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One-fifth of US game spending goes to MMOs and game portals
It's no secret that MMOs have started to see a larger and larger share of the market, but the actual amount is always a difficult number to pin down. Gamasutra recently reported on a study by TNS and Gamesindustry.com, a pair of market research firms, which found that about 20% of all US game spending goes to either MMOs or online game portals. That's a fifth of all spending in the country, and with the amount of overall spending in the US that's a rather significant figure. Of course, MMOs are still small fry compared to, say, the console budget, which dominates at nearly three-fifths of the overall spending. However, it's worth considering that MMO spending is frequently going to be a $15 monthly subscription rather than a $50 one-time purchase -- a significant disparity in terms of overall budget. It's also interesting to note that MMOs, once a small subset of the overall PC gaming market, are gaining ground as a market demographic unto themselves. The full report can be found here, with further information on the methodology of the study and the preferred payment methods of the respondents.
Author of World of Warcraft and Philosophy interviewed
World of Warcraft and Philosophy got released a little while back -- it's a book by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger that examines WoW-related topics like roleplaying and the Corrupted Blood plague, and ties them into philsophical ideas and thinking. TechFlash has now posted an interview with Nordlinger, and it's a good read as well. Nordlinger says that one reason they chose to talk about World of Warcraft in this way is that it's so incredibly big -- when you have 12 million (give or take a few at this point) people playing a game with a GDP larger than some smaller nations, you're going to touch on all sorts of interesting ethical, moral, and other philosophical ideas. He says the book has been pretty popular, and a few universities are currently considering teaching courses based on the material, not only because it's interesting, but thinking about the game in this way helps improve abstract thinking in general. And perhaps most interesting, he says that reading the book could help players better make ethical and moral decisions in the game. Just ninja-ing the mount from an Onyxia raid might not mean much to you, but when you look at the bigger picture, and what those actions mean for ethics in general, Nordlinger says the book might help players "make more aware decisions, if not different decisions." Of course, in practice, trying to explain higher philosophy to ninjas might not have the desired effect, but it does seem true that exploring the higher meanings of this game and the intents of the people playing it might put a little more meaning into the pixels as well.
Cellphones thinner than ever
Strategy Analytics latest look at its spec-tracking (hence the name) SpecTRAX database of wireless devices has unearthed a few juicy tidbits of information, none more notable than the fact that phone thickness is at a new all-time low -- 13.96mm on average, the first time the metric has ever fallen below 14mm (for comparison, Motorola's original DynaTAC clocked in around 89mm, so we're making some solid improvement there). USB penetration is at a new high, too, supported by some 85 percent of newly-entered devices in the database, and battery life is up 25 percent from two years ago. Of course, that's still not nearly long enough -- battery tech is falling dangerously behind virtually every other technology that goes into the making of a mobile device, sadly -- but we'll take any improvement we can get. [Via MobileTechNews]
AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon goaded into customer service showdown
It doesn't matter who your carrier is, you're gonna have some complaints. But is the grass always greener somewhere else? To answer that question, the kids at Laptop Magazine have conducted a test of the customer service practices of the big four (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T) to ascertain each company's friendliness, knowledge, and timeliness. The publication placed customer service calls twice during a week (once at midday and once during rush hour), visited two stores per carrier in New York City, and tried to find solutions to its problems using each carrier's online knowledge base. Apparently, T-Mobile takes the prize for in-store assistance and web support, and Sprint, while not always able to answer questions, at least had taken steps to streamline the support process (and the fact that its employees were friendly didn't hurt). Apparently Verizon Wireless offered solid in-store support (albeit with grumpy employees), "quick and accurate phone support" and "solid" online help. AT&T, sadly, was the loser here -- Laptop says it left the store "shocked" that one representative couldn't figure out how to get email up and running on its Blackberry. Shocking! Hit the read link to see for yourself.
Website rates best and worst cellphones by radiation output levels -- how does yours stack up?
