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Gamasutra Interview with the CEO of Splash Damage. “And we’re just about 200 years ahead of the rest of the population, because when machines do everything for us, we’ll spend all of our time just theorizing and talking about alien invasions,” he jokes. “But for now, 95 percent of the population sadly has to do … Continue reading “If you can get to your 40s, and still be in a boardroom talking about alien invasions, then that’s a life well spent!”
Gamasutra Interview with the CEO of Splash Damage.
“And we’re just about 200 years ahead of the rest of the population, because when machines do everything for us, we’ll spend all of our time just theorizing and talking about alien invasions,” he jokes. “But for now, 95 percent of the population sadly has to do real jobs.”
That’s where I want to be.
But the iPad is not for … Och, you know. Related posts: iPad iPad 2 Oklahoma State University and the iPad pilot Selling the iPad
But the iPad is not for …
Och, you know.
BusinessInsider writes about the imminent demise of TV business models This user behavior has been changing for a while, and, so far, it has had almost no impact on the TV business. On the contrary, the networks and cable companies are still fat and happy, and they’re coining more and more money every year. But … Continue reading “Television”
BusinessInsider writes about the imminent demise of TV business models
This user behavior has been changing for a while, and, so far, it has had almost no impact on the TV business. On the contrary, the networks and cable companies are still fat and happy, and they’re coining more and more money every year.
But remember what happened in the newspaper business.
When the Internet arrived, user behavior started to change. It took a decade for this change in behavior to hit the business. But when it hit the business, it hit it hard–and it destroyed it shockingly quickly.
And the same thing seems likely to happen to the TV business.
Really good article especially when you look at the UK and more specifically the microcosm of Northern Ireland.
We have two ‘local’ broadcasters. The BBC and UTV. One of them is propped up by advertising sales via their profitable radio station segments. And the other is propped up by a mandatory tax levied if you own a television or computer.
On top of this we have Channel 4 and Channel 5 and then a multitude of Freeview channels.
I just wonder what will happen in the current market. Well advertising supported television die off as advertisers become more savvy to changing user habits? It seems to me that advertising supported channels (UTV, C4, C5) are making hay while the sun shines. Of the three only Channel 4 seems to have made any efforts towards changing models for the future.
And then we have the BBC. It will obviously break the mould for television business models due to the government subsidy from the ‘license fee tax’. Indeed, it seems well suited to weathering an upcoming storm though it has many faults. Not least the insistence that the intellectual property that it has within the archives is extremely valuable. I don’t deny these things have value but decades of poorly considered contracts and a lack of future-proofing have made their position untenable. We, the television-owning public in the UK, paid for all of this content once already. I can’t help but feel we’re being nickel’n’dimed now we want to view older content.
The shakedown of television is just beginning. And it will start with local channels and move to the larger national and international advertising supported channels.
Several times a year I get wheeled out in front of undergraduates and I’m expected to say something that will inspire them. Like I have a secret or something. Some folk listen intently, some folk don’t. Some ask questions, some stay silent. Some never look up from their device or their notes. I feel guilty … Continue reading “Portfolio”
Several times a year I get wheeled out in front of undergraduates and I’m expected to say something that will inspire them. Like I have a secret or something. Some folk listen intently, some folk don’t. Some ask questions, some stay silent. Some never look up from their device or their notes. I feel guilty every time I don’t get a question. Like a lack of clarity on a point is an opportunity for engagement. I feel the need to polarise, to incite some sort of debate and I feel like I have failed when this has not happened. Sometimes the students file out silently, avoiding the gaze of this old bloke who has turned up to prance around in front of a projector. I’m the thing standing in the way of lunchtime, or worse, beer. Every now and then I see some rare gems. Like an artist who sets about a stop motion animation with nothing but a phone, a pen and a packet of post-it notes. Or a passion for music that sets the individual apart. Or a pair of comedians who love their art and are teaching themselves fire-breathing.
In truth, I am consistently the one inspired.
Greg Maguire posted this on Digital Circle. It’s a showreel from one of his Masters students, Gerard Dunleavy, who just won the Computer Graphics Student of the Year Award. An international competition, with the most amazing competitors.
The message I try and give students I meet is that the pieces of paper that a college or university gives you are not the worth of you. Things like the showreel above show your passion, commitment and talent.
I’ve said before that my big plan is to start a games company. And I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find the right people with the right attitude. I’m looking for guns and tanks and aliens. But to attract the attention you want, you might need to make birds or grass or tables and chairs your subjects. I remember an interview with a comics guru who said that he was inundated with pictures of impossibly muscled men and ludicrously buxom women in spandex. But he would invariably give the job to the guy who could draw normal people. Who could make unreal things seem real in the context of comics.
I think Gerard has excelled in this, even among his competitors. My suspension of disbelief is almost complete when watching the sequences with the alien ships and the zombie assailant. It’s just amazing and I can think of nothing else. Someone will be very lucky to work with Gerard in the future.