GameStop's strategy emerges a bit further, DQ X is controversial, and foil that lets you make anything a touchpad? Lots of news, so let's go!
Economics/Geekonomics:
Bank of America may spin out Merrill-Lynch. It may help them a bit (the writers at Ritholtz seem pleased as they wanted something like this). If nothing else maybe they're trying a soft landing and/or a nice slow, face-saving decline.
Have a ton of helpful employment charts. There's a LOT here to go through – my big takeaway is how different this recession is, and how bad "U6" (marginally unemployed AND unemployed) is.
Political blogger Matthew Yglesias speculates currency wars could be good for the world. That's not something I'd considered, and it's a bit of a heady prospect.
Mobile:
And look who joined the fight against AT&T/T-Mobile – it's Sprint via civil suit. Looks like this is getting more interesting – and might indicate we've reached a kind of natural balance of mobile carriers, or could.
Movies:
We may get a 'Beetlejuice' sequel. I thought there was a sequel – a TV show – but hey that's just me.
Technology:
Send these people a resume: company makes a film that turns anything into touchscreen.
India needs to expand it's broadband network according to a government advisor. I'd like to note that if India does this it's going to give them a big edge in the future economy – think of this need as an opportunity. Pay attention to how India expands in the future.
MUST READ: Why the Amazon Tablet will challenge Apple in a way Google can't. Great article, must read.
Video Games:
Oh-ho, we have another idea of GameStop's plan to survive and triumph in a distributed/downloadable age. They're planning to offer iPhones, iPads, and iPods. This is a win for Apple, a win for GameStop, and an idea of their plans – namely try to be involved with or offer everything related to gaming. If this goes through it could represent several shifts in gaming (and makes me wonder what it'd mean for, say, Best Buy) – and may mean oppos at GameStop for an Apple/Mobile division.
You've probably been hearing this, but Dragon Quest X seems to be an MMO or similar. What's odd is it seems to A) Be Wii and WiiU only, B) Maintains a turn-based combat system. I'm kind of mixed here – I'd like to see it done MMO-like and I can see it being similar, but this is not the age of pay-to-play anymore, even with such beloved property. This was enough of a shock to affect Sony and SquareEnix's stock prices.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: So what other strategies does GameStop have in mind?