ThinksMedia

The Illusion of Time

Saturday, March 6, 2010 No Comments

Its no secret that time marches on, every day we are reminded about how things change.  Some days these changes are small, while others have magnitude that may cause you to question the very foundation of your day to day beliefs.  Sue time works out well for most of our everyday common place experiences, but have you ever stopped to wonder why time is…or more precisely, why time is a one way street?  Physicists do, because in spite of all the equations and theories, nothing seems to explain why why it is that a fire can consume a piece of paper, but it never happens in the reverse.

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Also this week, is your next HDTV going to cost a lot more because of a shortage of parts?  Reports are coming in that this is indeed the case, but its not just your high definition television, but also your computer monitors and to a lesser extent, your cell phone.  I also take a look at the poisoning of America…and I’m not talking figuratively, I am speaking about a delibrate and calculated move by the federal government to take an active role in poisoning thousands of Americans, sure if was 90 years ago, but still.

All that and more, on this weeks Mike Thinks News

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Couples Retreat movie review

Friday, March 5, 2010 No Comments

Couples Retreat, writeup to follow

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3D TV, may not be a good idea…unless your really bored

Monday, February 22, 2010 No Comments

This week broke a few very interesting stories.  First we have Apple taking the fight against all things titillating and taking the now familiar step of banishing apps from the iTunes store aka super Jobs nirvana land.  Seems that someone had the nerve to make apps that had cleavage and bare chested men and such…who would have thought.  Good news is that Apple has got the mothership servers on full alert and are wiping out vast swaths of applications.  The bad news is, as usual, no one is exactly sure whats ok and what isn’t.  But come on, when your app can be rejected because its icon doesn’t meet the “aesthetic standards” of Apple, what do you expect?

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But our main stories this week have nothing to do with Apple, no this week I take a peep at just what those school administrators in Pennsylvania call loss mitigation.  More specifically, why someone or more likely (if not unbelievably) several someones though it was ok to turn on the web cameras of laptops given to children without then knowing about it, while it was in child’s home, or more specifically bedroom.  Now so far its not as bad as that sounds, but its not much better.  The level of DUH this one required is hard to comprehend

Also a story this week about all the new 3d Televisions.  Apparently its not all a good thing, as some researchers believe that watching too much 3d may make a documented issue with watching 3d images on a screen called Binocular Dysphoria, permanent or at least last long enough to be a real issue.  I don’t know what you consider a real issue, but since a few million of these people are going to be driving within minutes of watching 3d stuff, I’d say its just a little more important.

Call the voicemail hotline (347)Bug-Mike    (347)284-6453

–Mike James

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Apparently EA and UBI have forgotten something

Saturday, February 20, 2010 No Comments

How many of you have owned your own business?  Even if you haven’t I’ll bet every single one of you have hear the phrase, “the customer is always right.”  This is of course not the literal truth, but more of an axiom for how you want your customers to feel.  In business, it’s imperative that your customers be at the very center of each an every decision you make.  When you make a product or service, the end goal is to have people pay for it, be happy with it, and think of you again the next time you want to sell them something.  In today’s world of instant results, and today’s bottom line is the only one that matters, it seems many companies have forgotten this all important rule.  They may think they “have to” protect their bottom line for the next fiscal quarter, but by taking short sighted actions today, they all but assure that there will be less money later.  Two companies have made it clear they have lost the concept that made them a success in the past, EA and Ubisoft.  Some of you may be thinking that it can’t be true, how can two of the biggest game publishers in the world be so wrong?  I can’t say how it happened for sure, I can only speculate that poor ineffectual management at the highest levels must be at the root.  A company evolves a type of feel, or culture that directly reflects upon the leadership at the top.  Good companies foster a balance between the needs to perform today and invest in tomorrow, while bad ones sell their souls grasping at the elusive last few percent of profits, apparently ignorant to what it means to the customer, and the companies future sales.

