I work in the games industry and have a PSP game in the charts right now. The vibe is that people already are, or should consider ditching their DS. As an "insider", my advice is to hold onto your DS. Here are some facts and figures:
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http://nintendoinsider.com/site/EEEFylpkElFffmiBlr.php
http://nintendoinsider.com/site/EEEZuAypVuTuOJPzyb.php
http://lostgarden.com/2005/09/ninte...n-strategy.html
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The division of Microsoft that handles the Xbox has a net revenue of $3.1 billion, but makes a loss of $551 billion, as it subsidises the cost of each Xbox sold.
Sony also spends heavily in order to maintain its presence in the videogame market, though it manages to make a profit for $400 million from its games division.
Meanwhile, Nintendo doesn't subsidise its hardware so makes larger profits of $4.7 billion. Furthermore, it (surprisingly perhaps) has approx 60% market share of total console sales worldwide. From games alone, it makes nearly enough profit as the entire Sony empire combined.
Videogames seem to crop up a lot in people's posts on the moneysaving forums. I just thought I'd balance things out based on facts rather than hype from PR firms.
Analysis of sales figures also throws up some surprises. Eg. a #1 selling PSP game can actually be low (#37) in the multiformat sales chart. A couple of DS games that are higher in the multiformat chart are selling more, but appear lower profile in the shop because Nintendo hasn't payed for them to be all over the place.
That chart-track.com website is the only sales-based chart for the UK. Retailers such as HMV, Game, WHSmiths etc charge us a fee in order to have a game in their chart. They also charge for window displays, shelf space etc... When you walk into a shop and see Burnout (for example) all over the place, its because the publisher has payed tens of thousands of £££s for it to be there. Its not because its a good game, (though in Burnout's case it is actually good).
Be aware that games publishers can buy space in magazines, (and I don't just mean adverts) magazine covers, content, coverdisks, players guides etc... If a magazine gives too many low scores, the game publisher stops sending it early review versions and images for print. The result is that most games mags are just reprints of glossy press releases from the games companies.
If I want an honest opion of a game, I tend to go to www.gamefaqs.com where you can find every game on every platform reviewed by ordinary people. You soon get an impression of what's a turkey and what isn't. www.metacritic.com is also handy.
<<< I expect this post will generate a lot of angry and aggressive replies from Sony and Microsoft fans who have absorbed their PR company's spin >>>
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Get Rich or Die Trying...
by ZombieSolutions of aintitcoolnews.com
Sums up my feelings about 'Fiddy' perfectly...
"get rich or die trying." yep, it's the american dream! fuck getting an education; fuck trying to better yourself and your neighborhood; fucking getting organized, getting involved; fuck taking activist action against a racist and corrupt government. fuck all of that shit, right? just get rich or die trying. its all about YOU. it's all about the "Bling Bling." sell crack and shoot down all of your frriends! that's the quickest way to buy that shiny rock and those spinning rims. yeah, thats the most important thing. to prove to everyone else that you have more shit then they do. go America! woo-hoo! get rich or die trying! i wonder how many kids will internalize that message? i wonder how many will be like, "hey, maybe i can sell crack and become a rap star just like Fitty?" only to be gunned down dead before their even 18. yeah! what a great message to send! thanks Fitty you Republican Uncle Tom KKK fuck. your really helping to keep the status quo alive and to keep your people down. good job, asshole! so, much kick back money did you get from the KKK and the Bush Administration, i'm curious? i bet it was A WHOLE FUCKIN LOT. SELL-OUT sucker....
Sums up my feelings about 'Fiddy' perfectly...
"get rich or die trying." yep, it's the american dream! fuck getting an education; fuck trying to better yourself and your neighborhood; fucking getting organized, getting involved; fuck taking activist action against a racist and corrupt government. fuck all of that shit, right? just get rich or die trying. its all about YOU. it's all about the "Bling Bling." sell crack and shoot down all of your frriends! that's the quickest way to buy that shiny rock and those spinning rims. yeah, thats the most important thing. to prove to everyone else that you have more shit then they do. go America! woo-hoo! get rich or die trying! i wonder how many kids will internalize that message? i wonder how many will be like, "hey, maybe i can sell crack and become a rap star just like Fitty?" only to be gunned down dead before their even 18. yeah! what a great message to send! thanks Fitty you Republican Uncle Tom KKK fuck. your really helping to keep the status quo alive and to keep your people down. good job, asshole! so, much kick back money did you get from the KKK and the Bush Administration, i'm curious? i bet it was A WHOLE FUCKIN LOT. SELL-OUT sucker....
In advance of its cinematic release, I have just one thing to plead to the Black Community...
BOYCOTT
THIS
MOVIE.
Opposition Mounts to 50 Cent Movie -Posters for(fabricated biopic) Get Rich or Die Tryin' show 50 Cent holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone the other.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich wrote to Paramount Pictures urging them to take down the posters.
The company said it had taken down one poster near a Los Angeles nursery school, and planned to remove more.
Mr Antonovich sent a letter to Paramount chairman Brad Grey asking him to remove the billboards, starting with one outside a school in Altadena, a suburb north of Los Angeles. "This billboard conveys to the students a disturbing message actively promoting gun violence, criminal behaviour and gang affiliation," he wrote.
Activists in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hyde Park - an area affected by gang violence - staged a rally earlier in the week calling on Paramount to remove a billboard next to the pre-school - the sign was taken down the next day
A grass-roots (or more accurately a street-pavement) campaign is now spreading across the USA to promote a boycott of the upcoming 50 Cent movie.
