Just a note: revenues are different from unit sales. Since LCDs typically (always?) cost more than comparable CRTs, the revenue figures are likely inflated.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes for UNIT SALES of LCDs to surpass CRT monitors. My guess is that it will be within 2 or 3 years.
As always, I think articles like this should be taken with a grain of salt.
I think the PS3 is likely anywhere from Christmas 2004 to Christmas 2005. The standard for a LONG TIME has been a 5 year system cycle, and there's nothing to suggest that the next generation will be any different. Whatever Sony is planning is likely not past the drawing board stage, and there's certainly a lot of life left in their Playstation 2 system.
Don't worry people... you can all enjoy your PS2s for a couple of years to come, at least.:)
Quoth the James: "Can't they just use make-believe places and situations? I find this kind of stuff offensive."
And it's okay for American companies to release games where you go into Iraq and kill Sadaam Hussein?
Actually, a US game maker (Westwood, in fact) has made a game where Russia can invade the US. I haven't heard any outcry relating to that game.
I think real locations are GOOD for games. Some people can identify better with a game if they can hear a place name they recognize. It's the same whether a game is set in the universe of a book or movie franchise or set in the real world. I don't find it offensive at all.
If it doesn't float your boat, though, there are more than enough games on the market that can wet your whistle without real places being used. Go play Diablo or something.
Quoth the kien: "Based on this experience, I think (hope?) that the future of the music industry is a future where they offer songs (or even portions of songs) and let people vote. Based upon the outcome of those votes, they release compilation CDs with the most popular songs on them. I also think (hope?) that the artists themselves get more power and sell their songs themselves so that if I like the work of one artist, but most other people don't, I can just go get it directly from that artist/band. This is a radically different business model than what is in place today and it might have flaws that I haven't considered. But, based on my experience this weekend, I think it might be a workable solution where everyone (the artists, the customers, and the RIAA) can find a balance."
I'll do you one better: I don't think we NEED to actually 'vote' actively. With all the fileplayers out now, many of whom default to tracking usage statistics, I think one can glean a pretty sophisticated view of what people listen to.
Granted, it's probably a little skewed right now (twentysomething males do not the album-purchasing population make), but given the almost ubiquity of the internet, I'm sure these statistics will be sufficiently accurate soon.
While there is the whole "give me my privacy!" outcry, I think the monitoring can serve a healthy purpose. Compilations can be made easily right now plainly by looking into these usage statistics and finding what's being played the most from any particular year.
But I don't think prepackaged music is truly the holy grail of the music industry. I think affordably priced custom CDs (affordably priced == $4.99 to $6.99 for an audio CD, $12 to $20 for an MP3 CD) full of songs that the buyers actually like. I'm sure this can be EXTREMELY easily done, and I'm sure CDs can be custom-made for 5 bucks. I'm sure if this happened the industry would boom. It would doubtless sell more CDs than it does now, and I'm sure it would end up with higher revenues and higher profits because of it.
Imagine how great it would be to take a (insert prefered small media format here) card to (insert favorite music retail store here) with your musical preferences stored on it. They plug it into a computer, where it analyzes your listening habits (complete with star ratings a la iTunes/Win Media Player 9), and prints up a CD made up with your favorite songs, PLUS other songs that you'll probably like. You pay $.50 per song (or less) and take it home to enjoy without copy restriction.
Doesn't that sound light years better than what we have now?
I've said it before and I'll say it again (-1 Redundant): If the record industry doesn't rise to meet the times, the times will pass it by. ADAPT OR DIE.
I disagree that there have been no good Trek movies. I thought First Contact was VERY well done (ESPECIALLY for a non-trekkie audience), and though I haven't seen it, Khan is supposed to be a good movie period, not just a good Trek movie.
As far as Nemesis goes: I was expecting a good movie what with the whole even/odd thing.
I almost think Nemesis was worse than Insurrection. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but it just didn't have the spark that seperates mediocre/poor movies from good/great ones. Maybe it would have fared better with a director's cut. Maybe they needed another screenwriter. I don't know.
