Interview: En Masse Still High On Subscriptions

AUG. 11, 2011 • MMOs are changing. There’s the wide adoption of the virtual item, free-to-play (F2P) model, of course. Embracing F2P for MMOs can attract an audience that may not have tried the same game if a retail box purchase and a monthly subscription were necessary. Yet lowering the barriers to playing MMOs is not a substitute for originality. The traditional, Dungeons & Dragons ruleset-based fantasy experience that predominates in these online games .....

EA Sports Season Ticket

AUG. 2, 2011 • Starting with Madden NFL 12, Electronic Arts is making available the EA Sports Season Ticket for $24.99 a year.  The biggest attraction is that it provides PSN and Xbox Live users the opportunity to play upcoming EA Sports titles three days prior to the offici.....

Ubisoft U-play Passport System

JULY 15, 2011 • Ubisoft U-Play will use a DLC passport system for its core game titles. Titles by the publisher purchased used will require a $9.95 fee to access multiplayer matchmaking and additional content if the original code was redeemed. Impact: EA did it. THQ did it. It seems everybody’s going to eventually do it: requiring a new game purchase, or charge second hand purchasers a fee,.....

Netflix Top Online Subscription Video Provider

APRIL 28, 2011 • Netflix is now the largest provider of online subscription video content in the U.S. Thanks to its increasingly popular video streaming service, Netflix saw its global subscriber base increase 70% to 23.6 million during the past year. In the process, Netflix jumped ahead of Comcast in the U.S. with more than 7% of Americans now subscribing to Netflix. Impact: Cable television .....

Android Not Ready for Netflix

NOV. 12, 2010 • Citing a lack of a generic or complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Google’s Android mobile phone system, Netflix disclosed it had no immediate plans to stream video content to all Android phones as it has with the iPhone or Windows Phone 7.  Netflix instead will work with the individual hardware manufacturers to to craft DRM solutions that will permit secure content streaming. .....

Netflix PlayStation 3 Software App Eliminates Disc

  OCT. 18, 2010 • PlayStation 3 owners no longer need a disc to access streaming movies from Netflix. The disc was replaced by a Netflix PlayStation 3 software app. In addition to some of the Netflix offerings being presented in 1080p resolution, the PS3 becomes the first consumer electronic device to support 5.1 channel surround sound via Netflix. Impact: This Surround Sound exclu.....