Editorial: Shut up Michael Pachter. Nobody cares and you're wrong anyway.
For those uninitiated, Michael Pachter is a high profile gaming research analyst who provides opinions and predictions as to how the video game market will metaphorically swell and fade.
I have nothing against the man himself, I think his Twitter argument with Jamie Kennedy was hilarious. There is, however, one issue. Built upon the foundations of a business M.B.A and years of credibility gaining with Forbes, what you find is someone who has managed to make a worthwhile living through either stating the obvious or being wrong.
Editorial: The importance of video game visuals
True photo-realistic visuals within gaming are, to many, the Holy Grail of the medium.
It’s why game developers strive to produce the most stunning ultra hi-res textures, multi-
million polygonal models and sophisticated lighting models on a daily basis, satiating our
appetite for such sparkling HD fare.
Editorial: Why promoted tweets don't work
“That thing is working better than we could have ever hoped.” Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, claims about their advertising efforts. And the turnover doesn't lie. In response to a Mashable article.
Editorial: Kinect Comes To Halo: Anniversary: Has Motion Control Gone Too Far?
Today 343 Industries made it known, to my chagrin, that Halo: Anniversary would be receiving Kinect support. I’ll admit it; I was a huge advocate of Kinect. I was entranced by Spielberg’s childlike enthusiasm that it would “change the paradigm of storytelling and social interaction”, overly susceptible to Milo and Kate’s charms, vulnerable to Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux projections that motion control will bring us ever closer to a truly immersive 'experience'.
Editorial: Why real-time social environments will never return.
"The technology is there and, at last, the right psychology is in place that will make these services explode. And I, for one, welcome our new avatar overlords." A formidable conclusion in a Mashable editorial on the subject.
But I, for one, sees some major flaws in this most vicarious of conclusions. The likes of Habbo Hotel in the late 90s became a success because we weren't aware of what social networking could be defined as. In that vain, we tried to recreate virtual worlds, go to virtual parties, take part in virtual diving competitions and spend our weekly phone credit on credits for virtual sofas (cool Habbo references bro).
Editorial: No Gabe. The world is not under threat from curation. We were never open to begin with.
"Innovation is threatened." "People's access is controlled." "The world seems to be moving away from open platforms." Strong words from Valve Boss, Gabe Newell at Seattle TechNW conference.
These were directed at Apple's choice of app curation over open-source values. The argument here is that as we lose our open-ness in the face of the App Store phenomenon the opportunity of innovation and our sense of choice goes with it. However, everything everywhere is curated so really, is this a bad thing?