But I'm of the opinion that something drastic needs to be done if ST has a chance of surviving as a franchise. I don't think any of the post-TNG series are ripe for adaptation. My hunch is that the best thing to do would be to create a new franchise for the big screen. I'm not sure if it will work, but it will likely be more compelling than the last STrainwreck I saw in theaters.
I have to agree with Zemran here. I think that the main reason why CD sales have decreased is that THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE. With the somewhat recent competition coming from DVDs and Video Games, the music industry MUST show that their products are worth the exorbitant sticker prices charged. It costs less than a dollar for a person to make a CD that ordinarily costs 14 to 19 dollars at a store. Prices are GROSSLY inflated. The RIAA can continue to attack these filesharing services, but they MUST find a way to either lower the price of CDs, add enough value to CDs to merit their price, or do both. If they don't, I expect the record industry to be supplanted by a more consumer-friendly method of distribution.
ADAPT OR PERISH.
Could somone post the complete article (as a reply) for those Slashdotters (such as myself) who don't feel they need to complete a byzantine registration process to read a story??
That's probably true, dzym. But most likely, the Chinese alternative will be WORTH the extra cost, or at least the vast majority of the American Public will think so.
The electronics store where I work actually has a few low-end DVD players from China -- Mintek, Shinsonic. Most Apex DVD players you buy now are just Chinese players with the Apex name slapped on them. My coworkers and I don't think much of them now. I can imagine my scoffing is similar to the scoffing afforded to Sony before 1980 or so.
But now we pay a premium for Sony products, as you astutely noted. You are right in that we'll probably pay a similar premium for Chinese products in 20 years or so.
I realize that Kia may elicit a scoff from many an American now... but let us not forget history.
In 1975, how many people would rather take a sturdy, well-engineered Chevrolet than a quickly-slapped-together Honda? A sturdy, well-built RCA instead of a cheapo Sony?
Notice how much that's changed in the 25 years since?
China (and also, to a lesser extent, South Korea) is in the position that Japan was 25 years ago. Wait another 15 or so years (maybe less, given China's huge population) and you may be forgoing Japanese electronics for Chinese ones.
Yes, MP3.COM has been around for a while. The thing is, P2P didn't kill it, VIVENDI/UNIVERSAL BOUGHT IT OUT AND KILLED IT. It used to be much more robust than it is, and I'm sure many people went elsewhere because features were taken off or scaled back.
Don't listen to the propaganda spewed forth by the RIAA. The artist gets about a dollar for every 45 or 50 minutes of music they sell (every CD). If you want to pay the artists for their work, go to them directly with the appropriate funds. The RIAA steals music too.... they take almost ALL of the profits from other people's work. Is stealing 90% of something any less wrong than stealing 100% of it?
I'm new to the whole genre myself, but I've quickly grown to like Sunscreem's newest CD, Ten Mile Bank. The song "Please Save Me" is incredible.
Also, I've heard a lot of good reviews for the Euphoria Ibiza CD (or Ibiza Euphoria), though its a 2 CD import that's kinda expensive.
I haven't actually gone CLUBBING yet, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt. The above 2, at least what I've heard of them, make me want to dance in my chair.
Quoth the Wylfing:
"If RIAA could come up with a new way to package music with a bunch of new features that just happened to be copy-resistant, well, maybe consumers would opt for it."
They have -- its called Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio. I don't think they will be successful in the long run -- most albums aren't worth the extra 5 to 10 bucks to hear them in 24-bit sound. High-resolution crap is still crap.
Microsoft's stock seems to have gone up on the news. I actually own stock in Microsoft (though only a half-share), but before you flame me, I'm not investing because I believe in the company, I'm investing because I think it's a good growth stock. I've hedged my portfolio with Sony, so its no big deal.
Anyhoo: I just found it interesting that the stock has gone up about a dollar today. I guess most investors don't see this as much of a problem.
