GUARDIAN Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:47:54 GMT
Rovio's Mikael Hed tells music industry audience that embracing pirates can attract new fans
Rovio Mobile learned from the music industry's mistakes when deciding how to deal with piracy of its Angry Birds games and merchandise, chief executive Mikael Hed told the Midem conference in Cannes this morning.
"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products," said Hed.
"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy."
Hed explained that Rovio sees it as "futile" to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans.
When that's not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. "Piracy may..
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GOOGLE Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:19:22 GMT
First, as to the monthly reports, home sales continued poor, but consumer confidence jumped back further, completely regaining its pre-debt debacle levels. In the rear view mirror department, 4Q 2011 GDP was +2.8% although some internal components were weaker. Those few sources who thought a new recession might begin by the end of 2011 were almost certainly wrong.
Turning now to the high frequency weekly indicators:
Weekly employment-related data was mixed.
The BLS reported that Initial jobless claims rose by 25,000 to 377,000, which is still an excellent in comparison with almost any report in the last 4 years except for the week preceding. This is the last report affected significantly by seasonality. The four week average declined by 1500 to 377,500. This is close to the lowest level since mid-2008.
The American Staffing Association Index rose by 3 to 87 last week, the best January reading since 2008, and significantly ahead of last year.
The Daily Treasury Statement.....
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GOOGLE Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:37:15 GMT
We've been talking a lot about this chart this year.
It shows the 1-year performance of the S&P 500 (green line) and the 10-year Treasury yield (orange line).
It seems like a contradiction. If stocks are rising -- suggesting increased growth and inflation expectations -- then shouldn't Treasury yields be rising too?
In a note JPMorgan's Hajime Kitano offers up an antidote chart. (HT: @dutch_book)
So basically, the connection is not between stocks and yields, but between PE ratios and yields, and although the stock market has been gaining, that's apparently not been due to significantly higher PEs.
The good news for equity investors is that, at least as Kitano sees it, long-term rates are likely to rise (thus pushing up PE ratios.
No matter whether the FOMC participants (1) take their hints from the stock market
and project the first rate hike for 2012, or (2) project it for 2014, in line with the
financial markets, US long-term rates are likely to rise, in our.......
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GUARDIAN Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:15:00 GMT
PS3/Xbxox 360; £49.99; cert 16+; Square Enix
If the purpose of every new release in a popular gaming franchise is to widen the IP's audience, what are we to make of Final Fantasy XIII-2? Here is a JRPG – never the most inviting of genres – that is also the sequel to a game whose story will take players the better part of 25 hours to get through.
You have to ask, is it the best entry point into the Final Fantasy series for newcomers? Not only that, but will it attract series veterans – particularly those who decried its predecessor as, at best, an unnecessarily simplified iteration and, at worst, the moment the FF series jumped the proverbial shark Final Fantasy XIII may have sold a couple of million units but it was also loudly criticised by fans as being too linear in structure for the most part.
Players were eventually allowed to explore its open-world of Pulse in the latter stages of the game, but first, they had to slog through 24 hours worth of battles and cut-scenes,.......
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GUARDIAN Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:06:21 GMT
PS3, Xbox 360, Konami, cert: 15, out: 31 January 2012
Comprising spruced-up versions of three "tactical espionage" classics, this collection is nothing if not a value proposition. Things kick off with 2001's MGS2, less a sequel than a postmodern meta-commentary on the game that preceded it (which, strangely, isn't included here). It's showing its age, but remains entertainingly audacious. The brilliant MGS3 pits the player against a cadre of psychologically damaged mercenaries and contains some of the most absorbing, ingenious and emotionally draining boss encounters ever designed. Then there's Peace Walker. Originally a hand-held game, it doles the action out in bus-ride-sized chunks and adds a surprisingly rewarding layer of RPG-style personnel management, plus a neat multiplayer mode.
All three shine in HD, with the higher resolution serving to foreground all those little touches – from cartoon frogs to pregnant commandos' underarm hair – that make the series special. In.......
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GUARDIAN Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:06:33 GMT
Will Freeman rounds up the best new online games
While games developers that make big-budget titles often struggle with balancing creative daring and profitability, browser games remain a haven for originality. They mark the point on the medium's creative frontier where the accessible and the unusual intersect, the perfect place to expand the gaming experience beyond the norm.
Soul Brother, for example, at first glance looks like a fairly conventional platform game. However, it soon unveils a consciousness-hopping mechanic where killing oneself – rather than the usual self-preservation encouraged in most games – allows a player to take possession of the soul of a different creature with abilities more suited to each new challenge. A great deal less morbid than it sounds, it's also filled with cheery personality and elegant design flourishes.
Meanwhile, Traal, which like Soul Brother adopts the pixel-art aesthetic of games from the past, offers up a strange and sometimes........
