studios posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store

iQuarterback 1.1 from former Ensemble Studios devs

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Apr 14th, 2009

The folks at FuzzyCube Software dropped us a note that their first game, iQuarterback, is in the App Store now, and it looks all right -- rather than actually quarterback a game, you mostly just try to hit passing targets. And while the game is pretty barebones right now (it's only 99 cents, and they're planning to add new modes to it in the next version), the most interesting thing about the game isn't what it is, but who's making it: the guys behind FuzzyCube are a few refugees from Ensemble Studios, the legendary developer of Age of Empires that got shut down by Microsoft on the eve of their recent Halo Wars release.

Now that's interesting -- a big time studio forced to close by their corporate overlords is finding new life in iPhone development (FuzzyCube isn't the only studio to come out of the Ensemble breakup -- Robot Entertainment, Bonfire Studios, and Windstorm Studios are all being started by ex-Ensemble employees right now, though FuzzyCube is the only group to have released a game so far). Lots of game developers are facing a crunch right now, and with the iPhone easy and cheap to develop for, we might see even more of these former larger game devs turn to the smaller screen.

Update: My apologies to the folks at Newtoy -- they are apparently the first Ensemble refugees to have released an iPhone game, dropping Chess with Friends in the App Store last December. But the point stands: bigger studios who've been asked to dissolve can seemingly find a nice place developing for the iPhone.

Tags: age-of-empires, app-store, breakup, closing, development, devs, ensemble-studios, fuzzycube, game-developers, iphone, iquarterback, release, studios, version

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Rumors, iTunes, Apple TV

TV exclusives taking movies off of iTunes?

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 12th, 2008

Has your favorite movie gone missing from iTunes or Netflix lately? The reason could be television, says CNET -- apparently a slew of movies on iTunes and Netflix's streaming service have recently fallen prey to television exclusive agreements. With the onset of Apple TV and apps like Boxee making it possible to stream Netflix, TV networks with exclusive showing agreements have made sure that while they've got a lock on a movie, we can't watch it anywhere else.

Of course, as CNET notes, it's about the money (isn't it always?). If studios can make more money from the TV networks than they can from online rentals, then obviously they're going to go with television. The only problem with that, however, is that with an exclusive agreement, they'll never know, will they?

And of course the other issue here is the actual definition of places like iTunes and Netflix -- obviously, retail stores aren't barred from carrying these movies, so does that mean that Netflix and iTunes are actually content channels rather than retailers? Tough issue. You have to think that it'll eventually be settled in favor of digital distribution (what consumer wouldn't want to watch a movie on their own time rather than sticking to a TV network's schedule), but until studios are convinced otherwise, exclusivity agreements will likely be the rule.

[via Apple Insider]

Tags: agreement, boxee, cnet, deals, exclusive, itunes, movies, netflix, networks, studios, television

Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, Video, iTunes, Apple

iTunes now supports movie rentals

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 15th, 2008

iTunes 7.6 is out, and it finally has something we've been hearing about for a long time: movie rentals. As announced at the Macworld Keynote earlier today, Apple has made deals with all of the major studios to provide streaming, downloadable flicks for you to watch on your computer, iPod or iPhone. Library titles are $2.99, and new releases will be available 30 days after DVD release and will cost $3.99. Each movie will be available to download within 30 days, and once you start watching it, you'll have 24 hours to finish.

There is good news for HD viewers-- HD rentals will be available, but they'll cost an extra buck (so $3.99 and $4.99 for library titles and new releases. There'll be 100 HD titles starting today, and more all the time. And of course, movie rentals will be sync-able with the iPhone and iPod, or have the ability to be downloaded straight on to the revamped Apple TV. Unfortunately, we haven't heard an official resolution on the HD (720p is one of the numbers being tossed around, and that's not great for serious HD viewers), but if we get to see one of these flicks, we'll let you know.

Get out the popcorn-- it's time to rent some movies from iTunes!

Tags: download, dvd, fox, hd, iphone, ipod, itunes, macworld08, movies, studios, tweet-this

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Odds and ends, Steve Jobs, Apple

Eisner blames Jobs, and Radiohead cleans up

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 7th, 2007

From the "whatever you say, Eisner" department, Engadget brings news that former Disney honcho Michael Eisner is blaming the guy who originally wore the black turtleneck and jeans for the Writers Guild of America strike, of all things. In an interview with a CNET blog, Eisner says that Steve Jobs is taking media companies "to the cleaners," and that Jobsy's the one to blame for the writers' low pay on digital media distribution. "If I was a union," he says, undoubtedly making union leaders' heads everywhere fold back in on themselves with the irony, "I'd be striking up wherever he is."

Strange then, that this same day, we also get a story about how Radiohead is doing with their online distribution deal. You'll remember that they passed on iTunes to distribute their music themselves, and now we're hearing that, after all is said and done, Radiohead earned an average of $2.26 per album by asking listeners to download the album for free and pay them whatever they thought it was worth. "$2.26 per album?" you say. "They got screwed! iTunes charges $10!"

Ah yes, but apparently Radiohead would have made about $1 per album if they'd gone through traditional channels. So actually, the creators doubled their income per sale. Eisner's crazy-- Jobs isn't to blame for this strike, it's content distributors who don't pay content creators enough for digital distribution. But given that Radiohead is cashing in (and gaining public goodwill to boot), maybe the Writers Guild have a lesson to learn here as well.

Tags: eisner, itunes, jobs, media-distribution, radiohead, steve-jobs, studios, wga-strike

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