Some Say Cosplayers are Ruining Con Sales, and Cons.

So I Read Sam Maggs' Mary Sue article about Denise Dorman (wife of Star Wars artist Dave Dorman) and how she posits that cosplayers and social culture at cons are killing sales for artists, and questioning why they even show up to cons anymore.

An excerpt:

"But today, I have something on my mind…something most comic book artists would never publicly reveal. However, I think it finally needs to be said aloud. We need to–as comic book convention exhibitors and comic book wives–finally crack the seal on this conversation. I invite any of you following me to respectfully discuss this issue. 

Privately, famed comic book industry personalities everywhere are discussing with each other whether to stop exhibiting at comic book conventions. There’s a fine line between being accessible to and pleasing the fans vs. LOSING MONEY at these conventions."

Sure, ok so artist sales are low.  Yes it's a probelem and I get it, but how are cosplayers specifically killing a Comic Con?  It's like half of my friends are being blamed for bad sales.

... I dunno, kids.

And the below was the ol' geek sector of the brain immediately spat out.  So I decided to quickly cobble this together in response. Enjoy.

** Pictures lifted from Gotham Spoilers.

Projects, Tech PM's Sanity and Cthulhu [tf charts]

Everyone living as a technology project manager or in any job description where "technology project manager" falls into knows that there are both good projects and bad.  They also know that most of them, regardless of a "good" or "bad" designation, are only done at the cost of their sanity - and precisely how much sanity is dictated by the conditions outside of their control.

The type that's nearest and dearest to my head recently (but nowhere near dearest to my heart) is the type that starts with a tremendous delay.  Paperwork's done. equipment's in. Everything's good to go.  But due to other unseen forces, the start date is pushed a ridiculous degree back.  But then due to other unseen forces, the finish date actually moves forward.

Then the fun begins.  What am I saying here?  Listen to your tech PM and his or her army of project nerds.  Because one thing that isn't unseen is that something rushed like that is its own Cthulhu.

(click the chart for full-size)

Atari Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Insert Pitfall Reference Here

You know those friends that you used to hang out with all the time when you were kids, now just see every once in a while during the holidays?  For some gamers  on the console front that was Atari.  Even though I still consider Fairchild’s Channel F as the “OG” of console gaming, in the late 70′s and early 80′s Atari was where it was at.  And it’s a little rough to say that this old friend of ours, whose 2600 system gave us games like Asteroids and Space Invaders on, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this past Monday in New York.

Atari SA is filing to separate from their French masters Infogrames after what can only be described as a troubled history over the last couple of decades.  Through a lot of crazy mergers and acquisitions over that time, they were property of Time Warner, then Tramel, then to what could be considered their comeback under Hasbro’s flag before being picked up by Infogrames.  Infogrames tried to turn the brand into mobile entertainment, casual games and digital downloads, which just didn’t seem to work out to well.  Since their 2600 console, they’ve been almost a jinx for anyone who had them at the time.  At this point they’re so far removed from their original bread and butter of console and old-school arcade games that they just can’t keep up with the big studio games dominating the market.

Now this doesn’t mean the Atari brand is going away.  This is a strategic move to sell off some of their properties because they’re sorely strapped for cash, and owe a lot of creditors a lot of money.   In a statement from Atari, “The Chapter 11 process constitutes the most strategic option for Atari’s U.S. operations, as they look to preserve their inherent value and unlock revenue potential unrealized while under the control of Atari SA (ATA). During this period, the company expects to conduct its normal business operations.”

OK. We’ll see how this works out.

Remember when a couple of guys named Steve worked at Atari before starting a little company called Apple?  We sure are a far ways away from then.  Oh and on another note, I’ve been hearing tell of an Asteroids movie, and now it’s even listed on IMDB for 2014.  Maybe this was all part of the deal?

I’ll keep an eye on that rumor mill for you, kids.

82. Interactive Advertising: NUads Mean Kinect is Open for Business

Article first published as Interactive Advertising: NUads Mean Kinect is Open for Business on Blogcritics.

