expenditure
Latest
Capcom investing around $80m into two new R&D buildings
Capcom announced it's spending approximately 8 billion yen, which converts to just under $79 million, on two new research and development buildings located near its head office in Osaka. The investment is part of Capcom's ongoing focus to make more of its development internal and centralized with the aim of making higher quality games at lower costs. Work on the smaller eight-floor building began in May 2013, shortly after Capcom announced a $73 million special loss on game cancellations following what the Japanese company called an "excessive" outsourcing of projects overseas. The two buildings will house a significant number of the 1000 further employees Capcom is bringing in as part of its 10-year plan to increase its workforce, and the aim remains to amass a total staff of 2,500 by 2022. Today the company noted the majority of these hires will be recent graduates. "Capcom believes that these actions will give the company a competitive advantage due to the more powerful development capabilities in the rapidly growing mobile and PC online games markets," the company summarized in today's announcement. The 8-floor building will cost around 2.5 billion yen ($24.5 million) to build, and Capcom expects to complete construction in January 2015. Work on Its larger 16-floor sibling begins this month, with total costs of approximately 5.5 billion yen ($54 million) and a planned ETA of January 2016. As for what you'll find in the two new offices, Capcom notes a (probably very fancy) sound effect studio, a new motion capture room, and "multi-purpose" spaces that can hold 100-plus people. [Image: Capcom]
The Daily Grind: What do you spend and what do you hoard?
On most MMOs, my inventory is a sea of consumables. Every little boost I get -- stat boosts, healing items, resource items -- gets squirreled away to be used only when the situation is dire enough to warrant that item going away forever. The net result, of course, is that I have a level 5 stim on my level 55 character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, an item that saw its time come and go long before now. By contrast, if I'm crafting, I go through crafting materials with abandon. There's no time to stop and think that I might use these Cotton Bolls in Final Fantasy XIV in a future recipe; I'm too busy turning all of them into thread. Which isn't exactly better, since I still wind up needing more of these things if they ever become relevant again. I think everyone tends to hoard and spend differently, so today I'm asking how so. What do you spend and what do you hoard? Do you acquire huge piles of money but spend your tokens as soon as you can? Carefully measure out your class resources but go nuts with cooldowns? What are your thrifty habits and what habits... aren't? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
LG Display cuts spending targets for 2012, amid sagging LCD demand
LG Display has decided to drastically cut its expenditure target for 2012, in yet another sign that the LCD market is going through some tough times. Today, the manufacturer announced that it will spend only three trillion won (about $2.8 billion) on its production facilities next year -- a 33 percent decrease from its previously revised budget and LG Display's lowest expenditure target since 2009. The company also said that it has no plans to build a new LCD plants in 2012, suggesting that it may already be facing excess panel supply. Analysts are predicting that demand will remain subdued throughout the end of 2011, though LG Display CFO James Jeong had previously said he expects things to pick up by the beginning of next year.
TUAW's Daily App: Expenditure
Expenditure is another great-looking app found via the excellent Well-Placed Pixels blog. It's an expense tracker -- you can add transactions into the app with just a few taps (and even attach a photo, note, or category to each debit or credit), and then browse your collected budget. Obviously, you could use it to just see how much you're spending each month, but it can also be used for things like traveling (the app will automatically calculate currencies for you) or keeping track of business expenses. It's not a super full-featured business application, but it will do the basics smoothly and beautifully. You can find it on the App Store for US$1.99, and as an iTunes commenter points out, using it will probably save you the $2 you spend on it. There is a lite version that only allows eight transactions (enough to see the app in action, though not enough to actually put it to use), so if you're not sure about spending a couple of bucks, you can check it out that way as well. Excellent app -- the functionality is a little limited (by design -- the developers just wanted a simple expense tracker), but the great aesthetic and design elements make up for the simplicity.
