to the other. What I ended up with is a good-old-fashioned debate, in which I play the moderator—and occasional fact-checker. It may not settle the question of which OS is better, but goes into a lot more technical detail than the 30-second spots that will be all over TV this holiday season.
Editor's Note: To reiterate, the interviews with Mr. Croll and Mr. Paulus were conducted separately—at no time were all three parties speaking to each other at the same time, and while they did respond to these topics and questions, I have added some detail to my moderator sections in order to put Mr. Croll and Mr. Paulus' responses in the proper context.
The 64-Bit Question
Lance Ulanoff: Let's start with 64-bit. For perhaps the first time in operating system history, average consumers are aware of the 64-bit choice and thinking about whether or not they need or want to use it. Mr. Croll, what does Apple bring to the table here?
Brian Croll: We have one version of Snow Leopard. Contrast that to Windows, which has six versions and adds a lot of complexity. Their product matrix gets really complex very fast. Then multiply by two, because you have to know if you want 32- or 64-bit.
In 2003, we started adding 64-bit technology. Apple went from a 32-bit to 64-bit environment without any issues for customers. Now we can allow 64-bit apps to run entirely on a 64-bit Intel processor. The major system apps now run in 64 bits. We architected Snow Leopard to allow the whole system to run in 64-bit mode on a 64-bit chip, not partial. (Ed. Note: But the vast majority of Macs will still run the OS kernel in 32-bit mode.)
Application developers can package up applications to put both 32- and 64-bit binary in one package. We never wanted the consumer to have to decide, and app manufacturers do not have to offer two versions.
LU: Mr. Paulus, your rebuttal?
Jay Paulus: We do have two versions. When you buy media, it comes with both in the box. We recommend people with 3GB or more of memory install the 64-bit version. (Ed. Note: You cannot upgrade from a 32-bit version of Vista to a 64 bit version of Windows 7. You must do a clean install.)
I think the transition to 64-bit is hard. It takes work to transition to 64-bit. Apple knows 64-bit is hard. They wanted to take credit for the work they did. OS X 10 Snow Leopard doesn't boot into 64-bit by default. And switching between 32-bit and 64-bit causes a big performance hit. The only SKU that boots into 64-bit by default is OS X server. Tough position for them to take, as much as I like their 64-bit logo.
We've had 64-bit and drivers since 2003 on Windows XP. Pretty hard for them to claim a lead on that.
LU: What about Microsoft's two-version approach, as opposed to one binary?
JP: I think it's representative, a pretty good way to make transition. As the hardware and software catches up and people have more and more memory in the systems, 64-bit makes more sense. The fact that they can make a choice, is that a bad thing?
Programming for Multicore
LU: Modern computers now feature multicore CPUs. However, consumers aren't always sure if their operating systems or apps are taking full—or any—advantage of all those cores. What are you guys doing in the multicore space?
BC: We took a step back and rethought the problem. It's a big deal for developers to get the most out of multicore systems. Programmers usually have to write apps differently if there are two, four, or eight cores. Grand Central lets the operating system figure it out. We'll shield the developers from having to worry about it. It's a big breakthrough in software. For application developers to take advantage of it, they only need to add a couple of constructs to their code. It's minimally invasive to the current set of code.
The primary benefit is speed (how fast it goes on screen) and responsiveness, if I click on something on the screen how quickly it comes back.
JP: It's a tough computing problem, the multicore, multithreading, programming across GPU and CPU. These are tough problems, no doubt. Anyone who does this wants to take credit. I feel like Apple is playing catch-up in this realm. We've had threads and fiber since 2000. The Windows 7 kernel is the same kernel as Window Server 2008 [R2]. I would hold our granular scheduling and multicore scaling up to theirs any day of the week. They're providing a queuing mechanism. People will still have to design their apps to be multithreaded. I reject the fact that it's going to fundamentally alter the way people are building apps to be multithreading or multicore.
Programming for Multicore
LU: Modern computers now feature multicore CPUs. However, consumers aren't always sure if their operating systems or apps are taking full—or any—advantage of all those cores. What are you guys doing in the multicore space?
BC: We took a step back and rethought the problem. It's a big deal for developers to get the most out of multicore systems. Programmers usually have to write apps differently if there are two, four, or eight cores. Grand Central lets the operating system figure it out. We'll shield the developers from having to worry about it. It's a big breakthrough in software. For application developers to take advantage of it, they only need to add a couple of constructs to their code. It's minimally invasive to the current set of code.
The primary benefit is speed (how fast it goes on screen) and responsiveness, if I click on something on the screen how quickly it comes back.
JP: It's a tough computing problem, the multicore, multithreading, programming across GPU and CPU. These are tough problems, no doubt. Anyone who does this wants to take credit. I feel like Apple is playing catch-up in this realm. We've had threads and fiber since 2000. The Windows 7 kernel is the same kernel as Window Server 2008 [R2]. I would hold our granular scheduling and multicore scaling up to theirs any day of the week. They're providing a queuing mechanism. People will still have to design their apps to be multithreaded. I reject the fact that it's going to fundamentally alter the way people are building apps to be multithreading or multicore.
Backing Up
LU: Okay, let's talk about backup—something everybody needs, but no one really does. Windows Backup has been around for a long time, but isn't widely used. Apple's Time Machine arrived with Leopard and deep integration with the hardware. Where are we now with OS-based backup?
BC: Time Machine versus Windows Backup: We built it in with Time Machine. It's easy to use, easy to restore, easy to understand, easy to search. There's a huge qualitative difference between what you get on a Mac and what you get on Windows.
JP: There's been some work done to make Windows Backup easier to use. It does a good job of full-system backup. If you have pictures scattered around the disk, you can send them to Library view—Backup is smart about picking up files from wherever they are. Another feature that is key is Previous Versions. It was called Time Warp and we have had it since Server 2003. It manages previous versions of files and is running by default on disk—it's a file system feature. There's no separate disk. It doesn't protect you from disk failure, but lets you go back in time to previous versions of files.
Upgrade Paths
LU: Perhaps one of the most stressful things users face is the act of upgrading their OS. With Windows 7 coming out, people will be making choices and possibly upgrading their OS. Mr. Croll, what's Apple's perspective on what's happening with Windows 7?
BC: Over 60 percent of the people are out there running Windows XP. I will point out that Microsoft more or less left the XP users behind. So I'm not understanding the logic.
LU: Mr. Paulus, Brian has a point. There were a lot of netbooks sold over the last 12 to 18 months, and the vast majority of them shipped with Windows XP.
JP: The majority of people get their new OS with a new machine, so the notion that we're leaving behind a vast set of people, I'm not sure I accept that. The fact is that Windows XP shipped eight years ago and hardware and software has moved on. We made a tough choice and I hope in the end that it's the right choice. It's a bit disingenuous for Apple guys to talk about us leaving people behind. On positive side, Windows 7 will run really well on those netbooks.
Windows users aren't left behind to the degree that people who are running those old Macs are being left behind. If you didn't buy a Mac since the Intel transition three years ago, you are really getting left behind. (Ed. Note: Snow Leopard only runs on newer, Intel-based Macs.)
What's Inside
LU: After years of integrating utilities and even full-blown apps from competing products in the operating system, or as part of the OS package, Microsoft made an about face this year and is letting end users decide whether or not they want to download Mail, Messenger, Movie Maker and other apps. Why?
JP: Pulling things out allows us to update them on a more regular basis. There's more customer value, the apps are more directly integrated with the cloud offerings. I think that people will realize that that's the way they want it: software plus service. Those upgrades are free. Apple can say they include it in the OS, but they also charge you for the upgrade.
LU: Mr. Croll, how do you view the debundling of applications?
BC: We build everything in and put together a package that works beautifully out of box. Microsoft is going in a different direction, pulling out Mail, and other apps and having people download them. For example, we have Exchange support in Snow Leopard. You have to buy Microsoft Office to get Exchange support in Windows 7. We bundle that right out of box.
JP: The premier client for Exchange is Outlook. If you want the full-fidelity experience, you want Outlook. For those that don't want to buy Outlook, there's Outlook Web Exchange. It's a strong, high-fidelity client.
What's Different
LU: In the race to build the best operating system, where do each of you think you stand? What sets you apart? Mr. Croll?
BC: Mac OS X is much simpler than Windows. We're more advanced from a technological standpoint. Windows 7 still has DLL and the Registry, still has defragmenting, still needs activation. We don't make users enter in activation codes.
LU: It's a fair point, Mr. Paulus. Microsoft has done many things to Windows 7, but couldn't change some of the fundamentals like the DLL and Registry.
JP: So what? Yeah, we've got the Registry and DLL, so what? It's not something we talk about. We do a lot of work around reliability and performance. Getting into notions of replacing Registry and DLL, it just doesn't become relevant.
LU: What about Mr. Croll's activation and technology comments?
JP: Apple has a different model. They charge you a lot of money for the hardware and charge you again for the OS. We're selling you the OS. We use the activation to help ensure that you have genuine versions of Windows out there.
