Entertainment Technology Advisor

Hi all,
We’ve taken Entertainment Technology Advisor to a new format - one that allows any-time posting and brings Acacia into the much vaunted ‘blogosphere’. Welcome to Web 2.0!
M

Ed: BTW, you can still access the previous newsletter-format issues of ETA at the following links: Issue 1 | Issue 2 | Issue 3

Hi all,
So, the nice thing about a blog format is that your posts don’t have to ‘rise to the level of a newsletter story.’ Accordingly I figured I’d drop down some thoughts on our recent visits to GDC:06 and E3.

E3 was actually a bit of a let down this year. Lots of sound and fury, and only a few games I’d actually play - though I’ll concede that I’m not really the target market anymore. Apart from a few spit-and-polish titles from the usual suspects, some of the most interesting work was from new entrants. We’re not really here to review games, though, so I’d better stick to the meat.

In our ‘informal’, on-the-floor surveys of developers about middleware we were surprised to hear how few admit to using (or even want to use) high-level middleware. These are the people-in-the-trenches, the folks who still fancy they can build it better and more cheaply than you, dear supplier of game technologies. Good thing for you they’re not the deciders (sic).

Now, when you get down to the details, most reluctantly conceded that they were, in fact, using all kinds of middleware:

Us: “So, what middleware products were used in developing this title?”
Them: “Um, well, we pretty much built it all ourselves.”
Us: “Oh, what about vegetation? I thought maybe that looked a bit like SpeedTree.”
Them: “Yeah, actually, we are using that. It’s really cool because…”
Us: “Cool. What about physics? Built your own system from the ground-up?”
Them: “Oh, no. That’s right, we’re using Havok for that”
Us: “Well, what about…”

And so on. Go a little deeper and you’ll find that most are using third-party solutions for pretty much all of their low-level functionality, with RAD, Dolby, and others figuring prominently. Similarly, almost all are using networking products from companies such as GameSpy.

So, what the heck’s my point? I actually think it’s a good thing for middleware suppliers that a lot of developers are no longer even questioning these low- to mid-level intrusions into what used to be their exclusive domain: developing cool stuff and twiddling bits until the wee hours of the evening. The dinos will die off and, I think, it might not even take a New York-sized meteor to make it happen - just five or ten more years.

We’ve come a long way since the turn of the century. I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren, who will all be budding interactive developers, about the time I was laughed at by a roomfull of GDC:99 developers for suggesting future games wouldn’t have to be built entirely by hand.

Speaking of GDC. There was, of course, some very cool stuff - too much to mention right now.

I’d like to officially congratulate the people at SpeedTree/IDV for winning Acacia’s Most Developer Butt Kicked award. Actually, there’s no such thing but, if there was, we’d give it to them. Tons of new titles and every one of them looks better for choosing SpeedTree. If you haven’t played it yet check out Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - it’s absolutely beautiful. Of course we’ve also got to recognize the engine behind that one, Gamebryo from Emergent. At GDC:06, Emergent also showed off Gamebryo Element, which introduces some nice new tools, metrics, and automation functionality to that development suite.

Finally, and to end this long post, I’d like to give a nod to the physics and AI folks at the show. There’s been a lot of M&A and product development activity on the AI scene and Engenuity, Kynogon, and others are doing some cool stuff. In physics, both AGEIA and Havok had some great demos going - taking physics to the massive level with hardware acceleration and slightly into the domain of AI with behavior modeling. Oh, and then there was NaturalMotion’s endorphin…right, I was ending the post.
More later,
M

Hi all,

A relative newcomer to the device software technology scene, Encirq recently took some time to give us a tour of their data management technology. Their software development framework is intended to address the growing data management challenges faced by device software development teams over the last decade. The two application areas we touched on in our discussion were digital television and mobile handsets.

Their most vivid example of where a data framework could have a huge impact is the interactive program guide. Anyone who has attempted to search a typical IPG has, no-doubt, experienced problems. The minor of which might be annoying delays in navigation. The major of which might be that each data source has to be searched separately (i.e. the viewer conducts a VOD search, then a DVR search, then a broadcast feed search, and if you are one of those rare people with a home network included that is yet another data source to be searched).

