The Future Is Elsewhere | Mike Walsh (38)

Mike Walsh

The Next Level

Posted by Mike Walsh ON 4/16/07 4:19 AM

describe the image With no small trace of nostalgia, I read through Wired's recent review of the top Amiga games of all time. If people romanticise about the lost summer of their youth, I'm sad to say I've often thought wistfully about how I spent those same summers playing Shadow of the Beast, Syndicate, Defender of the Crown and all of the other titles that made the Amiga a cult machine.

But just in case I needed any reminder that the world has moved on, Elias Glenn from Pacific Epoch has a interesting piece in today's Hong Kong Standard about how online multiplayer games are shifting to a free subscription/virtual merchandise business model. One of the rising stars based on this strategy is Shanghai based Zhengtu Network, which is generating 120 million yuan a month in profit from merely selling extras in game.

But multiplayer games are not easy to pull off. Creating content is expensive, and with the exception of World of Warcraft, few are really raking in the profits. No surprise that 'user generated' games are becoming more popular. James Wagner has a roundup at Giga Om. The big news is that Atari is joining an already crowded field with SecondLife, Sony’s Home, Viacom’s planned venture, along with start-ups Areae, Croquet, HiPiHi, Kaneva, Multiverse, Ogoglio, Outback Online, and Whirled. Makes you wonder what's going to happen to everyone's first life.

Ah, for the simple pleasures of Pong....

Next Big Things

Posted by Mike Walsh ON 4/4/07 1:57 AM

When Time magazine features Web2.0 as its lead story, you know the profit party is probably over. Or at least, the cutting edge is elsewhere. At Tim O'Reilly's ETech conference in San Diego last week there were a few ideas about where that might be. Although the agenda was eclectic, the underlying theme was self evident. Consumers are not just more connected than ever before, they are more connected to each other. In the next few years, that is going to lead to not only new ways of doing business, but also radical new forms of behavior. While you are waiting for those, here are five memes to chew over.

The Power of Now

Posted by Mike Walsh ON 1/4/07 6:30 AM

There is nothing quite like getting what you want. Especially if its when you want it. 2007 is shaping up to be the year of 'on demand' entertainment. Apple will consolidate its media pedigree by adding more video content to iTunes as well as bridging the gap between the computer and the home television with its ITV device. Peer to peer technologies like Bittorrent and the Venice Project will go legit, as publishers discover bandwidth savings from decentralised distribution. Upstart aggregators like YouTube will try and toe the line on copyright infringement. And Studios, just like music labels, will wake up to the fact that consumers are starting to view channels as another form of forced consumption like record albums.

CATEGORY: Media