Earlier this year EA announced that they would be ending support for online play for many of their games, most shockingly EA Madden 2009.  Now, sure we just finished the 2010 season, so 2009 is about a year and a half old, but its also a game you could have purchased just a few months ago, because it was still on many store shelves (and likely still is being sold some places).  So what is EA telling us, well its clear they are trying to say “Please buy madden 2010″, the problem is what they are really saying to me is, “we got your money for that game, now give is more you moron.”  You see, they have just taken the value away from every single one of their titles, even brand new ones.  If I know that when I but an EA game the clock starts ticking, and in just a year or so I have a new drink coaster, well, that doesn’t encourage me to but your games, IT MAKES ME NOT WANT TO BUY THEM.  Now before you all start shooting out a few thousand emails about how you can still play the games, just not online, let me assure you I know that, but that is not the issue here, there issue is one of perceived value, and lost features.   When I make a decision to purchase a game, many things go into the is it worth the money equation, and the last thing you want me to be thinking about is how the company that makes the game screwed me over last year, and  that some of the game features may be broken in the near future.  I don’t expect EA to keep running servers indefinitely forever, but to shutter them so soon is a clear money grab that is destined to backfire.  The lost sales for the current years games long tail of Madden 2010, and next years Madden 2011 will most certainly exceed the cost associated with maintaining a few servers to keep customers happy.

Then we have Ubisoft, a company well known in the gaming community for poor management decisions when it comes to DRM.  The uproar caused by some of the choices they made several years ago actually seemed to work, as they dropped use of one of the most poorly implemented pieces of DRM code in the history of bad ideas.  One that destroyed DVD drives, made systems unstable, and was so important to them that they actually didn’t take it off when you uninstalled the game they were allegedly protecting.  So they learned their lesson right?  Sadly no.  UBI has announced that all of their future titles, even those that are 100% single player, will include a special form of DRM that will actually cause the game to crash (on purpose) if your computers connection to the internet or their servers is interrupted for any reason.  You lose any unsaved progress, and are sent to the “we think you stole our game” corner until you fix the connection issue.  Now online activation is problematic at best, because what happens when the authentication servers that bless you with permission to play the game you paid for are no longer running?  But to require a constant unwavering internet connection to play a single player game is so anti-consumer its hard to fathom.  If you are worried about lost sales due to piracy, you need to increase the number of people who want to pay you for your product, not reduce that number.  I can guaranty that you will lose a big chunk of the very people you want, the ones that pay to play your game, the moment they lose progress in a game because of a momentary hiccup in their internet connectivity, or your servers.  Every internet connection has minor hiccups now and again, it may not happen every hour, but it happens, and to call me a thief as soon as I commit the unbelievably heinous act of allowing my internet connection to laps  for a few seconds it unacceptable, and I will not stand for it.  Piracy is out there, and no matter what you do, someone is going to play your game without paying for it, but I can’t imagine why you want to take the people who wanted to pay for your game, and drive them to find a way to “fix” what you broke so they don’t have the game stop working all the time is the ultimate stupid idea.  One of two things is going to happen, either they cant find a way to get the game to work properly, so they never but another of your products, or they find a way to “fix” the game, and CONGRADULATIONS!!! You have just taught a paying customer how to pirate your game…good job UBI.

–Mike

Valentine’s Day movie review

Friday, February 19, 2010 No Comments

Let’s start by saying it was Jeanne’s turn to pick the movie…so there will be no car chases or bombs exploding this week.  Instead we decided to celebrate the holiday many love to hate…and see “Valentine’s Day”.  The movie follows the interwoven lives of several couples as they experience the day of love. Some of the couples are in the brand new shiny penny version of love, others are trying to figure out where they stand, some are facing hard times, others reconnecting. And the cast of this movie is A M A Z I N G.  The main character Reed Bennett (played by Ashton Kutcher) is followed through most of the movie, all the other characters are connected through him, either directly or through friends of a direct link.  It’s like six degrees of separation to Reed.  Anyway, there are some serious names in this movie, including: Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Kathy Bates, Shirley MacLaine, Julie Roberts, Patrick Dempsey, Topher Grace, Jessica Alba, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Jessica Biel, Queen Latifah and Hector Elizondo (who has apparently been 12 films by director Marshall) …whew my fingers are tired and that is just the surface…there are many more. The movie is directed by Garry Marshall, who brought us such favorites as Pretty Woman, A League of Their Own, The Princess Diaries and Beaches.  He had such talent to work with this movie must have been a blast to make.

