Posts Tagged ‘Games’

Tablet Games?!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

As much as I’m looking forward to the potential of the Apple tablet, I’m also a bit pissed. I wanted a slate/tablet PC ages ago (early 2000s) and at the time they were all Windows-based (which I don’t necessarily mind…I’m not a Machead any more) and they didn’t offer a thing that was compelling over a regular laptop–plus they were more expensive than a more powerful laptop/desktop replacement.

Now, Apple comes along and Jobs swings his mighty wand. BLAM! The tablet market is reborn (though probably for the majority of people out there, it’ll be more like the big bang of the tablet industry).

You could argue that Amazon’s Kindle started this mess but it’s not like the Kindle’s anything but a book reader…or is it?

I don’t know about you but I forgot what it was like to use a monochrome monitor and black and white TV back in the 90s. Why would I want to play some EA game on a Kindle? Unless they unveil the “color” Kindle tomorrow, I’m not biting. It’s a friggin book people…

Meanwhile, the fervor over Jobs’ master creation that he’s so anxious to unveil continues to mount (I’m telling you, I would have to laugh if the Jan 27 announcement has nothing to do with the tablet…that would be typical Jobs dangling the carrot in front of all us asses).

A tablet renaissance is coming and it could eventually mean the end of the laptop. After all, the netbook craze came and sort of went (it’s still out there but the news isn’t covering it like it used to). But, that already created a sort of subniche off the main portable computer industry. With the tablets–which had been relegated to the fringes of PC land–you’re going to see (assuming Apple’s designers did the right thing) a huge rush to make tablets and carve out a piece of the “new” market.

The thing is, though, are we really getting anything worthwhile? So, what if we get some fancy Mac tablet (and eventually some updated PC tablets)? iPhones did a great job of opening up the smart phone market to people who probably wouldn’t have bought an HTC and didn’t care to hassle with Windows Mobile. iPods made MP3 players hip (and took them away from the geek alpha dogs). Will the iTablet/iSlate/iFlatiMac change the PC industry as a whole? Probably. But not by as much as the other devices. Most people already own a computer of some kind. Of course, they might decide to go Mac now and make Apple the 2% marketshare company (as opposed to 1%).

One thing it might do, though, is kick the PC industry in the pants again. And that’s always fun to watch…

out

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Best Buy: Best Bought Elsewhere

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Gamasutra posted a news brief regarding Best Buy’s slumping entertainment sales. It seems Best Buy couldn’t maintain sales growth in the middle of a recession. Go figure. Better yet, the company had warned everyone before the holiday shopping season that they wouldn’t be able to handle it anyway.

Have you, Best Buy, ever considered that your business model might be flawed? Unlike a lot of people, I buy my games. I drop serious cash every year to play the assorted crap the game companies toss out to us gamers like rotten meat to a pack of ravenous wolves in the hopes that one of them…one day…one time…will be good. So, when I go into a Best Buy and see a game that’s been out for over a year still being sold at retail I gotta wonder, do they realize the box is covered in dust and sitting with its other ten siblings on the shelve while Fry’s down the street has turned over the same ten or eleven boxes two times over?

Here’s how Fry’s does it: New game comes out? Unless it’s some stupid game everyone wants so bad it’s…well…stupid, it’s discounted the FIRST DAMNED WEEK! And, no, not one of these bullshit 1.25% discounts…we’re talking 30% bitch. I can’t tell you how many times I’d go in there and I’d see it…the little yellow card showing the price of a $49.99 game at $34.99. I’d stop…look around for the hidden camera or the couple of employee dorks sitting in a corner snickering and neither would be there. I’d grab that bitch and get it to the checkout, furtively looking around in case the Feds show up and book out of there like a cheerleader running from a mob of geeks.

Don’t get me wrong, there are other benefits to Best Buy…like the fact that the salespeople actually ask to help you (okay, Fry’s salespeople do take a break from gossiping with each other enough to do that but it’s a rare sight to see), even though they’d rather not. Or…uh…give me a minute here. It’s cleaner?

Oh, and don’t forget Amazon…oh, Amazon, you bright beacon of consumerism. Amazon, where you don’t pay tax, can get it overnight for $3.99 and can get it 30% off. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I dream to buy from you…at least until you fuck me over.

Suffice it to say, Best Buy is as someone put it “a necessary evil. Necessary since I can go in and physically touch/demo
merchandise.” Have you NOT heard of volume? Fucksake, just discount your games…you know it’ll work. Clear your fucking shelves and order more so you can clear it again…guess what? That’s double-digit growth right there bitch.

’nuff said. Best Buy can try to suck me ’til the ravenous wolves come home but they still can’t suck enough.

Lates Suckers!

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