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| News: music industry down, video game industry up up up... |
| Posted by: goodnightdean on Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:40 am |
Video game sales on winning streak, study projects
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The video game industry is expected to shoot from $41.9 billion in global sales last year to $68.3 billion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate of 10.3 percent and better than all other media sectors except for online advertising and access.
The data comes courtesy of the upcoming "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012" from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Console games, the largest category, will grow by 6.9 percent annually, from $24.9 billion last year to $34.7 billion in 2012.
Online and wireless games will grow the fastest at 16.9 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Online will jump from $6.6 billion last year to $14.4 billion in 2012, while wireless games go from $5.6 billion to $13.5 billion in the same frame.
Just behind those is the emerging video game advertising sector, which will go from the $1 billion level in 2007 to $2.3 billion in 2012, a 16.7 percent annual growth rate.
"That's phenomenal growth," said PwC partner Stefanie Kane -- especially considering that in-game advertising only works with certain kinds of games, sports being a primary example.
As has been the case, PC games are the laggards. That sector will fall 1.2 percent a year from 2007's $3.8 billion to $3.6 billion in 2012.
The U.S. also will lag a bit compared with global growth, with overall video game revenue growing by 7.9 percent annually, from $12.1 billion in 2007 to $17.7 billion in 2012.
As of the end of 2007 in the U.S., there was an installed base of 9 million Xbox 360 consoles, which Microsoft launched in November 2005. That was followed in the next-generation category by 7 million for Nintendo's Wii and 3 million for PlayStation 3, both of which were introduced in November 2006.
PwC cites several key factors in growing the video game industry, including:
* mobile phones capable of downloading games with sophisticated graphics and displaying them on relatively large screens;
* an online market driven by the increased penetration of broadband households;
* the increasing popularity of massively multiplayer online games that earn revenue through subscription fees and microtransactions.
PwC doesn't make projections for specific games, but Kane said that sequels historically have done extremely well, with top franchises being "Grand Theft Auto," "Halo," "Guitar Hero" and "Spider-Man."
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| Comments: 1 :: Read More - Comment |
| News: Ernest Serenella, RIP |
| Posted by: a cure for gravity on Thu May 15, 2008 5:00 pm |
I know this means nothing to anybody else here but I'm so pissed off that I'm posting it anyway.
Some of you may remember 3 years ago somebody posted Valentines greetings and I went off on an angry tangent about a friend of mine who was beaten and left for dead a few hours earlier. (No, I'm not willing to go in seach of that thread).
Anyway last night I called my brother Pat to wish him & his wife a happy 20 anniversary when he told me Ernest had finally died. An old roomy was supposed to keep me up on these things but hasn't been very good about it at all.
So today I looked up the information and got even angrier. If nothing else I'm glad he wasn't aware that his sister (who had power of attorney and is executor of his estate, though Ernest really, really hated her) let their house go at a tax sale and that it later burned down. The fire pisses me off more as I still had some things, including my MA thesis and the disk I wrote it on, as well as some dishes and other random stuff.
If nothing else the punks who killed him are now eligible for life but, quite honestly, that's not good enough for me. It always startles my friends, and particularly my left-leaning friends, that not only do I accept the death penalty philosophically but in fact would like to see it used more often. This is an outstanding example.
Ernest was funny and brilliant. He dropped out of school at 15 as he didn't care for it and, I imagine, as a rather goofy-looking chubby kid he probably put up with alot of grief. He could discuss opera and Bullwinkle with ease. He had a photographic memory so talking to him sometimes got confusing as he assumed whomever he was talking to knew the people under discussion. He read taxlaws like best selling novels. He loved American history and, had he a choice, that's what he would have done. Instead he ran the family grocery store and did very well until a couple employees screwed him into the ground. He was the kindest person I've ever known and, sadly, that worked against him in the end when the users and crooked city officials worked him over and finally, still surprising to me, broke him.
Anyway I know this means little to nothing to all of you but I do need to do this somewhere. And if the state does decide to plug these cocksuckers into the chair I'll be more than happy to pull the lever.
*************
May 1, 2008
3 may face murder charges after man in coma dies
By The Associated Press
MORGANTOWN -- The Monongalia County prosecutor is considering filing murder charges against three inmates convicted of beating a shop owner into a coma during a robbery in 2005.
Ernest Serenella, who has been unable to walk, speak or eat on his own since the February 2005 attack, died Monday.
Prosecutor Marcia Ashdown says she may pursue murder charges against James Brooks, Caleb Wiley and Michael T. Smith.
Now all 20 years of age, the three were teenagers when they beat Serenella during a robbery at the Morgantown Market.
Brooks and Smith are serving 47-55-year prison sentences. Smith got 36 years for his role in the crime.
Murder in the commission of a felony carries a life sentence.
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| Comments: 5 :: Read More - Comment |
| News: Pinkberry is PEOPLE! |
| Posted by: Steve on Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:39 am |
http://current.com/items/88919082_pinkberry_is_natural_lab_produced_toxic_syrup_eew
ok, not that bad, but still. natural?
"After a class-action lawsuit was filed last year accusing the company of deceptive marketing, Pinkberry posted ingredients on its Web site. But that got little notice until the case was settled two weeks ago. (The company said the lawsuit had nothing to do with the posting.)"
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"The ingredients list for Original Pinkberry has 23 items. Skim milk and nonfat yogurt are listed first, then three kinds of sugar: sucrose, fructose and dextrose. Fructose and maltodextrin, another ingredient, are both laboratory-produced ingredients extracted from corn syrup"
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The list includes at least five additives defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as emulsifiers (propylene glycol esters, lactoglycerides, sodium acid pyrophosphate, mono- and diglycerides); four acidifiers (magnesium oxide, calcium fumarate, citric acid, sodium citrate); tocopherol, a natural preservative; and two ingredients — starch and maltodextrin — that were characterized as fillers by Dr. Gary A. Reineccius, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota and an expert in food additives.
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Pinkberry announced its certification two weeks ago, just as a preliminary settlement was reached in the class action suit. While saying it had done nothing wrong, Pinkberry agreed to donate $750,000 to hunger and children’s charities, and to pay the plaintiff’s legal costs.
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“Personally, I would have preferred that the money go toward consumer advocacy against misleading food marketers,” said Ray Gallo, a lawyer for the plaintiff.
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| Comments: 6 :: Read More - Comment |
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