Join us as we take a look at how small the world really is…and don’t forget to call the new voicemail hotline: 240-MOVIEBIT and tell us what you think, or recommend a movie…or enter the giveaway “Jeanne and Mike’s Movie Bits”.

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Getting jealous of Google, Iran wants a piece of the monitoring action

Saturday, February 13, 2010 No Comments

So this week it comes to light that Iran would like to be its own email client…seems they realized just how much information Google is able to glean by reading all your emails (you do know they do that right?)  Anyway, so now if you live in Iran you get the privileged of using the state sponsored web based monitor…I mean email program.  Sounds fun.

We also take a look at this week in history and find out that hockey is not always a low scoring game and other fun facts from yesteryear.

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Another story for this week is the idea of boredom being bad for you.  Now theres bad for you and then theres HOLY CRAP bad for you, and you are not going to believe just how bad being bored is for you!  Right now Im thinking of all those times as a kid my parents let me get bored and wondering if I should be compensated for all that furniture shopping…hmmmm

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Ipad, when you care enough, to giggle the very best

Thursday, February 4, 2010 No Comments

The perfect product is hard to make. It can be even harder to find a catchy name. I spent countless hours trying to decide what to name my show, and Mike Thinks what just the best I could do. In retrospect, maybe theres a reason I don’t work for a promotions company. I can honestly say that I would never have names my next big thing the iPad.

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Its not that I think iPad is a bad name, its not…assuming your designing a new feminine hygiene product for the hipster crowd. But how in the heck does Apple pass on names like iSlate but lock onto a name that makes the Nintendo Wii seem downright normal? Now sure, we will get used to the name, not not before rev 2 at least. So this week I give you my detailed take on what I will go out on a limb and call the biggest miss of 2010…and its just barely February!

We also have out regular segment on weird news and this week in history on this weeks Mike Thinks News.

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Julie and Julia movie review

Saturday, January 30, 2010 No Comments

And the winner is…Meryl Streep for the role of Julia Child in Julie and Julia (2009). So we decided to review the movie, cause we have seen almost all the other films nominated for the Golden Globes. Julie and Julie is based on the true stories of two woman, Julia Child, whom we know from her Cooking show, but this storyline follows her path to becoming the cookie legend. And the second person, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) who blogs her way through Child’s cookbook for a year. The story is interwoven between the two women’s lives. Brought to us by Nora Ephron, who directed and wrote the screenplay. She is known for her works on romantic comedies, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993) , You’ve Got Mail (1998) and When Harry Met Sally (1989). This is not the first time Streep and Ephron have collaborated on a project, they worked together in Heartburn (1986) for which Ephron wrote the book and screenplay. Join us as we review the film and don’t forget to call us with your “Movie Bits” responses.

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How not to entice new customers to your game

Monday, January 25, 2010 No Comments

Paying a premium for the ‘privilege’ of being allowed to pay $15/month to play an MMORPG, its been going on for more than a decade now, and while it made a little since in the beginning, now it feels like an antiquated idea whose time has passed.  Back in 1999 when Everquest came out, there was very little competition for this type of gameplay, and there was limited proof that a subscription model could make money for  a mainstream computer game.  This is no longer the case in either argument in 2010, and the industry should wake up and take notice.

I understand that there is a large outlay of cash to develop a modern online only interactive universe type of game, and I can appreciate the desire to recoup that investment as quickly as possible.  While that may seem like a sound strategy, it may not be the best way to maximize long term, or even the near term return on investment.  The real pot of gold for any of these ventures is the monthly subscription base, with its continuous stream of revenue. It is vital that you quickly gain a large base of paying subscribers to overcome the ongoing costs of maintenance and additional content to keep players happy. If you can’t very quickly gain these numbers, your game will stagnate and wither away quickly.  Yet here we are, looking at game after game being released, with the publisher expecting potential customers to pay a premium of 2-3 months subscription cost before even getting to find out if they like the game.

