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Massive budget SNAFU further damages LA's student iPad program
There's likely nothing more embarrassing for educators than messing up their own arithmetic, but as the LA Times reports, that's just what happened with the Los Angeles school district's student iPad program. On top of the fact that a good number of students have already found a way around the school district's attempts to prevent non-educational use, it now seems that the US$30 million that was approved for purchasing the Apple tablets isn't nearly enough for what the district actually needs -- and it was a simple math error that caused the confusion. When coming up with the budget request for the iPad program, the district priced the iPads at $700 each, taking into account a discount program that the schools aren't actually eligible for. So when the order was placed, each iPad cost $100 more than what the schools originally planned, meaning a whole lot less hardware for the same amount of money. On top of that, the budget didn't take into account physical keyboards and other accessories that push the final price tag far past where it should have been. However, the number of iPads the district secures may not matter for much longer, as some school officials have already began collecting the iPads, effectively killing the program or at the very least putting it into an unfortunate hiatus.
The Force is with SWTOR: EA stock bounces back, budget revealed
It seems like everyone is obsessed with the exact amount of money EA spent creating its most expensive title ever, but the Los Angeles Times may have a final number to end the discussion: Apparently, Star Wars: The Old Republic cost $200 million. Other interesting details from the Times' investigation into what it calls a "galactic gamble" include the fact that it was made by 800 people on four continents with an additional 1,000 voice actors (doing three languages) handling 4,000 characters. The project was such a massive undertaking that BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk likened it to "teaching elephants to do ballet." One of the interesting details of this behind-the-scenes expose is that BioWare said that certain movies and TV miniseries influenced class storylines, such as Big Trouble in Little China for the Smuggler and Band of Brothers for the Trooper. There's also some good news following yesterday's word of EA's stock hit. MarketWatch reports that several brokers have defended the title, resulting in a 2% bounce back in EA's stock. As part of that, a Pacific Crest analyst raised his predictions of quarter sales for SWTOR from 1.5 to 2.2 million, with 800,000 subscribers. Another analyst claims that over two million units of SWTOR have been sold since launch with an expectation that 75% to 90% of players will stay on as paid subscribers following the first free month.
LA Times critic disparages future Apple Campus
Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic, Christopher Hawthorne, examined the architectural plans for Apple's newly proposed campus and wasn't too pleased with what he saw. Instead of buying into Jobs' architectural sales pitch like the Cupertino City Council did, Hawthorne criticizes the building, claiming it's not futuristic mothership, but is "doggedly old-fashioned" and reflects the suburban corporate architecture of the 60's and 70's. Hawthorne also criticizes Jobs' tight control over the building plans, noting that the architects designing the building are hardly ever mentioned by Jobs. The critic implies that Jobs likes to appear as if he plays an active role in the design of each building, but really has little to do with it. It's the architects that do the bulk of the work. Hawthorne even disapproves of the building on a socioeconomic level claiming the building's serene and secure environment keeps its employees aloof from the world around it. He notes it's "essentially one very long hallway connecting endlessly with itself" and calls its a "retrograde cocoon."
Dan Trachtenberg talks the past and future of Portal: No Escape
Things we knew about Dan Trachtenberg's astounding live-action short film, Portal: No Escape: It's fantastic. Trachtenberg did a fabulous job directing it. It's really fantastic. And that was about it, until now. Trachtenberg opened up about casting, filming, the special effects and amount of time it took to make No Escape in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, and it seems like a modern-day short-film fairy tale. Things we know about Trachtenberg's Portal: No Escape now: Trachtenberg used Twitter to track down his production team, hiring people from New York to the Netherlands to work on the special effects. Danielle Rayne, the film's protagonist (we'll call her Chell), plays Sarah Connor in the live-action T2 experience at Universal Studios. Trachtenberg fell in love with Joss Whedon. Er, Whedon's motto: "You take people, you put them in peril, you find out what they're made of." He plans on making feature films and more Portal films, but not necessarily in that order or entirely separately.
LA Noire's criminal inspirations compiled on interactive map
Rockstar Games and the L.A. Times recently collaborated on a very neat (and yet very upsetting) project -- an interactive map displaying all of the real-life crimes that inspired the plot of Rockstar's upcoming drama, LA Noire. The crimes, all of which took place between January 1 and December 31, 1947, are heavily detailed by the map, with excerpts from news articles about each crime available for your perusal. If you've got a strong stomach, many of the cases prove to be an interesting read. Like, for instance, the one about the acrobat burglars who robbed a store for $2,500 and a few gulps of milk. Or, the one about the wife who "playfully" stabbed her husband in the neck until he died from it. Keep an eye on the map in the coming weeks as the outlet adds even more quirky murders to the list.
