Jon Peddie Blogs

A Theory of Wiivolution

Posted by Ted Pollak on May 28th 2009 | Permalink
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The Wii SD; Factors for Success. There’s no question that the Nintendo Wii SD (the current standard definition Wii) has been a huge success. With sales of over 50 million units, it has almost single-handedly changed the video game industry by drawing people to gaming that probably would not have made the shift with the other offerings on the market. The more obvious factors that Nintendo had going for it were a very large and devoted fan base and the revolutionary controller. Nintendo’s ultra-fan base, consisting of some 20 million gamers, are people with such rabid brand enthusiasm that they are…

The Biggest Untapped Opportunity in Home Entertainment

Posted by Ted Pollak on May 17th 2009 | Permalink
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The biggest untapped opportunity in home entertainment is interactive television. I know I am not the first to say this but there seems to be a belief that iTV has a tech barrier around it, and that we are not “there yet” technologically. I believe there IS a currently achievable form of iTV and think the first logical step, which would be widely accepted, economically viable, and a true a paradigm shift in home entertainment, is an alternative data presentation screen, or overlay, for sports programming. This type of enhancement for television sports viewing could actually start right now, with no…

The Art of Marketing and Selling PC Gaming Hardware Internationally

Posted by Ted Pollak on February 8th 2009 | Permalink
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What actually makes a gaming PC? High power processors? No. Neon lights? No. The factor that actually makes it a gaming PC lies in the mind of the purchaser. It is a measure of influence and motivation which can be measured as a percentage of total purchase motivation. It is a key factor in our PC Gaming Hardware reports. Once a person influenced by games decides to purchase PC hardware, there is another very important factor which influences the equation. What hardware do they need to satisfy their gaming requirements? There is an art to making a PC attractive to gamers. It…

I love Stereovision – I hate stereovision

Posted by Jon Peddie on February 4th 2009 | Permalink
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I’m all for anything that will make gaming more fun. For the past ten years that has been primarily more better’er GPUs and APIs to be able to get at them. Great sound with true 5.1 positioning came online and added life to games around five years ago. About four years ago we began playing with better physics, and somewhere in the shadows of the PC gaming industry AI work was advancing too, but not as widely discussed. A sub set of the AI and physics was rag-doll and Natural Motion so the AI would behave more, ah, naturally. So what’s…

A Cellular Suggestion

Posted by Ted Pollak on November 15th 2008 | Permalink
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OK so I am pretty hard on the mobile game software industry. It’s important to understand that this is mostly directed at the revenue projections that the industry advertises. I remember going to an EA analyst day last year where billions were projected for casual mobile, yet EA Casual has now been disbanded those employees sent off on new paths. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Casual mobile phone games will eventually be free. The browser will dominate the interface of future phones, and once Flash is on there, pack your bags boys and girls, most pay-for-casual-mobile-phone-gaming will…

First Person Second

Posted by Ted Pollak on July 30th 2008 | Permalink
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Here’s an interesting chart Jon found which tracks the use of the term “Doom clone” versus “First Person Shooter” (FPS) It’s fascinating how the term FPS stuck, I mean Mist is an FPE (first person explorer), rFactor is a FPR (first person racer), FSX is a FPF (first person flyer) – why does the shooter get the acronym? As a representative of JPR, and thus a connoisseur of the pixel, I propose a petition to reclaim FPS to its rightful and appropriate place in history…. ....of course we are speaking of Frames Per Second. So the takeaway is to remember Frames…

Missed the Boat

Posted by Ted Pollak on June 28th 2008 | Permalink
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The loudest complainers about PC Gaming seem to have one thing in common - a failed strategy in this market.

Mobile Game Pricing

Posted by Ted Pollak on March 21st 2008 | Permalink
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If you compare software prices to the cost of developing console, PC, and mobile games, something seems to be out of whack. World of Warcraft costs about $50 million to develop and market, Call of Duty 4 – probably $20 million total, Gears of War $10 million to develop and a few more in marketing. The prices of these games range from $30 - $50 (barring subscription fees). By contrast many mobile games cost $50 - $250K to develop. So how can the mobile game industry expect people to pay $10-$20 a pop when as a percentage of development the value…

SLI on Skulltrail – how?

Posted by Jon Peddie on February 15th 2008 | Permalink
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That’s what I wanted to know – how’d you get SLI to work on the 5444 chipset. I asked the folks at Intel. I got shrugged shoulders and apologetic smiles. Not being coy, the people I was talking to just didn’t know, but did, in true (and almost always reliable) Intel fashion, promise to ask around and find out. I figured it was magic,  a little trickery maybe, but if it was, it wasn’t easy. It’s well known Intel doesn’t have an SLI license, but the Nvidia SLI control panel on the computer was operational in the Display Settings dialog box,…

What’s Apple’s next trick? Jon thinks it’s gamey

Posted by Jon Peddie on February 7th 2008 | Permalink
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Apple, which used to be known as Apple Computer, is today possibly one of the greatest consumer electronics companies in the universe. It’s interesting and admirable how the Mac transitioned from the computer of choice for artists and photographers to a consumers delight, and didn’t lose any of its artist photographer fans — in fact if anything, they are stronger and more convinced (vindicated?) than ever. Apple has created customer loyalty as great as Sony used to enjoy. It used to be Sony that was the one to bring out the marvelous new consumer products, and they charged more because they…