<IT WORLD> Video games move to mass market
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - The big players in the video games industry gathered this
week at the E3 conference in Los Angeles and their targets were the mass
market, rather than the traditional gamer originally captured by the macho
shooter Halo.
Both Sony and Microsoft were expected to follow Nintendo into the social arena,
with "building communities" and "social gaming" the buzz words of the
conference as the three industry gaming heavyweights fought for center stage.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is heading for a change of direction and audience as the
company announced a change in its online games system, Xbox Live. The company
aims to put the console
"at the heart of the living room", claiming that the industry is rapidly
becoming the largest in the entertainment sector, with games outselling both
music and movies.
New titles and features were announced - many based on Nintendo's Wii, which
has seen success with social and interactive titles such as Wii Fit. The
console target market is now shifting towards a different demographic to
include women, younger girls and older people.
The online character, or avatar-based system Microsoft proposes, is similar to
that used by Wii. Sony is working on a system called "Home" for its PlayStation
3, which will offer similar social features.
Nintendo announced a new accessory for the Wii, called a Wiimote controller,
which promises 1:1 motion mapping in future supported titles. The Japanese
company also revealed a number of new sports titles for the console, while, for
the more musically inclined, Wii Music will join the popular Guitar Hero and
offer a semi-freeform environment that allows the player to choose from more
than 50 instruments to play individually or in a group.
Talk of expanding the Nintendo DS handheld system beyond games also generated a
stir as the company suggested that it may develop functions for hotels,
restaurants and travel.
Not to be outdone, Sony announced a slew of new releases for its PS3 and PSP
along with a new movie downloading service. The company's main focus was on the
games themselves as opposed to market strategies and new technologies. The Home
system was covered with new features in its online platform and the
all-encompassing console for gaming, video, TV and music.
All three corporate players seem to be after the same thing - total domination
in the home entertainment market. All are offering a social online platform
where players can interact and compete and they all have their own media
partners from which other content such as movies and music can be downloaded.
Although this battle has been primarily over the latest games and gadgets,
there is so much more at stake. Today it is a games console, but tomorrow the
unit is likely to control every piece of audio and visual information that
comes in and out of your home ... at a price of course, and that is probably
the only thing that will separate them.
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Following the world-wide launch of Apple's latest 3G iPhone last week, a number
of technical issues prevented the smooth introduction of the new device to the
market. Shops packed with frustrated iFans were common across the US following
the launch as staff struggled to activate the phones due to overloaded Apple
servers.
AT&T, the sole carrier for the unit in the US, blamed Apple's iTunes
software for synchronization problems. Original iPhone owners also faced
problems as their units locked up if they tried to download anything from the
Apple online mothership.
Although these issues were solved pretty quickly it does show that even
companies noted for their reliability run into problems now and then. You would
think that following the hype and promotion leading up to the big day a company
the size of Apple would be prepared for such a demand and resultant strain on
its systems ... evidently not.
Troubles aside, Apple has claimed this week that 1 million new iPhones were
sold in 21 countries over the first weekend. The company has yet to determine
whether the sales were to new customers or existing aficionados upgrading their
old iPhone. This figure pales into insignificance when compared with mobile
giant Nokia, which sells almost 10 million units per week. Analysts do expect
Apple to reach this 10 million total target sales figure for their iPhone since
its introduction by the end of 2008.
After
months of silence, Apple has unleashed its legal arsenal against small-time
Florida-based company Psystar for developing a Mac clone. As we discovered in
April (see Mac
attack over PC's Leopard capture, Asia Times Online, April 19, 2008),
Psystar has managed to run Apple's flagship operating system, OS X Leopard, on
off-the-shelf PC hardware.
Psystar has since been selling the computers online for US$400. Apple's "shrink
wrap license" specifically requires that the software be installed only on
Apple computers, and this is the base of its lawsuit. Apple is demanding that
Psystar not only cease and desist with its sales but also recall all machines
already through the door. It is a fight that the genuine Mac maker can't afford
to lose - if it does, it could open the doors for other vendors to build cheap
Hackintosh clones.
Hardware
Intel this week announced its latest Centrino platform, which goes by the
imaginative name of Centrino 2. The brains are the same Core 2 Duo processor
but the revision promises more computing horsepower, according to its creators.
There is very little new about the platform, which is largely an upgrade from
the current Centrino. It consists of a refreshed 45nm Penryn CPU, a new
integrated graphics chipset and a wireless chipset. The Centrino 2, code-named
Montevina, will offer six processors - two 8000 series chips at 2.26 GHz
(P8400) and 2.4 GHz (P8600), three 9000 series CPUs at 2.53 GHz (P9500 and
T9400) and 2.8 GHz (T9600). The top end model is a X9100 Extreme running at
3.06 GHz.
Industry
Following on from last week's Viacom vs YouTube privacy saga, in which Viacom
demanded data on all YouTube downloads, the two have come to an agreement over
the use of readers' viewing information. Viacom has agreed to let YouTube owner
Google make the data anonymous, offering a large viewer database that blanks
out private information such as member name and IP address.
Viacom stated that it is not interested in individual reader patterns but wants
to establish a general picture on the viewing of copyrighted versus home-grown
movies on the popular video sharing website.
Google seems to have swerved away from what could have been a PR disaster by
keeping hold of private information on its readers. Even so, the case may have
paved the way for others to sue the search giant on related copyright claims.
The English Football Association Premier League and Scottish Premier League
have already jumped on the bandwagon by filing their own separate class action
suits against Google.
The
final mention this week has to go to Yahoo for rejecting Microsoft's advances
once again. Teaming up with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Microsoft gave
Yahoo 24 hours to accept a proposal that would restructure the company, giving
Microsoft control over its search and online advertising division. Yahoo stated
that the move would destabilize its business, which included a recent deal it
had made with Google over online revenue sharing.
So what is the end result for the average web surfer? Paid search placements
only by the looks of things.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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