EA pulls back on the 3rd party titles, Disney pulls back on the high-end consoles. Greece pulls back from the brink. Everyone else is pulling back, so let's jump into the Must Know Geek Job News!
Career:
Why hope is a better job strategy than fear – makes some great points.
Economics:
It appears some plan is indeed coming to help the Greek economy – This will hopefully help bring some stability to the EU, which would be good for global stability. However keep in mind California's economy dwarf's Greece's, so there are other problems in the world . . .
Anime and Manga:
A live Akira from the people that directed 'Book of Eli' – An interesting choice, and it seems like this is moving ahead pretty well (faster, say, than Cowboy Bebop and Battle Angel Alita). Book of Eli didn't interest me, but I hear the direction was good and these two can probably handle post-apocalyptic. Akira's cyberpunk/horror/monster/military mix may go over well these days.
Where is Viz Going? Find out here. Sounds like expanding mature focus and more.
Publishing:
MUST READ: An in-depth look at the future of ebooks and emags. Lots of insights, take your time with this one.
MUST READ: A look at the divisions and changes in the information economy. It's hard to sum this one up beyond, 'read it' but it looks at the changes that happened – and need to happen in the world of media and publishing.
Technology:
Motorola may be breaking up – Something is in the works. Of course that's a big break up and could produce troubles – and opportunities.
Video Games:
EA is moving away from distributing 3rd party titles – Looks like their focus is going, obviously, in-house. They could, based on this statement, even move away from some killer titles.
Disney is refocusing too: and it's more Wii and DS than high-end console games. That looks like a case of knowing your audience more than anything (though I could argue that Disney COULD make a go at consoles with concerted effort). Also notice that this jibes well with the iPad news of yesterday. So Disney seems to be picking it's battles – and its support could be good for Apple and Nintendo.
GameFly files for an IPO. This has me curious snce I figure they'd be thinking out different things to do with DLC breathing down their neck. I suspect though that if this IPO raises money they may use it for a broader strategy. Not sure what the implications for gaming are – it depends on how much money they raise and what they use it for.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Just what do you think GameFly's plans for the money they'd raise from an IPO?
– Steven Savage