Following the vehement opposition to the placement of the film's billboards in Los Angeles, 21 billboards have now also been removed from the city of Philadelphia.
"The message could be 'rob to get rich,'" Bilal Qayyum of Men United for a Better Philadelphia told The Associated Press. "It's a very offensive message that is part of a mindset that says you can solve problems with violence."
Men United targeted the protest at billboard owners Clear Channel Outdoor, whereas Los Angeles protesters went after Paramount Pictures.
Clear Channel, hearing the strong negative reaction from Philadelphia groups, agreed to remove those billboards from the city.
Of the protests in Los Angeles, 50 told Reuters with typical ignorance: "I don't have a problem with [taking down billboards]. At the end of the day, those kids are going to see the film."
On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that a similar campaign has been launched in Brooklyn -- not only against the billboard ads but against the film itself. City Councilwoman Letitia James said that it appears to her that the message of the movie is basically, "Do whatever you can to get ahead and advance yourself -- even if it includes violence." The "singer/actor's" yet again typically ignorant response to the latest developments of the controversy was, "I do appreciate it. ... They are helping me out." Yet what the pathetically ignorant Curtis '50cent' Jackson ironically fails to realise is that his actions are NOT helping his own people out. Everytime he opens his mouth or has his picture plastered on TV or print media, he sets the Black Race back years of achievement, advancement and progression. Gannett columnist Deborah Mathis, writing on the BlackAmericaWeb website, commented that films like Get Rich "create the illusion of young black men with power, when all they really have is weaponry. With their glocks and their snarls, it's fear they engender, not respect."
50 Cent: Yet another moronic traitor to the Black Community that glamorizes the gangster lifestyle and violence. Even the title of his "movie" is problematic. Sadly, 50 Cent is seen as a role model to a large segment of the youth population, and that regrettably includes my little Brother Jamie...
BOYCOTT
THIS
MOVIE.
Opposition Mounts to 50 Cent Movie -Posters for(fabricated biopic) Get Rich or Die Tryin' show 50 Cent holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone the other.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich wrote to Paramount Pictures urging them to take down the posters.
The company said it had taken down one poster near a Los Angeles nursery school, and planned to remove more.
Mr Antonovich sent a letter to Paramount chairman Brad Grey asking him to remove the billboards, starting with one outside a school in Altadena, a suburb north of Los Angeles. "This billboard conveys to the students a disturbing message actively promoting gun violence, criminal behaviour and gang affiliation," he wrote.
Activists in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hyde Park - an area affected by gang violence - staged a rally earlier in the week calling on Paramount to remove a billboard next to the pre-school - the sign was taken down the next day
A grass-roots (or more accurately a street-pavement) campaign is now spreading across the USA to promote a boycott of the upcoming 50 Cent movie.
Following the vehement opposition to the placement of the film's billboards in Los Angeles, 21 billboards have now also been removed from the city of Philadelphia.
"The message could be 'rob to get rich,'" Bilal Qayyum of Men United for a Better Philadelphia told The Associated Press. "It's a very offensive message that is part of a mindset that says you can solve problems with violence."
Men United targeted the protest at billboard owners Clear Channel Outdoor, whereas Los Angeles protesters went after Paramount Pictures.
Clear Channel, hearing the strong negative reaction from Philadelphia groups, agreed to remove those billboards from the city.
Of the protests in Los Angeles, 50 told Reuters with typical ignorance: "I don't have a problem with [taking down billboards]. At the end of the day, those kids are going to see the film."
On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that a similar campaign has been launched in Brooklyn -- not only against the billboard ads but against the film itself. City Councilwoman Letitia James said that it appears to her that the message of the movie is basically, "Do whatever you can to get ahead and advance yourself -- even if it includes violence." The "singer/actor's" yet again typically ignorant response to the latest developments of the controversy was, "I do appreciate it. ... They are helping me out." Yet what the pathetically ignorant Curtis '50cent' Jackson ironically fails to realise is that his actions are NOT helping his own people out. Everytime he opens his mouth or has his picture plastered on TV or print media, he sets the Black Race back years of achievement, advancement and progression. Gannett columnist Deborah Mathis, writing on the BlackAmericaWeb website, commented that films like Get Rich "create the illusion of young black men with power, when all they really have is weaponry. With their glocks and their snarls, it's fear they engender, not respect."
50 Cent: Yet another moronic traitor to the Black Community that glamorizes the gangster lifestyle and violence. Even the title of his "movie" is problematic. Sadly, 50 Cent is seen as a role model to a large segment of the youth population, and that regrettably includes my little Brother Jamie...
PostSecret
PostSecret is a fantastic Blog/website I stumbled upon which consists of artistic (or simplistic) contributions from the normal Human Beings of the world in the form of a postcard. These Postcards, however express secrets shared with no other, some of them light hearted, some of them dark and tragic. It’s a compelling site and yes, its all REAL.
None of the images are archived on PostSecret, so be sure to bookmark the site as the selection of contributions are updated every Sunday.
www.postsecret.com
Got a secret to share? Follow the instructions below…
How Do I Mail-In My Secrets?
You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.
Create your 4-by-6-inch postcards out of any mailable material. If you want to share two or more secrets, use multiple postcards. Put your complete secret and image on one side of the postcard. Please do not email your secrets.
Tips:
Be brief - the fewer words used the better.
Be legible - use big, clear and bold lettering.
Be creative - let the postcard be your canvas.
Mail your secrets to:
PostSecret
13345 Copper Ridge Rd
Germantown, Maryland
USA 20874-3454
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