I remember watching Minority Report a few years back, and having a friend say “Yeah right man there’s no way they can do that” in response to the extremely targeted 3D advertising ubiquitous in the film’s scenery. My response, almost discarded at the time, was simple, “They will soon.” Advertising equals dollars, and after all that’s what makes the world go ‘round. Once confined to billboards and TV spots, they now own the internet and are on any shred of free digital space they can find. But, as I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed they’re starting to gradually take up a larger part of our digital lives with every passing day. There is, of course, been blatant product placement and merchandising tie-ins in TV and games, but they don’t interrupt the shows I watch or the games I play, so I can forgive that. We’ve learned to live with TV commercials, going so far as to DVR a show so we can fast forward through them, so now they advertise during the show in huge, fat, view obstructing fashion. It’s been a long time since standard internet pop-ups bothered us too – most browsers automatically kill those. So advertisers have been forced to get creative.

Let me give you an example – I was over on 1up earlier, and I clicked on a trailer link for BloodRayne: Betrayal. While the movies bombed, the games were alright, so I wanted to see what was new. Now videos sometimes take a while so I went into this with intent of being patient and giving it some time. Here’s what I was treated to: first was an overall slow loading page, where advertisements on the top and side bars loaded before any actual content did. Second came the video player through which the trailer would be seen. Once the video started, it wasn’t actually the trailer for BloodRayne at all, but a 15-second unskippable commercial for Comedy Central. This in itself is usually enough for me to cancel loading the video and not watch it altogether these days, lest I put a hole in my LCD in a desperate attempt to strike the advertiser. But today I let it go only to find that there was still more advertising to be done. Now covering 90% of the video player (which was a couple seconds into the Comedy Central ad), a video window pops up for Season of the Witch. If you are wondering, by the way, it’s out on Blu-ray and DVD 6/28.

I’m not blaming 1up, I read their stuff all the time and will continue to, but it’s just an example of a widespread epidemic. I’m not exaggerating though. Here’s a screenshot. A video ad pre-empting an ad before the video I wanted to watch. Then, the pièce de résistance: “The video you are trying to watch is currently unavailable.” Pure excellence. So where does this all end?

Bad news, it doesn’t. Microsoft’s Kinect will be the newest platform of annoyance. In 2012, they’ll be introducing NUads (Native User-interface Ads), a form of interactive advertising. For instance, during a commercial, a user can say “Xbox Tweet” to automatically tweet about the brand to all of their followers. “Xbox More” will send you more information, and “Xbox Near Me” will bring up a list of local retailers. Microsoft’s Mark Kroese heralds the arrival of NUads with flowery prose to try and get us excited about it on the Microsoft Advertising blog. He notes that it “transforms traditional, linear TV advertising into an interactive experience by using the voice-and gesture-control of Kinect for Xbox 360.” The goal of this service, according to him, is to “break down the barriers between consumers and content on the TV screen.” I’ve never met anyone who actively tweets about their favorite brands, but maybe it’s just because NUads doesn't exist yet to allow them to become brand extensions for further advertising. Microsoft has a much happier phrase for that of course – “Social Advocacy.” Kroese also highlights how users can use real time voting and give feedback for advertisements. One thing reported by Gamasutra and others that Kroese omits in his laud of the program is that ads will also be embedded in the dashboard and in-game as well. The second this interrupts gameplay of any sort for me I am done.

Perhaps I’m being too tough on this and it won’t be as big of an intrusion as I’m thinking it will be. I suppose if it doesn’t interfere with gameplay it really won’t bother me all that much. What actually bothers me more is the claim that this is a revolutionary thing that will “unlock the incredible potential in interactive TV” with such gusto and unmitigated chutzpah. What advantage will Xbox users gain from this? What about those who pay for an Xbox Live Gold subscription? Will their payment shield them from the ads? While this is great for Microsoft to court advertisers and drive their own revenue streams, no matter how you cut it, it doesn’t seem like a game changer to the players to me.