Friday, September 30, 2005

Cyan Closes Its Doors...Not So Fast, Gump



Back on September 6 I posted a blog entry about Myst game creator Cyan Worlds closing its doors. Check it out here.

Well, reporter Dean Takahashi's blog on the San Jose Mercury News site posted on Wednesday that Cyan had a "narrow escape of death" and that writing its obituary would be a bit premature. Snippet:

I was about to prepare the company's obituary. But Cyan isn't dead yet. I sent an e-mail off to Rand and he answered, "We've had a reprieve. Managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat (that I can't give details about yet), so we rehired almost everybody. Crazy industry. It's giving me whiplash!" This company has had an incredible run since Miller and his younger brother Robyn founded it in 1987. They created "The Manhole," the first game on a CD-ROM. And in 1991, they began work on Myst. They released it on Sept. 24, 1993, and they changed the gaming world.


Today, Cyan Audio Director Tim Larkin has an interview posted on his Music4Games.net site mentioning that Cyan is "going in a bit of a new direction." Check out the interview here.

Reviews of Myst V have been pretty positive. Guess I need to check it out.

Thanks to Joystiq for the links here and here.

-aB

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Thank Goodness for TiVo



Last night was the LSU vs. Tennessee game. The game was supposed to be played on Saturday, but concerns about Hurricane Rita delayed it until last night. (The delay caused several other "domino" issues as well, including UT having to travel to and from Baton Rouge yesterday, and also play an away football game against a #4 team on the same day, too.)

Needless to say it wasn't a good recipe for football. Last night I was frustrated more than I had ever been watching a football game in my life.

At halftime, the game was 21-0, with Tennessee unable to get the ball past their very own 35 yard line. Awful, awful football. Ainge, our starting quarterback, couldn't do squat.

I turned the game off at halftime, something I have almost never done before. Thankfully, TiVo'ed the game from that point forward.

This morning I wake up to see several messages on my cell phone, all posted past 11:00 pm. I knew what that meant. Before listening to the messages (knowing that something must have happened), I went down and watched the 4th quarter and overtime on the 'ole TiVo. Snippet from ESPN.com:

The LSU transfer led the Vols back from a three-touchdown deficit and Gerald Riggs Jr. pushed into the end zone from a yard out in overtime to give Tennessee a 30-27 win Monday night in LSU's long-awaited, hurricane-delayed home opener.


Well, I think we figured out the UT quarterback controversy for once and for all. Sorry, Ainge. It's Clausen v.2.0!

Hopefully, Tennessee can turn a new page here. While I know traveling down there and playing on the same day was tough, there is no excuse for the sloppy play we saw last night and basically throughout the first three games of the year.

-aB

Friday, September 23, 2005

Will Political Blogs Be Subject to Campaign Finance Rules?

Looks like the Federal Election Commission is looking into regulating blogs, according to this BusinessWeek Online story. Snippet:

Amid the explosion of political activity on the Internet, a federal court has instructed the six-member Federal Election Commission to draw up regulations that would extend the nation's campaign finance and spending limits to the Web.


Right now, Internet communication is exempt from the legislation. But with $14 million spent on Internet ads and other online marketing during the 2004 campaign, you can bet the FEC is going to want to get all over the blogosphere.

With 43% of the "Top 400" blogs tracked by the recent comSCORE research report being classified as political in topic, it doesn't take much to see the implications of this. How will the FEC define a political blog? How will it be enforced?

I think we can all agree that this will be coming down the pike, sooner or later. And the debate won't be pretty. First Amendment debates never are (nor should they be).

-aB

Clever Outdoor Advertising. Love it.



Via Joystiq, Aeropause abd a few other sites, here is a link to some pictures of a transit bulletin (bus stop) advertisement for the Sony PS2 in Malasia.

Along with the bus stop roof graphic (which is very nice), there are four large panels with hundreds/thousands of the the PS2 controller icons on them. That's cool, but the clever part is that the icons are actually printed on bubble wrap.

So it's thousands of little bubble wrap pockets, just waiting to be popped.

As Joystiq mentions, this would be bloody hell for some obsessive compulsive person waiting for the bus.

Love it. Very clever.

-aB

Thursday, September 22, 2005

$5 Petrol - Coming Soon to a Pump Near You?



