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Google is being cautious.  Apple is being prudent .  Now, another bellwether earnings announcement and more of the same. Thursday, Microsoft reported decent earnings but cut forward guidance amidst prevalent fears about the economy and uncertainty in how to predict its impact in the coming months.

Net income for the first quarter in Microsoft’s fiscal year came in at $4.373b, or 48 cents a share (diluted), up 2% from $4.289b (45cents/share) for the same period last year.  Revenue was up 9 percent to $15.06b.

The results were in line with Microsoft’s July guidance which forecast EPS of 47 to 48 cents a share and slightly ahead of analysts whose consensus estimate (Thomson Reuters) was 47 cents a share on revenues of $14.8b.

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Following August’s surprise shortfall, September was set to be a litmus test for measuring the health of the gaming industry in the U.S; a chance to spot test if softness in consumer spending would have impact or if the industry’s record setting pace would resume.  Thursday, the data came out.  NPD released the results of their retail sales survey for the month of September.  The results were, well, mixed. 

Overall, sales fell seven percent year over year to $1.27b in September.    It was the second month in a row, after a streak of 27 months, that sales failed to yield a double digit growth rate.  It was also the first decline since March 2006.

On the face of it, that decline may look troublesome.  Beneath the surface, however, it’s a little more complex. Click to Read More

Are video games the MTV of a new generation? Are DVD’s really on the road to becoming obsolete? Are smartphones being accepted as fast as the hype suggests?   New research from NPD Group and the Pew Foundation sheds a little light on each of these questions.   This edition of the Metue “By the Numbers Report” recaps some of their findings

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Take Two knew they were going to have a hit on their hands with their new game.  The strength of the Grand Theft Auto brand, and increased market expectations caused by development delays, insured it.  The expectation was already set for a record breaker.  The question was – by how much would the bar be raised?  Microsoft’s Halo sold $300m in its first week on the market and was available for just one console (Xbox 360).  How much bigger a return could GTA IV do with the added PS3 audience?  And to follow up on that: on the Richter scale of gaming, would it be enough to impact Electronic Art’s pending take-over offer? Would it push them past the more than 60% trading pricing premium in their original offer? Looking at it by the numbers:

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New years seem to start with a tempered excitement.  As a symbolic beginning, we’re prone to look ahead anxious of the unknown.  As a symbolic end, we’re drawn  to look back and take inventory of what has passed.  Where have we been? What have we done? And, most of all,  where are we going?

In the mix, the glass is neither half full nor half empty.  In the beginning of a new year, it is just there with some liquid in it open to all voices to call it what they will.   Looking back is a means of measuring where momentum is taking us. Corporate earnings, personal achievements (or faults), annualized statistics: all numbers and quantities to set benchmarks and goals.

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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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A good story is timeless, crossing between different medium, living and breathing it runs in an often unending circle.  Books and comic books become TV shows and movies.  Movies and TV programs spin off and beget novels and video games. Games too, sometimes start their own traditions or evolve from other tales already known.   It’s a natural co-existence; a cycle that’s evolving with each change in communication mediums.

Among the different medium, video games and movies in particular share a common ground.  They are often similar in storyline and visual style.  That makes for a natural companionship where, on one level, they co-exist by sharing franchises as appropriate to the different technologies and methods of storytelling; watch Star Wars, the movie; play Star Wars, the video game.  On another level, however, the mediums themselves almost converge. There, games become a dynamic, interactive, choose-your-own-adventure equivalent to the static, but rich, three act Hollywood movie experience.

From Spiderman, to the Matrix, from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, from James Bond, to The Simpsons and CSI: games built around existing TV and movie franchises increasingly dot the lists of popular games for current generation consoles.  And in reverse, Click to Read More