I caught this news yesterday and wanted to get back to it. Relayed from a Hollywood Reporter story, from Yahoo! News comes word of “X Quest”, a pseudo-reality television series created by Spectrum MediaWorks and produced by Imagine Television. The show is set to debut sometime early next year on Fox. From the story (Link):

“X Quest” is based on an “aspirational pyramid” approach that Seropian said starts with two teams of seven contestants that enter the cramped compartments of a space simulator and partake in a monthlong series of missions within the virtual world. Viewers can watch the adventures unfold on Fox.

Gamers will be able to enter the world via Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and interact with reality show contestants, according to Spectrum MediaWorks, and events in the game will have a direct impact on the TV show.
…
Seropian said “X Quest” was created from the ground up as a TV show and a game “structurally designed to exist in the same virtual world.”
…
“The prime reason why the game industry is outpacing cinema, and will eventually outpace television, is that huge numbers of people have demonstrated a desire to immerse and interact,” Banister said. “‘X Quest’ is the first, but certainly not the last.”

Hey, instead of putting them in a space stimulator, why not put them on a transpacific flight? From my earlier comments (Link):

If flighttime is a problem, let’s assume that the game players (not the game characters) change with each episode (just the way “gold pharmers” hand off game characters in shifts). That could work too and suggests an intriguing option.

I like my idea better. Instead of using a static simulator and having to provide support, I say the airline industries offer reduced-fair rates to passengers who take over virtual characters to continue a storyline. Talk about a wildly exquisite corpse.

That would be Stephen King and Diane Duane. “From” because Mr. King is well-known for having attempted to sell an electronic novel “by the chapter” some years ago (it failed). “To” because it appears that Ms. Duane is now making a rather high-profile attempt of her own.

This could be both interesting and informative. I don’t recall King offering supporters a hard copy upon completion (in this case, supporters will receive their copy from print-on-demand service Lulu). I don’t think he had a blog either. Those two factors could make all the difference. This will definitely be worth watching.

via Boing Boing

There are all sorts of interesting things tied up in the U.S. military’s UCAV program, some of which I’ve previously mentioned (Link 1, Link 2), but this time I’m posting it for the “Wow, that thing reminds me of that old science fiction series UFO” {Edit – whoops. That should be “UFO” and not “Space: 1999”}. Maybe not the image above, but check this one over on New Scientist (Link) and compare it to the “Sky One” aircraft from the television show (Link).

Okay, maybe they don’t look quite the same but that’s because I couldn’t find a clip of the Sky One breaking the ocean’s surface. Oh well, at least they’re both underwater aircraft. Anyway, you can read and see more over on Popular Science (Link).

{Image source: Popular Science}

Okay, I’ve not paid attention to Blythe.

When I noticed the entry on Vinyl Pulse (Link) a few days ago it seemed odd to me that the site, which features mostly “urban vinyl” toys, would even mention it – a decidedly retro-looking caucasian female doll with anime-sized eyes. Furthermore, they don’t bother to explain why some people “can’t get enough Blythe”. Obviously I was out of the loop on that one.

Then, after seeing a picture of it on BrandNoise in an entry (Link) about engaging consumers, I got curious. So I found this wonderful “brief history of Blythe” (Link).

Okay, I’m up to speed. So what? Well read this excerpt from Blythe’s history:

On December 20, 2003 Superior Skate and Very Inspired by Pow Wow Poncho debuted out at the Blythe Cool Mod exhibition at Printemps Department Store in Ginza. These two dolls were the first “Superior Blythe” dolls made from a new mold which is based on a 3-D laser scan of a vintage Blythe. All the Blythe dolls after Superior Skate are the “superior” dolls.

There’s something extremely trippy about that idea.

Gets me to wondering how long it will be before people shell out big bucks for a pre-emptive 3D laser scan of their body in its prime in anticipation of using it later. Maybe it’s already being done! Anyone know?

(Sorry, this wasn’t about branding or marketing, but the BrandNoise entry is an excellent observation and worth giving some thought. I’d suggest pairing it with Chris Anderson’s entry from last year – Link – since I see some correlations between BrandNoise’s comments and one section of Anderson’s entry in particular; the part on Wal-Mart’s effect on culture.)

I may not always agree with Ad Age’s opinion pieces, but I certainly like what editor in chief Rance Crain writes in his commentary, “Risk Aversion Is Risky Business For Marketers And Agencies”. From his entry (Link):

What worries me most here is that the play-it-safe attitude of the ad industry is indicative of bigger problems. U.S. companies, and the U.S. economy, have prospered because they were willing to take chances. We innovated, we challenged, and the result was perpetual renewal of our system.

The same is true for design. “Me too” products are now the norm. How many damn iPod knock-offs can people stomach? Is that really the only solution for providing a form and an interface to access mobile media or is it the path of least resistance … least risk … for companies that, as one client once told me, sell crap to consumers about whom they have no clue?

Is this what happens when American corporations dump their manufacturing operations and morph into sourcing operations headed by Marketing and Sales who do little more than fly to Hong Kong and visit product (knock-off) showrooms or look through ODM catalogs for generic stuff on which they can slap a logo? And then, when some company has the rocks to do something creatively new and it succeeds, how many will jump on that bandwagon? Will ZinkKat’s “Chili” wrest the pipe from the iPod piper? And if so, how many weeks – not months – before some knock-off hits store shelves bearing the licensed trademark of a company that does little more than a cursory review of the product, gives the use of it’s brand a thumbs up, and then waits for the royalty check?

Well, based on recent reports, we can anticipate more of the same because we shouldn’t expect too much more Innovation and Creativity in the West (Link), in spite of all the recent hype.

The question people should be asking is: Why is this happening?

My answer is that this is the expected result of a Control System that’s spinning out of control. When consumer access to products and product information was limited, systems were effectively cemented in place and methodologies were specifically developed to maximize return on investment for each player in that old chain – including the non-discerning consumer. Risk was effectively taken out of the equation.

Today, there’s a collision of changes hurtling through the economic status quo. On the one hand we have the rise of the East and the decline (or should we say “death”) of Western manufacturing*. On the other hand consumers now have both access to and control over the best media platform in history to inform their buying decisions: the internet. And they care about brand loyalty just as much as those companies who licensed their reputations for a royalty check. So here we sit, the Western world evolved … without opposable thumbs.

(* I’d note that manufacturing processes themselves will most likely undergo a significant change in the near future… at which point all hell will break loose. The East, by emulating the West, may be setting itself up for a fall. Interesting times.)