Encirq’s Data Foundation Framework takes aim at such challenges with a software development framework and run-time services that they say simplify creating applications, increase their performance and add intelligence to the device. Although the markets are quite different, the underlying data management problems in digital set top boxes and mobile handsets share many common characteristics. This allows the company to aim its solution at both by addressing the need to manage growing amounts of data with the limited amount of processing power and the limited amount of memory inherent in both device categories. By providing software that allows developers to build applications that integrate and manage more data within the device’s limited resources, some of the company’s early customers have seen incredible results in terms of reduced development time, higher performance and minimized bill of materials costs. Encirq backs up their claims with customer information that says they have been able to reduce the amount of application memory required by over 45%. Developers have also claimed better efficiency such as lines of code for a mobile application going from above 4000 to approximately 750.

Encirq has its work cut out for it. The software development framework concept is certainly compelling as a way to reduce development cost and time, but as with any new technology they have to convince some conservative organizations that using yet another technology is going to help them make money. It is not going out on a limb to say that we expect the wireless market to be the leaders in taking up the device data framework concept –whether it is with Encirq or another provider – rather than pay television operators. We’ll be following Encirq closely to see how open pay television operators are to leveraging newer technologies to streamline delivery of enhanced applications and services.

Christine

Hi all,
In my last post I mentioned the wonders I beheld at GDC:06. Among the nicest were the physics demos so I thought I’d spend a couple of minutes on that.

Physics at the show was all about hardware - well, there were some other topics covered but hardware was the star. Any time you have to take a set of data and process it to arrive at a transformed set of data you have to think about whether that process could be accelerated in hardware. The bigger the set and the more times per second you have to process it the better.

Hardware acceleration is a given now for graphics, with millions of vertices passing through the GPU every second. Physics, AI, and modeled audio are just a few of the other typical game processes that might also benefit. This is not a new concept, of course, but its nice to begin to see it in action.

AGEIA
At GDC:06 AGEIA announced that its PhysX processor was shipping, with design wins through Alienware, Dell, and Falcon Northwest and upcoming add-in boards from ASUS and BFG. The AGEIA physics processing unit (PPU) is a specialized accelerator that provides a hardware pipeline for physics.

Developers access the pipeline via the PhysX API. While there’s a licensing fee to use the API by itself, it’s free if the developer agrees to support the AGEIA hardware, join in co-marketing, etc. According to AGEIA the API includes systems for rigid bodies, particles, fluid, cloth and clothing, character control, and simple vehicle dynamics.

As of my most recent check the company lists nine available enabled titles, with about 16 more upcoming - and company boilerplate notes that more than 60 developers are working with the technology. At the show I was able to play with the CellFactor demo a bit and the thing was certainly impressive; especially what I will forever lovingly call the ‘gravity gun’.

HAVOK
Not to be outdone, Havok announced Havok 4.0 at the show. The new version features some very nice tidbits such as Havok Behavior - a new system for composing and previewing complex character movement and interaction - and Havok FX - a (surprise) hardware-based processing pipeline for in-game physics.

Havok FX pushes its processing through existing GPUs, at least those capable of Shader Model 3. At the show the company was demoing the new system at the NVIDIA booth, running on a second, linked, graphics card and the performance was impressive. Of course, if you don’t happen to have two cards you don’t get quite the show.

FX is very cool though, honestly, it almost seemed as if the company sort of rushed to put the system together as a GDC demo to answer the inevitable question about whether Havok would be hardware accelerated at some point. I do believe, however, that the company will continue to make strides down the acceleration path and, by GDC:07, we’ll be seeing even more physics goodness from Havok.

BTW, not intending to disrespect Havok with the previous statement - clearly their tech guys and the NVidia guys put a lot of work into the technology they previewed at the show. My comment was more intended to point out that there’s a lot more than can (and probably will) be done. And, no, nobody from the company complained I just thought I should clarify.

This is possibly the good bit…
After the show one of my first thoughts was, well, gee, it’d sure make sense if maybe NVIDIA were to think about picking up Havok during its next round of acquisitions. It would certainly be a good way to differentiate its product offerings from the other guys. Of course that might, I thought, lead to a possible purchase of AGEIA by ATI as a quick way to pick up the core technologies.

It would be a cloudy crystal ball indeed that didn’t show that these guys need stuff like this to continue pushing demand for silicon. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see NVIDIA pick up either Havok or AGEIA at this point. ATI, post the recently announced acquisition, is less likely to do so these days - that’s complete conjecture on my part, of course.

Some day maybe I can point back at this post and toot my own horn about how prophetic I was. If not, I’ll just pretend I never wrote it .
More later,
M

Hi all,
Guess I’m not the only one that thought that E3 2006 was a little lackluster. Today the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced that E3 2007 will pretty well ditch its big-money, big-hype exposition component in favor of a “more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities". Big surprise.

