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Thanks to time zone differences, Sony was one of the first companies to report earnings on what is an extremely busy earnings calendar (Electronic Arts, New York Times Co.  Google, and Getty Images all report today as well).   As has been the case with many technology and consumer facing companies already to report, their results for the past quarter were moderate to positive but the gray cloud of overall economic conditions led to a cautious and hazy future forecast for the coming months (and year).

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When you’ve got the two best selling products in an industry that just set new records for sales and revenues it’s pretty much a sure thing that your own numbers are going to be good.  On Thursday, Nintendo confirmed their numbers weren’t just good, they were great.

Net profits for the period from April to December nearly doubled, rising 96% year over year.  Income was 258.9b yen (approximately $2.4billion depending on the conversation rate), up from 131.9b yen ($1.23b) for the same period last year.  Sales were up 85% to 1.32 trillion yen from 712.59 billion yen last year.

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During Apple’s earnings call earlier this week, CFO Peter Oppeheimer said they believe “one of the iPod’s future directions is to become the first mainstream WiFi mobile platform.”  Sony has a similar ambition for their PSP-2000 portable gaming platform.  Unfortunately, they’ve hit a small snag.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan was scheduled to begin offering eBay’s Skype VoIP phone services on the platform Thursday in Japan.   Instead, delivery of that functionality has reportedly been delayed because microphones failed to meet Skype’s specification requirements.

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There’s been a new sheriff in town at Electronic Arts since John Riccitiello rode back in to EA about  a year ago. His campaign promise was change. Slowly, he’s making good on that pledge.  In June, he reorganized management into a more accountable hierarchy and he recruited Activision’s former publishing president Kathy Vrabeck.   In July, EA signed a high profile in-game ad deal and Microsoft’s Xbox VP Peter Moore joined the team. In August, they signed a deal with Hasbro.   In October, more than $600m was dished out to acquire Bioware and Pandemic.  It’s now a New Year and time for more new beginnings. 

On Monday, EA announced the latest installment of popular PC game Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Heroes, will bypass retail.  Instead, the new installment of the franchise (which has sold more than 10m units) will be re-invented later this year as a free online multiplayer game.   In its new incarnation, the game will be supported by an experimental combination of advertising and micro-transactions.  It’s a first for EA in western markets.

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Everyone knew the numbers were going to be good; it was just a matter of how good.  That and how long it would take to see them.   Usually, it takes a few weeks to tabulate year end results.  In that time, expectations were building.  Today, NPD Group released their December and Year-End Sales results for the U.S. video game industry.   The results took November’s stellar returns and raised them by one more. More records were broken.

Total U.S. hardware and software sales for 2007 rose 43% over 2006 to set a new record at $17.94b.  December contributed $4.82b to that tally (a 28% annual increase).

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Ask a politician and they’ll tell you, consistency in policy and staying on point is essential. Stick to the Message.  If you flip flop from pro to con, then con to pro, credibility will disappear.  Without credibility, there’s little trust.  Without trust there’s won’t be a favorable vote.    In retail, similar maxims apply.  There’s the famous “the customer is always right.” There’s also the old “K.I.S.S.” principle: “keep it simple.”  You can confuse your customer with too many changes, or too many choices.  That’s bad marketing.  Better practice is to offer them value, offer them what they ask for; what they want or need.  Do that and they’ll probably purchase your product.  Don’t and the sale is going to be difficult to close.   

Lately, it seems more and more like Sony (especially the gaming division) has gotten off point, or keeps forgetting the message.  Since launching the PS3 gaming platform in November 2006, they’ve made multiple marketing mistakes and repeatedly juggled their lineup and pricing models to adjust.  I can recall at least three changes in the console’s first year on the market.  Now they’re at it again.

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San Francisco based Outspark, a publisher of online community driven games announced the closing of sizable $11m Series B Financing Thursday.  China’s largest Internet portal and instant messaging operator Tencent Holdings led the round. Series A investors DCM (formerly Doll Capital Management) and Altos Ventures also participated. DCM has invested in other gaming co’s recently, including Trion World Network.

Outspark was founded in 2006 by CEO Susan Choe.  Choe was formerly COO of NHN USA and also International Director of Yahoo Games.  Outspark’s studio services are run by Nick Foster, former CTO of Starz Media and former head of global FX at DreamWorks Animation.

Outspark is purely a publisher and game operator.  They do not develop games themselves.  Their model is centered on licensing launched games from international markets (currently China and Korea) and localizing them for redistribution in western markets.

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