People will look for information that support their view and discard information contrary to their position.  I believe I am no different  except I think I am always right or seldom wrong - LOL.  Here is a story supporting my view on how XBox 360 would fare against the PS3.  Hallelujah! 

The integration of XBox to PC is a HUGE advantage for Microsoft over Sony.  Ultimatley, if the vision comes true, consoles will be able to play against PCs - And, I will put to rest once and for all that the PC gaming is the best gaming platform as I KICK the ARSE off my console friends.  They will not know what hit them.  Only time will tell   And I can hardly wait. 

The team at MIT came up with a niffty notebook for a US$100.  It has a power generator that provides power on a ten to one ratio (one minute of cranking equals ten minutes of useage).  There is an article here somewhere in this blog on the India initiative for a low cost computing device which can also be hand powered.

I really have been too busy to look at the market.  WOW has not been good in terms of family life and blogging and any other acceptable human endeavours.  As my son says "Its evil."  Me thinks that is a Spongebob term. 

As I looked at the market, I see the AMD and Intel moving up.  Hmm... what did I say?  Back to school, Christmas and end of year corporate purchase are usually big drivers for PC purchase.  The microprocessor used by the MIT folks is based on AMD. 

My focus these days have shifted even away from PC computing.  I am focused in the gaming (PC gaming and not gambling although that is what is putting food on the table) and mobile space.  I am starting to see some validity in the gambling space after spending a week in London, UK.  What a gambling culture!  It is all true - there is a sports bet store on every block much like a mobile store in every block in Asia.  I met some very interesting companies in the sports betting business.  I can get into that ;-)  I bet my colleague on who would get through the airport security first - just to give some excitment to a really boring and painful excercise everytime you fly.  So, I can ethically support sports betting because it is fun and it makes the games more exciting.  I cannot, however, support the casinos where the games are designed for the player to loose over the long run.  And, they get FREAKING PISSED if you can beat the system.  That is criminal behaviour as they really want the odds to be stacked against the player for the house. 

When we were in London, the week they won the Ashes, a BIG cricket tournament that the English have not won in 16 years, the sports betting went through the roof. 

OK back to work and WOW.

China's home grown MMOG (massive multiplayer on-line game) Yulang has reached 9 million users in just 2 months.  BUT, they make no money on the sale of the game or the on-line connection.  They make money from the sales of virtual assets like IGE.  Bottom line - they make no money compared to WOW (World of Warcraft).  The math for WOW is about $600 million in subscription fees and $140 million in product sales.  This does not include the virtual auction market going through IGE and Ebay etc.... 

I did write a while back on the mobile opportunity in China.  Last year at CTIA 2004 at the China Mobile Symposium, China had 260 million mobile subscriber.  The total net income of all the mobile operators is a small fraction of the US market with a smaller mobile population, which I concluded that there is no money to be made in China. 

The economics in Asia is so different than North America or Europe.  It is a high volume game with razor thin margins.  But, China is adopting mobile technology that is ahead of Europe and North America.  They already have mobile commerce with over 300 million Golden Wallets.  Of course, it is a State related initiative.

If we broaden our definition of gaming to the gambling space(the gambling sites like to call themselves gaming companies too), Party Poker generated close to half a billion dollars on the bottom line.  It is a 4 year old company, folks.  On-line poker is a game of skill and chance.  Skill will prevail over the long run.  So, we should view Poker on-line as a type of MMOG.  This is where the rainbow comes down to the pot of gold

In the evolution of gaming, with availability of broadband, MMOG is beginning to take momentum.  An interesting article on Eve On Line illustrates some of the game dynamics of the future in MMOG.  Closer to home, the success of WOW is all the validation needed to confirm this is one of the new gaming trend we should see grow in the space of gaming.   

Keeping an eye on broadband deployment has been a favourite past-time of mine.  Today, another report of broadband deployment was released.  I have cut and paste for you from EE Times, a favourite news portal of mine.

EE Times: Latest News
Booming broadband adds another 24 million subscribers

John Walko  
EE Times
(09/21/2005 11:47 AM EDT) 

 
LONDON — At least 200 million people around the world will be subscribing to broadband by the end of this year, according to just published figures and estimates from the DSL Forum, with the market research conducted by Point Topic.
Member countries of the European Union have taken over from North America as having the highest broadband population in the world, adding 8,142,479 subscribers in the first half of 2005, a growth rate of 22 percent.

According to the Point Topic (London, England) report, there are now 47.5 million broadband subscribers in the EU — with 81 percent selecting DSL. This represents a third of all DSL subscribers. The U.K. alone added more than 1,543,000 DSL subscribers in the six months ended 30 June, bringing the total figure to 5,691,000 — a growth of more than 37 percent, the fastest rate in Europe and among the fastest in the world.

Worldwide, a further 24.5 million homes and businesses shifted to broadband during the period, bringing the total to 176 million subscribers. DSL connections accounted for almost three-quarters of total broadband growth in the year, so far.

The U.S. remains the country with the largest broadband population in the world, at 38.2 million subscribers. It has enjoyed 16 percent growth in DSL subscribers so far in 2005, compared with the 10 percent increase in other broadband access technologies, mainly cable modems. In terms of broadband penetration by population, South Korea continues to lead the way, with nearly 26 people out of 100 connected to broadband. Hong Kong (22.9), The Netherlands (21.9) Denmark (21.5) and Switzerland (20.1) make up the top five, with the U.S. coming in at fourteenth, with 13.1, and early leader Japan now in eleventh place with a broadband penetration of 16.2.

As predicted earlier this year, China has become the first country to surpass 20 million subscribers. Of the established DSL nations, the fastest growing are Australia at 40 percent, the U.K. at 37 percent and Brazil at 27 percent, all among the 15 countries with over one million subscribers to broadband DSL.