That has been the real deal at E3 for quite some time, of course, and the expo has long been pretty much ‘bread and circuses’ for the unwashed masses. The real work of the show, meanwhile, taking place behind the scenes in the ’secret’ meeting rooms and hospitality suites that expo-goers and normal media rarely get to see.

Expos are important when you have a lot of vendors and/or a lot of outlets that need to get together to discuss deals and exchange contact information for later followup. When industries consolidate the usefulness of the format begins to evaporate: witness Comdex, the Western Cable Show, and many others for past precedent.

When there are a handful of main publishers dealing with a handful of main distributors most of their communications can be handled by a long day of phone calls - of course it’s always good to get together for a nice face-to-face and some after-show drinks (I know some of the wooing goes beyond that, but hey, this is a family-friendly site.)
More later,
M

Hi all,
I was a little surprised to read today that The Game Creators has added support for AGEIA’s PhysX physics processor to its DarkBASIC Professional product. Never heard of it? It is, in amateur developer circles anyway, a pretty well-known compiled BASIC language - with support for 2D and 3D graphics (even rudimentary shaders), audio, input, networking, etc. The language itself is a bit ideosyncratic but it is actually pretty powerful. As an occasional user I’ve made a couple of ‘interactive dioramas’ with DarkBASIC but the TGC user base has turned out some fairly impressive demos and games.

A lot of you in the professional development space are probably wondering why the heck I’m even bothering writing about this. I’ll tell you. Because the amateur market isn’t entirely insignificant and a good living can be had for a smaller company with the right strategies (which TGC definitely has). A couple of years ago we published a market study on amateur/independent game development. If we’re still on track with our original projections, revenue from content and code tools should be just topping $40 million this year.

And, I think we’re still on track.

Why? Because no one has really stepped up to the plate to change the way the game is played in any significant way. $40 mil. isn’t a lot of money, to be sure, but we think that figure could be a whole lot more with the right products, pricing, and marketing. The big guys occasionally dabble: Autodesk/discreet’s GMax, Caligari’s gameSpace, etc. Even so, they’ve all managed to take a fundamentally incorrect approach - looking at products for the market either as training-wheel-ware with no true here-and-now useability or simply splitting off product-light versions from their real code base, with no real support. We won’t even talk about pricing decisions.

Emergent’s John Austin and others have predicted a time when tools and middleware will offer the ability for non-rocket scientists to make a game. I agree. But, and it’s a big one, someone’s got to start looking at democratizing the technologies for more than a handful of people to ever get their hands on this kind of power.
More later,
M

A little follow-up: Looks like some TGC forum members have their knickers in a twist trying to understand the AGEIA licensing guidelines, though a TGC rep notes that there will soon be some official explanation on the AGEIA site. Hopefully this will address how indy shareware developers can qualify to sell titles that use Dark Physics with hardware support. If nothing else, though, many of the posts show the difficulties a toolmaker can face when working with the amateur/indy community. It’s hard to know when to take the views seriously and when to tell them to RTFM (or STFU as the case may be.)

Hi all,
I sat out SIGGRAPH this year. Hate missing the show but the non-L.A. events always seem a little deflated. New Orleans was fun but, then again, that’s probably because it was in New Orleans. San Antonio, not so great. Orlando, a few years back, was okay I guess. Maybe my enthusiasm for trade shows in general is waning because I haven’t even checked to see if the event will be in L.A. next year. I imagine so, and I’ll probably go if it is.

Nevertheless there were a few notable announcements. Here’s a few:

Updated 3D tools:
Luxology: Modo 202
Autodesk/Alias: Maya 8
Autodesk/discreet: 3ds Max 9
Avid/Softimage: Face Robot & others
NaturalMotion: morpheme [pdf Release]

Misc:
NVIDIA: Quadro Plex | NVSG Scene Graph | Gelato
Khronos Group: OpenGL 2.1 Spec | ARB Handover | New Members | Collada Support
VICON: VICON MX

Oh, I know, I probably missed a couple - but please note that the *.01 upgrade announcements were deliberately excluded from the list above.
More later,
M

Hi all,
Digging around the tech news yesterday I came across Sony’s mylo announcement. mylo is Sony’s cute little acronym for ‘my life online’ (and that is the name of an upcoming teen drama on the CW - just kidding). otis, of course, stands for ‘oh this is stupid’ (but feel free to replace the ’s’ with whatever word you like).

mylo is a personal communications device that allows the user to connect to available WiFi networks to send e-mail, IM, surf, play music, etc. The pocket-sized form factor includes a 2.4″ color LCD screen and a slide-out standard keyboard (small, of course). Software-wise, mylo will include Google Talk, Y! Messenger, and Skype. mylo, in short, seems like the perfect answer to the whatever-generation-letter-we’re-on-now lifestyle. But, there are a couple of possible barriers to making mylo a real winner in the marketplace.

