Just read the Fast Company article “Strategy by Design” penned by Tim Brown, IDEO‘s vocal and oft-quoted CEO. While informative, it probably succeeds best imo as an example of how words alone (for some people) can sometimes fail. A shame. The Industrial Design profession could use someone today able to communicate as effectively in word as with imagery. So far I’ve not found a design writer that rises to the task. Then again, I should probably read more.
Monthly Archives: July 2005
Entertaining Shifts
BusinessWeek online has an informative article on the entertainment industry’s current DVD-sales woes. The reasons for the sales slump are obviously speculative, but some of the guesses are interesting to consider. At the core of this problem is: What are people doing with their leisure time (assuming they aren’t so tired from the long work weeks that they have the energy to do anything more than sit in front of the tube)?
One interesting bit from the article:
During its first quarter, ending May 28, Best Buy said it saw revenue declines for DVD sales that were “comparable” to the double-digit sales hikes it reported for video-game sales.
With the continued press about the growth in casual gaming, I’m wondering if the “fragmenting market” comment isn’t the most accurate. And perhaps some of those casual gamers who might be part of a new fragment are moving onto the harder stuff. I’m curious to know how many are female. And how many make their way to There or The Sims Online.
Sony Exchange Live
Here we go. The floodgates to the virtual market have just opened as Terra Nova informs readers that Sony’s virtual goods exchange service has commenced operations. Read the news, view some screenshots, and keep track of the comments here.
Additionally, I have to admit that after having spent the better part of a year recently on an indy game project which fell apart primarily due to lack of a worthwhile marketing plan, I realized that content was increasingly becoming the real prize. Consequently I’m glad I went back to content creation (I do still enjoy coding, but would like to make time for porting and building upon my old aerospace analysis work… someday). I think the recent turn of events bodes well for those of us making real-world quality models.
Over the past three of four years of hanging out on indy game forums and seeing so many projects wither on the vine due to lack of compelling content (and the free stuff online just doesn’t cut it), it’s hard to not reach the conclusion that a virtual market has some potentially nice ripple effects. I’m looking for one ripple in particular. If it makes waves, I think alot of people will be pretty happy.