Proponents will argue that having someone pay upfront gives them a feeling of being invested in the game, and so they are more likely to continue to pay a monthly fee once their initial free month expires.  I would say that this is a specious argument, as it flies in the face of basic logic.  I am really to believe that if I pay a large amount upfront to play a game that I am somehow more likely to pay even more money to it each month if I don’t like it because I feel like I’ve wasted my initial purchase if I don’t continue to throw money away to something I don’t like???  The other side if this issue is that you are fighting an uphill battle with many potential customers already having been burned paying $50 for a game they realized all to late was crap, now you are there asking for their money and they are asking themselves if the risk is worth it.   The other argument I hear is that if you don’t charge a premium up front too many people will want to play the game just to see what its all about and overload the servers…what…so you want less players?  Now I know that the initial release of any online game has some challenges when it comes to server capacity, but I cannot believe that the increased revenue from the increased install base could not be used to overcome this problem.  Lets not forget that if you eliminate the premium pricing structure, you can also eliminate the large black hole that is retail markup, since 20-30% of that retail box cost goes right to the retailer and packaging costs.  Eliminate the need to buy a box, and eliminate that money sucking void.

Right now, any new MMORPG needs to overcome the behemoth that is World of Warcraft.  You have to somehow entice players who either are playing or having played WOW to come try your game, and what better way to do this than to offer the game without a premium up front cost on top of the monthly fee!  Yet hear we are, with game after game asking me to pony up $50 or more to give them a test drive, when the real profits are to be had by getting me addicted so I pay five times that much in monthly subscriptions. At this point I’m afraid that just isn’t the smart move.  I know that some will argue that I would pay the same price for a regular non subscription game, even if I knew I would likely finish it within the 1st month, and that is true to a point.  The difference is that a MMORPG does not have a demo for me to try, and it is a very rare thing for my wallet to open if I haven’t gotten to try a game first.  But just as important, these multiplayer games have a dynamic that cannot be inferred without playing them yourself, live with other players.

My suggestion is for game makers to offer the game for free when you start your monthly $15 subscription, or at most require a 2 month subscription to start.  You will get more subscribers and in the end, make more money…provided your game isn’t total crap.

Anticipation, its making me wait…morons

Saturday, January 23, 2010 No Comments

Has it really been that long, have we really learned that little in the past 5 years or so that the movie industry once again has to show just how out of touch they are?  I stand before you today, once again in utter disbelief at what is happening yet again.  Now the world isn’t going to end, and in 100 years no one is going to care about this momentary blip of stupidity in the history of humanity.  But its because this kind of short sighted attitude seems so pervasive even after time and time again it has shown to be a bad idea, both in financial terms but also in long term goodwill that it infuriates me.

Warner Bros has made a deal with Netflix to delay the release of new movies to the rental company by 28 days (I’m sure it has no bearing on the zombie Apocalypse) in an effort to increase DVD sales.  In return they are going to provide a broader list of movies for Netflix to make available on its streaming service.  For its part, Netflix had little choice, as the future of movie rental is streaming, and I can only imagine that getting as large a catalog available as possible is critical to their current business strategy.  Warner Bros however is making the exact same kind of boneheaded decision that left the music industry scrambling for relevance a few short year ago.  How can they believe that limiting the ways in which I can give them money for a product is a good idea?

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It appears they hope that huge droves of mindless zombies (oh wait, maybe there is a reason for the 28 days) will not be able to contain their desire for Die Hardest with prejudice, or Transformers III Megatron goes to Band Camp.  So they will run huge expensive add campaigns but they try and get someone who pays $9-$18 per month to watch 4-5 movies to pay at least $16 to watch one???  Maybe my math is off, but if I consider it a value to pay $3  to rent a movie, just how do you intend on enticing me to pay FIVE TIMES that much?  Now I know that the American public is an instant gratification type of crowd, and I’m very well aware that a few people will fall for these shenanigans.  However, I can’t imagine this will help the bottom line for several  reasons.   Most people will just wait the 28 days, but a good number will have lost enthusiasm by the time it is available for rent and just never bother.  More importantly though, is that many people who really want to watch the movie will balk at the idea of having to buy the DVD, see it as corporate greed, and rightly or wrongly, they will get the movie online, and any revenue that may have been gotten from the rental are gone…more importantly, you will indoctrinate people into just how easy it is to steal movies online.

Creating a demand, then artificially limiting the supply of reasonably priced product is a recipe for disaster when it comes to infinitely copyable products.  Millions of people want to give the movie industry money to rent movies…how stupid do you have to be to say…no?

That and much more on this weeks Mike Thinks News

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