I'm still waiting for America to get The Matrix phones you can get in Australia..... we can't have them all because of some silly power consumption rules.:-P
Though Mr. Boucher is not my representative (Tom Davis, R-VA, and Republican Chair of Something), his stand against the innumerable forces arrayed against him makes me wish that he was. It's heartening to know we have somebody in Washington that's standing up against this unfair "Digital Rights Management." My gut feeling is that there are no more than 15 Congressmen that truly stand with Mr. Boucher.... a scary thought. Lets hope Mr. Boucher and others are successful at dismantling the DCMA and other legislation of its ilk (COUGHCOUGHHOLLINGSBILLCOUGHCOUGH)
Perhaps I'm being a bit redundant after all the other posts here, but I feel this bears repeating:
It seems that the record companies are taking our purchasing habits for granted. We don't HAVE to buy CDs, but we do. I've watched prices go up, and I'm appaled at the markup on these discs. It probably takes less than 50 cents to print and manufacture these things, plus the studio costs. Does anyone else think $15 dollars a CD is price-gouging? It's especially bad that many CDs now are in the 20-40 minute realm instead of the 74 or even 80 that the CD can hold. You can fit Enya's last 2 releases onto an 80-minute CD, in fact. I might not mind this if the artists served as the beneficiaries of this, but it seems like most artists get less than a dollar per CD sold. I'm curious to find out where all the money goes.
So FIRST, the companies insult us by keeping the prices high and keeping the artists out of the loop with profits. SECONDLY, they attempt to squelch filesharing, both by legal means, and by corporate means. Now, the companies seem to be under the illusion that we WANT to pay for a limited selection of tracks we can only listen to a fixed number of times without transfer. Its worse than the free filesharing servers (KaZaa et al), and it costs money. THIRD, the record companies are trying to prevent computers from playing audio CDs. I've even heard that the latest Celine Dion CD will crash your system if you play it.... though I'm unsure if that's the fault of the music or the added "CrapTus Shield" software on it.
I think the record labels made a mistake by taking down Napster.... now, decentralized alternatives are now in place that probably won't flinch no matter how many court orders you fling at them. Taking down Pablo Escobar didn't end the drug trade... it just decentralized it, and other, smaller drug dealers cropped up to take his place. The record companies seem to have done the same thing: there are about 3 or 4 major filesharing servers now instead of one, and the largest one (KaZaa) has about 1.5 milion people logged on at a time. Though I think it unlikely, if the services we have now are shut down, more will just pop up in their place. I think the labels have lost the online war, at least for now.
On the copy-protected CD issue, I think that the music labels underestimate the ire of consumers and the intelligence of the hacker community. No matter HOW MUCH copy protection you put onto your media, there will always be some way to break it. By putting this copy protection onto the CDs, the companies risk alienating customers who aren't even trying to pirate in the first place -- some CD players have a hard enough time playing regular CDs, much less copy-restricted or copy-protected ones. We must BOYCOTT these copy-protected CDs, and also meet the industry blow-for-blow by cracking this copy protection. If we can prove to the music industry that it is not feasible (money-wise, of course) to implement restrictions on our music, they might back off of this.
But make no mistake, we are heading for a war. This is but one facet of the whole global-against-regional fight that seems to be going on as multinational corporations seek to expand. To borrow a quote from a certain comic-book inspired movie -- "I may not be on the right side, but at least I've chosen." I implore other/.ers to chose also.
Richard Baker (LA)
Joel Hefley (CO)
Jones (NC)
Butch Otter (ID)
Ron Paul (TX)
Mike Simpson (ID)
Joe Skeen (NM)
Idaho has two congressmen? I thought nobody lived there!:-D
I have seen firsthand that old games, when well-done, can still rake in money today. I work at a local electronics chain (turn on the fun), and we put Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance on sale for 22 bucks. We didn't get the shipment in, but we have (literally) 40 or 50 rainchecks for the game. Our store is one of 450 or so of our chain in the US. Multiply that out and you can see that Nintendo is making gobs of money on a somewhat old (yet admittedly very good) game. The companies can kill two birds with one stone here: let the people that owned the game in the first place (like me) wax nostalgic about it, and ALSO expose a whole new group of people (in this case, 8 to 13 year olds) to a great product, which creates brand recognition. The important thing (in the mind of the companies) is that it MAKES LOTS OF MONEY! I'm sure porting Super Mario World to the Game Boy Advance took very little in the way of money to do, and I'm sure it will pay off for them big time. While this is perhaps a best-case scenario, it isn't hard to see other classics being re-released this way for a profit.
