The Investor: Charles Moldow, venture partner, Foundation Capital
What his firm's backed: CarsDirect.com, Netflix, Simply Hired
What he wants now:: Text-messaging software that allows local merchants to send offers to mobile phones. Some companies already do this in basic form; Moldow's idea would give merchants more control. "This is bringing the blue-light special to your phone," he says. Five or so people could write the code; a sales demon is also needed to enlist merchants. Prove that you can pull this off in one city and Moldow will listen to an expansion plan.
What he'll invest: 5 Million for working technology
What I'll invest: A punch in the mouth for anyone who finds a way add even more spam into my life.
Why do you seem so shocked about the possibility for a HALO RTS when you don't know what the game is about? It's like saying "I've got no idea what this game is about, how could they make it into an RTS??? Preposterous!"
I had serious doubts about this MMO ever coming into existence when rumors were spreading for the last year or so, but now that Cryptic is involved I am quite excited about it. I'm a big fan of CoH/CoV and I know they can make a great quality MMO. If anyone can put out an awesome MMO it's this studio. It should be excited to see what they come up with. Now hopefully, those rumors about DC Comics working with SOE turn out to be false, it's been awhile since I've heard anything so it may have been bogus all along *crosses fingers*.
Have a look at US gasoline prices adjusted for inflation sometime. With minor variation from month to month, the graph is nearly flat. I remember the days of $0.89/$0.99 a gallon too -- they were 13 years ago, and that was at the cheapest gas station in town in an area where gas was (still is, as of last time I was home) much cheaper than elsewhere. Gas going up from $0.99 to $2.00 in 13 years is not that big a deal.
How much has minimum wage increased in that time? I'd say it's a pretty big deal. Not everyone in this country has disposable income. Did the increase in gas prices affect me? Not much more than an annoyance. Do I know people that struggled seriously to afford to drive to work this year and pay their monthly expenses? Yep.
(100 + 150) * 0.5 = 125, so yes, such a trend line would be perfectly reasonable over a time period of a few years.
I should have payed more attention to the math but it was meant more as a visual example. The increase was more like 250% in my area, and I'd expect no more than a 30% drop before the next increase of probably another 250%. It's just going to keep going up. While I know inflation has something to do with it, it is outpacing the cost of living increases in my opinion.
While it's true gas prices are indeed dropping, they're still at an unacceptable level. If we see $1.15 (by the way, this is dependent on area, my recently "lowered" gas prices are still above $2.50, so I'm not sure where you're referring to) I will be truly shocked. I remember the days of $.99/gallon (I know, I'm not that old) so getting the prices to $2.00 isn't exactly party worthy in my mind. Still I have to agree with you to some degree, while I think there's a need for a paradigm shift in fuel consumption, the American public has a short (sometimes non-existent) memory and will be downright ecstatic with an 50% price drop in gas; even when the original increase was 150%. The good thing is, the American public is not the entire world. If it doesn't happen here, it can easily happen somewhere else and we'll reap the benefits eventually, or atleast we can hope.
An interesting idea although I'm not sure that nerdy MMO addicts are the peer group generally sought out by trendy fashion designers. Unless, of course, they're designing dirty t-shirts and boxers: The hottest trend in your moms basement!
Vinyl never really went anywhere. I'd been buying vinyl for the last 15 years. It's always been popular for the "underground" (how I hate that word) music culture. The only reason this is getting play at all is because the White Stripes, a former "underground" indie band, has hit it big and is just doing something that's always been done but is now in the public eye. No news here at all.
As long as Master Chief isn't played by Ben Affleck, this could be good. From the interview it sounded like they are taking their time and looking to put out a quality film. I'll be looking forward to updates.
While I think it actually looks pretty nice, I as well as many iPod owners will never make the "switch" to a player like this for one reason: iTunes. I can take or leave the iPod itself. It's nice but I've had terrible luck with quality and have gone through about 5 of them. It's not been a perfect relationship. However, I LOVE iTunes. I use it daily and since I bought my iPod I have bought hundreds, maybe a thousand songs through it. The inability of another player to play these songs (without going through alot of trouble to remove the DRM) is a show stopper for me.
There's a lot of money being brought into play here, yes, and names familiar to those interested in traditionally 'geeky' pursuits like comics and gaming... but I'm not convinced that any of them have any idea of how to manage a development house.
And that money could be used to hire someone that does know how to manage a game development house. I say lets give them a chance before planting flowers on the companys grave. Besides it's not like they're planning to finish Duke Nukem Forever or something, they might actually have a shot to do something cool here.
Star Trek Online should be interesting as well, I'm not even a Trekky (sp?) but I can't wait for this game. I think it's looking like late 2007 maybe 2008, but hopefully it gets done right and is worth it.
