- Research says that PC is the top gaming platform. With a billion units installed worldwide of which a quarter are used for gaming, producing $11 billion of turnover last year. The PC is an open platform, so without the cold dead hand of the console companies it is a hotbed of innovation. In business models as well as content. So the PC continues to lead the market whilst the rest just follow. And OnLive could be the catalyst for millions of gamers to move from consoles to PCs.
- Qualcomm back new platform holder Zeebo, targeted at developing countries. With revenues of $11 billion Qualcomm may well need to bet the company on this one if it is to reach critical mass. And the three existing home console platforms will obviously react competitively. So the industry just got even more interesting. The Zeebo will retail at $200 and has very strong anti piracy measures, essential in these markets were very little software is actually bought.
- Germans want draconian anti gaming measures after latest school shooting. Because the perpetrator played video games. Let’s face it we would be amazed if he didn’t, virtually all kids of his age do. And they aren’t all off committing shooting outrages, are they? The perpetrator was also a very, very keen table tennis player. Far more than he was a video gamer. So why not clamp down on table tennis, it makes just as much sense? As I have said on here many times and has been well proven, video games and youth violence are inversely proportional in their prevalence. And the US Secret Service, after investigating many incidents, have reported that there is no correlation between video games and the sick nutters who commit these atrocities. The Germans are being over simplistic and just plain wrong in looking at gaming as a scapegoat.
- Online persistent world game Entropia Universe gets a real world banking license. Inevitable really as reality and virtuality become ever more closely intermeshed and as gaming looks for more innovative business models.
- Nokia give up on nGage. Or that is what it looks like as they don’t include it in the N73, N93 or N93i smartphones. And in a further blow Nokia are not including nGage in their Ovi store. This is just unbelievable. For the nGage standard to grow and prosper it needs to be on as many phones as possible. You won’t see Apple making an iPhone that doesn’t play games.
- Screen Digest issue report on MMOs. They will be worth $2 billion a year in subscription revenue by 2013. Revenue grew by 22% in 2008. World of Warcraft is 58% of western consumer spending on MMOs with $2.2 billion of revenue to date. And this is the highest stakes gambling sector of the games publishing market to get into. Many have lost fortunes here.
- David Perry announces cloud gaming, server based thin client game service to compete with OnLive. A bit like standing at a bus stop, none come for ages then they all come at once. The writing is very clearly on the wall here that the industry is undergoing a paradigm shift. Those who adapt will survive but lots of the older gaming technologies and delivery systems will be in trouble. And you read it first here.
- Films and games should be co-developed according to Ubisoft. Makes considerable sense which is no surprise coming from Ubisoft. But try telling Sony, who have a major Hollywood studio that seems not to talk to their gaming division. But then Ubisoft are very profitable. And Sony aren’t.
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So PC gaming is dead and it’s all because of piracy …
…huh, what? It’s not? $11 billion turnover. Quarter of billion PC useds for games.
You heard it here last.
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BC you are obviously confused.
Let me explain.
There are different kinds of games and different business models for those games.
On the PC, games that use subscriptions, advertising and micropayments are prospering. Because there is no piracy.
Games sold boxed at retail (especially those with a no online element) are pretty much finished. Wiped out by piracy.
I suggest that you go and read a few of my earlier articles where this is all explained in clear English.
Try these:
https://www.bruceongames.com/2008/04/11/the-pc-is-the-top-gaming-platform/
https://www.bruceongames.com/2008/05/07/the-pc-is-the-top-gaming-platform-2/
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I wrote an article about Zeebo a while ago, its internal structure and targets:
http://texpine.com/2008/11/12/the-zeebo-console/
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Interesting how the Germans are scapegoating gaming as a result of that school shooting. Of course, they’re missing the real culprit completely. That culprit is, of course, BREAD! Check out http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/bread.asp and you’ll see what I mean. I bet the guy who did that shooting was a bread user…