Perhaps I'm restating the obvious (I only have full text of posts rated over 3, and I'm too lazy to search through all those other posts), but J. Michael Straczynski (forgive me if I butchered his name) was interviewed by IGN recently, and he said something to the effect of "The sales of the current DVD (a 'flipper' 2-pack with 'In The Beginning' and 'The Gathering') will determine whether or not a release of the series is financially feasible." Judging from the fact that its Warner, we'll get a top 10 of the series that's Panned-and-Scanned from the Widescreen presentation.
I have been on a 'snapper' fast for quite some time now (snappers == the crappy snap cases sold with most Warner DVDs), but this news has me considering a temporary break from the fast so I can buy the DVD.
Perhaps this is off-topic slightly, and perhaps I'll be modded down for saying it, but here goes anyways:
I believe that the writer of Dilbert wrote in a book (The Dilbert Future?) that a futuristic device's success is firmly rooted in its ability to deliver porn to men quicker/better/faster/easier. If I'm not mistaken, Porn was a major reason why VHS beat out Beta. Perhaps once there IS a HD porn station, more people will buy HD sets. Just my 2 cents.:D
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Just a note: revenues are different from unit sales. Since LCDs typically (always?) cost more than comparable CRTs, the revenue figures are likely inflated.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes for UNIT SALES of LCDs to surpass CRT monitors. My guess is that it will be within 2 or 3 years.
As always, I think articles like this should be taken with a grain of salt.
:)
I think the PS3 is likely anywhere from Christmas 2004 to Christmas 2005. The standard for a LONG TIME has been a 5 year system cycle, and there's nothing to suggest that the next generation will be any different. Whatever Sony is planning is likely not past the drawing board stage, and there's certainly a lot of life left in their Playstation 2 system.
Don't worry people... you can all enjoy your PS2s for a couple of years to come, at least.
Quoth the James:
"Can't they just use make-believe places and situations? I find this kind of stuff offensive."
And it's okay for American companies to release games where you go into Iraq and kill Sadaam Hussein?
Actually, a US game maker (Westwood, in fact) has made a game where Russia can invade the US. I haven't heard any outcry relating to that game.
I think real locations are GOOD for games. Some people can identify better with a game if they can hear a place name they recognize. It's the same whether a game is set in the universe of a book or movie franchise or set in the real world. I don't find it offensive at all.
If it doesn't float your boat, though, there are more than enough games on the market that can wet your whistle without real places being used. Go play Diablo or something.
I could have swore it was 3 Dog Night that sang it.... maybe its because I had the song on some KTel-style El Cheapo audio tape... :P
[Singing loudly]
:)
EVERY MORNING I WOULD SEE HER WAITING AT THE STOP!
Sometimes she'd shop and she would show me what she bought!
[/Singing loudly]
AHEM. Sorry... got carried away there.
Quoth the kien:
"Based on this experience, I think (hope?) that the future of the music industry is a future where they offer songs (or even portions of songs) and let people vote. Based upon the outcome of those votes, they release compilation CDs with the most popular songs on them. I also think (hope?) that the artists themselves get more power and sell their songs themselves so that if I like the work of one artist, but most other people don't, I can just go get it directly from that artist/band. This is a radically different business model than what is in place today and it might have flaws that I haven't considered. But, based on my experience this weekend, I think it might be a workable solution where everyone (the artists, the customers, and the RIAA) can find a balance."
I'll do you one better: I don't think we NEED to actually 'vote' actively. With all the fileplayers out now, many of whom default to tracking usage statistics, I think one can glean a pretty sophisticated view of what people listen to.
