Yesterday Ubisoft released their First Quarter 2009 sales report and unsuprisingly they reported a loss. They had a 51% drop in sales with the Nintendo DS being their most popular console, followed by the Wii and PC.
This loss was going to be obvious. Ubisoft's main market appears to now be the casual market for the Wii and NDS, with game series's like the Imagine series which seems to have the aim of turning young girls into sluts. Most games to come out up to September are casual games for the Wii and NDS with only one, Heroes Over Europe, coming out only on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC only.
Why did they report a loss? Well I blame the lack of hardcore games and the increased focus on the casual market. Based on the earnings report, we are already seeing Ubisoft beign affected by this and if they don't get a real hardcore game out soon then they may lose enough money to force them out of the big-budget market alltogether. The next hardcore game, Assassin's Creed 2, isn't slated to come out until November but they still have the second quarter to go which, as I have said, is dominated by the casual games.
Overall, Ubisoft should change their focus towards the hardcore market and move away from the casual market that is clearly hurting them and turning young people into wannabe models and glamour pusses. By moving this focus they will help their profits and will put their mark on the industry as a whole.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
3D Everywhere!
3D is taking over the world!!!!
Everywhere I look there is a new article on CNet or Techcrunch detailing the latest 3D innovation. 3D cameras, 3D monitors, 3D Youtube, new 3D movie glasses, the list will eventually go on and on and on until our lives are full of unecessary 3D products that add nothing to our lives.
We already see in 3D and we are perfectly happy with our current videos and monitors and cameras, so why do we need to have 3D versions of these products. All that unecessary tech for something teh average consumer wouldn't use.
Why would you want to see yours or anyone else's holiday photos in 3D! It adds nothing to the atmosphere of teh image, adds nothing to the way you will percieve the image as an image and will just end up being down right annoying!
Admittedly the technology involved is pretty cool but it is just a waste of money and time which could be spent creating 15-30 megapixel cameras or monitors that can handle higher resolutions.
I am also afraid that the next 3D device we see is a 3D touchscreen or a 3D mobile phone, now that would be even stupider.
Everywhere I look there is a new article on CNet or Techcrunch detailing the latest 3D innovation. 3D cameras, 3D monitors, 3D Youtube, new 3D movie glasses, the list will eventually go on and on and on until our lives are full of unecessary 3D products that add nothing to our lives.
We already see in 3D and we are perfectly happy with our current videos and monitors and cameras, so why do we need to have 3D versions of these products. All that unecessary tech for something teh average consumer wouldn't use.
Why would you want to see yours or anyone else's holiday photos in 3D! It adds nothing to the atmosphere of teh image, adds nothing to the way you will percieve the image as an image and will just end up being down right annoying!
Admittedly the technology involved is pretty cool but it is just a waste of money and time which could be spent creating 15-30 megapixel cameras or monitors that can handle higher resolutions.
I am also afraid that the next 3D device we see is a 3D touchscreen or a 3D mobile phone, now that would be even stupider.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Name and URL change
Ever since I created about:tech and gaming I recieved a number of complaints relating to the URL length and that it wouldn't be easy to remember. Today I have solved this problem by changing the name of the blog to Tagged and the URL is now http://taggedblog.blogspot.com. The Feedburner RSS Feed has also been updated and now has the new name and the URL is now http://feeds.feedburner.com/taggedblog. If subscribing to teh RSS Feed please use the Feedburner RSS Feed and not the Blogger one.
A few minor layout and header changes will be coming soon but I won't post about those.
I hope that this helps make this blog easier to get to and easier to type into the URL bar.
A few minor layout and header changes will be coming soon but I won't post about those.
I hope that this helps make this blog easier to get to and easier to type into the URL bar.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Asteroids Movie...WTF!
This week it was revealed that Universal Pictures nabbed the rights to a film adaptation of the classic game Asteroids. It will have a script...somehow...which will be written by Matthew Lopez and will be produced by Lornezo di Bonaventura.
There is only one way that this will work...if it is a movie about people playing Asteroids but if not then IT CAN NOT WORK!
