Code: PC-MAC-PDV
Get US$8 off a purchase of US$50 or more

Code: AK-NZU-GBD
Get US$12 off a purchase of US$100 or more

These codes expire at the end of 2009 and are available for one-time use only (meaning, first come, first serve). I don’t believe you can combine them with other codes, and it doesn’t work for other promotional items. In any case, a little pre-holiday savings from yours truly.

It seems like 2DBoy, the makers of World of Goo, have extended their birthday celebration of “pay what you think it’s worth” experiment until October 25. The usual $20USD game is now… on average… $2.03USD. But even more interesting is that they put out a little survey to see why the average was at what it was and they came up with the conclusion that the largest percentage of people could only afford what they had paid.

And with the economy as it is currently, it’s amazing that fifty-seven thousand people put up even a little bit. Inside of a week. I think that goes to show that either gamers are holding out for the big things that roll sixty dollars for your console and not buying extraneous impulse buys, or that impulse buying of third party developers are getting hit hard by this economy. Either way, it sucks royally and I’m glad that 2DBoy provided an opportunity for those that wanted to contribute to do so.

That makes it all the more worthwhile.

If you do a break-down of the cost by percentages in a rough scale, you would image that:

Development Studio: 50%
Publisher: 25%
Operations: 10%
Retailer: 5-15% (including discount)
Discount: 10%

Here is where it’s strange. In both Operations and Retailer, Sony basically absorbs most of the cost here since bandwidth is cheaper than creating packaging and distribution. Not to mention that you basically cut out the retailer altogether which means there’s at least a 5% savings. So why is it that downloadables never see this particular savings being passed on? Let’s be frank here, if you look at music CDs that you buy through iTunes, generally they’re about ten or eleven dollars compared to the retail thirteen or fourteen when they come out. That markup is what is being cut out.

With Sony’s PSN, it doesn’t seem to be the case until after the item is out for a long time, which means not only do they shoot themselves in the foot for adoption rate, but the actual break down shows that they’re basically taking out the retailer and taking that chunk too. Nice. Doesn’t make you want to go buy anything online, now does it. For me? If you’re going to make me buy it for the same price, I’ll take the pretty box and booklet any day of the week.

That is also something that we as consumers have been pushing on Sony for the past couple of years since the PSP has been out. The direct distribution of games via the Playstation Store didn’t exist until just recently and Nintendo is working on it through their new handheld, the DSi.

Overall, the iPhone will still remain what it always has been, a great phone with the ability to do multiple types of things intuitively. But gaming will be on the low-end of things there. Maybe not in the future, but currently it’s just not set up to take on the onslaught of gamers and doesn’t quite have the right array of games in its arsenal nor the power. Even with the accelerators, you’ll have to have some seriously Wii type gaming to actually combat great graphics and a control pad that can take some serious abuse.

The DSi and the PSP however have the portable gaming console side already set up which is the harder issue at hand, and just need to bring in the interactive and storefront. This is where the gaming industry has the upper hand. It’s not that it’s difficult to set up, but more of trying to convince them that there are new environments to chase revenue just as Xbox Live has taken the online thing in force similar to how the Asian gaming market has. Having a great store and distribution system doesn’t quite apply in the gaming industry as it does in the music or phone one where it took some iron fist tactics to uphold Apple’s rule. Mr. Joswiak doesn’t understand the market if he truly believes in what he said.

But the gloves have been thrown at the gaming giants to see what they can do with the online arena and how seamless they can tie their products into the interactive storefronts. We’ve seen it done on the next generation consoles already, so it’s only a matter of time to see the portable markets also take shape.

I wanted to see how the actual version compared to the virtual prototype, partly because I was curious and also because seeing the virtual version was what got me into SL in the first place. Here’s what I found:

The RL room looks just like the SL version, with a bathroom right as you come in, and a large wooden partition dividing it from the sleeping area. This partition is a miracle of design efficiency: on the bathroom side, it has shelves housing extra pillow, pod coffeemaker, extra roll of TP and reading material: the New Yorker and Dwell magazines, plus a tiny rod for hanging clothing.

On the bedroom side, it has a tall padded headboard, two overhead reading lights and a hidden ambient lighting system, plus the sleeping platform attaches to it, with a comfortable mattress. A padded bench under the wall-mounted HD TV replaces the usual sofa or armchair and two wooden counters provide either a place to stash stuff or set up a laptop.

Shows you how old-fogeyish I have become: I searched but didn’t find a phonebook, ice bucket, glasses (none but the cardboard coffee cups), radio or Gideon Bible. Apparently, those don’t matter to the target demographic, which is probably a good 20 years younger than I. But I did get two bottles of water and a fridge to put them in.

