corporate
Latest
Midway execs get the boot, entire Chicago dev team acquired by WB
After recently giving its San Diego and Newcastle studios the required 60 day warning that their offices are to be closed, Midway announced yesterday that its corporate headquarters in Chicago is shutting down. According to a recent US Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Midway, the closing affects all 60 employees currently working at the offices -- including CEO Matt Booty -- representing "approximately 20% of the company's global workforce." Interestingly, though Warner Bros. purchased a $33 million-sized chunk of the company last month, the report states that WB paid out more to the tune of $49 million "including the assumption of certain liabilities" -- presumably some of the debt owed to creditor. A Midway rep told the Chicago Tribune that, while the executive offices have been closed and everyone let go, all 100 employees at the company's Chicago development studio have been offered jobs by WB. Oh, right, we almost forgot -- yes, the Midway San Diego offices (and its TNA wrestling license) are still up for sale -- at least for another 45 days or so.Source 1 - KotakuSource 2 - Chicago TribuneSource 3 - US Securities and Exchange Commission [Image]
Bill Gates: Natal for Windows coming to an office near you
The idea of bending over to pick up a virtual tennis racket in front of that 50-inch flat screen in our living room makes perfect sense to us. In fact, we can't wait to see Natal come to the Xbox platform. However, the idea of manipulating an excel spreadsheet on a 15-inch screen within a 5 x 5-foot cubicle sounds daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, Microsoft's plans to integrate Natal into corporate Windows environments appears rather sober, albeit, entirely lacking in specifics. In an interview with CNET news, Bill Gates says that Natal's depth-sensing camera won't be limited to gaming use, "but for media consumption as a whole, and even if they connect it up to Windows PCs for interacting in terms of meetings, and collaboration, and communication." Without going into detail, the Microsoft Chairman adds that use of the technology in the office, "is getting much more concrete, and is pretty exciting." In fact, Bill sees it delivering "incredible value" when used within cubicle farms. Perhaps. We certainly won't argue the value of Natal for gaming or even manipulating content in a home theater setup like we've seen with Toshiba's Spatial Motion Interface, but for the office, incredible value... really?
Sega's Naoya Tsurumi promoted to lofty new position
The departure of Sega of America president and COO Simon Jeffery to the much happier-looking ngmoco:) has brought more changes to Sega's corporate Tower of Power. The company announced today that Naoya Tsurumi, former CEO of Sega of America, will now "assume worldwide responsibility for SEGA's Consumer Business, incorporating SEGA of Japan, SEGA of America and SEGA of Europe." "This unified organization will better position SEGA for growth across these key markets," Tsurumi said in the press release announcing the promotion. It should be interesting to see how Tsurumi's new position will affect Sega's worldwide strategy, though we don't expect any change will be drastic enough for the company to just tell us what's going on with the Aliens games.(Alternate joke for old-school Sega fans: we don't expect any change will be drastic enough for the company to bring Alex Kidd back to mascot duty.)
Red Mile CEO steps down, ex-pres takes top spot
In these trying economic times, we've spent more time than we'd like writing up story after story about layoffs and business (or lack thereof) -- this is a site about video games, right? Fortunately for us, today's tale revolves around the ol' corporate musical chairs routine rather than a bunch of folks getting canned, as former Red Mile Entertainment CEO Chester Aldridge steps down from his position and (now former) Red Mile president Simon Price steps in. According to an SEC filing made in late March, not only is the company losing Mr. Aldridge but also Kenny Cheung from its board of directors. Mr. Cheung founded and currently owns Tiger Paw Capital, a venture capital firm that invested $1 million into the ailing company recently -- though we hear that's about $9 million short. Can we stop contextualizing corporate reshufflings now?[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
EVE Evolved: Gear up for wormhole exploration
In EVE Online, large alliances of corporations lay claim to the lucrative 0.0 security rating areas of the game and smaller corporate operations generally don't stand a chance against them. Corps who want to claim a little corner of space for themselves are forced to join an existing alliance or compete with them for space. With the recent news of 2500 new star systems coming to EVE with the release of wormholes in the march expansion, small corps may find themselves able to carve out their own little corner of space to live in without being squashed by the big alliances.How will wormholes work? The information we have so far suggests that wormholes into one of the 2500 new hidden star systems will open randomly in all security levels of system. Wormholes will have a diameter that restricts the maximum size of ship that can enter it and a mass limit that restricts the total mass of ships that can use the wormhole before it collapses. Once the wormhole collapses, the chances of finding another leading to the same system are astronomical so choosing which ships you bring in carefully is a must.Read on as I describe how wormholes could allow corps to more safely own systems and go on to describe what equipment and ships you'll need to take up residence in your own system.