You're surely aware that your cellphone bleeds radiation into your face the whole time you're on the phone with your mom, best friend or lover, right? Yes, it's a fact we try not to think about most of the time, but now there's a tool out there on the internets for the more reality-facing folks among us. The Environmental Working Group's launched a website dedicated to rating cellphones on their radiation output alone. Ranking highly (meaning they put out the lowest levels of radiation) are the Motorola RAZR V8, and AT&T's Samsung Impression. In fact, it seems that Samsung is cranking out the healthiest phones these days! Phones with poor showings includes T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and the Blackberry Curve 8830. So hit the read link and tell us, how does your phone rate?[Via bookofjoe]
Alganon devs field questions on the studies system, crafting, and high level content
We now know that Alganon is set to release in October of this year, which is pretty darn soon. Chances are you still have some questions about the game, seeing as we really only started noticing it a few months ago. Recently the game's developers Quest Online gave members of the community a chance to send in some queries for a Developer Roundtable. The results of that Q&A session are now in, with the team tackling four questions: How does the studies system help casuals from being left behind in progression and/or power? (link) Will we be able to use SMS to do things like queuing up studies while not in-game (same link, further down page) What plans are in place to keep players in the higher levels entertained while they wait for new content to be released? (link) Is crafting actually going to be useful or is the primary source of new gear going to be new drops like most MMOs? (link) Some quick takeaways from the answers given: the studies system can significantly lessen the gap between hardcore and casual players under some circumstances, SMS functionality isn't in place now but may be later, and high-end crafted gear is intended to be as powerful as raid gear. The devs are already collecting questions for the next roundtable, so if you've got any burning questions ahead Alganon's launch at the end of next month, head over to the thread and hit them with your best shot.
Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS owners' satisfaction polled, compared in new study
Studies just released by RBC Capital and ChangeWave Research polled iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre owners on their respective levels of satisfaction with their devices -- then compared them. In the studies, 200 iPhone 3GS users and 40 Palm Pre owners were polled. Overall, 99 percent of owners of Apple's phone proclaimed themselves to be "satisfied," while 82 percent of that number declared they were "very satisfied." The poll of Pre owners showed that 87 percent are "satisfied," and 45 percent of those owners describe themselves as "very satisfied." Interestingly, the 42 percent of "very satisfied" customers are the highest score ever attained by a Palm device, and it's a number that's only ever been bested by RIM and Apple. When asked about their respective reasons for buying their devices, Palm Pre owners listed the touchscreen interface, ability to multitask, and ease of use in the top three, while iPhone users cite its touchscreen, ease of use and faster web browsing as its biggest draws. So what about drawbacks? iPhone users (a whopping 55 percent of them, in fact) say that AT&T's network is their main gripe with the device, while Pre owners list short battery life and lack of third party apps as the devices biggest drawbacks. All in all, a pretty good showing for both -- though the microscopic sample size (especially for the Palm Pre) makes us wonder about the validity of the findings a bit.Read - Apple's iPhone 3GS has 99 percent satisfaction rateRead - iPhone vs. Palm Pre: Satisfaction bakeoff
Captain Obvious reports: AT&T sees surge in WiFi use post-iPhone OS 3.0
You know, there's something to be said about making something easy: people usually take advantage. So seems to be the case with AT&T's WiFi connections after the release of iPhone OS 3.0, which finally became useful when users could seamlessly connect to one of the thousands of AT&T hotspots around the nation rather than having to stumble through a painfully long process on iPhone OS 2.x. According to an AT&T spokesperson speaking with AppleInsider, the amount of iPhone users linking up with AT&T's WiFi network tripled in June, and overall, it saw a 41 percent increase in connections compared to the prior quarter. It comes as no surprise to hear that AT&T is working feverishly to expand said network in order to relieve strain from its house of cards-styled 3G network, and while we'd definitely prefer a bit more reliability with the latter, we'll happily accept more WiFi in the meanwhile.
Senators to introduce legislation banning texting while driving
It's already been banned by a number of states and the District of Columbia, but a group of Democratic senators led by New York's Charles Schumer are now set to introduce legislation that would ban texting while driving throughout the United States. That, as you may be aware if you've been watching the news this past week, follows a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that truck drivers that texted while driving were 23 times more likely to get into an accident than non-texters -- to say nothing of several calls for a ban from major safety groups over the years. While complete details on the proposed bill are still a bit light, it would apparently withhold 25% of the annual federal highway funding from states that did not comply with the ban, and would reportedly be modeled on the way the national drunken driving ban was introduced.[Via Phone Scoop]
Fantasy MMORPG Alganon to hold public beta in September
This is our first post about Alganon, so we've gone and done a bit of digging to find out more about it. If the game has flown under your radar too, the results of our research might be of some interest to you: It's a fantasy MMORPG with seven classes of the sort you might expect, but each class will be able to slightly alter their capabilities at will to better fit different group situations. This is known as the "Dual Role System". The "Studies" system will allow for offline progression, to make it easier for casual players to keep up with those that are more active. MyAlganon is a social networking site linked to the game for in-game data, communication with other players, guild hosting and (currently) beta information. It also links to "The Library", which is a repository of game knowledge and a place to view various leaderboards. The game is currently planning to use a subscription business model but this may change later on. These are but a few of the features that Alganon has -- you can see more on their About page (you also might want to have a look at their FAQ). If you've read through the information and think you might want to get involved with the game, you'll be pleased to know that a private beta test is currently underway and a public beta is scheduled to launch in September. To get into the tests, register at MyAlganon and then make a post in this thread.