Thought $5 per gallon gas was only in Europe? Think again. CNN reports that Katrina was only the opening act of the Gas Price Dance.

Rita was just dropped to a Category 4. That's good news. But it's still a very powerful storm. My prayers are with the coastal Texans and Louisianians, especially those already besieged by Katrina.

-aB

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

When the Pitch Becomes the Story

A work associate of mine, Nicholas Scibetta and I wrote the following piece for a monthly column on our corporate intranet. The column is called ".NEXT, the Bold New World of Media."

This month's column discusses an interesting change taking place today in PR firms and the media (including the blogosphere):

When the Pitch Becomes the Story

We’ve seen several examples over the past year of public relations professionals getting dinged by bloggers. Respected companies like American Express, Mazda and Dr. Pepper all received negative criticism when PR pros tried to unsuccessfully work with them. In general, the PR pros did two things wrong: They didn't fully disclose their clients' identity and they assumed incorrectly that bloggers lived by the same journalistic "code" as their mainstream media counterparts.

This unwritten code states that journalists will accept "off the record" comments as just that – off the record. The code also includes that reporters won't write about the "pitch," the actual act of marketing and presenting a story to a reporter.

Bloggers have proven that many of them don't adhere to this same code (and honestly, do they have to?). They often publish off the record statements in their posts and discuss the actual story pitch process. But traditional journalists still adhere to the code on their personal blogs, right? Wrong.

We know examples of journalists who have honored a media embargo with their traditional print publication, but posted the same story on their blog hours before the embargo was lifted. We know examples of reporters writing a balanced story for their employers' publications, but then writing different versions of the same story on their personal blog. This "inside baseball" is something we need to consider in public relations.

Journalist blogs have certainly created more transparency in the newsroom. Take Brian William's blog, "The Daily Nightly." Here, Brian writes daily about the goings on at NBC News, even providing us insight on how the day’s leading stories are selected. On his blog, Brian provides a glimpse of the editorial process to put The Nightly News together, including behind-the-scenes conversations between producers as to why and why not certain stories made it to air or didn't. Many newspaper outlets are encouraging their editors to write more about the why they cover what they do and how they go about doing it.

A recent story in The New York Times discusses how papers in the McClatchy Group, which owns the Sacramento Bee, The Star-Tribune(MN), and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., are "undertaking 'accuracy audits' in which they survey people who appeared in articles to see if they were represented properly." Going even a step further, "some papers have invited citizens to sit in on their Page 1 meetings." CBS News' recently launched website features an ombudsman charged with, among other tasks, answering viewer questions about the workings of the news division.

This trend of "full disclosure" can be closely associated with the media's desire for the appearance of transparency and attempt to remain "sticky" with their current viewers/readers, while also attracting new ones. Living through the recent scandals involving the accuracy of quotes and existence of actual inside expert sources has put media somewhat on the defensive. This trend is certainly exciting. It's fun to have a view into the editorial process. But as public relations professionals, it should give us pause. It changes the rules. This isn't necessarily a bad thing – but it’s something we need to be ready for.

We need to ensure that our "pitch" can be distributed. We need to ensure that any additional background information that we give to a reporter can be published – either in the traditional publication or on their personal blog. And we might even want to consider the reporter's personal opinions and stance when we pitch them. While most journalists will work to deliver a balanced piece to their editor (as they are obligated to do), their personal blog, which might have a sizeable audience of its own, may share a different story (again, that's the reporter's discretion). Do the research, understanding the reporter's leanings can help you land a pitch and quite possibly prevent you from putting your client in a potentially adverse situation.

So the takeaway for today? Always pretend that you’re pitching Don Imus – someone famous for broadcasting the PR "pitch" as much as the story itself.


-aB

Thursday, September 15, 2005

REUTERS: Proof That The President Pees



This image, with the following slug, went out on the Reuters wire today:

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. REUTERS/Rick Wilking


Surprise! Presidents pee, too. They also eat, brush, floss, scratch, poop and probably sing in the shower. And, according to our former President Carter, they also "lust in their heart."

No matter which side of the political fence you stand on, it’s pretty obvious the objective of this wire release and its bias. What's the journalistic purpose of this story? Did we not realize that the President had bodily needs before this important news story?