Pricing
LU: Let's talk about pricing. There are free operating systems out there, like Linux, but, as we can see from market share, free does not necessarily translate into mass-market adoption. How do the two of you see price and the OS?
BC: With Snow Leopard, the upgrade price is $29 for Leopard users or $49 for a family pack with five licenses. With Windows 7 Ultimate, the upgrade is $119 for Home Premium and $199 for Professional—that is really expensive software.
LU: Jay, I know Microsoft has one $30 plan for students. What else do you have to say about pricing?
JP: Snow Leopard is much more akin to a service pack and Apple is charging $29. We don't do that. Windows 7 demonstrates a lot of customer value and priced at a pretty attractive price point. Most users get their OS automatically when they buy a new system. With Apple, you're going to be paying an Apple Tax. You're going to have to buy their expensive hardware just to get in the game.
Making the Choice
LU: Okay, here's your opportunity to make your case for your OS. Mr. Paulus, why Windows?
JP: I would say it's all about value, choice, compatibility, and simplicity. Value we've talked about that lot. There is value in a Windows ecosystem with nearly a billion users and thousands of PCs manufactured. Having lots of apps and systems drives a lot of end-user value. Stack any PC up against a Mac, we'll win pretty comfortably.
Windows 7 was designed around simplicity. It offers innovative features that set it apart, including Jump Lists and HomeGroup. A whole bunch of things that we think will make Windows 7 land as a game changer. I think the game has changed.
LU: Mr. Croll? Why should people choose Snow Leopard?
BC: Over last ten years we've been adding a lot of features, and it all culminated with Leopard. It's the best-selling software product Apple has ever done. It added things like Cover Flow and Time Machine. For Snow Leopard—the goal was to make a better Leopard. Mac OS 10 was made up of 1,000 different projects. For Snow leopard we refined 90 percent of them. Mac OS 10 continues to be much simpler than Windows.
Sensia is a revolutionary internet-connected digital audio system with Flow technology and a large colour touchscreen, giving you a unique wayto enjoy internet radio content and podcasts, DAB and FM radiostations, your own music collection via Wi-Fi, online apps, Facebook and also Twitter and uniquebroadcast material.
Pure Digital -- DAB and WiFi radio extraordinaire -- has just made live a product portal for its forthcoming Sensia, which looks to be a serious leap forward in terms of features and design. For starters, this product ditches the typical retro vibe and goes for something entirely more Jetsons-esque, and while many of Pure's past radios have had some sort of display, the 5.7-inch touchscreen (640 x 480) is certainly a first. Boasting DAB and FM tuners, this device is also equipped with an 802.11g module that lets it pull down radio streams from the web as well as stream other media from networked PCs / storage. Other specs include twin 3-inch full-range drivers, an RF remote, optional rechargeable battery and a 3.5 millimeter socket for connecting those "other sources." Moreover, users will be able to tap into a variety of applications, from weather to news to Picasa to social networking. If all goes well, it'll ship before the holidays for £249.99 ($406).
PURE, the world’s leading radio maker presents Sensia, the world’sfirst high resolution DAB digital and internet-connected radio with aunique, large colour touchscreen which delivers a state-of-the-art andintuitive user-interface. Incorporating PURE’s award-winning ‘Flow’technology, Sensia is a revolutionary radio with a large 5.7” 640 x 480high resolution colour touchscreen. Sensia gives users a unique way ofinteracting with internet and radio content including: podcasts andlisten again services; DAB/DAB+* and FM; a growing set of custom PURE‘Apps’ such as weather, news, Picasa, Facebook or Twitter; and newbroadcast material such as station slideshows**. Sensia is also a mediastreamer enabling users to listen to music stored on a home computer ornetwork storage device via Wi-Fi technology.
Paul Smith, PURE’s general manager says: “PURE made its name as thecompany behind the success of DAB. We’ve since created a market leadingand multi award-winning, internet-connected product range with our Flowseries. Sensia is the next major innovation from PURE, which I amconfident will bring radio to a whole new ‘Facebook’ generation whilestill inspiring our traditional customer base. Radio will never be thesame again.”
Sensia has an extremely sophisticated touchscreen interface whichallows users to view and interact with the radio like never before:scrolling and spinning lists, tapping to select, sliding controls andswiping to change views. Users can choose between a multi-panel and afull screen view. The screen consists of a visual panel for viewingApps, station slideshows or album artwork; a list panel for scrollingthrough lists of radio stations or music stored on a PC; a now playingpanel and a control bar for operating Sensia.
Sensia is destined to be the centre piece of any room with adistinctive, elliptical shape and four striking colour choices: Brightred, vivid yellow, sleek black and cool white. A moulded stand issupplied, which allows the user to angle the radio to an optimumviewing position and a matching remote control completes the look.
A bespoke microsite has been created for Sensia atwww.touchmyradio.com which includes a 3D interactive overview of Sensiaas well as a virtual guide with a voiceover by Christian O'Connell,Absolute Radio’s breakfast DJ.
As with the award-winning Flow range, Sensia connects to The PURELounge, our own radio and media portal (www.thelounge.com) which actsas the index to the best of internet audio content and where users canregister their radio as well as save and organise favourites. Alsoavailable from The Lounge and via Sensia is a unique selection of PURESounds to relax you to sleep or wake you in a positive frame of mind.
Sensia also features PURE Clearsound technology for 30W RMS ofimpressive stereo sound; an input for an iPod/MP3 player; an alarm;countdown timer; sleep timer and a headphone socket. Add the optionalrechargeable PURE ChargePAK to listen to internet content anywherewithin range of the Wi-Fi network or to DAB and FM radio when furtherafield. Sensia also comes with a clever RF remote control which allowsusers to control the device from up to 10m away without directline-of-sight.
Sensia will be available in time for Christmas at just £249.99 (SRPinc. VAT) from all good stockists. For more information, please visitwww.touchmyradio.com, www.pure.com, www.thelounge.com or call 08451489001.
Editor’s Notes:*DAB+ is a new and enhanced version of DAB and is now being adopted bymany countries as their platform choice for digital radio. It’s likelythat it will be a few years before UK broadcasters take up DAB+, butthe majority of PURE products are already ‘DAB+ ready’.**Where supplied by the broadcaster
About PURE PURE is the world’s leading maker of broadcast andInternet-connected digital radios, the number one supplier of digitalradios in Europe and the creator of the world’s most popular and iconicdigital radios.
PURE radios increasingly support all the broadcast standards in the DABfamily used across Europe and beyond. PURE leads the way inInternet-connected radios with its Flow technology and the PURE Loungeportal (www.thelounge.com). Designed and engineered in the UK, all ofPURE’s products are manufactured with the environment in mind and atethically audited facilities. PURE is a division of ImaginationTechnologies Group plc. See www.pure.com. See http://www.touchmyradio.com/ for more
The past few weeks have come with two major reveals for the weirdoswho follow online social networks. The first was big news. Twitter’sinternal documents leaked and the identity-crisis of earth’s most popular start-up is now public. The second was more under the radar but just as important. In a memo that went out to staff, the CEO of MySpace admitted that their users are caught between three competing notions of what MySpace is or should be.
Twitter and Myspace are different companies in different markets butthere is a lot of evidence to suggest that they share, and will alwaysshare, the exact same problem. MySpace and Twitter are hugely popular for uses neither company anticipated.The mission of each company is so vague that their products arestretched and molded into a variety of different uses. Instead oftargeting and building their business around one of these users they take their sudden popularity as a sign they have a killer product. They don’t.
Scale is Everything
When an industry is in transition or an idea like ‘social networking’ is still being fleshed out, getting explosively popular without knowing the nuances of why is a curse.Twitter is young but in my opinion, it’s already too late. It has growntoo big, too fast, for too many different purposes. It will take 2 orthree years but Twitter will be lapped by a variety of similar services with focus and actual business models; how Facebook developed in response to MySpace sheds light on what kind.
How MySpace Scaled
Since its inception MySpace has gone after users as if they werePokemon’. MySpace managers ran competitions on sign ups and theemployes used a slew of methods to capture. The result was a sprawlingnetwork of users but by 2005, it seemed to be working. If you looked at the stats, MySpace was an utter phenomena. It destroyed Friendster and after it was purchased by Murdoch it was getting all types of press and valuations. What the raw stats didn’t tell you is that user habits on the site looked something like this:
The problem with this way of scaling is simple. When a new cultural practice, like ’social networking’, is in the grass roots stages of development you can’t assume that people are going to your site because they like it.Your competition doesn’t really exist yet. What they might like are certain aspects of your productor they might be using parts of it in ways you never designed. The onlyway to address this is to study your users obsessively, focus on aparticular experience, then update your product accordingly.