First off, this article seems to have been written by someone who played two MMO's: Everquest and WoW. Most of the "revolutionary" features of WoW were present in other MMO's (instances, battlegrounds, solo centered play) previous to WoW's existence. Some were done worse, but I'd bet some were done better as well. While WoW is an international success, in my opinion, it's an average MMO. I've played my share of the genre and beta'd a few that never made it as well, and I found WoW to be technically sound but overall pretty sterile. I was bored enough to cancel pretty quickly and even tried to return with some friends thinking that would help, but alas it was not meant to be. If it works for you, that's cool, but I disagree with anyone that calls it the be all end all of MMO's. It's not THAT great.
What I do like about WoW is the quality, it seems minimally buggy in comparison to most MMO's (except for the Blizzard servers after release). This is so important and it's a problem in so many of the games in this genre.
If another MMO comes out with the same quality control and a well known license attached, you'll see a split in the user base. The casual players will stick around mostly (as will some of the hardcore fanboys) but a new challenge is something an MMO addict can't pass up.
I agree, the skill system in SWG was one of the few things I loved about that game. With that said, it was probably one of the leading factors to it's destruction. Well, sort of, it wasn't necessarily the builds that were a problem but the exploitable nature of the combat system. It took forever for the developers to do anything about it (big surprise considering it was an SOE game) and by the time they did the populations were dwindling and people lost all hope for fun in PvP. Of course, the game had a ton of other problems but this, in my opinion, was the biggest besides the Jedi fiasco.
I still would love a pure skill based system in a new game. I really liked the freedom, it let you experience the game in almost unlimited ways while allowing you to keep your items, money, and reputation.
What's the big deal with HD anything? I seriously don't get it and have been hearing the hype from my friends for years now. Personally, I've NEVER been watching TV and saying "Gee, I wish this picture was crisper, then my television experience would be so much better!" VHS was plenty good quality for me, though I appreciate the convenience in DVD's other features. I think this format stuff is just a silly marketing ploy. I watch movies/tv for the content not the quality of the image. Maybe I'm one of the few.
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The Investor: Charles Moldow, venture partner, Foundation Capital
What his firm's backed: CarsDirect.com, Netflix, Simply Hired
What he wants now:: Text-messaging software that allows local merchants to send offers to mobile phones. Some companies already do this in basic form; Moldow's idea would give merchants more control. "This is bringing the blue-light special to your phone," he says. Five or so people could write the code; a sales demon is also needed to enlist merchants. Prove that you can pull this off in one city and Moldow will listen to an expansion plan.
What he'll invest: 5 Million for working technology What I'll invest: A punch in the mouth for anyone who finds a way add even more spam into my life.
More than 8 hours of gameplay.
Imagine a Beowulf clust..I think you know the rest.
Why do you seem so shocked about the possibility for a HALO RTS when you don't know what the game is about? It's like saying "I've got no idea what this game is about, how could they make it into an RTS??? Preposterous!"
As for Peter Jackson, see: Petr Jackson talks the Halo Movie
I had serious doubts about this MMO ever coming into existence when rumors were spreading for the last year or so, but now that Cryptic is involved I am quite excited about it. I'm a big fan of CoH/CoV and I know they can make a great quality MMO. If anyone can put out an awesome MMO it's this studio. It should be excited to see what they come up with. Now hopefully, those rumors about DC Comics working with SOE turn out to be false, it's been awhile since I've heard anything so it may have been bogus all along *crosses fingers*.
Have a look at US gasoline prices adjusted for inflation sometime. With minor variation from month to month, the graph is nearly flat. I remember the days of $0.89/$0.99 a gallon too -- they were 13 years ago, and that was at the cheapest gas station in town in an area where gas was (still is, as of last time I was home) much cheaper than elsewhere. Gas going up from $0.99 to $2.00 in 13 years is not that big a deal.
How much has minimum wage increased in that time? I'd say it's a pretty big deal. Not everyone in this country has disposable income. Did the increase in gas prices affect me? Not much more than an annoyance. Do I know people that struggled seriously to afford to drive to work this year and pay their monthly expenses? Yep.
(100 + 150) * 0.5 = 125, so yes, such a trend line would be perfectly reasonable over a time period of a few years.
I should have payed more attention to the math but it was meant more as a visual example. The increase was more like 250% in my area, and I'd expect no more than a 30% drop before the next increase of probably another 250%. It's just going to keep going up. While I know inflation has something to do with it, it is outpacing the cost of living increases in my opinion.