I’m just curious why we didn’t see a photo wire release like this about six years ago…



Just having fun with the camera phone.

-aB

Monday, September 12, 2005

Bypass That Customer No-Service Phone Tree...



Tired of the ridiculous IVR phone trees and other firey hoops you have to jump through to speak to a live human anymore? Me, too.

That's why I was very excited to come across this "Find-A-Human" Web page, listing the "back doors" and other secrets to quickly speak to a live human at about 60 businesses.

The tactic recommended for Cingular - to pretend like you're cancelling the service to get a live human IMMEDIATELY is one that I figured out a long time ago and have used successfully for Comcast, Chemlawn, and Chase. They all go to the same customer service operators - it's just a matter of where you are placed in queue.

Good site!

-aB

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

NerdTV



I've always been a fan of Robert X. Cringely's books and specials on PBS. He has a new show, called NerdTV that, in his words is the "Charlie Rose for geeks."

The NerdTV Web site provides video of the entire shows, transcripts and MP3 files of the shows, all under a Creative Commons license. Pretty neat stuff. Snippet:

NerdTV is distributed under a Creative Commons license so viewers can legally share the shows with their friends and even edit their own versions. If not THE future of television, NerdTV represents A future of television for niche audiences that have deep interest in certain topics.


This week's show is an interview with Andy Hertzfeld. Andy was the original Macintosh systems programmer and someone I'm a pretty big fan of. I blogged on Andy's book, Revolution in the Valley - The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made here on GumpRants.com on April 28. Take a listen to Andy's interview, and check out the book here.

Good stuff.

-aB

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Myst Creator Cyan Closes Its Doors



Remember Myst? I do. I remember purchasing a copy of this game when I was still in college, right before finals (very, very bad idea). It was the first computer game that so captivated me that I remember playing for 12 or so hours straight. I was enthralled by it, not only by the game itself, but by the idea that you could become so immersed in what really was just a highly rendered slide show. It was eye candy, on a whole new level. And a demonstration that good content trumps almost everything else.

(Aside: I wasn't the only one enthralled by Myst. It ended up selling over 12 million copies and being the top-selling PC game of all-time until The Sims came around a few years ago.)

Myst producer Cyan closed it's doors on Friday, a few weeks before Myst V hits the shelves.

So, why is the creator of one of the best selling games of all-time closing? My rant is that Cyan didn't keep up with the technology evolution in PC gaming, something that changes even faster than Moore's Law. The Myst successors like Riven and Uru were good games, but still not 3D-based, years after full-screen animation began to be the expected norm for PC-based video games. Now it wasn't only Cyan and Myst that didn't keep up - the entire "adventure game" genre was impacted the same way.

Also, Cyan really didn't stray far enough from the Myst franchise. All of their games were Myst-based - all sequels. The Myst franchise got tired (not a huge surprise after twelve years) and they didn't have any other game brands (or seemingly ideas) to fall back upon.

So long, Cyan.



-aB

Friday, September 02, 2005

Corporate Generosity



I'm usually not a fan of Wal-Mart, but this announcement changes that:

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 1 - Following President Bush's announcement today that former Presidents Bush and Clinton will lead a nationwide fundraising effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott contacted President Clinton and the White House and committed $15 million from Wal-Mart to jump-start the effort.

As part of this commitment, Wal-Mart will establish mini-Wal-Mart stores in areas impacted by the hurricane. Items such as clothing, diapers, baby wipes, food, formula, toothbrushes, bedding and water will be given out free of charge to those with a demonstrated need.

Wal-Mart previously donated $2 million in cash to aid emergency relief efforts and has been collecting contributions at its 3,800 stores and CLUBS, and through its web sites www.walmartfacts.com, www.walmart.com, www.walmartfoundation.org, www.walmartstores.com and www.samsclub.com.

Through its Associate Disaster Relief Fund, the company will also give displaced associates immediate funds for shelter, food, clothing and other necessities.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S CLUBS in all fifty states. Internationally, the company operates in Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Argentina and South Korea. The company's securities are listed on the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under the symbol WMT.


Remember, you can give too, at www.RedCross.org.

The Gulf Coast needs our prayers and financial support.

-aB