Lost in translation: Microsoft retail stores not matching Apple success?
In a pattern we've seen repeated numerous times over the years, copying the superficial look and feel of something often does not yield the same end result. Over the years, Microsoft has frequently taken inspiration from the work of Apple, including Windows, Zune and, of course, its new retail stores. The record of commercial success for Redmond has been decidedly mixed, with Windows obviously being huge and the Zune a dismal failure. Despite hiring (and then losing to Tesla) George Blankenship, who helped craft Apple's retail experience, and locating its stores adjacent to Apple stores, Microsoft just doesn't seem to be gaining much traction. So far, Microsoft has opened seven stores but hasn't said much publicly about their performance. The LA Times did a bit of anecdotal analysis at the Shops at Mission Viejo mall, where the two stores sit near each other. Over the half hour period that the stores were observed, 19 customers walked out with purchases from Apple while only 3 did the same at the Microsoft store. This is far from a scientific analysis, but given the slow rate of expansion for Microsoft, it probably isn't atypical. Microsoft has said little publicly about its goals for the stores, other than building its brand. The problem is that most of the products that the stores sell don't carry its brand, aside from a small Windows sticker or logo. Other than software and accessories, all of the main items available from an Apple store are from Apple. The limited lineup of products made by Apple allows the stores to stock almost all of the variations available. Microsoft sells computers from HP, Samsung and others, and the limited space in a mall location means that it ends up with less selection and higher prices than a competing big box store like Best Buy. Without Apple's hard to define "cool" factor and more focus, it's not apparent whether Microsoft will be able to make a go of its stores, or if they will become the next Bob. What is it about Apple stores that makes you buy stuff there instead of Best Buy or Target? [via Electronista]
LA Times: David O. Russell in talks for Uncharted film
Things have been quiet in regards to Nathan Drake's death-defying (yet impeccably animated!) leap from video games to film, but the LA Times reports that may be changing. The paper says director David O. Russell (of I Heart Huckabees fame) is in early talks to bring the Uncharted franchise to the big screen, though he's reportedly not the only name on the list. Our friendly advice to the film's producers: It was already made, it starred the charming pairing of Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey and it was called Fool's Gold. Now, make your peace with that fact and move on. [Via Slashfilm]
Warner Bros. in talks to produce Space Invaders movie
According to a recent report from the L.A. Times, Warner Bros. is in talks with Japanese game developer Taito to secure the rights for a film adaptation of Space Invaders. The Times speculates the film would be a big-budget action-blockbuster, helmed by prolific producers of big-budget action-blockbusters, such as Mark Gordon, Jason Blum and Guymon Casady. In other news, we're planning on doing our own version of Space Invaders pretty soon, only it will be about us, attempting to invade outer space, because we don't want to live on this stupid, terrible planet anymore. [Via IGN]
Hulu's subscription service might run $5 for access to select shows
There was a mini-internet revolt the last time NBC Universal's TV chief started talking about ways to actually turn a profit from Hulu and the search for a balance continues. People familiar with the matter -- our favorite source by the way -- told the LA Times that the search in question could take another six months before official pricing is announced, but the latest idea being thrown around is to charge a $5 per month subscription for access to older shows. A quick search of Hulu just showed that only the past four or five episodes of newer shows are currently available, so charging for older shows means new access to additional content. We have to say that offering additional programming above and beyond what is currently free is a pretty good strategy, but the other one we'd like to see is a premium option to view content commercial free -- no word on if any of the paid content will still have commercials. The one thing this won't change is the fact that the content creators already sold the rights to these shows on the TV, which of course means Hulu won't be able to stop going out of its way to block things like Boxee and the PS3 -- still kind of shocked that PlayOn isn't affected.
Fan-created documentary about BlizzCon: An event for fans
Reader Encifer sent us a link to this excellent fan-directed documentary short about BlizzCon. Just a few days ago, I kind of panned the LA Times for treating BlizzCon as such an alien thing, but this video kind of takes a different look at the same event -- instead of coming at it from an outsider perspective and treating it as if it's something 20,000 crazy people do over a weekend, it's much more about how exciting it is to be a part of an event this big. I don't know, maybe the difference is just something I see, but this fan documentary, I think, does a really great job of showing just why BlizzCon is so great, while the LA Times piece, in my view, kind of dismissed its subjects even as it was portraying them.At any rate, Chris Nguyen did a terrific job on this -- he says that he created the short film to prepare for a few doc film classes he's going to be taking, as well as challenge his doc-making skills, and it seems like he did just that. He interviewed two of his former guildies, as well as the winner of this year's costume contest, as you can see in the video. And he says the whole thing was shot over the two days at BlizzCon and then took about eight more days to edit. Definitely a fun little film to watch, and if you've never been to BlizzCon before, it'll give you a nice look at just what it's like to show up in a hall with thousands of people who play the same games that you do every day.