The hallway also isn’t the industrial neutral color it was in the prototype, and the lobby is more industrial-chic than the prototype, which had a warmer, Frank-Lloyd-Wrightish feel with soft lighting and wood furniture. And, this being Chicago, the pool is indoors, not outside surrounded by beach chairs. But the food vending areas and w xyz lobby bar are the same, and the hotel personnel are unfailingly friendly and polite. This is the Midwest, after all!

FYI: The aloft chain, which is building a hotel in my smaller city, of all places, is like a bargain version of W hotels, part of the Starwood group (Sheraton, W, Le Meridian, Four Points, Element, St. Regis, and Westin). For the money, it was comfortable and drama-free and even relatively quiet, given how close we are to Ohare.

Off to check out the glassed-in shower and the wall-mounted pumps for the W’s Bliss brand of soap and shampoo, a nice innovation that has to be cheaper than all those teeny bars of soap and bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

Added comment: I forgot one big thing! aloft, unlike other Starwood properties, builds the price of wireless internet access into the room price instead of adding it on as an extra charge. Kudos!

Me with my aloft freebies, the first I ever got in SL!

This controller is being sold for a little under $41USD on Amazon which is one of the lowest prices you can get currently. Most stores actually sell this controller for about $50USD without tax. So immediately, you’re already saving at least nine dollars here. Why would you need an extra controller? Well, considering the fact that a lot of the PSN games are two players and not to mention you can have way more than one controller hooked up wirelessly to the PS3…. and, who wouldn’t want one of the new ones if you haven’t upgraded to the DualShock 3 yet? I have to say that the first generation SixAxis controller is great but still doesn’t stand a chance against this one. Just me though.

So if you’re in need of extending your membership, go and grab one of these cards now. Let me put it this way. If you get it now, you won’t have to worry about membership at least until October of 2009. And if you happen to renew or buy more, then it could be extended so much more indefinitely. All the while, you could gain more achievements and laugh at your friends while they fumble around for their mommy’s credit cards trying to renew. Oh, yes. It will happen. Just you wait.

UPDATE: With some more review, it seems like this card is for new accounts only. According to the reviews. If anyone actually knows how it works, feel free to append in comments since I don’t personally own an Xbox or Live account so … obviously…

So thus, they’re using the age-old tactic of cutting prices to try to stifle the competitor’s growth. Amusing, but it does work. With their Xbox 360 Core Arcade Bundle bundle (doesn’t come with a hard drive) at $199 and their current Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive going for a mere $149, it’s hard to imagine why any 360 fanboy wouldn’t want to pick up another one.

As for myself? As per conversation with TD and crew last week, I just don’t have an interest in 360’s offerings. With less than ten games that I actually care to play, and with the shoddy hardware at the price that it costs? Even with a great warranty, bad hardware engineering is no excuse. If the thing is in the shop much of the time, then the hassle overrules the “fun” from a console system. Which is what it’s purchased for: entertainment.

But don’t let that stop you, if you’re looking for a new console. Because, by golly, that price is still hard to beat.

So when I first heard about this, I was thinking… hmm. “Is it as bad as it sounds?”

The answer would be: “Yes.”

Here’s the problem with Spore. Activation is limited to 3 online activations via Internet. After that, it’s call via phone to EA for one more activation. After that, you have to provide proof of purchase, and a whole lot of other things to actually play your game. On one hand, I agree that piracy is one pain in the rear and needs to be combatted. But to point the finger at your consumer base and restrict them is a whole other matter. That’s pretty much cutting off the nose to spite the face.

And when it comes to your revenue stream? You’d probably be better off not fighting the good fight at all, since the people that you’re actually driving away are those that are willing to hand over their money to you as a corporation. Piracy on the other hand? Believe me, no matter how “smart” your DRM is, someone will crack it. They always do and game publishers can’t afford super encryption methods that prevent it with time-locked rotating keys (although that’s an idea there isn’t it).

In this fashion, EA really bombarded its own product line with the help of some supposed semi-organized anti-DRM sentiments. I have no doubt that some of the authors will review Spore at some point. I on the other hand, will not.

And mind you, not because of the anti-DRM movement here. I think the DRM here really sucks. But more to the fact of matter of… I just don’t really care for the game itself.

But this is definitely a step in the right direction. The series, Siren: Blood Curse will be released in three episodic packs. Each pack will have four episodes and will cost $15USD. If you buy all three packs, then it’ll cost $40USD which is a discount of $5USD. I would imagine that this game would come out on Bluray for somewhere around $50USD or more. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t really make buying online really worthwhile since you lose out on the packaging costs and don’t own the mediums.

If more games are released like this, then I can also see Sony actually releasing more hardware such as backup storage or harddrive upgrades and so on so forth. The more they push for DLC and price it right, the more people will be up for buying more of the hardware. It’s all but obvious where Sony would like to push for their strategy with their online shop, but the question is more of whether or not they can harness the price to do their bidding. And so far, I’ll have to say that I’m impressed.

Photo Credit: (Wikipedia)