The first is price. Sony says mylo will be available in September at sonystyle.com and Sony Style retail locations for around $350 - which is quite a price tag considering the device’s intended market.

The second is functionality. Most of the needs soothed by mylo are already being supplied by other devices: phones, BlackBerry and clones, iPods and other digital media gadgets. And, these other gadgets provide functionality missed out on by mylo: true network service, massive onboard storage, and so forth.

So, is mylo otis? Well just as iPod put a loveable face on digital music players (which DID in fact exist prior to its introduction) mylo just might bring some personality to personal communicators. Apple, as you know, is a master at branding - and so is Sony. If the company does its homework it just may have a product that it can evolve into the must-have platform for the latest plugged-in generation.

Now, Sony, we just gotta have a talk about that name. Let’s see: Walkman, Playstation, mylo. Ah, who knows, maybe it’ll be big with the kids…
More later,
M

Hi all,
ESA president Douglas Lowenstein recently gave a public response to House Resolution 5912, proposed by rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL-6). You can read his comments for yourself but they’re pretty much what you’d expect, especially with regard to Section 2(1) RATING GAME ONLY ON PARTIAL CONTENT.

At a glance H.R. 5912 looks like a pretty reasonable suggestion (it’s also miraculously brief and readable): 1) If you’re going to rate a game you should know what’s in it, 2) If you’re submitting a game for rating you shouldn’t hide any of the stuff that should be rated, and 3) If you rate a game you shouldn’t lie about what is in it.

Wow! All legislation should be this clear-headed. But, wait, I must be missing something. What exactly is the point of this proposal? To assign blame should something go wrong? I guess the infamous example is the Rockstar/Take Two debacle, where there was some hidden content (requiring an unauthorized patch to view) that raters didn’t see. But, it seems to me that this is already covered by the ESRB’s enforcement rules:

As the game industry’s self-regulatory body, ESRB is responsible for the enforcement of its rating system. Every publisher of a game rated by the ESRB is legally bound to disclose all pertinent content when submitting the game for an ESRB rating. After a game is publicly released, ESRB testers review the final product to ensure that all pertinent content was fully disclosed. In the event that material that would have affected the assignment of a rating or content descriptor is found to have not been disclosed, the ESRB is empowered to compel corrective actions and impose a wide range of sanctions, including monetary fines. Corrective actions can include pulling advertising until ratings information can be corrected, re-stickering packaging with correct ratings information, recalling the product, and other steps the publisher must take.

So the legislation proposed by Cliff Stearns, a good Republican by all accounts and his own voting record, seems somehow redundant; duplicating established industry effort and necessitating additional taxpayer expenditure for re-enforcement of already-enforced strictures. This doesn’t make much sense to me.

Ratings are a good idea but, really, they’re just a guideline for game purchasers to make intelligent decisions about the products they’re putting in the cart. I’m not aware of a recent mass of misrated titles. If you are aware of some please enlighten me because I missed them.

Honestly, if someone bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (see cover at right), which bore an ESRB rating of M (Mature), expecting a game the family could enjoy together on Saturday nights under the warm glow of the television then that person should really get a subscription to Parenting Magazine.

In my opinion, the industry has already policed itself and is doing a good job of providing guidance on the content of its products - and H.R. 5912 seems like a royal waste of time and money at a juncture when our country’s legislative bodies have much bigger fish to fry. Let’s keep the priorities in focus a little guys. Whad’ya say?
More Later,
M

Hi all,
Microsoft has been doing some great things for the amateur/independent scene lately. The latest good news from the software giant is the release of XNA Game Studio Express, announced by Chris Satchell at Gamefest 2006. The product will be available as a free download at the end of August, and be shipping in final form by the “holiday season". [visit XNA Developer Center for more info]

Microsoft seriously hypes the intro in its materials (with phrases like “The Beginning of the Game Developer Revolution) but the announcement does have some great implications for aspiring developers who don’t have the dosh to get onboard the console development bandwagon through traditional channels.

Alongside the Microsoft announcement, GarageGames announced that it has migrated both Torque Shader Engine (TSE) and Torque Game Builder (TGB) (2D) to the platform. [edit: my mistake - that should read “will migrate", Torque X is still in development and no release date has been specified.]