The Los Angeles Times visits BlizzCon
The LA Times has a story up that's about a month late -- it tells the story of a guild meeting up at BlizzCon last month (they were actually at the Lost Bar, a place we at WoW.com know well from past meetups) and doing everything players do at BlizzCon: meet each other face to face, talk Warcraft, and enjoy everything Blizzard has set up on the convention floor. Truth be told, the experience sounds pretty tame to us -- BlizzCon is BlizzCon, it's a ton of fun, but it's not that alien of an experience to go with your ingame friends to a gaming convention.Then again, maybe we're just biased. Maybe having guildies as friends is really a fascinating thing to someone who's never done it before, and maybe the spectacle of BlizzCon really is so interesting that you can just report it in the paper. They do chat with Morgan Webb (why?) and they get one line from Blizzard COO Paul Sams, but otherwise, it's just basically the story of the Dread Pirates and their trip to BlizzCon (complete with veiled accusations of misogyny and a dictatorial guildleader -- thanks, LA Times!). To folks who don't play World of Warcraft, it might be interesting, but for most players, especially those who've been to BlizzCon already, it's mostly business as usual.
MTV spent big for The Beatles, slowly backing away from peripheral business
It appears that Viacom, parent company of MTV Games and Harmonix, guaranteed a minimum of $10 million, along with another potential $40 million in royalties, to its respective estates for the use of The Beatles in the upcoming Rock Band game. Sources familiar with the deal tell The LA Times that the "royalty rates on [the deal] are not even comparable to anything that has been done before." All this cash is being thrown around in the midst of a revenue decline in the rhythm genre.MTV Games is seemingly taking even more steps away from producing and distributing peripherals. Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president at the company, explains that its "core competency is media" -- he'd rather let Activision "take on the burden of getting those super-tight margin instruments out there."
See stills from Assassin's Creed 2: Lineage short film
We kinda lied to you in that headline -- how do you feel about just one still from the three, upcoming live-action Assasin's Creed short films? The LA Times got a shot from the in-production Assassin's Creed II: Lineage just before some of the developers working on AC2 (the game) sat down for a panel at this week's San Diego Comic-Con. Ubisoft said in the past that the upcoming PSP Assassin's Creed iteration, titled Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, would be the only "game" to tie together the story from the first one to its sequel. Clearly those words were chosen carefully, as these films are intended to "focus on the story of Ezio's father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze" and delve into the history of "the Assassin's Creed 2 storyline and characters" when they release this winter. Us? We're just hoping someone will explain all that crazy writing on the walls from the first game. [Via Big Download]
At $1 a day Redbox is perfect for consumers, not so much for Hollywood
Not sure who would've guessed that Redbox Kiosk rentals would be this successful, but evidently most don't mind heading out of the house to rent a movie if the price is right. But it seems that as popular as the disc vending machines are with consumers, Hollywood isn't too keen on the idea. Evidently it is believed that the $1 rental fee is more effective at motivating consumers to rent instead of buy when compared with other alternatives like Netflix and Blockbuster. The interesting thing here to us is that at least one studio (Universal) has attempted to delay selling titles to the company in an attempt to help DVD sales, but as you might expect, Redbox responded with a lawsuit -- which is still pending. Seems to us that Redbox is yet another great example of how packaged media isn't dead, because if for no other reason it is useful because it helps prevent the draconian control of content that Hollywood would obviously love to have.
LA Times: Parents should regulate what games kids play, not government
In one of the most well-reasoned and least sensationalized articles on government regulation of violent games we've ever seen out of the mainstream press, the Los Angeles Times recently published an editorial pointing out the unnecessary and unconstitutional nature of a recently rebuked California bill which mandated "18+" warning labels be applied to M-rated games, and enforced strict $1,000 penalties for retailers who sold such titles to minors.The editorial denotes the flawed logic which went into the bipartisan regulation, and aptly places the onus for keeping adult-centric titles out of youngsters' hands on their parental units, who "don't need permission from a legislator or judge to keep an eye on what their children are doing." We can't help but agree -- besides, with the Golden State currently staring down the barrel of a $42 billion deficit, we're not convinced that the taxpayers of California can afford to keep making such charitable donations to the ESA.