Granted, it's probably a little skewed right now (twentysomething males do not the album-purchasing population make), but given the almost ubiquity of the internet, I'm sure these statistics will be sufficiently accurate soon.
While there is the whole "give me my privacy!" outcry, I think the monitoring can serve a healthy purpose. Compilations can be made easily right now plainly by looking into these usage statistics and finding what's being played the most from any particular year.
But I don't think prepackaged music is truly the holy grail of the music industry. I think affordably priced custom CDs (affordably priced == $4.99 to $6.99 for an audio CD, $12 to $20 for an MP3 CD) full of songs that the buyers actually like. I'm sure this can be EXTREMELY easily done, and I'm sure CDs can be custom-made for 5 bucks. I'm sure if this happened the industry would boom. It would doubtless sell more CDs than it does now, and I'm sure it would end up with higher revenues and higher profits because of it.
Imagine how great it would be to take a (insert prefered small media format here) card to (insert favorite music retail store here) with your musical preferences stored on it. They plug it into a computer, where it analyzes your listening habits (complete with star ratings a la iTunes/Win Media Player 9), and prints up a CD made up with your favorite songs, PLUS other songs that you'll probably like. You pay $.50 per song (or less) and take it home to enjoy without copy restriction.
Doesn't that sound light years better than what we have now?
I've said it before and I'll say it again (-1 Redundant): If the record industry doesn't rise to meet the times, the times will pass it by. ADAPT OR DIE.
I disagree that there have been no good Trek movies. I thought First Contact was VERY well done (ESPECIALLY for a non-trekkie audience), and though I haven't seen it, Khan is supposed to be a good movie period, not just a good Trek movie. As far as Nemesis goes: I was expecting a good movie what with the whole even/odd thing. I almost think Nemesis was worse than Insurrection. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but it just didn't have the spark that seperates mediocre/poor movies from good/great ones. Maybe it would have fared better with a director's cut. Maybe they needed another screenwriter. I don't know. But I'm of the opinion that something drastic needs to be done if ST has a chance of surviving as a franchise. I don't think any of the post-TNG series are ripe for adaptation. My hunch is that the best thing to do would be to create a new franchise for the big screen. I'm not sure if it will work, but it will likely be more compelling than the last STrainwreck I saw in theaters.
I have to agree with Zemran here. I think that the main reason why CD sales have decreased is that THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE. With the somewhat recent competition coming from DVDs and Video Games, the music industry MUST show that their products are worth the exorbitant sticker prices charged. It costs less than a dollar for a person to make a CD that ordinarily costs 14 to 19 dollars at a store. Prices are GROSSLY inflated. The RIAA can continue to attack these filesharing services, but they MUST find a way to either lower the price of CDs, add enough value to CDs to merit their price, or do both. If they don't, I expect the record industry to be supplanted by a more consumer-friendly method of distribution. ADAPT OR PERISH.
Thanks, Mike. :)
Could somone post the complete article (as a reply) for those Slashdotters (such as myself) who don't feel they need to complete a byzantine registration process to read a story??
That's probably true, dzym. But most likely, the Chinese alternative will be WORTH the extra cost, or at least the vast majority of the American Public will think so.
The electronics store where I work actually has a few low-end DVD players from China -- Mintek, Shinsonic. Most Apex DVD players you buy now are just Chinese players with the Apex name slapped on them. My coworkers and I don't think much of them now. I can imagine my scoffing is similar to the scoffing afforded to Sony before 1980 or so.
But now we pay a premium for Sony products, as you astutely noted. You are right in that we'll probably pay a similar premium for Chinese products in 20 years or so.
I realize that Kia may elicit a scoff from many an American now... but let us not forget history.
In 1975, how many people would rather take a sturdy, well-engineered Chevrolet than a quickly-slapped-together Honda? A sturdy, well-built RCA instead of a cheapo Sony?
Notice how much that's changed in the 25 years since?
