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 While air has seeped steadily from the stock market, it has poured from the four major publicly traded game publishers. Since May 1, they have lost a collective $6 billion in market capitalization, about a 25 percent drop, compared to declines of 8.3 percent for the Nasdaq and 4.2 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.
The sharp decline reflects a realization by investors that the game industry will recover considerably more slowly than expected from the transition to a new generation of consoles, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.
So, too, analysts said, the game publishing industry is being disrupted by the growing cost of development, as well as uncertainty and opportunity created by the growing popularity of online game play.
"There are more industry concerns than ever, and that's what you're seeing in the stock prices," said Justin Post, an industry analyst with Merrill Lynch.
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What is network neutrality?
Network Neutrality — or "Net Neutrality" for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.
Net Neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the applications and devices of their choice. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.
Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It's why the Internet has become an unrivaled environment for open communications, civic involvement and free speech.
Who wants to get rid of Net Neutrality?
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.
They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors.
These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.
What's at stake?
Decisions being made now will shape the future of the Internet for a generation. Before long, all media — TV, phone and the Web — will come to your home via the same broadband connection. The dispute over Net Neutrality is about who'll control access to new and emerging technologies.
On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control — deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There's no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.
The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us.
Your internet rights are at stake! Fight the good fight! Go to http://www.savetheinternet.com/ and sign the petition.
Verified at Snopes
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If you happen to be wearing this shirt in the same room as a giant n00b that is angry with you and who has more muscles in his pinky than dendrites in his frontal lobe, just tell him you are German. And that the shirt doesn't say die as in 'death'. It says die as in German for 'the'. He'll have a dizzying look on his face while the thick sludge of neurons within his cranial cavity attempts to process what you just said. At this point, just hide behind the nearest obstruction. n00bs typically haven't fully developed the stage of object permanence yet and so he will think you simply disappeared. Easy as pi...
100% cotton black heavyweight t-shirt with the simple phrase "die, n00b." written on front in white. If you are a n00b and reading this sentence, don't take it too seriously, instead take it personally, then buy this shirt, wear it proudly, and become a living oxymoron. Or just a moron. Or both! Ouch. ThinkGeek is being mean.
 
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Forget horsepower, forget miles per gallon: the key metric for judging the Nissan Urge is polygons per second, an index of performance for video games.
Five hundred million polygons a second is the rating for the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game system tucked away in the car's trunk. It pumps out images fast enough to generate dizzyingly sharp scenes of city streets and speeding cars on a display that folds down from above the windshield.
The Urge's key trick is that when parked, its steering wheel and pedals can be used to control the Xbox. The game's soundtrack of roaring engines and screeching tires play through the car's speakers to accompany the action on the screen.
Many cars have had video game displays installed in their dashboards. The Urge, a design study introduced at this year's North American International Automobile Show in Detroit, is the first car to be turned into a game controller--the tail is now wagging the dog.
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Big Story of Today |
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