Because MySpace grew in so many different markets at a single timeand gave users so much space to use the service how they liked, they’ve never been in a position to either watch or effectively control this experience. How do you update a product without knowing its target? You don’t. MySpace at its height and the current MySpace look remarkably similar, it lost control to its users. It has gone from being hailed as one of the best acquisitions ever made to a drain on News Corps portfolio. The results look like this:
How Facebook Scaled
When it comes down to it the mechanisms of MySpace and Facebook are not that different.Thepieces and concept are nearly the same. Both are constructed of userprofiles, avatars, walls, interest spaces, groups, photo capabilities,and a friend confirmation/listing process.
Facebook distinguished itself philosophically and pragmatically. Zuckerberg’s biggest insight into designing the site was that you are online who you are in real life. Facebook was one of the first social networks to emphasize genuine identityinsofar asthey required full names, university email addresses, and deleted accounts that used aliases. The second was pragmatic. Facebook launched in a single target market. In this case, of course, it was Harvard.
What this enabled was a less abstract more manageable mission.Instead of having to define what an ‘online social networking space’was supposed to be for everyone, Zuckerburg just had to answer forHarvard. As Facebook became popular on campus, he was able to see directly into how his peers interacted with the site and was able to update the product to help them use it more efficiently. Becausethey were all college students, the feedback he was getting was focusedand nuanced. Having less users also meant they could redesign theirentire product without pissing off disparate subsections. The resultwas an incremental evolution. The Facbeook that started at Harvard looks radically different than the one we use today. It worked.
How Twitter Scaled
Twitter grew much like MySpace. It ran competition for signing upusers, aliases were allowed, and it grew in multiple markets at theexact same time. Twitter started as a group SMS texting service then became popular for something wholly different. By restricting the length of a message the site inadvertently addressed one of the oldest problems in group communication. How do you hear many voices at a single time? Twitter’s answer is dead simple. 140.
This little restriction has produced a fascinating, highly-addictive product. If you look at the stats, Twitter seems to be working. It’s one of the most popular websites in the world and now has an excess of 44 million members.For those who invested or employees that had stock options, it must bean incredible feeling. I have grown to love Twitter but in my opinion we are rapidly approaching its peak.Its parallels toMySpace in 2006 are explicit. Twitterhas been bootstrapped for a vast number of uses and while its exciting to watch, its service is not containable . Like MySpace, Twitter is getting pulled in a variety of directions:
Why Twitter Will Dissolve and Turn into Detroit
The ability to hear and communicate messages with a group is what brought Twitter its initial wave of users but the real allure of Twitter, the reason it has caught the imagination of the press and millions of users, is something much more abstract. On Twitter, you can hear a public. Of course, there isn’t just one public, there is an infinite number.Whether it’s your country, your college, your city, or a shared nicheinterest like nyc media,everyone belongs to many publics and most everyone has a natural curiosity about what’s happening inside of them.
Twitter offers a way to manage how you see these publics. The problem is that its 140 character restriction is a blunt instrument. The site does not reflect the potential or nuance in which a public can speak to itself online.
Twitter as a network is an ungodly mess. From the onset, the site has allowed users to register aliases on custom URLs and because of it, usernames are inconsistent and confusing. It’s hard to find people who you know and its often even difficult to deduct wether that person is who they claim to be. Twitter is mobbed by impersonators,some of them hilarious, others manipulating. Twitter addresses thisissue recently by creating a ‘Verified Account’ stamp, its sloppy butmore importantly, perpetually incomplete.
There are a host of other problems related to reputation and maintaing users but the biggest issue concerns its identity, which is also where the leaked documentsgot interesting. Twitter employees are so clearly uncertain about whattheir product is even doing. Shots at it swayed from, “Twitter is fordiscovering and sharing what is happening right now,” to, “Twitter makes you smarter, faster, more efficient and more powerful.”
Twitter became popular before it had a mission. What this means is that its employees and investors will forever be trapped in boardrooms having these inane cyclical discussions about its identity. Twitter will either perpetually be simple insofar as its millions of users will have to hack the service to reflect their own values or it will roll the dice on a focus, put the site through chronic redesigns, and risk a mass user exodus.Either way its top talent will likely get frustrated and leave thecompany. Its top users will drift to something else then jump.
How Twitter will Resolve
The first thing to realize is that thereprobably isn’t going to be just one product to replace Twitter, therewill be several and they will battle it out or find niches. I see theirdesign following two trends with a potential for a hybrid.
The first trend is a service with the most minimal centralization possible. Both Dave Winer and Anil Dash have discussed plans for such a product. Winer calls his the RSSCloud and Dash describes the project more generally as the Push Button web. The RSSCloud grew from discussions with Jay Rosen over frustrations with Twitter and how its users have been bootstrapping. The line of thought is that your data belongs to you, not Twitter, and you should be able to use your data how you like with as little brand interference as possible. The proposal is to build RSSCloud, a loosely coupled service that will push your data to any website in real time.
The second is a product that is centralized but has an elegant way of organizingits content and attracting users. This is a product that would look andscale much like Facebook. It would start in a single target market anddevelop as a place for users to hear and communicate to thatpublic. Ideally it would begin in a cloistered network like auniversity where establishing members is as easy as checking their .eduemail address.
Addressing what’s wrong with Twitter isn’t going to come from thin air. It’s going to take a lot of time, development, and platform competition.
Many will soon be working on this, myself included. What will fill the blank is likely to define modern news production.
Chalk up the Lycosa as anotherattractive and cutting-edge peripheral made by Razer, but that's not tosay that this rose doesn't have its thorns. It seems as though there'sa flipside to almost every feature with the Lycosa.
Backlit keys aregreat at night, but these keys provided very little contrast during thedaytime for readability. The Lycosa is compact compared with otherkeyboards, but this comes at the cost of having no additional macrokeys. And the flashy appeal of its glossy finish only takes a daybefore fingerprints tarnish its surface. On the other hand, the Lycosa slips in some features that merit itsprice tag. Razer continues to evolve its software for peripherals, thistime allowing users to program any key on the keyboard. We don't recallany other keyboard that can do that. Also, the laptop-like keyssurprised us with some solid tactile, and clicky, feedback, despitetheir appearance. We're also happy to see that users can store multipleprofiles and disable that annoying Windows key that can prove to be abuzzkill when pressed mid-frag.
Software and Macro Keys Without the aid of Razer's software, the Lycosa would be nothing other than a fancy keyboard that lights up. Users can program any key they want and toggle between up to ten profiles, thus providing a virtually endless amount of macro capabilities. This does come at the expense of surrendering existing keys you may want for other things. Remapping keys on the number pad doesn't affect the numbered keys in the main typing area, or vice versa. We found the F-keys as great guinea pigs for our macros.
Razer has a reputation of having a sleek, cool-looking software interface, though we'd prefer something a little less edgy and a little more usable. You'll have to scoot towards the screen to view all of the included options. They're so small.
Software and Macro Keys Without the aid of Razer's software, the Lycosa would be nothing other than a fancy keyboard that lights up. Users can program any key they want and toggle between up to ten profiles, thus providing a virtually endless amount of macro capabilities. This does come at the expense of surrendering existing keys you may want for other things. Remapping keys on the number pad doesn't affect the numbered keys in the main typing area, or vice versa. We found the F-keys as great guinea pigs for our macros.
Razer has a reputation of having a sleek, cool-looking software interface, though we'd prefer something a little less edgy and a little more usable. You'll have to scoot towards the screen to view all of the included options. They're so small.
There's no denying that the Lycosa is one sexy beast. Promotional pictures highlight how well the Lycosa shines at night, but that's not the whole picture. When this thing is plopped on your desk, in daylight, its true colors come out.
Physically the Razer Lycosa is neither the largestkeyboard I have seen nor the smallest. The Lycosa measures in at 469mmx 168mm x 15mm without the removable wrist rest and 669mm x 221mm x15mm with the wrist rest attached. The wrist rest itself is matte blackin color with the same look as the keys, but lacking the non-sliprubber coating.
One of the casualties of having a fully backlit keyboard is that, during the day, key labels aren't as conspicuous—even with backlighting set. Each key label must be clear enough to allow light from underneath to shine through, but we felt that there wasn't enough contrast between the key labels and the keys themselves. Heck, the keys reminded us of the DAS keyboard II—the keyboard with blank, black keys. Logitech's G-series and Saitek's Eclipse II keyboards both provide fully backlit keys, and a key (pun intended) to their success is that labels are bright and easily read. Obviously anybody who buys a backlit keyboard will use it at night, but that's not to say that they'll toss it aside during the day for another keyboard.
Razer Tarantula:
Razer Lycosa:
Now, let's look at that pristine glossy finish surrounding the keys. Anybody that owns a keyboard with a similar surface (like the diNovo Edge or Tarantula) knows that it deserves a little housekeeping once in a while. This area is a magnet for fingerprints and blotches when the light hits it just right. Some keyboards and mice with this type of surface even come with a cleaning cloth, but there wasn't one included with the Lycosa.
While the multimedia TouchPanel has its artistic appeal, it doesn't help with usability. For starters, you have to have backlighting on just to view the controls. Secondly, anything touch-sensitive spawns no tactile feedback, and given that there are numerous options to choose from, all sitting close to each other, pressing the wrong control can be a common occurrence.
