It’s been almost a year since I saw anything really compelling in games retail, so I was surprised to see a cool idea out of… Wal-Mart of all places. I’ve only been inside Wal-Mart a handful of times, having grown up in southeast Michigan and thus buying everything at Meijer for the first 20 years [...]
Archive for the ‘The biz’ Category
Another Brick in the Wal-Mart
Posted in Marketing, The biz, tagged Batman Arkham Asylum, board games, Pandemic, Playstation 3, Puerto Rico, retail, Settlers of Catan, Wal-Mart, Xbox 360 on September 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
More than a Feeling
Posted in Indie games, Marketing, serious games, The biz, tagged Boston, Boston game developers, game design degrees, serious games, the beatles rock band, video game developers, video game industry on September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Amid all of last week’s fanfare (particularly in mainstream press) surrounding The Beatles: Rock Band release, I missed this gem – a gubernatorial proclamation from Massachusetts’ Deval Patrick making last Thursday (9.9.09) Video Game Innovation Day. I work in marketing, and have seen my fair share of appreciation days, town takeovers, and key-to-the-city fluffy publicity [...]
During the holidays, reruns = classics
Posted in Marketing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, The biz, tagged Gran Turismo 5, Halo, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 3, Rock Band, Sony, The Beatles, Wii, Xbox 360 on September 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
With today’s The Beatles: Rock Band launch, I can’t help but wonder if all the cards are already on the table for what could be a very interesting Christmas’ “console war.” Sony’s slim hardware redesign was a non-starter for me, until they blinked first and threw in a matching slimmer price point. Microsoft followed suit [...]
Direct CURRENTS?
Posted in Culture, Marketing, The biz, tagged Batman, Batman Arkham Asylum, comic books, Epic Games, Licensed Games, Playstation 3, PS3, Spider-man, Unreal Engine, X-men, Xbox 360 on August 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
We finally got the Batman game we’ve always wanted, with the superb Arkham Asylum from Rocksteady dropping this week. The reviews are glowing, with some lofty comparisons and even “Game of the Year” buzz surfacing. Going back to last summer with the The Dark Knight movie, we’ve seen two projects take on the Batman license [...]
Instant Replay
Posted in Marketing, Old school, The biz, tagged Capcom, Ico, Loom, LucasArts, Marvel Vs Capcom, PSN, Secret of Monkey Island, The Dig, The Last Guardian, Virtual Console, Xbox Live on July 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, LucasArts announced they’d blow the dust off their venerable adventure games catalog, offering an ongoing selection of hits via Steam. Of course, gamers everywhere rejoiced, and the immediate questions were all positive: ‘what other platfroms will these be available on?’ and ‘what other classics will they release next?’ The announcement came on top [...]
the id and the ego
Posted in Culture, Old school, The biz, tagged adrian carmack, bethesda, DOOM, id software, john romero, PC games, zenimax on July 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been meaning to write a reaction to last week’s sale of id Software to ZeniMax, but it’s honestly taken me this long to figure out how I felt about it, exactly. For anyone that was an avid gamer in the mid 90′s, id (and particularly the DOOM series) represented a very specific division between [...]
ReviE³w
Posted in Marketing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, The biz, tagged E3, Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 3, Rock Band, Sony, Super Mario Brothers, The Beatles, Wii, Wii Fit, Xbox 360 on June 11, 2009 | 3 Comments »
While I didn’t get out to last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E³), I was really glad to see the show return to the more recognizable “under the big top” format. At a time when just about everyone is forced to cut costs wherever possible, it was nice to see some of the industry’s big hitters [...]
RIP UMD?
Posted in Sony, The biz, tagged 1Up, LittleBigPlanet, Loco Roco 2, Playstation Portable, PSP, Rock Band, Sony, UMD on April 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
1Up .com has become the first legitimate outlet to publish the news of a new PSP hardware iteration that, among other significant design changes, ditches the UMD drive in favor of a download-only format that uses an internal flash drive and (of course) Sony MemorySticks for storage. If you’re scoring at home, UMD (Universal Media [...]
Know Your NPD’s: Don’t Panic! Edition
Posted in Culture, The biz, tagged Easter, Grand Theft, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Halo Wars, Mario Kart, NPD Group, Pokemon, Resident Evil 5, Smash Bros Brawl, Wii Fit on April 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As has become the monthly norm around here, we’re diving into the latest NPD numbers and reading the tea leaves so you don’t have to! Liquid Architecture is not afraid to be servicey. The March report shows a 17% decline in overall sales from March of last year, which brings the total sales number for [...]
