It seems like every time that a product or service hits it big - like the iPod, MySpace, or Craig’s List, hundreds of other companies or individuals try to copy the idea. Most of the time copycat products never do as well as the original did. Yet, even when the copycat product improves on the idea, it still doesn’t seem to catch on in the same way that the original did.

How does this happen? Well the reasons for copycatting are obvious enough. If something is successful, then people want in on the money and the success. Then, the obvious thing that people do is take the original product and make it better and cheaper. Conventional wisdom says that this should work. However, it doesn’t work and a whole generation or two of so-called “iPod killers” has proved this. You can’t just slap on new features and unseat the iPod or MySpace or Craig’s List. It just won’t work! (more…)

Accoriding to Reuters Sony plans on its game division losing 100 billion yen, or roughly 900 million dollars. Most of this has to do with the PS3 launching this year. Now, this begs the question: how much does Sony plan on losing per console? (more…)

Hello all! For those of you who read blogcritics.org, you might have seen the Halo 3 / Halo Online post I made about a month ago show up there. It was basically a reprint of the origninal article, but once again it got a pretty good response. Anyhow, I’ve joined the sinister cabal of elite bloggers known as blogcritcs. How cool is that? Now I get to infest a sinister cabal with my sinister rumors! Wooohooo!!! Seriously, I’m pretty excited about this. It will definately be a great opportunity to improve on my writing and maybe even get some more visitors here. Either way, check out blogcritics.org. It’s a cool site with lots of great people blogging for them.

Right now everyone is trying to figure out the HD-DVD and Blu-ray battle before any products even hit the market. Ironically, both Blu-ray and HD-DVD have seen endless delays. Sure, techies and journalists love to blog about the virtues of both formats, but do consumers care? (more…)

I suppose since every other blog on the face of the planet is buzzing with this fantastic news, I should say something. Yes, now the Mac can run Windows XP and Apple is supporting it. How cool is that? It’s pretty cool. It’s phenominal. It’s outrageous. It’s the best version of Windows XP ever. *drinks more kool-aid* OOOHHHHHH YEAH!!!!!!

It seems like every time you turn around Sony is pimping some new format that is meant to change our life, or perhaps just Sony’s bottom line. Yet Sony, more than any other company I know of, seems to be consistantly hell-bent on creating a new format for every device they create. At the same time the failure rate of these formats is extremely high and very well known. When I hear Betamax, MiniDisc, and UMD almost by default my eyes glaze over and I think what might have been. I sypmathize with Sony because they create some really awesome technology, but the more I look at Sony, the more I see a company who doesn’t even understand its own success. (more…)

According to Reuters, Google is raising $2.1 billion in a new stock offering by offering to sell 5.3 million shares of what was not so long ago the hottest stock out there. Now, as soon as I found out about this, the first thing I thought was, how in the hell is Google going to spend another $2 billion? Rob Hof over at Business Week thinks that maybe it could be to buy Facebook, which supposedly turned down $750 million and is seeking $2 billion. Now, the numbers do match up as far as Google having $2 billion and Facebook wanting $2 billion, but what would the real motive be?

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So, this week we found out that the consumer version of Windows Vista is going to be late. It probably won’t ship until January or February. Yep, right after the holiday season. I’m sure Dell and others aren’t too happy about this. At the same time, an article came out this week stating that Microsoft has to rewrite 60% of the media center code and that they are scrambling Xbox programmers to the task. The same day that seemingly every tech news blog reported that, Microsoft came out in public to throw the b.s. flag. I for one am glad that they did so to what was obviously a huge lie. (more…)

CVG reported on a couple rumors yesterday. First, the Nintendo Revolution is going to get renamed this week at the Game Developer’s Confrence. That makes a lot of sense to me and it’s only a matter of time. Second, that the Revolution could launch in June. That’s right, June. (more…)

The Mercury News is reporting that Microsoft is working on a portable game system based around the Xbox brand. It’s being assumed that this portable gaming device is going to be some kind of iPod/PSP/DS killer. I really just don’t think that Microsoft can pull it off. Wait, let me rephrase that. I sincerely hope that Microsoft doesn’t rip off the PSP or the iPod because if Microsoft does that, the Xbox Portable would be a failure. The iPod is great because of the fantastic iTunes integration and a super-simple interface. It’s does all the important things right and is a huge success because of it. Competitors who have tried to kill the iPod have failed because they tried to do the whole bigger is better/more features thing that just doesn’t work in consumer electronics.

The PSP is successful because of the Playstation brand and that’s it. There are a handfull of games that are good, but it’s mostly overpriced trash rehashed from the PS2. To combat the lack of real games Sony has opted for a media strategy with the PSP. Make it do everything other than games and people will love it. Where this strategy falls short is that it doesn’t do music as well as the iPod and it doesn’t do games as well as the Nintendo DS. In most respects I think that the PSP is a pretty weak product among gamers. I and I’m sure many others don’t even use mine anymore and am waiting for the Nintendo DS Lite. The hottest thing to do on a PSP is to play emulated (and illegal) copies of old Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. Even UMD sales are slowing to a halt.

Microsoft, take notice of these facts. You need to create a device that capitalizes on the coolest innovation that you’ve created in gaming - The Xbox Live Arcade. Don’t try to do what Sony has done and made a portable PS2. Instead, make a cool device that plays Xbox Live Arcade style games - fun games that I can pick up and play for a few minutes and stop as needed. Geometry Wars on a portable console would be incredible. Gamers don’t want to play through an hour long Halo level on a portable gaming machine. Gamers want quick fun that they can put down at a moment’s notice. If gamers have to spend ten minutes getting to a save point, then you’ve already lost the battle. Take a page out of Nintendo’s playbook. Make the Xbox Portable cheap, make it have some killer games, and make it “portable fun” instead of living room fun. After all, the Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP, DS, DS Lite are the gaming machines that are on top, not the PSP.