That addition alone brings a lot of indies to the table. TSE, forum flak aside, is an easy-to-use engine - providing simple scriptable or deep programmatic access, depending on your desires. Seriously, if I can make it work then a developer with just a little bit of drive can get a game up and running pretty quickly. The newer TGB, though I haven’t used it myself, looks pretty sweet too if the walkthrough a GG staffer gave me at GDC is any indication.

Developers won’t be creating commercial titles for the 360 for a bit though - that will have to wait until the company releases XNA Game Studio Professional in the spring of 2007. In fact, although the Express version of the product is free, developers will need to join the XNA “Creator’s Club” membership to develop, debug, and play games on the console ($99/year or $49/four months). Also, for now, games can only be shared with other XNA Creator’s Club members - and you must send the whole package (source and assets), not just binaries.

Looking at the FAQ on the XNA Developer Center site it looks like Microsoft is well aware of many of the issues facing this first toe in the water (little things like the fact that you can’t really share, let alone sell, your games) and there seems to be a plan for addressing these in future releases. If the company can work out the kinks the initiative looks promising - and, even if only a handful of quality indie games eventually appear on Xbox Live through the program, it might even see some good payback down the road.

I personally look forward to playing with it a bit - be nice to get a good old-school version of Asteroids running on all that fine hardware.
More Later,
M

Hi All,
Little problem with our hosting service for the past day or so. Seems some ‘network issues’ were preventing an entire block of IP addresses used by our provider from being seen by the rest of the world. Our site is back now - hopefully for good. Oddly, e-mail is still down. Welcome to Web2.0!
M

I think we can all agree that there is a lot of “me too” going on in the world of game promotion. We would not be inundated with sequels and licensed content from Hollywood if the game industry were not so set on doing the same thing over and over. Who can blame them, it has worked so far. I think we can also all agree that the game market would be expanding a lot faster if there was some creative thinking going on in the world of game promotion. Not to bag on the marketers, I know they can only market what they are given. However, it does seem that there is some creativity flowing in the casual games market.

Big Fish Games announced today a new promotional strategy that allows its own customers to make money by promoting their favorite games to a network of friends. This company sat down and thought it out. They have marketed, promoted, advertised and otherwise made every effort to get their games in front of the consumer, and judging by the numbers we talked about they have been very successful. Then they asked themselves, what is the next step in growing our business? The answer they came up with is their customers. It is a logical step. With a loyal customer base that gives the company and its games high marks wouldn’t they be a great asset in getting others to join in?

The My Big Fish games announcement is a rewards program that allows users to create their own “Game Space” on the My Big Fish web site. The player can then write reviews, make recommendations, and invite friends to join in. When a friend makes a purchase the first person gets a 25% commission. If that friend brings in more people, the first person then gets paid the equivalent of 25% of the commission the second person earned and so on.

The company acknowledges the potential problems that could arise by creating a network of consumer salespeople. They are under no illusions that there are some negative connotations to the set up. However, in an industry that has seemingly become allergic to risk, Big Fish is one of the few companies stepping up to develop strategies to expand the market beyond the traditional demographic and into new and potentially lucrative markets.

Imagine if instead of IGN, Gamestop and the myriad gaming magazines writing reviews of video games, each player could write their own review. Then they might recommend the games to their own network of friends with they help technology enabled by a game publisher. Instead of courting journalists to edge of ethical standards, and hoping that makes for good reviews at the time of launch, a whole network of game fans could be promoting the game. This might even lead to gamers bringing non-gamers into the fold. The industry can’t seem to do it so maybe gamers could. The risk is that bad games would die quickly, and perhaps publishers don’t want consumers to know a game is bad before they make their money back. But like I said, it seems like risk is a virus to be avoided at all costs these days.
Christine

When Microsoft announced last month that Electronic Arts’ FIFA 07 and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 6 would be exclusive on the Xbox 360 for twelve months there was a collective yawn from the U.S.

Pundits who are trying to handicap the video game console race didn’t seem to think much of it. The announcement takes on new importance with Sony delaying the European PS3 launch until March 2007.

Had that launch date been met the damage could have been minimized. European PS2 loyalists might have been satisfied to entertain themselves with the PS3 launch library, and happily waited for the exclusivity to run out. Now there will be no titles and no units for a few months longer.

As we build our updated console forecast we have to reassess what this means to the market. We were confident Sony could hold off Microsoft over the long term particularly in Europe. But this delay is even more damaging than the previous delays. This opens the European market to Microsoft.