China (and also, to a lesser extent, South Korea) is in the position that Japan was 25 years ago. Wait another 15 or so years (maybe less, given China's huge population) and you may be forgoing Japanese electronics for Chinese ones.
Yes, MP3.COM has been around for a while. The thing is, P2P didn't kill it, VIVENDI/UNIVERSAL BOUGHT IT OUT AND KILLED IT. It used to be much more robust than it is, and I'm sure many people went elsewhere because features were taken off or scaled back.
Don't listen to the propaganda spewed forth by the RIAA. The artist gets about a dollar for every 45 or 50 minutes of music they sell (every CD). If you want to pay the artists for their work, go to them directly with the appropriate funds. The RIAA steals music too.... they take almost ALL of the profits from other people's work. Is stealing 90% of something any less wrong than stealing 100% of it?
16.1 inches is probably about the same size as my desktop monitor (17 inches usually means 16 inches viewable on the olde CRTs).
Good idea, but for a couple of caveats:
Battery life? A Desktop-size monitor is nice, but not if it only lasts an hour and a half before needing a charge.
Size? How big IS this thing?
I'm new to the whole genre myself, but I've quickly grown to like Sunscreem's newest CD, Ten Mile Bank. The song "Please Save Me" is incredible.
Also, I've heard a lot of good reviews for the Euphoria Ibiza CD (or Ibiza Euphoria), though its a 2 CD import that's kinda expensive.
I haven't actually gone CLUBBING yet, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt. The above 2, at least what I've heard of them, make me want to dance in my chair.
Quoth Commander Taco:
:)
"which would theoretically yield much better search speed than such other networks as Gnutella."
I think a network of carrier pigeons would yield a better search speed than Gnutella.
Quoth the Wylfing: "If RIAA could come up with a new way to package music with a bunch of new features that just happened to be copy-resistant, well, maybe consumers would opt for it." They have -- its called Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio. I don't think they will be successful in the long run -- most albums aren't worth the extra 5 to 10 bucks to hear them in 24-bit sound. High-resolution crap is still crap.
Microsoft's stock seems to have gone up on the news. I actually own stock in Microsoft (though only a half-share), but before you flame me, I'm not investing because I believe in the company, I'm investing because I think it's a good growth stock. I've hedged my portfolio with Sony, so its no big deal. Anyhoo: I just found it interesting that the stock has gone up about a dollar today. I guess most investors don't see this as much of a problem.
I'm still waiting for America to get The Matrix phones you can get in Australia..... we can't have them all because of some silly power consumption rules. :-P
Though Mr. Boucher is not my representative (Tom Davis, R-VA, and Republican Chair of Something), his stand against the innumerable forces arrayed against him makes me wish that he was. It's heartening to know we have somebody in Washington that's standing up against this unfair "Digital Rights Management." My gut feeling is that there are no more than 15 Congressmen that truly stand with Mr. Boucher.... a scary thought. Lets hope Mr. Boucher and others are successful at dismantling the DCMA and other legislation of its ilk (COUGHCOUGHHOLLINGSBILLCOUGHCOUGH)
Perhaps I'm being a bit redundant after all the other posts here, but I feel this bears repeating: It seems that the record companies are taking our purchasing habits for granted. We don't HAVE to buy CDs, but we do. I've watched prices go up, and I'm appaled at the markup on these discs. It probably takes less than 50 cents to print and manufacture these things, plus the studio costs. Does anyone else think $15 dollars a CD is price-gouging? It's especially bad that many CDs now are in the 20-40 minute realm instead of the 74 or even 80 that the CD can hold. You can fit Enya's last 2 releases onto an 80-minute CD, in fact. I might not mind this if the artists served as the beneficiaries of this, but it seems like most artists get less than a dollar per CD sold. I'm curious to find out where all the money goes. So FIRST, the companies insult us by keeping the prices high and keeping the artists out of the loop with profits. SECONDLY, they attempt to squelch filesharing, both by legal means, and by corporate means. Now, the companies seem to be under the illusion that we WANT to pay for a limited selection of tracks we can only listen to a fixed number of times without transfer. Its worse than the free