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CNN needs police escort to escape Wii-craving mob
CNN staffer Krysten Peek experienced firsthand how fanboy desperation can quickly devolve into mob-like assault. Peek was one of the (seemingly) lucky few to score a Wii during this past weekend's re-up, but on her way to the store's exit -- just after an employee announced that all units were sold-out -- she became an easy target for the lingering crowd of Wii-less shoppers:"Were these people crazy?? Yes, they were ... unsatisfied customers began to grab at my bag ... I was caught off guard in a game of tug-a-war when a security guard intervened and rescued me from the chaos. He took me outside. And the crowd followed."It wasn't until security flagged down a cop car and tucked Peek inside that the CNN hand escaped certain danger. Or so it would seem. Now they know her name. How long before they discover where Ms. Peek lives?
CNN's Chris Morris: PS3 is not yet worth it
With all the talk of PS3 shortages, it might be refreshing to hear someone say that picking the console up for launch isn't worth it. CNN's resident gamer Chris Morris reviewed the PlayStation 3 and concluded that, while it "has the potential to be all the PS2 was and more," it just isn't worth it yet. Reasons for his decision include a lackluster launch lineup, a steep price (from the perspective of a game machine, not as a Blu-ray player), and its power is not realized without a 1080p-capable TV screen.In the long term, the PlayStation 3 could succeed in retaining Sony's dominance in the gaming field. But let's play devil's advocate for a minute: beyond bragging rights, how many of you are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars in order to play Resistance and Ridge Racer a few months before everyone else. Have those waiting in line lost that much interest in their current generation consoles?For those bitter about not getting a PS3 tonight, consider this a mantra you can tell yourself for awhile. Morris suggests waiting until the console receives a $100-$200 price drop and some better games, but a drop that steep probably won't come until there's talk of a PlayStation 4.See Also:USA Today suggests waiting on next-gen
Found Footage: Zune upstaged by a Shuffle
The Zune might not be the most popular topic here at TUAW, but this video from CNN is too good not to share. The New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin was on to show off the Zune and give his opinion of it (he thinks it has potential, but isn't up to the iPod yet), however, watch until the end to see the real star of the segment, the new iPod shuffle. One of the anchors says, while holding her shuffle, 'Why would I buy that [meaning the Zune]?'Probably not the reaction our friends in Redmond are hoping for. This is the last Zune related post from me for a week.[via TUG]
Fortune says the Wii name is "scary"
It's a bit early to be doing a year round-up, but over at CNN/Money they published the "Scariest tech of 2006," Mwahahahah! Some things deserve to be called "scary," like exploding batteries. Yes, exploding batteries are frightening. X-Men: The Official Game also deserves mention on the list, that game was scary and painful.That's about all from the really "scary" department. The rest of the list is more a showcase of greed and technological tragedy. They discuss the Window Vista security problems, unreliable VoIP service Vonage and the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Fortune senior editor Peter Lewis says, "l'll wait for some mad scientist in Japan to create The HD-DVD Player With Two Heads, able to play both new HD formats." Lewis, being a good editor, fence-sitting and keeping the peace.And just to beat a dead horse, already rotted beyond its comedic expiration date, the Wii made #10: "Just for the name alone."
$149 PSP coming soon? CNN reports
The Sony warehouses are slowly filling up with stockpiles of "finished gaming hardware." Could it be the PlayStation 2 or PlayStation 3? P.J. McNealy from American Technology Research thinks it's the PSP. "[The PSP] has lost momentum. Nintendo has had a great run since it launched the DS Lite and Sony needs to regain some ground." Due to the recent sales boost of DS Lite, and the commercial success of major DS software releases, the analyst expects that Sony will drop the price of the PSP to a mere $149, $50 less than what it is right now.According to McNealy, this can give Sony a major advantage. Nintendo is unlikely to drop the DS's price from $129 due to its inability to meet demand. Sony's PSP comes with additional functionality, such as the ability to view movies, that will appear to make it a much greater value to consumers. For the full report, visit CNN.[Thanks, steve!]