Reducing the number of units to the U.S. market might increase its “cool” and make it a “must have” item. But many parents will make purchase decisions based on price and availability, making the reduction in unit numbers a huge plus for Microsoft.

The diode in the Blu-ray laser is said to be the culprit behind the delay. It is easy to understand the long term strategic thinking in making sure the PS3 launches with the promised Blu-ray drive. It is part of a broader Sony strategy to promote the technology.

However, video game consumers are not concerned with long term strategy, or whether the machine can play movies with the latest technology. At its heart the PS3 is game machine and its users are gamers not movie enthusiasts. The Blu-ray drive should be pushed to the high-end DVD market, not the video game market. It is a huge red flag amongst all of the other red flags from Sony. Has the company lost sight of who the buyer is? If it refuses to rethink the movie technology on its game machine, maybe so.
Christine

Hi all,
Due to spammers we’ve had to turn off commenting until we can find an anti-spam system that works. In the meantime we still welcome your comments. Just send an e-mail with your comment and the story you’re commenting on and we’ll append it to the text of the story.
M

Apple’s ITV announcement last week caused yet another round of “the broadcast networks are dead” proclamations from all corners of the digital content and technology world. This time it’s that media streamed through Apple’s device will make network television obsolete. Not to diminish the announcement, but haven’t we been hearing this for more than a decade?

It seems that many are prone to the either/or debate rather than in tune with the nuances that play out in reality everyday. It isn’t either Apple or ABC. It is more like coexistence and probably even partnership. With all of the broadcast networks on iTunes they stand to benefit from a streaming device as well.

The way we believe this device and more importantly the company backing it (after all streaming media devices are not new to the world) will help change broadcasting is by further turning the model upside down.

As it stands now broadcasters have the advantage because they continue to attract the largest audience, and thus the lion’s share of advertising dollars. In a world where content is distributed via cable, satellite, IPTV, mobile TV, and via the Internet to PCs theoretically broadcasters lose their advantage.

But think about it upside down. In a world where everyone can be a content developer, and there are hundreds of millions of streams flying around the world how can anyone rise above the noise? If you have the exclusive rights to over the air broadcast spectrum you can use that to make noise via an exclusive channel.

While studies are showing that TV viewership is declining, I still believe there will be a huge portion of the population that comes in after a hard day’s work and likes to sit down and be fed some mindless entertainment. Nearly every top rated show on every network has some Internet tie-in whether it’s extra content, background, contests, etc. If broadcasters think of the network as a means of driving loyal viewership to Internet content then there is no reason they should get left behind. As our good friend Tom Adams pointed out CBS made it from radio and Westinghouse did not. Some will make it some won’t, but I doubt we’ll see the proclaimed death of broadcast television anytime soon.

But then, I could be wrong!
Christine

Hi all,
Lots of news on the middleware front over the past couple of months. We’ve summarized some of the most interesting pieces for you below. If your announcement isn’t here be sure to drop us a line - and add us to your news list.
More Later,
M

November
11/30/06 BioWare signs five year agreement for Scaleform GFx [release]
11/30/06 Artificial Studios licenses Kynapse for Cell Factor: Revolution [release]
11/28/06 Mercury Games licenses Softwrap [release]
11/28/06 Anark releases Anark Studio 4.0 [release]
11/27/06 Audiokinetic releases Wwise 2006.2 [release]
11/24/06 PathEngine updates SDK [release]
11/22/06 AGEIA announces new EULA for royalty-free distribution of PhysX runtime components. [release]
11/21/06 G10 Entertainment licenses PathEngine [release]
11/14/06 Avalanche Studios licenses PathEngine [release]
11/14/06 Havok Complete used in Neversoft’s Tony Hawk’s Project 8. [release]
11/09/06 Silicon Knights licenses Wwise for Too Human [release]
11/08/06 Akella licenses Kynapse for upcoming games. [release]
11/07/06 AGEIA PhysX in upcoming Bioware titles via Eclipse Engine. [release]
11/01/06 SpeedTree in six PLAYSTATION3 titles. [release]
11/01/06 Anark releases Gameface v3.7 [release]