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GUARDIAN Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:00 GMT
Come and meet the country's best independent developers, get your hands on the new PlayStation Vita and get a sneak peak at Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Interested in offbeat, exciting game design? Want to find out what it takes to write an indie hit and get it published worldwide? Fancy playing some of the best new games from the UK indie scene? Oh and while you're at it, you'll get hands-on time with the PlayStation Vita and the latest instalment in Capcom's legendary survival horror series, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.
Yes, on February 11, from 4-7pm, Gamesblog and Bafta are holding our first ever Indie Gaming Social event at the British Academy's headquarters in Piccadilly. It's free to attend, and you'll get to meet a range of indie developers, as well as play their games and catch a panel session on indie game design, and where gaming is going in 2012. New indepedent games site IndieCity will also be there to show off its range of excellent indie........
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GUARDIAN Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:01:00 GMT
We sneak up on the latest title in the Ghost Recon strategic shooter series
It seems hard to believe now, but several years ago, shooters weren't just about following computer controlled super soldiers into gigantic cinematic set pieces. Once upon a time, you didn't simply squirm through narrow corridors of linear action and plot exposition; you took command of your own AI teams, and you intricately planned your approach to combat hot zones.
This was, of course, the era of the squad-based shooter genre, brought to prominence by the likes of Hidden and Dangerous and Rainbow Six, then carefully honed to console perfection via the excellent Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter titles.
Now, Ghost Recon is back. Or at least it's on its way back. After Ubisoft showed a rollicking trailer at E3 2010, Future Soldier seemed to hit a series of heavily guarded development blockades. Originally pegged for a winter 2010 release – the latest delay has pushed that back to May.
It's strange,....
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GUARDIAN Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:36:38 GMT
How two ex-music industry mavens settled upon a winning formula – club nights and retro video games
Dave Fade and Nicky Biscuit became friends on the road. Fade played in a number of bands through his 20s, touring the world with Me My Head and signing a publishing deal for The Moths, while Biscuit played in the Subliminal Girls, the first band to perform in Selfridges, London. "The music industry has taken a bit of a battering over the past few years and changed a hell of a lot," explains Fade. "The band I was with at the time just sort of petered out, and I found myself in a self-imposed doldrums. Nicky was in a similar mental space at the time, as his band had come to an end also, and we found ourselves hanging out a lot more, drinking and playing video games."
It was one afternoon while playing X-Men vs Streetfighter on the Sega Saturn that the pair hit on the idea of combining their love of video games with their combined experience in music. "Why isn't there a club night.....
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GUARDIAN Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:04 GMT
Metal Gear, part-genius and part-absurd, gets the HD treatment
For all its colossal mainstream success, the Metal Gear franchise has always had the feel of an arthouse film. Metal Gear games have, of course, all the conventional elements of a successful stealth-em-up: a generous choice of ways to kill, evade or subdue your unwitting opponents, all-action against-the-odds boss battles, a rugged, gadget-laden hero and a story-line overflowing with betrayals, revelations and explosions. But what sets them apart from the many imitators spawned in the wake of 1998's Playstation smash hit Metal Gear Solid is the bold, experimental storytelling of an auteur; in this case long-time writer and director Hideo Kojima.
Under Kojima's stewardship, Metal Gear games have hammered relentlessly at the fourth wall, blurring the line between player and character. At one point in Metal Gear Solid the television screen would cut out as if the console had died. This, it turned out, was a trick played..
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ARSTECHNICA Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:35:37 GMT
The first three DLC packs for Gears of War 3 seem to each have been created with different players in mind. "Horde Command" was obviously aimed at fans of Horde mode, and the fact that all three of the new maps in this first DLC pack were later bundled for free with remakes of two maps from the original Gears of War suggests the lasting value of the pack lay in the fortification upgrades. The second DLC pack, "Raam’s Shadow," was geared towards campaign fans, and now "Fenix Rising" (available for 800 Microsoft Points, or $10) seems aimed directly at Gears 3's online multiplayer die-hards.
Five new multiplayer maps make up the bulk of the new content in this DLC offering, and each one is designed to represent a distinct stage in the journey of series protagonist Marcus Fenix. While all five maps are playable in Versus, Horde, and Beast modes, we focused mainly on Versus mode in our testing.
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GUARDIAN Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:54:04 GMT
A selection of forthcoming get-togethers that should be on every gamer's calendar
The bad news is, next month's Gamesblog Indie Social event is now sold out; the good news is, there are plenty more interesting gaming soirees happening over the next month or so.
Here's a selection to note down in your diaries, from the indie gaming fun of Wild Rumpus to the more serious Platform 2012...
Wild Rumpus
When: 2 February, 18.30-11.00
Where: 93 Feet East, Brick Lane, London
This regular indie event mixes drinks, music and gaming into one unmissable night. You'll get to play the excellent competitive pole-'em-up (that sounds wrong) PoleRiders as well as physical gaming sensation Johann Sebastian Joust. Music will be provided by, among other, Ste Curran of One Life Left, who'll no doubt be attacking your ears with chiptunes.
A Bit of Alright
When: 3 February, 10.00-17.00
Where: Battersea, London
An intriguing event, which is looking to galvanise and celebrate the British indie........
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