Losses Are Never Good
While Wednesdays aren't typically known for bad news, today was definitely not the greatest day for some videogame industry folks, especially for the group down at EALA. In an attempt to restructure the studio and get it back on track, Neil Young (the new GM) went forward with the release of 60 or so employees. While most of the staff came from the Goldeneye: Rogue Agent and MOH: Dogs of War teams, plenty of other groups were hit, as well. It's unfortunate that so many folks had to be let go, but I can see why EA wanted to get across a message across to that studio. There is a bit of an upside to it all, as EA's stock price (ERTS) jumped up quite a bit in reaction to the recent earnings report.
Heading across the ocean, we find that Nintendo has had to lower its profit forecast by over 22%. Despite hugely successful sales of its DS system, the software for it didn't fair as well. That's probably because most games allow multiplayer with only one cartridge. Nintendo will obviously blame these lowered figures on a shrinking market and other factors, but (as always) won't admit that there are any serious issues. There are no problems because the "Revolution" console (just like the GameCube) will bring them back on top. That company better hope that the PSP is not as successful as I think it will come, because the only thing really keeping major profits coming into Nintendo is its handheld division. The GameCube, by the end of its cycle, will sell a little more than half of what the N64 did and I bet the "Revolution" will sell only around 60% of that. That's because the console will focus on features that Nintendo will think are completely fresh and innovative, but that most developers will never really utilize. That's the problem when you're third... People tend to design games around the lowest common denominator. There's no point to spend time on adding features that only a limited number of console owners will benefit from. Even Sony, the masters of marketing, learned that with the release of the HDD.
On the lighter side of things, I'm happy to share that my puppy has now graduated from her first training course. I'm gathering together some photos and will post them up over the next couple of days. Next up is taking her to a local dog park and letting her mingle with even more breeds. If anyone can suggest some good dog parks in the Bay Area, let me know at frostman007@gmail.com.
Oh, and if you aren't using the Firefox browser yet, then you should be. It beats Internet Explorer is almost every way, aside from a few sites having issues with it. It's faster, more reliable and has plenty of add-on features. It will even help to considerably cut back on the number of adware that appears on your PC. Run, don't walk, over to http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ and download it right away. You'll definitely be happy you did.
Heading across the ocean, we find that Nintendo has had to lower its profit forecast by over 22%. Despite hugely successful sales of its DS system, the software for it didn't fair as well. That's probably because most games allow multiplayer with only one cartridge. Nintendo will obviously blame these lowered figures on a shrinking market and other factors, but (as always) won't admit that there are any serious issues. There are no problems because the "Revolution" console (just like the GameCube) will bring them back on top. That company better hope that the PSP is not as successful as I think it will come, because the only thing really keeping major profits coming into Nintendo is its handheld division. The GameCube, by the end of its cycle, will sell a little more than half of what the N64 did and I bet the "Revolution" will sell only around 60% of that. That's because the console will focus on features that Nintendo will think are completely fresh and innovative, but that most developers will never really utilize. That's the problem when you're third... People tend to design games around the lowest common denominator. There's no point to spend time on adding features that only a limited number of console owners will benefit from. Even Sony, the masters of marketing, learned that with the release of the HDD.
On the lighter side of things, I'm happy to share that my puppy has now graduated from her first training course. I'm gathering together some photos and will post them up over the next couple of days. Next up is taking her to a local dog park and letting her mingle with even more breeds. If anyone can suggest some good dog parks in the Bay Area, let me know at frostman007@gmail.com.
Oh, and if you aren't using the Firefox browser yet, then you should be. It beats Internet Explorer is almost every way, aside from a few sites having issues with it. It's faster, more reliable and has plenty of add-on features. It will even help to considerably cut back on the number of adware that appears on your PC. Run, don't walk, over to http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ and download it right away. You'll definitely be happy you did.
posted by Frosty @ 5:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home