"My Life as a Night Elf Priest"
A University of California Irvine anthropologist named Bonnie Nardi has been studying one of the strangest cultures known to man lately, and she's going to be presenting her findings in a book called "My life as a Night Elf Priest" -- that's right, she's been taking notes on the weird sociological experiment known as Azeroth. It sounds pretty interesting -- she's been examining the way Chinese and American players play the game (and of course the differences between them), and she's also looking into how games like WoW can bring us closer together rather than isolating us socially. It's funny -- as a genre and a technology, MMO games are actually in the absolute earliest phases of their history. Socoiologists and psychologists have been studying real humans for thousands of years, and yet it's only in the past few decades that they've gotten access to MMO games, like little petri dishes of condensed human behavior. Nardi may be one of the first to try and scientifically examine how players use (and are affected by) this technology, but she'll definitely be far from the last.
Mobile web traffic reports show Symbian, OS X on top
Ready for the latest dose of facts and figures to chat over at the nerd water cooler? Here goes! The latest AdMob report, which tracks mobile web traffic from a variety of handset models and operating systems, has found some rather interesting -- if not completely unsurprising -- results. For starters, we're told that the biggest web surfing phone on each US carrier is a touchscreen model, and breaking that down, we find that the iPhone, Nokia N70 and BlackBerry 8300 take the top three spots (in order of mention) globally. As for OS, Symbian is still leading the pack from a worldwide perspective with 43 percent of requests, though the iPhone ain't far behind at 33 percent; oh, and in case you were wondering, Apple's darling generated 50 percent of all US mobile web traffic in February. More numbers in the links below, should you be inclined to visit.[Via mocoNews]
Mobile technology even makes 20-somethings shudder... sometimes
We'll go ahead and warn you that a lot has changed since 2007, but if anything, the surge in Twitter users and the overwhelming growth in social networking would likely strengthen these findings. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has just revealed some rather interesting stats from its study of age groups and their connection to mobile technology, particularly when looking at the "Ambivalent Networkers" group. Said clump is comprised mostly of males in their late 20s, which are stereotypically connected to their handsets at all times with a smile to go with it. According to the research, however, the majority of this group agreed that "taking a break is definitely a good idea," which was around ten percentage points above the average in the other four groups. We know you're about to tweet this to your 27 year old brother-in-law, but think twice before you knowingly hurt his soul like that.[Via ArsTechnica]
Worldwide cellphone use hits 60 percent, developing nations largely to thank
Outfits like Nokia have been just rolling in profits from selling oodles of low margin handsets in developing nations across the globe, so it's no shock at all to hear that those very countries have propelled the worldwide usage tally well above the 50 percent mark. According to a wide-ranging United Nations report, around six in ten people across the globe now use mobile phones, and as expected, fixed line subscriptions have increased at a much slower pace. If you're wondering just how significant this figure really is, chew on this: in 2002, just under 15 percent of the global population used a cellie. Impressive, eh?[Via TG Daily]
Research says WiMAX and LTE will live different lives, coexist
Thinking that there's only room in this town world for either WiMAX or LTE? Research firm In-Stat would love to disagree, as a new report from it asserts that both will actually live on for at least the next little while. Unsurprisingly, it's expected that mobile WiMAX will "outpace LTE over the next few years due to its head start on deployments," and potentially more importantly, the company believes that WiMAX and LTE will take "very different paths." In fact, it's stated that most WiMAX support will come from fixed network carriers looking to spruce up their existing offerings, while LTE expansion will likely be pushed solely (or mostly, anyway) by mobile operators. To us, it all boils down to support, and it only takes a quick survey of the field to see that LTE has the most of that. For better or worse, it seems the next-gen data war is but beginning, even though we already thought we were nearing the end.