These are some of the issues we encountered regarding the Lycosa's look and feel. As for some positives, we were impressed with the keys. Despite their short vertical height, keypresses yield positive tactile feedback, with a slight clicky sound. They don't feel quite as mushy as the Tarantula, and are in no ways as clicky as the old IBM keyboards from yesteryear.
Shorter keys mean less pressing and faster typing, especially given the Lycosa's 1ms response time. We didn't notice any improvement in our typing speed, but this is something hardcore gamers may find appealing.
The Lycosa also has a sturdy exterior, despite its smallish size compared to other gaming keyboards. It planted itself rather firmly on our desk without sliding around—thanks in part to its six rubber feet.
It's cheapest at Ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143289
Fully-programmable keys with macro capability Be one step ahead of the competition with fully-programmable keys with macro capability that enable instantaneous command executions.
* Keytop with non-slip rubber finish * Backlight illumination with WASD cluster lighting option * Fully-programmable keys with macro capability * Gaming cluster with anti-ghosting capability * Slim keycap structure with Hyperesponse™ technology * TouchPanel™ easy access media keys * Gaming mode option for deactivation of the Windows key * 10 customizable software profiles with on-the-fly switching * 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response time * Earphone-out and microphone-in jacks * Detachable wrist rest * One integrated USB extension port * Razer Lycosa Approximate size: 469mm (length) x 168mm (width) x 15mm (height) – without wrist rest 469mm (length) x 221mm (width) x 15mm (height) – with wrist rest System Requirements for Razer Lycosa Windows® XP / x64 / Vista / Vista64 PC with built-in USB ports CD-ROM drive (for drivers) At least 35MB of hard disk space (for drivers)
It happens to all of us eventually, theExtremeTech staff probably more than most. Whether due to failure orobsolescence—or after you've run out of alternative upgrade paths—itcomes time to pull a motherboard out of a working system and replace itwith something different.
That's a job. It requires you to pull all of your expansion cards,disconnect and work around all the cabling, wrest the big board fromsometimes-tight quarters within a case, prep the new board, wiggle itinto that possibly cramped quarter, and, when you think you're alldone, you still have to coax Windows through the trauma of waking upwith new hardware.
We find the process daunting but fun—but then again, we're almostdisgustingly techy. If it's less of a treat for you, we've got, well, atreat for you. In the following pages we share our very best hints onswapping out a motherboard, culled from years of experience and scoresof system builds and upgrades.
Now, remember—this is a series of tips, not a step by step how-to.Don't expect a full-on motherboard installation manual; instead, usethe manual that comes with your motherboard, and use our tips to makethe job even easier.
Also, we're assuming you're keeping your existing Windowsinstallation in place. In general, it's better to perform a freshoperating system install if you're replacing your motherboard, butpractical realities often prevent this. So we've got a number of tipsthat should help you prep your Windows installation for the switch,then bring it up properly.
Preparing Windows for the Inevitable Freak-out The first stepin motherboard replacement is to prepare the operating system, andsince most of the world runs on Windows, we'll concentrate on that.Before you even think about pulling the board out of the case:
Uninstall motherboard drivers. Anything you installed withthe disc that came with your previous motherboard (or anything youdownloaded specifically for that board) has to come out. You can dothis easily through Add/Remove Programs (XP) or Uninstall a Program(Vista) in Control Panel.
Don't forget, during your uninstallations, to remove drivers foronboard devices. If your motherboard contains, and you installeddrivers for, an audio codec, a graphics subsystem, a Wi-Fi networkinterface, a wired Ethernet interface, or what have you, uninstall thedrivers for them.
You may leave drivers for expansion cards in place, but you mayhave to reinstall them after the upgrade process. Graphics drivers areespecially touchy.
This is a good time for general maintenance: Clean up the harddrive. Empty the recycle bin, delete old files you don't need any more,uninstall unused programs, run a registry cleaner if you're into thatsort of thing, and generally tidy up. Then, defrag the hard drive.
Make a complete backup of your system. If you have the necessarysoftware, create an image (in other words, an exact snapshot saved to afile) of your entire hard drive(s). If not, use Windows' own backupsoftware to create a complete backup. At the very least, save off yourimportant data files to removable media. You must do this. Shouldsomething go awry and you lose the contents of the drive, you willregret it if you don't back everything up.
Remember Your Activations!
If you have applications that require activation, those may be tied tosome portion of your existing motherboard. The most obvious of these isWindows itself. However, a number of other applications, including somegames and Adobe applications, may also require activations.
The best thing to do is to deactivate and uninstallthese apps. This is particularly true for Adobe apps. You can thenreinstall and reactivate as needed after your motherboard upgrade isdone. Of course, you'll also want the correct CD key or serial numbersfor those apps. In the case of Windows, you may not be able to activateover the Internet, but will need to talk to a live human through theWindows activation phone line. We've never had a reactivation turneddown using this method.
Removing the Old Board
Now that you've tidied up, backed up, and generally prepared thesoftware, it's time to do battle with the hardware. The first step, ofcourse, is to remove the outgoing motherboard. Let's hope your computercase doesn't have any sharp edges. Tips ahoy:
Make sure you have plenty of room to operate. Clean off aworkbench and place the off, unplugged system upon it. Make absolutelysure there aren't any metal shavings or other metal detritus on thebench.
Be static-safe: Plant your feet and ground yourself before touching any electronics. If you move your feet, repeat the process.
Have some sort of repository ready for screws that would otherwiseroll or get scattered away. Old 35mm film canisters work well, as dopaint can tops, shot glasses, or (clean) ashtrays. As you pull screws, drop them in the container for easy access later when you're reassembling the system.
Pull as many wires as you can from the board before you pull it outof the case. It's easier to remove data and power cables with the boardscrewed tight into the enclosure.
Leave the CPU, cooler, and memory in place until the board is out.It's much easier to remove them (or just discard them if you'reupgrading everything) when they're out of the case.
Keep any expansion cards you remove from the PC in antistatic bags,especially if you plan to transfer them to the new system. Set them ina safe place until you're ready to place them into the newly remodeledcomputer.
Leave the cabling in place, but move it out of the way. Sure, youhave to pull cables from the motherboard, but you don't have to pullthe other ends. Leave the cables in your system's hard drive, opticaldrive, media card reader, and so on; simply pull them aside or cramthem in a handy crevice to make room for board swapping.
If your case has a removable drive mount rack, remove it to make more room for trading the motherboards.
Pull the motherboard up by the edges as much as possible. If youmust grab something else, grab a plastic expansion slot; don't move theboard by the CPU cooler, the installed memory, or the various north-and south-bridge heat sinks.
Place the board and any components you won't need in antistaticbags and keep them safe until you know you won't need them (say, incase the new board is a nonworking dud). You might even place the oldboard in the box your new motherboard came in, relabeling it with amarker.
Preparing and Installing the New Board
Now it's time to reverse the process and install the brand-newmotherboard, and any other new components, into the system currentlyunder the proverbial surgical knife. Here are the tips:
Unbox the motherboard and examine it. Familiarity will makelife easier, especially if it's significantly different from your oldone. Know where the SATA and, if necessary, IDE and floppy ports are.Check out the CPU socket if it's different from your old one (it'squite a culture shock to go from an AMD-style ZIF (zero insertionforce) socket to an Intel-style LGA (land grid array) socket).
Also examine the extra stuff that came with your new board. You'llprobably have SATA cables, an IDE cable, a floppy cable, some expansionbrackets for USB and/or IEEE 1394 ports with onboard headers, a bookand CD or DVD, and, depending on the price point of your board and thegenerosity of the manufacturer, other goodies. Decide whether you planto use any of it, and unwrap that which you will.
Check the layout of screw holes in the board and brass standoffs inthe case. Make sure they all match up, and move any brass standoffsthat do not match with motherboard screw holes.
Install the CPU, CPU cooler, and memory before you insert the boardinto the case. It's far easier to do that on a nice, flat surface thanit is when the board is deep within the confines of the enclosure.
Lay the board on the corner of the case and attach as muchcabling as you can. It's easier to attach cables with the board out ofthe case than with it buried within. Attach SATA, IDE, and floppy datacables to their ports; front-panel connectors to the front panelheaders; any expansion bracket ports you wish to use to the properheaders; and even the power supply cables.
Lower the board into the case by the edges. Again, if you have tomaneuver it by a component, avoid the RAM and cooling parts in favor ofexpansion slots.
Screw the case into place with every screw available. Secure itsolidly within the case. With electricity and fan action comesvibration: Using every available screw will cut down on vibration thatcan eventually cause premature failure of the board.
Finally, replace any straggling wires, add expansion cards and you're almost ready.