Ask Massively: Would you hire a gamer?
I usually dislike writing about the things that everyone else is talking about, but I'm sufficiently motivated (read: ticked off) about this topic that I might as well throw in my two cents. With all due respect to my readers and the people who take the time to write in to Ask Massively every week, this time I am going to answer questions that have been asked in other columns.Should employers dismiss job applicants who play MMORPGs like World of Warcraft?I'm not going to direct this answer to you gamers out there. You probably have a good idea of what my answer is going to be. This is for all of the corporate recruiters, hiring managers, and corporate paper pushers out there who think games like World of Warcraft sufficient reason to disqualify a job applicant.
Lawsuits over employees' unpaid computer boot-times stacking up next to unread paperwork
Frivolous lawsuits aren't anything new, but this is an eye-opener straight from annals of "office humor." It turns out that in the past year "several" companies, including UnitedHealthGroup, Cigna, and AT&T have had employee-filed lawsuits brought against them for unpaid time. That "unpaid time" is the minutes each day employees spend booting up and shutting down their computers (also their time-clocks), which they claim adds up to an astounding 15-30 per day. Astounding, that is, if you've never worked in a corporate office with a terrible IT department. If you have, you'll probably agree that this figure may, in some cases be on the mark, if not a little conservative. The employees claim they should be paid to work while the boot-ups and shut-downs are happening, since during that time they're doing tasks like paperwork or "arranging their calendar," while the companies counters that they're probably smoking, getting coffee, or talking to people. We're not really going to judge the veracity of these suits en masse -- we'll take them on a case-by-case basis, but there does seem to be something suspicious about this many people claiming to still use paper calendars.[Via Wired]
More PS3s sold worldwide in Q2 than 360s
Sony's recently revealed Q2 earnings report reveals that the PS3 has sold 2.43 million units worldwide during the three month period ending September 30th. That's an improvement of over a million on its Q2 2007 sales figures and brings the number of PS3s around the world to a total of 16.84 million. Software sales for the console have also more than double from the same period last year to 21.1 million.Microsoft recently reported that the 360 sold 2.2 million consoles worldwide during the Q2 FY period, just shy of PS3 sales despite a price cut which came into effect in early-mid September. Q3 is going to be an interesting battleground, what with Sony being adamant about not cutting price. We're intrigued to see whether LittleBigPlanet and the PS3's other big exclusives (we'd love to see some real marketing for Valkyria Chronicles -- that game deserves to sell well) will push boxes this quarter despite the 360's price cut momentum. Only time will tell.[Via Eurogamer]
The Economist on games and profit
Newsmagazine The Economist ran an article titled "Playing for profit" about using video game technology to increase productivity in the workplace. The article -- which was a sort of book report on "Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business" by David Edery and Ethan Mollick -- looked to trends such as game mods and web-based-games-as-marketing-tools for inspiration, but special emphasis was placed on MMOs, including World of Warcaft and EVE Online. Believe it or not, the WoW feature that was heralded by the writer was the soul-crushing grind! Or rather, the grind was compared to the sorts of tasks that your average office worker has to sit through each day. WoW provides a context -- the leveling system and other rewards -- that (supposedly) makes the grind worth the trouble. Companies should emulate that, the article says.EVE, on the other hand, was used to demonstrate what not to do. That's pretty ironic, since The Economist's editorial stance is all about economic and societal openness! Regardless, the author pointed to the famous incident in which a CCP employee provided inside help to a corporation at war, using it as an example of the dangers of game-playing in a business environment.