filesharing servers (KaZaa et al), and it costs money. THIRD, the record companies are trying to prevent computers from playing audio CDs. I've even heard that the latest Celine Dion CD will crash your system if you play it.... though I'm unsure if that's the fault of the music or the added "CrapTus Shield" software on it. I think the record labels made a mistake by taking down Napster.... now, decentralized alternatives are now in place that probably won't flinch no matter how many court orders you fling at them. Taking down Pablo Escobar didn't end the drug trade... it just decentralized it, and other, smaller drug dealers cropped up to take his place. The record companies seem to have done the same thing: there are about 3 or 4 major filesharing servers now instead of one, and the largest one (KaZaa) has about 1.5 milion people logged on at a time. Though I think it unlikely, if the services we have now are shut down, more will just pop up in their place. I think the labels have lost the online war, at least for now. On the copy-protected CD issue, I think that the music labels underestimate the ire of consumers and the intelligence of the hacker community. No matter HOW MUCH copy protection you put onto your media, there will always be some way to break it. By putting this copy protection onto the CDs, the companies risk alienating customers who aren't even trying to pirate in the first place -- some CD players have a hard enough time playing regular CDs, much less copy-restricted or copy-protected ones. We must BOYCOTT these copy-protected CDs, and also meet the industry blow-for-blow by cracking this copy protection. If we can prove to the music industry that it is not feasible (money-wise, of course) to implement restrictions on our music, they might back off of this. But make no mistake, we are heading for a war. This is but one facet of the whole global-against-regional fight that seems to be going on as multinational corporations seek to expand. To borrow a quote from a certain comic-book inspired movie -- "I may not be on the right side, but at least I've chosen." I implore other /.ers to chose also.
Richard Baker (LA) Joel Hefley (CO) Jones (NC) Butch Otter (ID) Ron Paul (TX) Mike Simpson (ID) Joe Skeen (NM) Idaho has two congressmen? I thought nobody lived there! :-D
I have seen firsthand that old games, when well-done, can still rake in money today. I work at a local electronics chain (turn on the fun), and we put Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance on sale for 22 bucks. We didn't get the shipment in, but we have (literally) 40 or 50 rainchecks for the game. Our store is one of 450 or so of our chain in the US. Multiply that out and you can see that Nintendo is making gobs of money on a somewhat old (yet admittedly very good) game. The companies can kill two birds with one stone here: let the people that owned the game in the first place (like me) wax nostalgic about it, and ALSO expose a whole new group of people (in this case, 8 to 13 year olds) to a great product, which creates brand recognition. The important thing (in the mind of the companies) is that it MAKES LOTS OF MONEY! I'm sure porting Super Mario World to the Game Boy Advance took very little in the way of money to do, and I'm sure it will pay off for them big time. While this is perhaps a best-case scenario, it isn't hard to see other classics being re-released this way for a profit.
Perhaps I'm restating the obvious (I only have full text of posts rated over 3, and I'm too lazy to search through all those other posts), but J. Michael Straczynski (forgive me if I butchered his name) was interviewed by IGN recently, and he said something to the effect of "The sales of the current DVD (a 'flipper' 2-pack with 'In The Beginning' and 'The Gathering') will determine whether or not a release of the series is financially feasible." Judging from the fact that its Warner, we'll get a top 10 of the series that's Panned-and-Scanned from the Widescreen presentation. I have been on a 'snapper' fast for quite some time now (snappers == the crappy snap cases sold with most Warner DVDs), but this news has me considering a temporary break from the fast so I can buy the DVD.
Perhaps this is off-topic slightly, and perhaps I'll be modded down for saying it, but here goes anyways: I believe that the writer of Dilbert wrote in a book (The Dilbert Future?) that a futuristic device's success is firmly rooted in its ability to deliver porn to men quicker/better/faster/easier. If I'm not mistaken, Porn was a major reason why VHS beat out Beta. Perhaps once there IS a HD porn station, more people will buy HD sets. Just my 2 cents. :D