When you first start the system up, do it with the case open. Makesure the PC will POST before you even think of sealing it up. You mighteven launch Windows once before you close the case. There's some sortof law of nature that says if you close the case too early, somethingwill be loose or unplugged and you'll just have to open it again.<!-- start ziffarticle //-->
Resolving Windows' Contortions of Protest
A Windows computer doesn't relish the idea of getting new insides.Windows installs hoards of low-level subsystem drivers on installation,and when you change-up the low-level subsystems the OS gets fidgety.Here are some tips to make its reentry a bit smoother:
Begin by letting it do its thing. It will run its driverinstallation routine for what might seem like hours. Let it install allits low-level stuff; anything you install manually will supersedeWindows' built-in drivers.
As dialog boxes appear asking for discs or driver locations, click Cancel on them. You'll install any drivers Windows doesn't already have on your own.
Windows will probably want to reboot between two and fifty times(we're kidding!) before it lets you install drivers. Allow it to do so.
When the time comes that Windows finally stops installing its owndrivers, start installing your own. Do them in this order: Motherboardcore INF files; then any other motherboard drivers (SATA/RAID,Ethernet, audio, and so on); then graphics; then any other devices thataren't working.
If you're unsure about which devices need drivers, use DeviceManager. It's available in the System area of Control Panel andpresents a list of devices in the computer. Devices lacking driverswill appear with an alert icon near their entries.
When your drivers are all installed, you should be through with the process. Enjoy your new souped up computer!
Upgrading your motherboard doesn't have to be an adverse experience.Our tips should help you streamline your motherboard install, reducefrustration, and enable a smooth transition.
The Indian public may not have seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, butalready the nation has taken the most-talked about British-made film inyears to its heart.
On Sunday, Slumdog, which is set in Mumbai, won four Golden Globeawards – for best director, best film, best adapted screenplay and bestscore. In the process it became the movie to beat at the forthcoming AcademyAwards and unleashed a torrent of national pride across the subcontinent.
"Indian tale catches global fancy," the Hindustan Timestrumpeted.
"The Slumdog Has Its Day," said the Times of India, theworld's largest-circulation English-language paper.
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The biggest cheer was reserved for A.R. Rahman, Bollywood's best-knowncomposer, who became the first Indian to win a Golden Globe, for the bestoriginal score.
The film's distributors are now predicting that Slumdog will prove amassive popular success when it is released in India on January 23, largelybecause it wears its Bollywood credentials on its sleeve.
Vijay Singh, chief executive officer of Fox STAR Studios India, which isdistributing the movie in India, said: "It's an exceptional film, it hasIndian emotion much like a Bollywood film. The film has been built on thebuzz, it built its credibility in the US and then rolled out in the rest ofthe world."
Indian audiences are known for their love of melodramatic musicals, but intruth it is hard to say to which genre Slumdog, which is directed byDanny Boyle, the Briton behind Trainspotting, belongs.
The plot, based on the best-selling novel Q&A by Vikas Swarup, aformer Indian diplomat, tells the story of Jamal Malik, a dirt-poor orphanfrom Mumbai who stuns India when he reaps success on the country's versionof Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Jamal, played by the British actorDev Patel, draws on his life experiences, many of them shockingly brutal, toanswer the game show's questions, aiming to stay on air for as long aspossible in a bid to win back the love of his life.
There is a song-and-dance routine and a third of the dialogue is in Hindi withEnglish subtitles – hardly the stuff of your average Hollywood blockbuster.Yet, in terms of revenue per screen, the film broke all records when it wasreleased in the US in November.
Inventing a new term in its honour, The Wall Street Journal called it"the film world's first globalised masterpiece".
But its biggest challenge might just be reaching Indian audiences: Slumdog,which has raised hackles among some Indians for its graphic depictions ofthe nation's darker side, has yet to make it past the country's notoriouslyprickly censors.
Nevertheless, the distributors have prepared a Hindi-dubbed version in anattempt to crack the Indian mainstream. It now remains to be seen whetherthe film will draw the same plaudits from the slums – home to half ofMumbai's population of 18 million people - as it has from Hollywood'sswooning critics.
There are different types of cinema theatre in India, which correspond todifferent portions of society. In recent years, a handful of western-stylemultiplexes, with about 600 screens between them, have sprung up in thelargest cities, catering to the wealthy middle class. Despite hosting lessthan a tenth of the country's screens, they account for about half thecinema industry's revenue. This is where the 200 prints of Slumdoginitially being released in India will be shown.
Then there are the 7,000 traditional single-screen cinemas, still known as"talkies", found across the country. Known for their conservative tastes,there had been concerns that Slumdog would prove too avant-garde forthem. In the past fortnight, however, the release of a trailer thatemphasised the film's "masala " (or "spicy") credentials has persuadedexperts that it is poised for popular success in India. "It looks to haveemotion, drama, songs, dance, romance: all the trappings of Bollywood,"Taran Adarsh, a leading critic, said. "The single screens would be crazy notto show it."
Apple's new MacBooks have built-in copy protection measures Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't compliant with the new priority protection measures.
Publish Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:00 -0500 Read more...
UK videogame industry leaders have demanded greater ties betweenbusiness and academia to ensure that Britain's games developers remainglobally competitive. But will any of them step forward to foster therelationship?
At games industry conference the Westminster Media Forum, held inLondon this week, Mary Matthews, Strategy and Business DevelopmentDirector at game developer Blitz, said that ineffective training isholding the industry back.
“We can’t do what we want to do because we can’t find the right people,” she said.
Yet, acording to Kate O’Connor, Executive Director of Policy andDevelopment at Skillset, an industry body for skills and training, UKuniversities already offer 80 videogame-related degree courses. Nonehave any industry recognition, however.
Paul Harris, Professor of Screen Media at the University of Abertay,Dundee, agreed that accreditation by game design firms is crucial. Hesaid it is the best way for universities to ensure that students’skills match firms’ requirements.
Matthews also called for a similar frequent refreshment of the curriculum.
Matthews has other ideas too, such as recruiting potential gamedesigners from the age of 14. In her view, this would help kidsestablish much earlier a link between enjoying games and developingthem, thus steering more designers into the industry.
However, no one appears willing to take responsibility for theproposals. Instead, both industry and academia are hoping thegovernment will do the job for them.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries andTourism, said at the conference: “The games industry must do more toencourage students to choose the right qualifications [for videogamedesign], such as maths and physics.”
The government, she said, also has plans in the pipeline to createof centres of excellence for videogame development where gaming brainscould unite to develop the next smash hit.
The video game market is changing incrediblyquickly right now, probably at the fastest rate since the big crash ofthe mid-1980s.
Not only is the market expanding to include women and casual gamersonce again, the definition of what constitutes a game is expanding. Iwouldn't say it’s expanding within the minds of game developers, but itis expanding in the context of the mass media and mass consumers, andthat’s who drives the market in the first place.
As sick to death as we all are of talking about microtransactions,free-to-play MMOs, and casual online spaces, the advent of these thingsis changing the game landscape for good, whether we like it or not.
Interactive Media - At Face Value The lines between an online community portal and an MMO are blurredto the point of being indistinguishable. Consider the numbers — Audition Online has tens of millions of users worldwide, and a dedicated TV show in Vietnam. Kart Rider has tens of millions of users. Ditto Habbo Hotel and Club Penguin.
Traditional games - like most people reading this are developingtoday - may never be able to reach that large of an audience. Our gamesare too focused, too hardcore, and bear too much of the stereotype of“gamer.”
Right now, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, and World of Warcraftare considered our blockbuster titles, and flagships for the industryin popular culture. But when you think about it, it’s still justshooting aliens, playing gang banger, and swinging your sword in theforest.
Boiled down to their essentials those things appeal to a verylimited group of people, and the complexity of game controls preventseven blockbuster movie attendees, whom we should be attracting, fromplaying these things.
At least, that’s the common line. But is that really the case? Doaliens, wizards, and soldiers really make a piece of entertainmentinaccessible? Many millions of people went to see the Iron Man movieover the past two months, and a large percentage of them have probablynever picked up a comic book in their lives.
Why is it that people will go see The Lord of the Rings' movies, but many of them will not play the games?
The Real Mass Market It’s common knowledge that game controllers are intimidating, thatconsoles have a certain stigma to them, and that most mass marketconsumers consider games to be either a waste of time, or activelydetrimental.
These can all be debated until the end of time, but the perceptionexists, and either that has to change (Nintendo is doing good workthere), or we have to change. Otherwise we’ll end up with acomparatively small fraction of a growing market.
Will it be possible to make a game like Assassin’s Creed or BioShockin 2015? It’s already becoming difficult to justify large budgets forsingle-player experiences, and it stands to reason that it will getmore difficult as time goes on. What does that mean for developers ofthese games? What happens to the concept of a game auteur?
One possibility is for these hardcore games to essentially becomethe art-house cinema of the video game world, which would be odd, asthat’s a role currently filled by indie titles.
Interestingly, never has the film/game analogy worked less well than it does currently. In the PS2 era, you could correlate Grand Theft Auto III with a movie blockbuster, and Ico with an art-house film.