While it's true gas prices are indeed dropping, they're still at an unacceptable level. If we see $1.15 (by the way, this is dependent on area, my recently "lowered" gas prices are still above $2.50, so I'm not sure where you're referring to) I will be truly shocked. I remember the days of $.99/gallon (I know, I'm not that old) so getting the prices to $2.00 isn't exactly party worthy in my mind. Still I have to agree with you to some degree, while I think there's a need for a paradigm shift in fuel consumption, the American public has a short (sometimes non-existent) memory and will be downright ecstatic with an 50% price drop in gas; even when the original increase was 150%. The good thing is, the American public is not the entire world. If it doesn't happen here, it can easily happen somewhere else and we'll reap the benefits eventually, or atleast we can hope.
An interesting idea although I'm not sure that nerdy MMO addicts are the peer group generally sought out by trendy fashion designers. Unless, of course, they're designing dirty t-shirts and boxers: The hottest trend in your moms basement!
Should kids be getting even more exposure to media when they workout?
That's not even relevant now, they aren't working out! I say anything that gets the kids in the gym is a good thing.
Is this a bad time?
Vinyl never really went anywhere. I'd been buying vinyl for the last 15 years. It's always been popular for the "underground" (how I hate that word) music culture. The only reason this is getting play at all is because the White Stripes, a former "underground" indie band, has hit it big and is just doing something that's always been done but is now in the public eye. No news here at all.
a preemptive strike against the machines!
Meant Flying Spaghetti Monster!!
For the offtopic mod, he's referring to the Giant Spaghetti Monster [Wikipedia]
"Mom, please give me $600! I want to help cure cancer!"
As long as Master Chief isn't played by Ben Affleck, this could be good. From the interview it sounded like they are taking their time and looking to put out a quality film. I'll be looking forward to updates.
While I think it actually looks pretty nice, I as well as many iPod owners will never make the "switch" to a player like this for one reason: iTunes. I can take or leave the iPod itself. It's nice but I've had terrible luck with quality and have gone through about 5 of them. It's not been a perfect relationship. However, I LOVE iTunes. I use it daily and since I bought my iPod I have bought hundreds, maybe a thousand songs through it. The inability of another player to play these songs (without going through alot of trouble to remove the DRM) is a show stopper for me.
You should be used to it by now, this is Philly afterall. I wonder what kind of kickbacks the mayor and his staff are getting...
There's a lot of money being brought into play here, yes, and names familiar to those interested in traditionally 'geeky' pursuits like comics and gaming... but I'm not convinced that any of them have any idea of how to manage a development house.
And that money could be used to hire someone that does know how to manage a game development house. I say lets give them a chance before planting flowers on the companys grave. Besides it's not like they're planning to finish Duke Nukem Forever or something, they might actually have a shot to do something cool here.
Star Trek Online should be interesting as well, I'm not even a Trekky (sp?) but I can't wait for this game. I think it's looking like late 2007 maybe 2008, but hopefully it gets done right and is worth it.
First off, this article seems to have been written by someone who played two MMO's: Everquest and WoW. Most of the "revolutionary" features of WoW were present in other MMO's (instances, battlegrounds, solo centered play) previous to WoW's existence. Some were done worse, but I'd bet some were done better as well. While WoW is an international success, in my opinion, it's an average MMO. I've played my share of the genre and beta'd a few that never made it as well, and I found WoW to be technically sound but overall pretty sterile. I was bored enough to cancel pretty quickly and even tried to return with some friends thinking that would help, but alas it was not meant to be. If it works for you, that's cool, but I disagree with anyone that calls it the be all end all of MMO's. It's not THAT great.
What I do like about WoW is the quality, it seems minimally buggy in comparison to most MMO's (except for the Blizzard servers after release). This is so important and it's a problem in so many of the games in this genre.
If another MMO comes out with the same quality control and a well known license attached, you'll see a split in the user base. The casual players will stick around mostly (as will some of the hardcore fanboys) but a new challenge is something an MMO addict can't pass up.
I agree, the skill system in SWG was one of the few things I loved about that game. With that said, it was probably one of the leading factors to it's destruction. Well, sort of, it wasn't necessarily the builds that were a problem but the exploitable nature of the combat system. It took forever for the developers to do anything about it (big surprise considering it was an SOE game) and by the time they did the populations were dwindling and people lost all hope for fun in PvP. Of course, the game had a ton of other problems but this, in my opinion, was the biggest besides the Jedi fiasco. I still would love a pure skill based system in a new game. I really liked the freedom, it let you experience the game in almost unlimited ways while allowing you to keep your items, money, and reputation.
Seriously, you can buy an XBOX 360 and a WII for little more than a single PS3. Go Sony!
I thought this was about cowboys :(
What's the big deal with HD anything? I seriously don't get it and have been hearing the hype from my friends for years now. Personally, I've NEVER been watching TV and saying "Gee, I wish this picture was crisper, then my television experience would be so much better!" VHS was plenty good quality for me, though I appreciate the convenience in DVD's other features. I think this format stuff is just a silly marketing ploy. I watch movies/tv for the content not the quality of the image. Maybe I'm one of the few.