$35 PS3 site is (obviously) too good to be true
For some reason, some people are quick to fall into deals that are simply too good to be true. PS3 owners were recently hit by a weak "Home Beta Injector" scam, which attempted to steal PSN information from hapless victims. Another scheme has been investigated by the LA Times: a ring of sites that are offering PS3s for cheap. How cheap? How's $35?Of course that's too good to be true, you must be thinking. However, the site's managed to snag the credit cards of a few victims already. "I was tricked," the ironically named hatesbeingrippedoff wrote on a forum on 419Legal.org. "This is a total fraud and I hope we can get a class action lawsuit." "Although it's just $35, that doesn't mean he's not going to use all the credit card information he's acquired so far for his dirty little self," wrote a user posting under the name NessaLee.The scam promises a refurbished PS3 system for only $35, a savings of over $300. How does such a shady site pull off such a great deal? "We get paid through our network of sponsors for every survey you fill out. This gives us the purchasing power necessary to pass these large discounts on to you." Yeah, sure thing.[Via PlayStation Forums]
LA Times covers the WoW community
Wait, what's this? A mainstream media story that actually -- gasp -- shows the world that playing MMO games together can actually be fun and healthy for relationships? Thrall be praised, apparently someone at the LA Times gets it. Yup, Brad and Cynthia Murdock, like millions of other players of this game, play the game together and have a great time doing it. Of course, near the end of the article, they get back to Mike Akers, a "self-described recluse" who plays against his wife's wishes and once made her wait for 10 minutes while in labor so he could defeat an "end boss," but we guess we can look past that -- the headline is about people playing the game in a healthy way, and we need more stories like that. since there are a lot more players like that.Blizzard's Frank Pearce also shows up in the story, and admits that Mages could use a higher damage output at endgame. No, we're just kidding, this is a story meant for non-players, so he just says that the game has a "huge social element," and a giant community that supports everyone who logs in. That's you guys! Take a bow!And not even the LA Times can get Blizzard to give us a Wrath release date -- they try, but Pearce waves them off with an understatement: "We typically try to avoid launch windows." Blizzard? Avoiding release dates? Sounds about right.[via WorldofWar.net]
LA Times: game narratives too 'weak' for movies, Uwe Boll agrees
Los Angeles Times Magazine spent some time breaking down the rules of Hollywood, schooling would-be fortune-seekers and laying down some hard truth: "Hollywood can't win at video games." Filmmakers are advised to avoid video games as source material because games' "weak narratives" haven't transitioned to the big screen as well as comics – a sentiment echoed by Uwe Boll during a recent Fox News interview; the infamous director declares, "A lot of video games have no story." (Yeah, especially light gun games.) But even something as intricately devised as the Halo universe doesn't seem to hold much promise in the eyes of Hollywood. Halo script re-writer Josh Olson (A History of Violence) complains that video games "have aimless cycles. You go to A, shoot some monsters, then go to B, then start over and do it again." Why argue?Historically, Hollywood has done a miserable job selecting games for film adaptation, while we've enjoyed plenty of strong narratives developed for and executed in games. We say: Why give Hollywood a chance to muck up the true gems? The game industry has nothing to prove to American cinema. Read - LA Times (subscription required; try: bugmenot)Watch - Uwe Boll on Fox News (warning: obnoxious)
Purple Violets released exclusively on iTunes
Ed Burns' film, Purple Violets, has become the first full-length feature movie ever to premiere via digital distribution on iTunes. As we reported before, he was unable to find a good theatrical offer, and instead chose to make history by bringing it straight to iTunes. Variety wasn't thrilled with it, and our sister site Cinematical thought it was OK, but neither of them saw it on the iPhone's small screen, did they?Of course, you can find out for yourself-- Purple Violets is available right now in iTunes for $12.99. At that price, I might (ironically?) wait for rental, but then again, huddling around an iPhone and sharing earbuds in a nice Italian restaurant would make a pretty cheap date.
Consumers are/aren't hot for mobile TV, Part V
It appears that despite a strong push by carriers and content providers, consumers' cold, uneasy reception of mobile video continues. This time around, LA Times and Bloomberg have the numbers, showing that a mere 9% of folks in the influential 18-24 age bracket have any desire to watch television on their handset, compared to 40% who wouldn't mind doing so on their computer. The numbers get even worse for movies -- and understandably so -- with just 6% wanting to squint their way through a film. The numbers get a little better among 12-17 year olds with 14% willing to give mobile television a shot, but still, it looks like major investments in mobile TV infrastructure could prove to be money pits if stakeholders don't figure out how to hook 'em while they're young.[Via PVR Wire]