But now, in terms of scope, money, and global social impact, Kart Rider or Club Penguin would be that blockbuster, and Call of Duty 4 would be the art-house equivalent, though content- and budget-wise Call of Duty 4 is much more your traditional blockbuster material. Something seems awry there.
The fact is, these simple-to-play social experiences are here.They’re growing in popularity, they’re dwarfing our multi-milliondollar projects that sell through to 5 million people at max, and theycost a fraction of the price to make.
With the market expanding as it is, and the dollars going wherethey’re going, the $20 million budget bestselling console title oftoday is going to be the hardcore niche title of tomorrow, art-house ornot. Unless development costs get significantly lower, it seems we havean online future to look forward to.
New Things Are Stupid To wit: online games are taking over, and I, curmudgeon that I am, don’t really like it.
Certainly there will always be the hardcore players that will wantthat deeper experience. There’s no doubt about that. But the questionis: in an industry where we’re getting our asses kicked financially byweb developers, of all people, who will pay us to make it?
30. Rise of the Argonauts (PS3, X360, PS3) Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Liquid Entertainment
Est. Release Date: Sep 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Anaction RPG that promises to be way more action than RPG, Rise of theArgonauts has a winning mythological premise and lots of little designtouches that keep the game looking fresh. Take the Argo—the ship oflegend will act as a seafaring headquarters from which your recruitedArgonauts will provide support. There is also a “deed” system that willincrease Jason’s abilities via the acquisition of Xbox LiveAchievement-like trophies. So it’s bursting with interesting ideas, andit’s all running on the reliable Unreal Engine 3—this could be thesleeper hit of the year.
29. High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance (PC, Wii, PS2, NDS, X360) Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: TBA
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Considerthis your representative sample of licensed games that promise to sellgangbusters regardless of quality or media reaction. And High SchoolMusical 3 is likely to be the biggest game of its breed this year: themovie of the same name is the first time this children’s blockbusterfranchise will see a theatrical release, meaning the marketing for theproperty is likely to be even more inescapable than usual. Beyond theusual niceties of rhythm games—coop and competitive modes, mechanicsspecific to each system’s control scheme—it will have the songs fromHigh School Musical movies past and present. That last one is almostcertainly the only feature the game needs to add another million insales to the franchise’s life-to-date count.
28. Borderlands (PC, X360, PS3) Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software
Est. Release Date: 2009
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Capabledeveloper Gearbox has never swung for the fences with quite as muchgusto as with Borderlands. The fact that the game is original IP isn’teven the half of it—it also promises a procedural item creation systemthat will provide this sci-fi first-person shooter over half a millionweapons. If that’s not enough, Borderlands also shares some ambitionswith big-budget role playing games: the world will be expansive,character growth and classes comes standard, and missions and sidequests will populate the landscape. Borderlands has all the earmarks ofa breakout hit, and its scope should easily take the breath away fromboth shooter and science fiction fans.
27. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (X360, PS3) Publisher: Midway
Developer: Midway
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Goingon the title alone, Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe feels a decade late,like it should have been slugging it out with Marvel Vs Capcom for thequarters of 90s teenagers. But it’s actually a better idea,commercially, in 2008—now the game can ride the tide of successfulcomic book film blockbusters. It can pull from the years of soliddesign work and franchise reputation rebuilding that culminated inMortal Kombat: Armageddon. And with an anticipated ESRB rating of T forTeen, there’re no retail hurdles to keep the adolescent maledemographic from eating this up with a spoon.
26. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (PC) Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: GSC Game World
Est. Release Date: Aug 29, 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Shadow of Chernobyl was hardly the biggest first-person shooter of 2007in the west. But it posted platinum-level sales in Eastern Europe,where its freeform gameplay and mythos steeped in Russia’s uniquescience fiction struck a strong chord. With little similar competitionin the region, its sequel Clear Sky should do well for itself therealso. Which isn’t to say the rest of the world shouldn’t (or won’t)give it a go as well—Clear Sky will add a tactical, squad-based turfwar to the already eccentric proceedings, and should be just as curiousand interesting a beast as its predecessor.
25. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3, X360, Wii, PS2, PSP, NDS) Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: LucasArts
Est. Release Date: Sep 2008
Officially Announced for E3: No, but it might as well be
TheForce Unleashed could well be the biggest project to bear the Star Warsfranchise name since Episode III ended the franchise’s non-animatedtheatrical run. Every Star Wars fan has been curious about the periodright before the Original Trilogy when Darth Vader had his run of thegalaxy; Force Unleashed promises to capture this period from theperspective of the Dark Side, using exciting new technologies torealistically render bot the AI and the Force itself. If the persistentrumors are true, this could well be the last project completely builtby LucasArts’ internal studio—but in that case, it will be one heck ofa send-off that a lot of Star Wars fans will experience.
24. Beyond Good and Evil 2 (PS3, X360) Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier (likely)
Est. Release Date: TBA
Officially Announced for E3: No
Allthat’s known about Beyond Good and Evil 2 is that it’s currently beingworked on by Ubisoft premier designer Michel Ancel. But in this case,that’s more than enough—Ancel’s resume does include perennial hitRayman and (naturally) the first Beyond Good and Evil, after all. Andthe first Beyond Good and Evil is particularly beloved. The smallaudience that played it has been talking about it ever since, praisingits varied gameplay and realistic, strong female protagonist Jade. Sothe sequel is exciting, and though its commercial success is by nomeans assured it’s possible that maybe the adult gaming audience isfinally ready for this franchise.
23. Lock’s Quest (NDS) Publisher: THQ
Developer: 5th Cell
Est. Release Date: Fall 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
2007’sbiggest surprise sales blockbuster was a little DS game called Drawn toLife, built by a little mobile developer called 5th Cell. That gamegave the independent studio a reputation for creating innovations withstrong market appeal, and it could cement that reputation with Lock’sQuest, a curious RTS/Action/RPG/minigame hybrid with cute graphics,quick thrills and a world that can be completely remodeled by theplayer. In other words, it has a lot of elements that appeal across awide variety of gaming demographics, as well as a lot of ambition. Ifthis one lives up to its potential, it would be great to see it succeed.
22. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (PC, X360, NDS) Publisher: D3 Publisher of America
Developer: Infinite Interactive
Est. Release Date: Fall 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Lastyear’s Puzzle Quest combined the most addictive parts of the casual“match three” puzzle game with the most addictive parts of RPGcharacter development, a powerful cocktail that murdered productivityand sold in huge numbers. There’s no reason this follow-up shouldn’tcontinue in that trend—it’s still a match three puzzle game (this timemore Collapse than Bejeweled), it still has those all-important RPGelements, and it’s being built by the same studio. The only differences(besides the science fiction setting) all look like improvements.There’s an element of strategy gaming. Players can enhance not justtheir character, but also their spacecraft. Downloadable content willabound. It all sounds like a game that players will itch to play afterthe first hit.
21. Crysis: Warhead (PC) Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Crysis
Est. Release Date: Fall 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Allegedlythe last PC exclusive from the bastion of PC gaming high technology,Crytek’s side story to 2007’s Crysis looks every bit as graphicallydazzling as its predecessor. It also promises to be a moremarket-friendly title (a tall order considering Crysis’ million-sellingstatus); Warhead provides a less strategic, more bombastic run-and-gunaffair compared to the original Crysis. And with a year of hardwareadvancements in between Crysis and Crysis: Warhead, that more widelyappealing design will find that a lot more people have the rigs toactually run it well. And who knows? If Warhead does manage to findthat perfect balance, perhaps Crytek will stick to their PC-exclusivestomping grounds for a while longer.
20. Tomb Raider Underworld (Wii, PS2, PS3, X360, PC, NDS) Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
It’sbeen a few years since Crystal Dynamics took the Tomb Raider franchiseand reinvigorated it with Legend. But it’s really with Underworld thatthe series’ previous mistakes have been taken to heart. Rather thanrest the game on its laurels again, Underworld is a creation that lookstoward with the new; the game engine is all new, the way the worldinteracts with Lara is more realistic, combat now has melee and willflow fluidly into the puzzle mechanics. And if that wasn’t enough toguarantee sales, Lara has a motorcycle now too.
19. Sonic Unleashed (Wii, PS2, PS3, X360) Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Sonic Team/Dimps
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: No
Thesedays it feels like SEGA promises the moon with every Sonic title, tothe point where it’s hard to fall for it anymore. Take Sonic Unleashed;it’s promise of a revamped, re-invented Sonic echoes the promises SEGAmade before this generation’s first Sonic the Hedgehog hit the Xbox 360with a sad plop. And yet, franchise sales have never followed the samecurve as the blue blur’s review scores. This is mostly because ofSonic’s strong appeal to the child market, but on some level thegraying Genesis owner wants to believe what we’re told, that this nextSonic really will reclaim the glory days. Anyway, Sonic Unleashed. It’srunning on a new engine and has some 2D environments. It’ll sell, andas for the rest of it? Here’s hoping.
