Seth Gilbert, 09-4-2008
For the die-hard fanatic with tunnel vision for a new consumer product, price may have little meaning. The hardcore gamer with a passion for Halo is going to find a way to pay whatever price it takes. For the average consumer, the mainstream, soccer moms in suburbia, pass-time gen-x gamers, the value proposition is different. To warrant a purchase, a product needs to be well designed (playable) and well priced.
In an early move apparently designed to gear up for holiday sales, Microsoft aimed for the sweet-spot of that consumer value equation with price cuts for all of their Xbox 360 consoles in the U.S.
Effective tomorrow, September 5th, the entry level “Arcade” edition will drop from $280 o $199. The 60GB Pro and the 120 GB Elite will each trim $50 off their stickers to $299 and $399 respectively.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-29-2008
It’s the “back to school” shopping season not the holiday period, still Nintendo’s seen enough. With a slightly stronger dollar improving exchange rates and continuously impressive demand for both the Wii and DS (not to mention software), the Kyoto based game company upgraded their annual profit forecast by 23% Friday.
Wii sales forecasts have been notched up to 26.5m units (from 25m) for the fiscal year ending in March 2009. Forecasts for the DS portable have been pushed to 30.5m units, up from estimates of 28m.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-21-2008
Convergence is the keyword and just about every media and technology company with a chip in the game is betting on it through some form of technology or content integration. Wednesday at the Intel Developers Conference, the biggest news among many announcements was the surprise pitch that Intel and Yahoo are joining together in a tie-up aimed at grabbing one of the biggest prizes: the marriage of Internet interactivity and traditional TV. They’re calling the offering “Widget Channel.”
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Seth Gilbert, 08-14-2008
Summer is a time for BBQ’s and beaches. The weather is good and people tend to enjoy it. Not surprisingly, as a result, it’s a slower period for indoor entertainment products like video games. Still, “slower” is a relative term. According to newly released NPD sales data for July, even in a month of measured expectations, the industry delivered double digit year over year growth.
For the month of July, the US gaming industry rose 28% over last year in total sales with revenue of $1.19b for the month. Software was up the most with a 41% year over year gain. Hardware and accessories were up 17% and 19% respectively.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-8-2008
Every major TV broadcast company seems to be exploring video on demand services but some are having a harder time than others. It appears the UK’s VOD joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 has been delayed again.
The Project Kangaroo offering, which has been called the UK’s replication of Hulu (a joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal, was stalled in June to allow for an antitrust review by the Competition Commission (“CC”).
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Seth Gilbert, 08-7-2008
From market research firms and trade groups, there are so many projections, forecasts and numbers thrown to the airwaves that it can become really difficult to keep track. To ease the burden, we periodically consolidate the info to one report. We’ve done comparative stats that put numbers in a context , and we’ve industry specific data dumps. This latest editionof the occasional "Metue: By The Numbers" report is a buffet from across the media, entertainment and technology sector. There’s a little on publishing, a little on web usage, some gaming data, TV… something for all interests. Metue By the Numbers:
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Seth Gilbert, 08-1-2008
Revenues are climbing consistently across the video game industry but in the seasonal business, some publishers are struggling more than others to wring profits from the windfall this summer. Activision Blizzard, the newly minted combination of Activision and Vivendi Games, isn’t having as much of a problem. With franchises like Guitar Hero pushing sales, the company announced strong earnings result Thursday for Activision’s last quarter of independence. They also revealed a joint venture with Logitech to create new controllers for the next installment of the music game franchise.
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