October
10/26/06 Spark Unlimited licenses Kynogon for Fall of Liberty (working title). [release]
10/26/06 Trinon licenses Gamebryo. [release]
10/24/06 Havok technology used in Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent. [release]
10/20/06 Ubisoft/Microsoft uses DemonWare for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent [release]
10/18/06 Autodesk 3ds Max 9 includes latest Havok Physics. [release]
10/13/06 Omegame Menus Master available for Xbox 360 [release]
10/12/06 Havok technology used in SEGA’s Sonic The Hedgehog. [release]
10/11/06 Havok technology used in Avalanche/Eidos’ Just Cause. [release]
10/11/06 Buena Vista licenses Gamebryo. [release]
10/03/06 TimeGate licenses Emergent Elements. [release]
10/05/06 Blimey! Games, 8monkey Labs, Acquire, and Evil Grin license SpeedTree.
10/05/06 IDV joins Unreal Engine 3 Integrated Partners Program. [release]
10/02/06 Kynogon joins Unreal Engine 3 Integrated Partners Program. [release]
10/02/06 Engenuity joins Unreal Engine 3 Integrated Partners Program. [release]
10/02/06 AGEIA announces PhysX v2.6. [release]

September
09/21/06 HI releases extensions for MascotCapsule. [release]
09/17/06 Vogster licenses Unreal Engine 3 for Crimecraft. [release]
09/14/06 Blizzard licenses Havok. [release]
09/13/06 Master Creating licenses SpeedTree. [release]
09/06/06 Umbra completes acquisition of Hybrid’s dPVS. [release]
09/06/06 RAD Game Tools integrates PhysX into Granny 3D. [release]
09/05/06 Icarus using Vivox voice technology in Fallen Earth [release]
09/05/06 Eden/Atari’s Test Drive: Unlimited uses Havok. [release]
09/05/06 Volition/THQ’s Saints Row uses Havok. [release]
09/05/06 BigWorld integrates Vivox voice technology. [release]
09/05/06 BigWorld integrates Umbra’s dPVS. [release]
09/05/06 Double Fusion and Emergent partner on in-game advertising. [release]
09/05/06 Emergent integrates Umbra’s dPVS. [release]
09/04/06 SEGA licenses Kynapse for Sonic. [release]

August
08/30/2006 HI says MascotCapsule shipped in 150 million mobile devices worldwide. [release]
08/30/06 Emergent launches Gamebryo for Xbox Live Arcade. [release]
08/29/06 Cheyenne Mountain licenses Unreal Engine 3 for Stargate Worlds. [release]
08/21/06 Steel Monkeys licenses PhysX for 2 Days to Vegas. [release]
08/21/06 Nival licenses PhysX for multiple titles. [release]
08/21/06 Trinigy integrates PhysX inot Vision Game Engine. [release]
08/18/06 EA licenses Unreal Engine 3 for upcoming games. [release]
08/15/06 NaturalMotion closes funding round with Benchmark [release]
08/14/06 FASA/Microsoft licenses Wwise for Shadorun [release]

Cisco wrapped up its annual analyst meeting on 12/13 where the company communicated its 3 to 5 year vision. Our interest was primarily in Cisco’s Service Provider division. This is the division that is focused on bringing media to the consumer.

The more obvious and long established message from the company was that it would continue its focus on pushing IP as the network protocol of choice for any network whether it be enterprise, public, private, or consumer.

The problem Cisco thinks it can solve is helping the service provider remain relevant in the face of Internet content. One of the biggest concerns for network operators whether they be cable or telco, is remaining relevant to consumers as a brand on their own. If content is delivered via the Internet then what value does a Comcast or Time Warner Cable bring to the consumer other than a fat pipe?

One of the solutions that Cisco is touting is intelligence in the network. For consumer media, intelligence in the network can mean anything from networked PVR and VOD to provisioning and beyond. This debate has been raging for at a least decade, but probably started back in the beginning stages of the transition to digital networks.

How much intelligence should be in the box and how much should be in the network? The obvious answer was that the majority of it should reside in the network. Before the Internet the cost of an intelligent device on the consumer premises made connected intelligence in the home impossible. Operators still hold the view that intelligence should reside in the network. However, the distribution of media via the Internet changes the dynamic with extremely intelligent devices at both ends of the pipe.

How does an intelligent network make the service provider relevant? It allows storage of and access to high quality (production quality not necessarily story quality) content.

Cisco believes that quality will help media networks stay relevant. Some users will be happy with the low quality content they see on the Internet. However over the next 3 to 5 years, a large percentage of the population both domestically and internationally will remain interested in receiving content with professional production values that is fed by large media companies.

The company is certainly not discounting the popularity of user generated content. Engineering how to enable access to Internet content via your pay television system is part of their vision.

Christine

MP3 playback and mobile TV seem to get most of the ink these days but there’s a lot more to mobile media than just these technologies. Media has been a part of the mobile phone experience for almost a decade, with the first experiments in camera phones in 1997, and the technologies are finally ready for prime time.

