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Apple may drop peripherals and some games from its retail stores
According to The Loop, quoting sources inside Apple, Apple Stores will be clearing out over 30 boxed games and some hardware items from retail shelves soon. The changes are the result of Apple wanting more room to help customers set up their new purchases, get email up and running, and basically familiarize new owners with their gear. To make room, Apple stores will drop printers, scanners and maybe even some hard drives from the display area. The items will still be in stock, but not out front where they take up valuable retail space. Most games are also likely to be dropped, with Apple retail employees suggesting the online Mac App Store as a good place to find them It's hard to fault Apple for these decisions. Most of the peripherals can be found at lower prices online. Getting people better and more personalized service seems like a good use of the retail space. The only caveat is that most of the stores are really noisy, and I'm hoping Apple can 'think different' about a way to reduce the racket in the stores so that training and setup can be a bit more pleasant.
Mortal Online newsletter announces launch delays, holiday discounts
We all know that launch dates for an MMO are loose targets at best and long shots in the darkness at worst. While it's disappointing when a game doesn't hit the target date, by and large players are used to it and all but expect it to happen -- it's part of the cycle. But it's still more than a little depressing to see that Mortal Online, the upcoming game from Star Vault, is going to be delayed by a month. That's the word in the latest newsletter for the game's fans, which is a bit of a depressing way to lead into the holidays, to say the least. The Limited Editions of the boxed game will also be seeing a slight delay, due to production issues with the artbook included. To compensate purchasers of the Limited Edition, an extra week of free playtime is being added to make up for the delayed ship. And to help take the sting off the entire sad process of delaying the game, Star Vault is offering discounts on both digital downloads and the last boxed editions of the game. Mortal Online's fans and beta testers are still likely to be sad about the delay, of course, but a few little bonuses never fail to take the edge off.