Nintendo wags finger at recent CNN rumor
Well well, I guess if you're CNN and reporting a rumor about a launch in September for Nintendo's Wii console, you're going to get some attention from the house that Mario built. Reiterating Iwata's earlier statements regarding price and launch, Nintendo's spokesperson, Yasuhiro Minagawa, quickly put out the fire."There's no change in our plan to release the console in the last quarter of this year. We are planning an announcement in September and it may be causing some confusion." OK, so the statement doesn't really toss out the idea of the console releasing in September, but it does add some weight to a more credible idea of the console launching in October. As was and will be until September, we'll just have to wait for Nintendo's statement.[Via Game Front]
CNN Money sees Wii launching as early as September [update 1]
The words of CNN Money's Chris Morris, which suggest a Wii launch in late September or early October, are certainly tantalizing and not entirely unrealistic. Getting the machine onto store shelves and into our loving, embarrassingly weak arms would give Nintendo a healthy lead on the PS3 and Microsoft's glut of holiday titles, not to mention the joy it would grant fans of intergalactic bounty hunters and pointy-eared archers. Morris cites an earlier analyst report by P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research which notes that Nintendo already began manufacturing final retail consoles on 21 June, providing ample time until a prospective September launch.Further evidence comes in the less sturdy form of past release dates of Nintendo consoles, with only the Gamecube missing an October or September release window. Of course, if the Wii launches worldwide immediately, one would expect a strategy similar to that of the DS launch -- that one happened in November as well. While it's not entirely unfeasible, Morris' suggestion is still swathed in speculation. With no details available on manufacturing, Nintendo may have simply started up the production line early (if they did so at all) to avoid launch shortages which plagued the Xbox 360 and are sure to plague Sony's machine.Unfortunately, it looks like the only words we can fully trust right now are the ones from official (and sober) Nintendo men and women.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!][Update 1: Nintendo has (predictably) put the kibosh on this one, with a spokesperson stating, "There's no change in our plan to release the console in the last quarter of this year."]
And the award for 46th most important business personality goes to... Mike Morhaime!
CNN Money has named Mike Morhaime, the CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, as the 46th most important person in a list of 50 personalities that represent Business 2.0. We'll leave out our annoyances with the list as a whole (c'mon, naming "consumer as creator" as #1? Cop out!) so instead we'll use Mike's naming as an opportunity to analyze the importance of Blizzard's crowning achievement, World of Warcraft, to the World of Business.The totality of CNN's tribute to Mike is dedicated to the wild popularity of WoW. The article claims that WoW is more than "just another video game", citing the uniqueness of the game's popularity (6.5 million users and climbing), profitability (WoW brought in $700 million last year) and peripherals (a thriving out-of-game market for virtual goods worth around $200 million) as factors that make Mike a uniquely influential business leader.Big business' attraction to World of Warcraft's is no doubt due to the game's domination of MMO marketshare -- when you own 50% of a subscription based market you're bound to draw the attention of the suits -- so we wouldn't be surprised if WoW isn't the company's last MMO, despite earlier denials by a Blizzard staffer. Still, we feel sorry for Mike. On one side he's got the money crazy suits asking for more, MORE MMOs, and on the other he's got millions of StarCraft, Diablo and WarCraft fans screaming for sequels to their beloved franchise. He deserves an award just for being able to maintain that smug smile!
More networks suing Cablevision over networked DVR
Trouble is brewing in TV land, and the stakes couldn't be higher for consumers, as a lawsuit filed by many of your favorite content providers against industry giant Cablevision could determine the future of networked DVR services. Two Time Warner networks (disclaimer: Engadget's parent company's parent company's parent company is Time Warner), CNN and Cartoon Network, have joined Disney, Universal, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox in fighting Cablevision's plan to offer subscribers the option of recording their programming to the company's servers, arguing that allowing at-will remote access to stored content constitutes a re-transmission, and therefore violates copyright agreements. What makes Time Warner's entry into the fray particularly interesting is the fact that another one of its divisions, Time Warner Cable, has publicly expressed interest in the concept of networked DVR, meaning that either outcome of the lawsuit would be potentially beneficial to the company. Way to go guys, you can never go wrong playing both sides of the fence.