Sanjay Jha in at Motorola as co-CEO, handset division chief
Motorola announced today that it would be appointing Qualcomm's former COO Sanjay Jha to head up its ailing handset division -- much to the chagrin of our own Ryan Block. Jha will also take on co-executive duties for the parent company along with current CEO Greg Brown. The news comes hot on the heels of speculation that the electronics-maker will spin off its mobile phone wing as a separate, publicly traded entity, though chatter persists that an outright sale of the division may be more economically advisable at this stage. So here's the question that begs asking: why has Moto gone the co-CEO route? Whether it's a matter of the board's confidence in Brown's abilities, or a by-product of some unseen moves, it comes off as unusual at best.
Verizon's RemoSync brings Direct Push email to select handsets
Hankerin' for some bona fide push email on your VZW handset, are you? If this is indeed the case, look no further than RemoSync, the latest Get It Now application that enables a handful of the carrier's handsets to get their Exchange-hosted email pushed directly to them. More specifically, those who purchase the app will be able to read, compose, reply, delete, forward, etc. emails, download Outlook contacts and view those immensely annoying calendar events. The pricing structure is quite curious, though. First off, it'll cost you $9.99 per month, and while a data plan isn't required per se, those without one will be charged $1.99 per megabyte (or "airtime") when using RemoSync. For a list of compatible mobiles, tap the read link and give that scroll wheel a few turns.[Via PhoneScoop]
EU gives Activision-Blizzard a big thumbs up
After reviewing Activision-Blizzard's case for a few weeks, the European Commission announced its approval of the huge merger yesterday. The EU had final say approving the merger because Vivendi is a French company. Officials decided the deal wouldn't threaten the fairness of the market.The commission made a statement, saying that Activision Blizzard "would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft." There were some concerns that the company could have an unfair advantage in licensing music for games because Vivendi owns Universal Music Group, but they were set aside because "competing game publishers would continue to have access to a sufficiently large portfolio of music rights from alternative suppliers."The lesson: Activision Blizzard is officially not a monopoly, thanks to EA. We could go into extreme detail weighing the pluses and negatives of the decision, but we've analyzed this merger plenty enough already. At some point, you just have to decide to sit back and see what happens.
Europe approves of the Activizzard merger
Regardless of whatever you think of the big Activizzard merger and what it might mean for World of Warcraft (I don't believe it'll hurt a thing, but think what you will), it's going to happen. It's literally official now, as European Union officials have finally approved the merger after several weeks of deliberating on the issue.Approval by the European Commission was necessary because Vivendi (the owner of Blizzard and now the buyer of Activision, if you haven't been keeping up with all this) is a French media company, and therefore subject to EU business laws and antitrust concerns. Officials were mulling over the merger because of fears that Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music Group would give Activision Blizzard an unfair advantage in licensing music for games like Guitar Hero.They finally decided that it's not a threat to the health of the market, and approved the merger. So there it is. It's done. The government can't save you now; Activision Blizzard is your new master. I tremble in terror before the fictional (yet somehow inevitable) Bard class and its l33t Guitar Hero skillz!
Leopard smites Vista in corporate satisfaction
ComputerWorld posts that ChangeWave Research has studied satisfaction levels for corporate users of Leopard and Windows Vista. As you might expect, the Leopard users are altogether more satisfied than Vista users -- up to 5 times more likely to report that they're "very satisfied" with their operating system -- but you might not have known the following: Leopard reinforces tooth enamel and ensures brighter, happier smiles. Leopard users are more likely to find attractive mates. Vista users are subject to early hair loss. Leopard helps eliminate embarrassing halitosis. Vista users are five times likelier to be audited by the IRS. Leopard washes your windows and leaves lemon-scented stacks of pre-folded laundry around your house. Okay, well maybe not. Consult the ComputerWorld article for the (far less amusing) statistical results. One worthwhile number to note: while 7% of respondents said they'd be buying Apple laptops in the next 90 days, a hold-steady from the previous survey, the likelihood of most other laptop purchases went down since the last time they asked. A MacBook Air effect?
