Points of Interest – 9/30/09
Not doing a big list today, but Kotaku has a couple of interesting features to look at.
- The first asks a simple question: “Where are All the ‘Next Gen’ Games?” The game industry has often felt like it goes through two generation cycles, where one generation, such as the NES, sets the pace with innovation, while the next (Super NES, Genesis) refines what came before. Follow with the advent of 3D on PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and then see the refinements in Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.
This generation seems as though it may be lacking in innovation, but perhaps people are simply looking in the wrong places?
- Their second feature of the day is “Why We Love To Hate Activision — And Might Be Wrong,” which takes a look at the biggest “evil empire” in video gaming since Electronic Arts, Activision. And while CEO Robert “Bobby” Kotick seems to know all the right things to say to make himself look like the devil incarnate, perhaps the games press simply isn’t giving him a fair shake?
That’s the perspective of Everyone’s Favorite Analyst, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, it seems, who has had the rare benefit of being able to meet the man personally, as well as some other people quoted anonymously for the article, which in itself makes it worth a look for anyone who’s had the urge to chuck a flask of holy water at the Activision head.
- Switching gears: a good advertisement can make you aware of a product, but is easily ignorable. A bad advertisement might make you loathe the product, but will stick with you.
And then there are these, 50 billboard advertisements which truly stand out and offer a different sense of appreciation altogether.
- Finally, via Inside Pulse Wrestling comes this bizarre video of former WWF Superstar the Ultimate Warrior completely throttling some Storm Troopers from Star Wars. A cartoony bloodbath ensues, but my favorite part is where he shakes one’s intestine as he does the ropes of a wrestling ring.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”