- Lazard Capital predicts 6% growth for Gamestop, thanks to Wii and Xbox 360 sales that will more than compensate for a $50M PS3-related shortfall. Both Nintendo and Microsoft (Gears of War, Viva Piñata) are enjoying strong holiday buzz, unlike Sony.
- Stardock’s Brad Wardell talks about making an MMO with a queue to play business model — wait in line to join a busy game server, or pay and jump to the front of the line (ala FilePlanet). Interesting idea.
- Interesting article about designing and improving the “virtual sensation” of games — a favorite topic of mine given its relation to exergaming. This reads like a manual for Wii developers, i.e. “One pitfall in creating virtual sensation is relying on the infallibility of the platform on which it resides…”
- One thing I’ll say for Sony — it wisely keeps pushing user-generated content (though so far I’m sure it’s 99% vaporware). Since Sony has stated it wants the PS3 to be perceived as “more than a console”, it comes as no surprise that they are encouraging the use of a USB mouse and/or keyboard for UGC-on-console creation.
- Raph Koster writes a fun semi-rant about user perspectives on DRM when it’s their content that is being pirated. His article actually raises some great questions for the industry.