John Smedley comments on the SOE/SCEI marriage
The other day, Sony Online Entertainment announced that it would begin reporting to Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. to expedite efforts to produce online content and features for the PlayStation 3. WarCry tracked down SOE president John Smedley for comments on the move. The jist of it is that nothing within SOE will change; the move just makes it easier to coordinate the company's PS3-related projects by allowing Smedley and Kazuo Hirai (who's in charge of everything PlayStation) to work together more closely. "Being part of the PlayStation family is exciting and offers us a lot of great opportunity," Smedley said. But opportunity for what? Are announcements of new PS3 titles forthcoming from SOE? Obviously this move is the start of a longterm investment of SOE's time in the PS3 (and maybe even the PS4), but what specifically will come of it? We're anxious to find out.
SOE moved under SCEI to strengthen PlayStation 3
Sony Online Entertainment (the group behind EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, and other landmark MMO titles, for the types of readers who need answers to questions like "Vhat eez zees ... 'video game' theeng?") is relocating within the Sony empire. Starting April 1, SOE will operate under the Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. banner.That means that SOE prez John Smedley will be reporting directly to Kazuo Hirai, who is President and CEO of SCEI, and one of the masterminds behind the success of the PlayStation brand. According to the press release, they're making this move so that Sony can use the talent and resources at SOE to push its online gaming agenda on the PlayStation 3 console. Currently, SOE reports to Sony Pictures Digital.SOE has already been working on PS3 projects for a while now, including the spy-themed shooter MMO The Agency, and Free Realms, a family-friendly, microtransaction-fueled endeavor. Even though the press release didn't come with new game announcements, it's big news. There's been a lot of debate about whether the XBox 360 or the PS3 is the best online gaming platform, but this new structure could give Sony a new edge.
Rob Pardo to speak at the 2008 Game Developers Conference
The 2008 Game Developers Conference is underway in San Francisco right now, and this means there should be quite a bit of gaming news and juicy bites to report on in the next few days. Blizzard's own Rob Pardo is there as a featured speaker, participating in a panel on the future of MMORPGs and giving a talk on Blizzard's approach to multiplayer gaming design. Hopefully that means we might even get a few pieces of new information about Warcraft and the expansion, or even beyond. Our colleagues at Massively will be watching the whole conference closely, as will we, and we'll be sure to keep you up to date if Blizzard drops any bombshells of the Lich King variety or otherwise.And speaking of conference news, Gamespot's posted more video coverage of the DICE 08 Summit, including Blizzard's presentation, which you can watch here.
Polycom ships HDX 4000 / 8000 HD video conferencing systems
Remember that snazzy HD video conferencing system that Polycom introduced back in July? That very system is finally shipping alongside its beefed up sibling, the HDX 8000. Each of the "video collaboration solutions" enables users to see distanced colleagues in high-definition, and both flavors come with HDX Version 2.0 software that features Lost Packet Recovery (LPR) technology. Apparently, the 4000 series is geared towards executive desktops, offices and small meeting areas, while the 8000 lineup fits best in conference rooms, class rooms and large meeting areas. Nothing like blowing a little (if you consider $9,999 to $13,999 to be "little") of that extra revenue on jazzing up the office, right?
Run your company like an online game
Do business culture and the principles of online gaming belong together?Two entrepreneurs in Palo Alto think so. Inspired by Second Life and World of Warcraft, they theorized that principles used in the management of online game communities could be used to manage businesses. They formed a company called Seriosity and its maiden voyage is a product called Attent. It's their first gaming-inspired product, but they want to launch more in the future. Learn more about it after the jump.
Nintendo: You're hired
With George Harrison and Perrin Kaplan headed out the door, Nintendo have been stuck with the duty of replacing them. Turns out, they found themselves a couple of folks to fill in those shoes left behind. And, considering that Perrin was with Nintendo for 15 years and George was there for just as long, we're sure those shoes are quite old and smelly. Replacing Perrin is Cammie Dunway, who took the job after parting ways with Yahoo!, where she served as chief marketing officer. Based on where Yahoo! is now, you can imagine how integral she was there. And, replacing George, is Shigeyuki Takahashi, who was promoted internally from a previous position he took up in 2006 as president of Nintendo Research Inc (although it looks like the position's responsibilities are expanded). His previous employment involved a position at Sanwa Bank, where he worked for thirty years.