CNN reports on Mac virus
Several people have emailed us to point out that CNN is featuring an AP story about the 'first Mac virus' on their front page. It looks like CNN is a little late to the party, since the Mac web already reported about this way back in February. Damien wrote that, 'The bottom line is that this really seems to be a proof-of-concept trojan more than an actual "in the wild, self-propagating" virus. So yeah, it's certainly very interesting, but I'm not about to start watching for the sky to fall.'The virus detailed in the CNN story is (though they never call it by name) Oompa-Loompa, as coined by Andrew Welch. You get this trojan (it isn't really a virus) by downloading a file that promises to give you a sneak peek at Leopard. You must then decompress the file, and then click on the resulting decompressed file. At that point an application runs that does a variety of things that Andrew details much better than I can.I wonder what took the AP so long to sensationalize this little 'virus'?
Foiled Columbine copycats are gamers ... so?
Police foiled the school shooting plot of five Riverton, Kansas youths yesterday after being tipped off to their plans via MySpace. Yesterday's date was significant in that it marked the anniversary of the Columbine high school shooting in Colorado in 1999 and was also Adolf Hitler's birthday. So we're talking about five psychologically disturbed teenage boys who decided to solve their problems with guns.Cue the video games made them do it explanation! CNN reports that "investigators had learned the suspects were computer buffs who liked violent video games." Now understand, about 110% of male teenagers in America play "violent" video games, so what's the real connection? I would be far more concerned with the "documents about firearms and references to Armageddon in two suspects' school lockers" than I would be about them shooting Strogg on the planet Stroggos.[Thanks, SickNic, Scott, and r0Be]
Where are all the cable news HD stations?
Most All of us have gotten furstarted over the lack of high definition programming. But here I am watching CNN on a nice 42-inch plasma and the signal is not in HD. Why hasn't one cable news station switched over to high definition yet? It seems that the target demographic of these sets are also the sameones that watch cable news stations. Plus, the format of the programs would allow more information to be displayed on the screen, but here lies the problem. Ever watch ESPN's SportsCenter in high-def? Course you have. The picture is beautiful but there is nothing extra that the HDTV format gives you. When they display stats on the screen you can see that they extend right to the spot that a 4:3 TV ends. ESPN can't give you more info just because you have a HDTV. They would be alienating the non-HD owners. This has to be the same reason that cable stations have not gone high-def yet. They can give you a great picture but nothing more. Moreover, these stations rely on a lot of cameras that are not in the studio to give you most of their programming so there would be a good amoount of non-HD content on the station.Still, a guy can dream can't he?
More on Majesco's fall from grace
CNN are featuring a look at publisher Majesco's problems, after the company's decision last week to withdraw from the premium console market. It's a sad tale of ambition backfiring and promising titles failing to live up to expectations, with a very real impact on the company's revenue and stock.The CNN article points out that Midway, Atari and Acclaim have all been to the brink of bankruptcy and back, Majesco may still make it through. The company's move towards budget and handheld titles, as well as emerging markets such as casual and downloadable games, seems a wise one--we may even see another Psychonauts in amongst the budget bin.[Thanks, Ashcrotch]
CNN using iChat AV
Macworld UK is reporting that CNN has begun using iChat AV to conduct face-to-face interviews. A new show called Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is testing the technology for the network. CNN describes the show as using "...the newest innovative online resources, making the entire process of newsgathering more transparent and placing the latest news and information at the viewers' fingertips." Joi Ito was one of the first iChat interviewees, and he blogged his experience.I hate to say it, because I'm sure I'm going to jinx the whole works, but is Apple finally being taken seriously as a technology company? We've got an international news network using Apple technology to conduct interviews, people buying iPods like their lives literally depend on the little devices, gushing praise for Tiger coming from outside the network of fanboys and the word "podcast" showing up everywhere, from cable news outlets to NASA. Ten or fifteen years ago, having a website was the epitome of cool. Today, websites are a dime a dozen, and it's having a podcast that gets you on the A-list. It's all very strange. I'm almost afraid to say anything, lest the other shoe will drop.[Via Macworld UK]
