A Tree Falling in the Forest

By now I am sure Walter Isaacson's report of Steve Jobs feelings about Android is news to no one. At one point during the interviews leading up to the greatest retelling of the monomyth since Luke Skywalker, Jobs said: I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40bn in the bank, to right this wrong," . . . . I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this. The timing of that last breath relative to the life of Android is also news to no one. What I have not seen is the realization that Google may have stolen the frame, but Amazon stole the art. And while the media continues to report on the Amazon vs. Apple battle for the bedtime and reclining market, the real battle is Amazon vs. Google. The success of Amazon’s Android running Kindle Fire and focus on the Apple battle masks Amazon’s role as the new standard bearer in Steve Jobs’ war against Google whi...

I am not one to argue Farmville is not a game. I love Zynga's ability to show over 100 million people they really like to play games on line. But what about people who play other games and quickly grow bored? This market has been rumbling for a while and they seem to have found one of the first games. After receiving great reviews and feedback at E3, Liquid Entertainment and Atari's D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter made it to Facebook. Go ahead, jump in and play . Almost 300k other people did in the first week or so . . . . .

EA and Activision's back and forth banter is making a lot of press - and is certainly fun to watch - but it is sadly nothing new. Those of us enjoying our formative beer imprinting years during the rise of Corona may remember the workers are pissing in Corona rumors started by US Heineken distributors and there are many other similar stories over the years. While at a car show in Pebble Beach over the weekend I came across an old Cadillac ad providing the best way to address these campaigns. In those days they did not use the press, they did not use a whisper campaign, they just talked about themselves. In 1915, when Cadillac was establishing its reputation as the "Cadillac" of cars, it was the first to market with a V8 Engine. Packard, the major competitor, did not like this and responded by spreading rumors about reliability. The lead copywriter was frustrated by all of the misinformation in the market and tried to figure out the root of the problem. A...

After realizing my call for the destruction of Gamestop was for naught, I had to come to terms with the need to accept their business model as a fact of life - even though they are killing the geese who so lovingly innovate, fund, develop and so lovingly deliver golden eggs into their grubby, cold, clammy, unappreciative hands. I even moderated a panel with Gamestop's CEO, and kept my opinion to myself . . . mostly. But do I really have to accept their repeated efforts to persuade us their actions are good for the business. Does the crack dealer stand on the corner and say he is enhancing the junkie's lives, or does he just take their money? Gamestop senior executives do understand that if they have to keep repeating that their actions are good for the industry, they are probably not good and constant repetition will not make it so. In a recent interview in Edge, Mike Mauler, EVP of Gamestop International said: "I can understand the feelings," he ...

A while back ago I wrote a big, long rant about the lack of privacy on line. I was, and continue to be, frustrated by the non-consensual insertion of Google and Facebook’s appendages into the most personal crevices of our lives. The growth engine of Web 2.0 - are we on 3.0 yet? - is the aggregation, analysis and leverage of personal information. Web sites are able to passively collect the very same information people used to have request in person. While this collection is the most significant invasion of our privacy since the Spanish Inquisition, We are not able to use the word “privacy” to describe the action because the major benefactors of our ignorant largesse co opted the word. Kind of like when liberals rebranded “progressives.” The current rebranding campaign was launched a while back and continued in earnest at panel discussion on social media sponsored by Marie Claire magazine. Ms. Zuckerberg, sitting with Eric Schmidt and Erin Andrews, victim of cyber harassmen...

Incinerator Studios launched their new Playdek venture with Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer - much more to come soon. Don't listen to me though, I am biased, check out the five star average from the 77 ratings that came in during the first 24 hours of the launch and read the reviews in the store. Here is a better description than I could write: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, is the first officially licensed deck building card game for iOS. Play alone or with friends to battle against the Fallen One for honor and victory. Conceived and designed by three Magic: The Gathering tournament players, Ascension will provide hours of engaging and strategic game play for enthusiast and experienced gamers alike. For millennia, the world of Vigil has been isolated and protected from other realms. Now, the barrier between dimensions is failing, and Samael, the Fallen God, has returned with his army of Monsters from the beyond! You are one of the few warriors capable of facing th...

Our business is growing more like Hollywood every day. Budgets go up and publishers, like studio executives before them, rely more and more on established franchises to hedge their bets. We are just as used to seeing things like Transformers 2 and 3 or Hangover 2 as we are to the ensuing debate over whether the sequel is as good as the original. But this time Microsoft has gone just too far. In fact, so far, there is no need for a debate. For those of you who do not remember, just before the launch of the 360, Microsoft invented J Allard and he was good. I can't help watching the interview and wanting to buy a 360 all over again. But J left and Microsoft decided to make the sequel. C'mon guys . . . J worked, but can't you come up with something new?