App Store stats suggest humans have attention span of gnats
Did you put down Rolando after a mere 10 minutes of play time, never to touch it again? You're a cold, soulless person with nary a fun bone in your body, but you may not be alone. Pinch Media, whose analytics engine can be used to track the performance of participating iPhone apps, has found that merely 30 percent of people purchasing iPhone apps use them the next day, and free apps clock in at a miserable 20 percent. Over the long run, loyal users dwindle to just a single percent of downloaders -- and this is where it gets strange: free apps get used a whopping 6.6 times as often as paid apps, which may not bode well for devs looking to make a decent living off the App Store, Windows Marketplace, Ovi Store, Android Market, and the million other mobile software store initiatives coming up over the next year. It's likely a testament to the fact that your average free app is simpler (and possibly more indispensable day in and day out) than your average paid app -- which means we should all be paying $15 for tip calculators and $25 for speed dialers.
Cisco sees 4G boosting global mobile traffic
Think you use your mobile data plan a lot with 3G? Just wait 'til 4G is the pervasive protocol -- you'll be pulling down more bits and bytes than you can ever imagine. Or, at least that's the good word from Cisco. Said company has ran some sort of fancy analysis in order to forecast that global mobile traffic will increase 66-fold between 2008 and 2013, with a compound annual growth rate of 131 percent over the same period. It's stated that these projections reflect the impending transition to 4G, and if you can believe it, we'll supposedly be exceeding two exabytes per month of global mobile traffic by 2013. Curiously, it's stated that 64 percent of the world's mobile traffic will be video by 2013, but given just how slow adoption on that front has been, we're more than skeptical. For the rest of the numbers, give the read link a look.
Phone shipments plunge 12.6 percent year over year in Q4 '08
IDC's now assembled a comprehensive look at the phone biz in 2008, and as you might expect, it's not exactly the most amazing year on record. Actually, when you take the year as a whole, shipments totaled a whopping 1.18 billion handsets -- a 3.5 percent boost over 2007 -- but the fourth quarter was downright brutal, seeing a 12.6 percent contraction over the same period a year prior. As analysts have been saying, though, the smartphone market will continue to be the silver lining in a tough market -- shipments of "converged mobile devices" grew 22.5 percent year over year, with North American growth a staggering 70.1 percent. Carriers seem to be recognizing the world's love affair with all-knowing, all-doing phones and plan to blow 'em out big in 2009, but the question remains: with credit tight and businesses losing cash hand-over-fist for the foreseeable future, will the subsidies be compelling enough to let customers in the door?
Faith and World of Warcraft at Colorado University
Buckle your seatbelts on this one -- if you aren't concerned with the bigger picture behind a virtual world like Azeroth and would rather hear about dragons fighting each other or the latest class changes, best look elsewhere on the site. But a student at Colorado University has a theory about World of Warcraft that might sound a little out there: he believes the game is a new religion.Not necessarily in the sense that you should skip church to raid (though lots of people probably do that anyway). But in the sense that it meets a sociologist's definition of religion: it provides community, ethics, culture, and emotion. And it's hard to argue with that: we're living proof of the community around the game, there's definitely plenty of culture and emotion, and... ethics? CU student Theo Zijderveld is proposing that even if the game itself doesn't promote ethical behavior, the push is there -- we're rewarded for doing the right thing, and often punished for doing wrong. Work with others in a group, get better loot. Camp someone's corpse, and their guildie or alt shows up to camp you.Intriguing idea, even if it does sound like something cooked up for a college student's thesis (which is in fact what it is). It's certainly not a religion in that there is no higher power involved (unless you believe that Ghostcrawler is in fact a god) -- obviously, we all believe that everything in Azeroth was made by men and women, or at least hard-working Gnomes. But as for what playing World of Warcraft creates in us and makes us feel, those results and ideas are very close in many ways to what organized religion does. Quite a theory.
Survey finds mobile phone setup to be excruciatingly difficult
We can't say we've ever toyed with a mobile that was so difficult to setup that we'd rather move our bank account from one institution to another just to experience something easier, but apparently we're in a quaint minority. According to research gathered by Mformation, some 85 percent of those polled were "frustrated by the difficulty of getting a new phone up and working." Out of the 4,000 individuals that were surveyed, all but 5 percent said they would "try more new services if phones were easier to set up." In fact, 61 percent admitted that they would simply stop using an application if they couldn't get it working right away, with actions such as web browsing, reading email and sending picture messages being atop the list of "greatest wants." Hear that, carriers? That's the sound of lost revenue from selling phones that people can't operate.[Via All About Symbian]