18. MadWorld (Wii) Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Platinum Games
Est. Release Date: 2009
Officially Announced for E3: No
PlatinumGames, formerly Seeds, formerly Clover Studios, isn’t known for makingcommercial hits. No, that team is known more for making instant,beloved classics. Okami certainly, but Viewtiful Joe is in there aswell, and the only people who remember God Hand these days love it toabsolute death. MadWorld, a blood-soaked black and white Wii exclusive,feels like a return to the playful, experimentation that made this teamfamous. Will it sell? Well, it’s nice to think that just maybe, thistime, the market has caught up to what Platinum is doing.
17. Animal Crossing Wii (Wii) Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Est. Release Date: TBA
Officially Announced for E3: No
Asof this writing, Animal Crossing Wii still exists as a hopeful glimmerin the eye of the gaming public. Nintendo hasn’t said anything at allabout it yet, though almost all speculation says that it exists andwill be announced soon—and if that’s the case, E3 is as good a place toshowcase it as any. It’s a completely believable theory. Nintendo’sChristmas lineup is currently a complete mystery, and Animal Crossing,already a surprise hit on GameCube and DS, is such a good fit for thecasual Wii-loving audience it’s startling it’s not on the systemalready.
16. Left 4 Dead (PC, X360) Publisher: Valve Software
Developer: Turtle Rock Studios
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Valvedoesn’t release duds, and it doesn’t buy teams that can’t deliver. Sothe fact that it purchased Turtle Rock Studios and have put a greatdeal of PR muscle behind Left 4 Dead speaks volumes as to how good thisgame could be. The game has a completely innovative, yet highly marketfriendly hook in its “four survivors must cooperate to survive thezombie horde” premise, though players of a less polite persuasion canalso take up the role of a super-powered zombie. This could very wellbe the next major online phenomenon, like Team Fortress 2 before it.
15. Resistance 2 (PS3) Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Insomniac Games
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Thefirst Resistance was the big win for the PlayStation 3 at launch, butResistance 2 looks set to spin that good first impression into anempire. Resistance 2 pushes the game out of London to the morerelatable (in the US, anyway) environs of the United States. A goodmove, but not as good as the massive 60-man multiplayer that the gamepromises. That’s fantastic scale for an online console game; add onsome more focused, objective-oriented teamplay and Resistance 2 is agood contender for gamer’s next networked obsession.
14. Killzone 2 (PS3) Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Guerilla Games
Est. Release Date: 2009
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Threeyears on and Killzone 2 is still trying to shake off its disastrous“showing” at E3 2005. Admittedly the team at Guerilla has done a finejob of actually approaching the target in that first badly marketed“target render,” with more recent previews showing the game asappropriately attractive and bombastic for its high position in Sony’sportfolio. But it still needs a big floor to show off, and it needs aman to say “in-game graphics” about one thousand times in front of somehuge HD Killzone if it wants to really nail the market. E3 historicallyhas had some very big floors.
13. Fable 2 (X360) Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Est. Release Date: Oct 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Alot on Fable 2 is already known, and most of it is interesting on avariety of levels. There’s the in-game dog, a character ofunconditional love that will act as the player’s anchor to the game’sworld. There’s the Pub Games, a series of Xbox Live Arcade titles thatwill act as both encapsulated products and previews for the bigrelease. Then there’s the gay marriage, pregnant adventuring, and allmanner of family matters to deal with in the game as well. It’s a gamethat promises to push boundaries and break some of the medium’s moreridiculous unnecessary taboos. Considering the success of the originalGable, it’s likely many people will choose to experience this moveforward—surely a good thing.
12. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC, X360) Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Los Angeles
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
RedAlert’s Cold War gone hot is one of the most beloved scenarios is allof strategy gaming, and the franchise’s long seven year absence makesthis game even more exciting and desirable. And by adding thepseudo-Japanese Empire of the Rising Sun faction the festivities geteven more campy and strange, complete with towering mecha, psychicschoolgirls and parachuting bears. So it’s got a lot of hooks for boththe longtime fan and sugar-crazed newcomer alike.
11. Far Cry 2 (PC, X360, PS3) Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: No
FarCry 2 has found a unique gaming setting in the jungles, savannahs andtowns of Africa, and it plans on giving the player a lot of thatsetting – 50 square kilometers, to be precise. Plenty of new gameplayelements will make themselves known as the player crosses that expanse:some wounds have to be treated with field medicine (ie. fishing abullet out with a knife) and brush fires can be started, only to bewhipped up realistically by wind. Far Cry 2 is an underutilized brandmoving to an underutilized setting while adding multiple newinnovations, making it an extremely strong contender in the hardcoreshooter market.
10. Prince of Persia (X360, PS3) Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Est. Release Date: Holiday 2008
Officially Announced for E3: No
Princeof Persia: The Sands of Time was one of the last generation’s definingmoments, so it would have been easy for Ubisoft to just build astandard sequel on the successes of its previous trilogy. The fact thatthis is not the case, that the series is instead being rebooted with anincredible hand-painted aesthetic and open world, show a strongdedication to making the Prince one of the most lasting and importantfranchises in gaming (though the big budget movie helps on that scoreas well). While previous PoP titles did sell well, after theblockbuster success of Assassin’s Creed, the timing is perfect for thePrince to really make it big.
9. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Est. Release Date: TBD
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Sinceclosing the door on the last console genre, Square Enix has relied onhandheld games and Wii side stories alone. If the publisher’s lastfiscal statement said anything, it was that’s no way for a company tolive—so while Square Enix has some other interesting console games inthe pipe, it needs to bring its megaton franchise back into the publiceye. It’s not surprising that Final Fantasy XIII will show up in someform at E3—and regardless of what form it takes or what the game lookslike now, it could certainly steal the show if it tried.
8. Street Fighter IV (PC, X360, PS3) Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom/Dimps
Est. Release Date: 2009
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Atworst, this is a surprise come back of one of gaming’s most iconicfranchises. At best, this could be the surprise come back of agenre—certainly if anything could revive a flagging fighting gamefield, a new numbered entry in its greatest series would be the thingto do it. Perhaps the best sign that this game knows what it will taketo succeed is its reverence to Street Fighter II—all of the charactersfrom that game will return, and the gameplay mirrors the measured paceof that early entry. Considering versions of SFII still sell in strongnumbers, it’s easy to see how this strategy could succeed on the market.
7. Rock Band 2 (X360, PS3, PS2, Wii) Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Est. Release Date: Sep 2008 (X360 timed exclusive, with other versions to follow)
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Nomatter what other companies say, the fast-paced game of catch-up thathas gripped the music genre says one thing louder: the four-piece RockBand is the standard for the field. And while little is known about itat this point, what is known proves that Harmonix hasn’t lost the plotwith Rock Band 2. Sticking to its “platform” guns, the game will befully backwards compatible—with old DLC, with old instruments, theworks. And while user-created content is not a go this time, there arecertainly things about the game yet to be announced—you don’t want tomiss this one at the show.
6. LittleBigPlanet (PS3) Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Media Molecule
Est. Release Date: Oct 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Despiteseemingly constant delays, LittleBigPlanet remains one of the mostunique products in Sony’s first-party arsenal. The idea of a game thatlives and dies by the content created by its users has been triedbefore in first-person shooters, but LittleBigPlanet, with its lovelytextured graphics and universal, non-violent charm wants to be muchmore—the YouTube of games perhaps, or the Legos of the 21st century. Ofall the games that could bring PlayStation 3 to the mass market, thisremains the best hope.
5. Halo Wars (X360) Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Ensemble Studios/Bungie
Est. Release Date: Oct 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
HaloWars is more than just the next title from Microsoft to have the Haloname. It’s also more than the first Halo project not spearheaded byBungie. Halo Wars wants to be a revolution in real-time strategy, aconsole exclusive built from the ground up for a console controller—inother words, Halo Wars wants to do for real-time strategy what Halo didfor first-person shooters. If it succeeds, it could crack wide open thenascent console RTS market as gamers try it based on the franchisealone. It’s been reported that the game will be playable by the mediaat E3, so the show should give a much better idea as to how itssucceeding.
4. Spore (PC, Mac) Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis
Est. Release Date: Sep 7, 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
It’scertainly something that even after the seemingly endless amount ofwords typed about Spore, even though it’s appeared in publications asnon-game centric as The New Yorker, even though the wait for the gamehas been years long and interminable, almost everyone who knows aboutit is still excited at its promise. And after the success of therecently released Creature Creator, that excitement is still mounting.Will Wright’s SimEverything could very well the next big thing, tossingaside silly ideas like “demographics” and just appealing to everyoneeverywhere. In other words, the next Sims.
3. Gears of War 2 (X360) Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Est. Release Date: Nov 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Gearsof War 2 is a lot of things. To the gamer, it is epic, the sequel tothe game that dominated man hours spent on Xbox Live for most of 2007.To developers, it’s the new baseline, as every new Epic game has cometo represent the state of the art for the now industry standard UnrealEngine 3. In both regards Gears of War 2 looks great. A fewimprovements to the constantly evolving engine have already been shown,and most gamers agree that new mechanics like martyrdom and the “meatshield” look like fantastic fun. Gears of War is already one of thisgeneration’s emblematic franchises, so it will be great to see how thesequel goes about cementing that status.
