A Tree Falling in the Forest

In America we have a great tradition of putting things on a high enough pedestal to cause serious damage when we knock them off. We build everyone from politicians to athletes into heroes and then celebrate the inevitable indiscretion with excessive coverage in our 24 hour news cycle. Celebrities are followed and pestered until they slip and the media highlights box office failure more readily than the hits. As an industry, we enjoyed the ride to the top, so I guess we must hold on for the ride back down. For the past year the media trumpeted the video game business as the only thriving business during the world wide recession. We were the lucky ones, people still wanted to play games and we were the beneficiaries. No one seemed to mention the publishers were all still suffering losses associated with the console shift and games were late, the focused on aggregate numbers. Lucky us. But then, last week, we learned misery loves company. The coverage shifted to the fall of...

A little while ago I wrote about our industry's lack of respect for the final product . Sure, we are a business, but we are also making an entertainment product which must entertain. Unfortunately, entertainment in any media doesn't always come out on exactly the date we planned. When the breakdown is caused by the developer or director, they should suffer the consequences and bear the burden of the missed date. But, often, it is not the fault of the person, or persons making the thing. Sometimes, like in the case of the film "The Reader," as described in a lot more depth, and exclusively, by the most astute and outspoken of all entertainment industry journalists, Nikki Finke no one can anticipate or do anything about the delay. The film was delayed by Nicole Kidman's pregnancy and a minor's lack of age. The film is currently at what we would call alpha. If the alpha period is not compressed and beta virtually eliminated, the film will be released to...

This morning, I listened to a podcast with a couple of game reviewers arguing about how many games they have to play in the fourth quarter. They argued the stupidity of a release schedule so dense they could not keep up. They are right, but not about the keeping up part. There are too many games released in the fourth quarter. As far as keeping up, treat them like books and hire more reviewers, problem solved - but not for the consumer. We are looking at a cause and effect issue. The publishers put the games in the fourth quarter because it is when all the consumers buy games. Its the holidays and all. But have they ever thought consumers may be buying games in the fourth quarter because it is when all the good ones are the in the stores? I don't think they have. I went through and pulled fourth quarter release dates from Gamespot. Some of these may have changed, and some might not have been right in the first place. The first thing we notice is the fourth quarter is ...