Asteroids is a 2D game where you are a spaceship and you have to fire on Asteroids and destroy them to get points. There is no story so making a movie will not work unless it is my previously mentioned idea. You cannot have a scrpit in a movie based on a game with no story or dialogue so the entire idea a just plain dumb ands should have been put in the bin like every other bad idea.
I really do not know how Universal Studios managed to come up with the idea of making a movie based on Asteroids as it is so far-fetched and risky that I would have just shunned the idea and moved on without a thought. BUt I guess that it is Universal's Choice wther to make this movie and there is nothign we can do to change there mind...except spam but that is a very bad idea.
Personally I really hope that this is just a rumour and that it will not be true as that will be an epic fail and in this economic climate Universal cannot afford to have a movie flop.
There is only one way that this will work...if it is a movie about people playing Asteroids but if not then IT CAN NOT WORK!
Asteroids is a 2D game where you are a spaceship and you have to fire on Asteroids and destroy them to get points. There is no story so making a movie will not work unless it is my previously mentioned idea. You cannot have a scrpit in a movie based on a game with no story or dialogue so the entire idea a just plain dumb ands should have been put in the bin like every other bad idea.
I really do not know how Universal Studios managed to come up with the idea of making a movie based on Asteroids as it is so far-fetched and risky that I would have just shunned the idea and moved on without a thought. BUt I guess that it is Universal's Choice wther to make this movie and there is nothign we can do to change there mind...except spam but that is a very bad idea.
Personally I really hope that this is just a rumour and that it will not be true as that will be an epic fail and in this economic climate Universal cannot afford to have a movie flop.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Blogs...
Just today at the National Press Club, the CEO of News Ltd in Australia commented on bloggers as being essentially nothing but worthless opinion and that what is said on blogs is inaccurate and unprofessional. I would have to stringly disagree.
Blogs are people expressing there opinions on topics and anyone can do it, but not everyone will read it. This is key to good blogging, readership. Most blogs will have very low readership others, and the better ones, will have high readership equalling that of online news sources. Blogs are becoming more and more informative as they evolve and this is helping to change the way the internet works and by saying that blogs are not as useful as online news is basically saying that the internet should move away from the opinion of the people who have the right t ofree speech and move toward a fact-only society. This will make the internet very mundane and boring to read and will kill any use of it for the view of the people, even if they are in the middle of a breaking story. If people were not able to express their view on what is going on, even if they were involved or if they know details then the internet would die.
Blogs can be professional if they want and it is the readership that will determine this. If a blog is a personal blog then obviously it will seem unprofessional but blogs like WirelessMuse provide informative professional opinion from people in the tech industry. If we shun blogs like this then people will turn away from teh internet and the world will move back to the pre-blog era of an internt with nothing on it.
Basically what I am saying here is that not all blogs are bad and unprofessional and that without blogs the internet ould be a fact and business based medium where no one would turn to and where no one would be able to express their views on current events.
Blogs are people expressing there opinions on topics and anyone can do it, but not everyone will read it. This is key to good blogging, readership. Most blogs will have very low readership others, and the better ones, will have high readership equalling that of online news sources. Blogs are becoming more and more informative as they evolve and this is helping to change the way the internet works and by saying that blogs are not as useful as online news is basically saying that the internet should move away from the opinion of the people who have the right t ofree speech and move toward a fact-only society. This will make the internet very mundane and boring to read and will kill any use of it for the view of the people, even if they are in the middle of a breaking story. If people were not able to express their view on what is going on, even if they were involved or if they know details then the internet would die.
Blogs can be professional if they want and it is the readership that will determine this. If a blog is a personal blog then obviously it will seem unprofessional but blogs like WirelessMuse provide informative professional opinion from people in the tech industry. If we shun blogs like this then people will turn away from teh internet and the world will move back to the pre-blog era of an internt with nothing on it.
Basically what I am saying here is that not all blogs are bad and unprofessional and that without blogs the internet ould be a fact and business based medium where no one would turn to and where no one would be able to express their views on current events.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)