2. Resident Evil 5 (X360, PS3) Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Est. Release Date: 2009
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
RE5is not even close to a retail release, and yet it’s already one of themost interesting topics in the industry. It brings with it the highlyrespected pedigree of Resident Evil 4, hands-down one of the best gamesof the last generation, and will probably sell strongly to the audiencethat loved, or even heard about, that game. Yet it’s also mired incontroversy over some concerns regarding racism. So it’s a projectthat’s walking many tightropes of expectation, and there’s potentialfor huge success or massive failure here. As a result this E3 could bethe most important public showing for RE5 until its release—it shouldbe fascinating.
1. Fallout 3 (PC, X360, PS3) Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Est. Release Date: Oct 2008
Officially Announced for E3: Yes
Fallout3 shows great evolutionary leaps every time it’s displayed for publicviewing, with recent revelations—the childhood simulating charactercreator, the 500 endings—being particularly fascinating. Now that it’scoming precariously close to its announced release date, this E3 shouldrepresent the game’s biggest showing yet. If there are any surprisesleft in the title to announce, expect them to get announced at somepoint during the week. But even if there aren’t, Fallout 3 has alreadyproven itself to be a sprawling, ambitious project that anyone in thegaming audience would wait to spend more time with.
You see, for all the talk of monthly periodicals' demise, SEO'simpending reign, the downfall of FM stations and television'sinevitable implosion, we, err, sort of forgot to mention one thing:essentially that, despite posting up ratings far from the halcyon daysof the pre-TMZ.com era, mass media outlets such as ABC, CBS, CNN andNBC; Time, Newsweek and USA Today;and even regional Cineplex chains still generate the kind of audiencenumbers most interactive entertainment execs would give their last USBcable to connect with. Tactics may be changing, with custom tradeshows,advertorials, movie-type trailers and cover wraps replacing simple pageads and product giveaways. But as an industry, we're far from preparedto divorce ourselves completely from traditional advertisingplacements, or shift marketing dollars exclusively onto the Internet.
"Something most gamemarketers miss about the broadcast space is the need to keep messagingpointed and simple" - Steven Roberts, DIRECTV
To wit, column after news brief after investigative report may continueto bemoan the death of old-world media. However, as any marketingdirector can attest, its core vehicles still remain one of the bestways to rapidly generate mass awareness amongst PC- or console-owningaudiences. Hence, although blogs and video aggregators deliver greatbang for the buck and generate tremendous street-level buzz, theycontinue to be promotional outlets that most core publishers have yetto wholly embrace, let alone fully commit to. Thus the reign ofhigh-profile primetime spots for titles like Grand Theft Auto, Madden and Halo rolls on.
And so, just as I humble myself before my new daughter, who hasn't meta pair of slacks she hasn't enjoyed redecorating yet, I willinglyprostrate myself before the industry-at-large and beg forgiveness. Asthe following executives – representing the television, motion pictureand direct marketing industries, respectively – are quick to remind, weshould all think twice before acting so rashly and completely writingthese businesses off.
Suffice it to say that they may not generate the same kind of headlinesin 2008 as rich media providers, online networks or widget creators,but thanks to new technology, changing tastes and increasing audiencefragmentation, let's just say they're far from out of the game.
Steven Roberts Vice President & General Manager, Games and StrategicInitiatives for DIRECTV, overseeing broadcast ventures like 24/7interactive games channel Game Lounge and the internationally televisedChampionship Gaming Series professional league. "Broadcast TV is absolutely not dead – just changing. Popular as gamingis, you can't look at entertainment in a vacuum... you have to considerthe overall mass-market. There are 120 million television homes outthere, with millions of people who just want to be entertained in thesame way they have for the last 50 years. NFL football still puts uphuge ratings every Sunday, and millions still tune in to watch livemusic and sports – you don't see that on an Xbox 360 console.
"True, television has to evolve, and will become more interactive toengage subscribers... if that's what users want. But what we're reallylooking at here in the immediate is developers/publishers grapplingwith a question of increasing audience segmentation. Something mostgame marketers miss about the broadcast space is the need to keepmessaging pointed and simple. That doesn't mean downplaying keyelements or features that you want understood: Just presenting them ina straightforward, easily comprehensible way that speaks to a specificaudience. Implementing better virtual cameras into games would be awelcome start... For broadcasters, it's very difficult to showdifferent elements of a title in ways instantly conducive to helpingpeople understand what it's all about.
"It's also important to look beyond the 30-second spot. There's plentyof room for advertisers to tap into broadcast vehicles, whether throughtelevised competitions, interactive online program extensions orproduct integration. Placing games front and center by showing ahalf-hour of screens, video footage and people playing these titlesmakes sense. But what you really need for effective campaigns here isto build elements of user interaction into your advertising and pair itwith programming that's consistent with the demographics of the gameitself.
"It all comes back to basics. People won't skip an ad on a DVR or turnaway to get a glass of milk if it's compelling, the message is clearand it's telling you something that you want to hear. Creative doesn'tjust have to wow either: It also has to make sense for the audiencesegment. While marketing can be fun and have an edge to it, ultimately,for on-air placements, it's vital to make sure the message is verytargeted, specific and simple."
"For all the uproar surrounding the movie business lately, gamemarketers shouldn't underestimate in-cinema advertising's power. Mostmedia features a device (remote control, mouse click, radio dial, etc.)that lets audiences tune unwanted messaging out. But at the theater,you've paid to be there, are a captive audience and want to beentertained. This receptivity begets results if the creative is good:Recall scores average around 60%, with categories like gaming actuallysoaring into the 80-90% range.
"Definitely, the big screen's sexy. Via streaming media, you canliterally send ads for M-rated games to all R-rated movie screenings inany given city; appear alongside only specific types of films; ordeliver different messages to different geographic markets on-demand.But publishers need to look beyond the most obvious opportunities –lobbies can also be a marketing wonderland. Standees, banners,concession items... From 20-minute pre-shows packed with original,exclusive and entertaining content to game posters disguised to looklike cinematic counterparts, options for building brand equity areendless.
"Hollywood is far from dead. Are gamers going to see Shrek, The Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean?Of course... it's common sense. Research also shows emotions aremagnified at the theater – and the same holds for audience reactions tocommercials as well as films. It's hard to argue with a dark room, agiant screen and a group of people who've willingly paid to be thereand want to see what's in store.
"Also note – 80% of tickets are sold on weekends, a time when peoplewant to go shopping, and theaters are generally located in shoppingdistricts. Stick a retail discount on a box office handout, and youdon't just achieve grassroots interaction, or present a clear call toaction. It's also conceivably the last message a consumer sees beforehaving to drive home past a Best Buy or Wal-Mart where your game'sconveniently stocked."
"People are more distracted than ever – advertisers need to cut throughthe clutter. You have to find ways to surprise and entertainaudiences... It's important to design options that let you really spendtime with consumers in a meaningful way.
"Consider core gamers. You can look at where they're hanging out – atfraternity houses, sports bars, military bases, wherever – thendiscover ways to be there. It's even possible to reach players atschool and weave gaming properties into an educational message. Theseinstitutions appreciate it when game companies can provide them withbranded book covers, locker calendars or workshops that incorporatethese titles to teach lessons, just to name a few possible choices.
"Basically, you have to create options that make sense for the contentand target demographic, then craft a vehicle that fits. This could be abranded video game tournament, for example, or involve catching fans ata sporting event and giving them things they can wear to the game.There are alternative ways to reach virtually any shopper.
"It's crucial for publishers to connect with fans on a one-on-onelevel, because as excited as TV/film imagery can make them, people wantto go hands-on and try your games. To do so, you have to interface withthem on the street. Demos at malls, movie theaters, health clubs, etc.are essential to building buzz: There's a direct link between samplersconverting into purchasers. Experience is everything, and consumers aregoing to be the strongest ambassadors for your brand – word-of-mouth isincredibly powerful in the enthusiast gaming community.
"A holistic strategy is important, though: Alternative marketing shouldjust be one part of a diversified tactical plan. If I can see an ad foryour game during Lost or American Idol, then it happens to be at a barwhere I can try it, it'll pique my interest... Suddenly, brand andbuyer are making a meaningful connection. Remember though, that theseplacements have to be unobtrusive. You can't invade someone's space –you have to make kiosks, stands, booths, etc. – something that adds to,not takes away from, the entertainment value of any activity or event."
RedAlert’s Cold War gone hot is one of the most beloved scenarios is allof strategy gaming, and the franchise’s long seven year absence makesthis game even more exciting and desirable. And by adding thepseudo-Japanese Empire of the Rising Sun faction the festivities geteven more campy and strange, complete with towering mecha, psychicschoolgirls and parachuting bears. So it’s got a lot of hooks for boththe longtime fan and sugar-crazed newcomer alike.