Today we’re worlds away from those early steps and modern mobile phones can process media in a great many forms, including streaming or downloaded video and audio, broadcast radio and TV, images and 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and - in the not too distant future - satellite radio.

In our latest market study, Mobile Media 2006: The Future of Personal Media Distribution, we forecast that the installed base of phones capable of playing back some sort of media will reach nearly 2.2 billion by the end of 2011 (see chart).

Why is mobile-based media so important to the industry? Well, voice is old hat and handset manufacturers and carriers must continually seek ways to increase demand for revenue-generating products and services, keep margins high, and provide enticements for customers to upgrade to 3G and forthcoming 4G network technologies.

The technology for mobile media is here today and improving all of the time. CODECs, SOC semiconductor solutions, 3G networks - all of the rapid development in the mobile technology space over the past few years have converged to make mobile phone media for the masses a reality.

And, by masses, we mean an audience on the scale media companies have only dreamed of in the past. By 2011, these technologies will be in the hands of more people worldwide than subscribe to pay television services. By then more people will have daily mobile access to media than the number of individual theater visits in an entire year.

Christine

Want more? Check out our latest market study: Mobile Media 2006: The Future of Personal Media Distribution.

Tired of all the hype regarding mobile media? That’s too bad, because we have nearly 100 billion reasons why it won’t die down anytime soon. In our latest market study, Mobile Media 2006: The Future of Personal Media Distribution, we forecast that global revenue from all forms of mobile media will approach $100 billion annually by the end of 2011 (see chart).

That’s more money than 2006 worldwide box office, packaged audio sales, or basic pay TV subscriptions - to name just a few channels the media industry considers its current bread and butter. The amount of money being spent right now is incredible in its own right. Ringtones, casual games, and - increasingly - audio, seem to be the current object of consumer affection. Users spent more than a billion dollars on ringtones in 2006.

Mobile media is finally out of the experimental stages (for most technologies) and owners of entertainment programming have shown their willingness to migrate current content over to the mobile platforms - and they’re even beginning to think about content that’s designed specifically to take advantage of the unique mobile experience.

Right now, most of the money being generated is from repurposed content; existing audio or video thrown onto the network for a few bucks a hit. Over the next five years we’ll begin to see that change dramatically. We’ve been using the term ‘platform-appropriate’ for a few years now and that term will have to become a buzzword in the mobile media space.

Realizing the true potential of mobile media will require device manufacturers, content producers and distributors, and service operators to develop specialized, and even wholly new, technologies, media formats, and distribution methods to take full advantage of the distinctive qualities of the mobile entertainment experience.

Christine

Want more? Check out our latest market study: Mobile Media 2006: The Future of Personal Media Distribution.

While there is considerable current focus on mobile TV, the path to streaming/downloadable video services is already quite clear and, within the next few years, players at every level of the value chain stand to make a lot of money on mobile video services.

Personal media players will, technologically at least, lead in the mobile video arena. Though the video iPod has reportedly seen underwhelming success, we expect the latest generation of PMPs to do better. The Zune is a step in the right direction - with screen quality and size that makes personal video much more attractive. Continued hardware and distribution improvements, combined with more platform-appropriate content, will converge over the next several years making the PMP video market zoom.

Right now, the majority of available mobile phone handsets treat video as little more than a novelty - a secondary capability - but this is about to change dramatically. We are just now witnessing the emergence of the first generation of mobile phones to handle video in a way that makes it a viable media format for mobile entertainment.

The iPhone makes strides in the right direction, though its configuration still puts audio ahead of video with storage and power consumption more in line with those needs. Still, the iPhone 4GB and 8GB models will handle enough video that consumers will get a taste of what mobile video services will have to offer in the years to come.

Current mobile phones with video capabilities are more likely to spur data traffic through capture and transmission of user-generated content than via commercially distributed media. The next generation of phones, introduced over the next 12 – 18 months, will bring with them the storage and power necessary for serious video applications. When that happens we think that spending on commercially distributed mobile media will grow significantly.

The potential for mobile video is huge - and it goes far beyond movies and other traditional video programming. Content companies are currently repurposing existing libraries for distribution to mobile phones and personal media players but, as they learn to take advantage of the platforms, new types of video programming will emerge.

We think this increasingly platform-appropriate content will help drive spending on mobile video to more than $26 billion by the end of 2011 (see chart).

Christine

Want more? Check out our latest market study: Mobile Media 2006: The Future of Personal Media Distribution.