remember it wasn't EA that demanded the exclusive relationship. The NFL requested it and did a research process for exclusive bids and so EA bid, as did other companies, and we were very fortunate to be able to get that exclusive arrangement. So, I want to make that very clear because I think there are some misconceptions sometimes that EA demanded the exclusive licensing for the National Football League and nothing could be further from the case.
The NFL's desire to have an exclusive game studio producing NFL titles
gives it fewer licensing agreements, in exchange for greater unity of
game play. By having one shop, the NFL can maintain more control over
the product, and should they choose to bring the game development in
house, they only have one organization that they need to absorb.
The NFL Network is a more visible effort of the same strategy. Because
television networks have more perceived control of branding than video
game studios, the effort is more protracted and necessarily slower. I
would expect the NFL to move in the direction of software development
within two to three years. They will still be transitioning to
exclusive NFL Network production of games ten years from now, but the
ultimate goal of the NFL is to get all media in house, to fully
appreciate the benefits of a vertically integrated business model.
That's just my hunch. The NFL has always been much better at marketing
and giving exclusive control of channels to single entities seems a
smarter strategy of developing brand power and maximizing the marginal
revenue within that channel. If my eventual goal was controlling the
means by which consumers consume my product I would familiarize them
first with exclusives (like DirecTV). By requesting an exclusive
partner for game development, the league continues that trend. The
imbroglio surrounding the Pats-Giants regular season game on the NFL
Network was a setback for that strategy, but the game itself was what
the NFL is shooting for. A must see game, under their exclusive control.
Toshiba's deputy general manager of HD DVD Olivier Van Wynendaele stated that it "wouldn't change anything that it did," and continued on to say that "circumstances saw to it that [Toshiba] had to make the decision not to continue, but that doesn't mean [the company] did anything wrong."
TEMPE, AZ—Claiming he was initially excited at the prospect of playing for a legitimate championship contender, new Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal admitted Monday that, upon reading about the phenomenon of massive stellar explosions popularly known as supernovas, he is now terrified of the entire organization.
"I have emerged from my astronomical studies a much more educated man, a learned man, and yes—a frightened man. I am now a sage of the supernova," O'Neal said during a combination press conference and PowerPoint presentation at an Arizona State University lecture hall. "If I would have known being a Sun meant being a part of a system where gravity could collapse, causing my radiant celestial body to explode in an event 10 times brighter than an ordinary Phoenix Sun—or worse, dematerialize into a neutron star or possibly a black hole—I would have never agreed to the trade."
"I have a family to think of," continued a visually tense O'Neal, who later stated that, because supernovas occur in our galaxy once every 40 to 50 years, the Suns, having joined the league in 1968, are "due for a big one."
While O'Neal said that simply being a part of the Suns' runaway-nuclear-fusion-reaction style of play would be frightening enough, he added that learning how an aging supergiant star typically ends its life cycle in a violent explosion was a profoundly terrifying experience. The 35-year-old center, who considers himself a super-giant star in the twilight of his career, has refused to go anywhere near his new teammates.
"Like Superman, I receive my energy from the Suns," O'Neal said. "I'm scared I will not be able to flourish in an environment where there is a risk that the Suns' supply of hydrogen could be exhausted, which would cause the core of the Suns to collapse into the center—in this case, me—and create a rise in temperature and pressure that would become great enough to ignite helium and then start a helium-to-carbon fusion cycle."
"Not even electron degeneracy pressure is enough to stop a supernova when that happens to a Sun," O'Neal added. "I don't even know what that means, and I am the Big Astronomer. But it scares me."
Molly Ringwald turns 40 years old today, and if that makes you feel old, then you probably are, gramps. In her 40 years on Earth, however, Molly has much to be proud of: She was voted by VH1 the best teen star of all time, she's been on the cover of Time, she's had a great song written about her, she's appeared nude in a film, she's been in a critically adored television series, she's dated Anthony Michael Hall, and, more importantly: She has a beautiful four year old daughter.
Your move, Jennifer Aniston.
Set against the action-packed world of Mixed Martial Arts, NEVER BACK DOWN is the story of Jake Tyler, a tough kid who leads with his fists, and, often, with his heart.
Complaint #150
“The real problem with ‘A Mighty Wind’ is that Parker Posey is barely in the movie at all!”
-Whine by Alabaster Sanchez
The history of the Prussian and German state through 1945 is one in which war is the main outcome of national policy. It was the country's principal export over two centuries. War was more than just "politics by other means"; it was, as the Comte de Mirabeau noted in 1788, "the national industry of Prussia." Though he formulated it most neatly with his quip that: "Where some states possess an army, the Prussian army possesses a state."
The operational excellence of the German and Prussian general staffs is the stuff of hundreds of excellent military histories. But this brilliant style of war, shaped by geographic and historical circumstance, masked an unhealthy strategic shortcoming: an inability to see national war as the last resort, sometimes even an unnecessary one.
1. Nearly all current Blu-ray players are obsolete: The Blu-ray standard is still evolving. Most models currently available use the original Profile 1.0 standard, while some newer models use Profile 1.1 (which adds the ability to show picture-in-picture commentaries). Later this year, the first Profile 2.0 players--which add the ability to deliver online special features (BD Live)--will become available. Ironically, both of these are designed to bring the Blu-ray standard in line with HD DVD players, which have long been able to deliver these features.
A couple of the most recent Blu-ray players (the combo players from Samsung and LG) can be updated from Profile 1.0 to 1.1 with a downloadable firmware update. But the PlayStation 3 is, supposedly, the only existing Blu-ray player that will be fully upgradeable to Profile 2.0. So if you don't want your Blu-ray player to be obsolete, the PS3 is your only choice until 2.0 models--such as the Panasonic DMP-BD50--hit later this year. . . .
"I think he should stop worrying about cruelty to animals and start worrying about all the customers he's flopping his crap on at airports," says chef Anthony Bourdain, the author of "Kitchen Confidential" and the star of the TV series "No Reservations." Mr. Bourdain elaborates: "He does a lot of business in California. He got squeezed and pressured and phone-called from all angles, and like a good German shopkeeper he folded and sold out the people hiding in the cellar next door. I got no respect."
According to The Spread, 64 percent of the money bet online was placed on the Giants. Considering that the Super Bowl is traditionally the biggest betting event of the year and that's a whole lot of payouts for Sports Books.
"Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it," says the 48-year-old professor . . .
But instead he has poured his own half into funding research into ageing and cancer and is happy to live off an annual salary of around £50k.
