Archives for March 2012

The (Many) Things Macroeconomists Don’t Know:

It’s okay if an economic theory is unrealistic and oversimplified. All that matters is whether it delivers useful predictions.

I came across this quote tonight and it immediately seemed applicable to marketing strategy. It doesn’t matter how many charts you have if the work isn’t any good. Seems relevant to Gareth’s post on minimum viable planning.

Sometimes it seems like the more we try to bullet-proof strategies by grounding them in data and research and charts and all of the rest of that sort of thing, the less useful it becomes in actually making stuff.

(Via HBR.org)

http://kevinrothermel.com/blog/521/

I was looking around over at 4chan tonight when I came across their definition of a meme:

A meme is basically an idea that is easily transferable from one mind to another. Think “catchphrases.” Memes are created when a large group of users come to identify with a particular image or slogan. Their continued [mis]use will bring about the destruction of the universe.

Meme’s are one of those things that most people know what one is, but maybe haven’t thought about what actually defines one. Which is probably why marketing people think that they can create them. But I think this definition does a really great job of illustrating why brands cannot create memes, and maybe marketing people should keep it written on a post-it note in a highly visible location in their cubes.

This is a great 8 minute video about gaming sound design as seen through Wabi Sabi sound …

Today we share a great short documentary that will surely fascinate videogames fans. The guys at Rev3Games show us how ridiculous monster sound effects are created just using voices (and some studio magic). For people like the guys at Wabi Sabi Sound, the motto of their daily job is: if you can’t find the creature, be the creature. Awesome.

 

(Via www.adverblog.com)

This is insane:

“We can’t limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore,” the site said in a blog post Sunday. “These Low Orbit Server Stations (LOSS) are just the first attempt. With modern radio transmitters we can get over 100Mbps per node up to 50km away. For the proxy system we’re building, that’s more than enough.”

The Pirate Bay says the small drones will “float some kilometers up in the air.” They seem to be a way of simultaneously provoking and eluding law enforcement, which, according to the blog post, will have to either let their servers operate or commit “a real act of war.” It’s certainly an interesting idea, and something that would be fascinating to see play out.

It’s an indication that no amount of legislation, regulation, security, drm, or 30-second spot played during movie previews are going to be able to stop piracy of content. Like the War on Drugs or the constant back and forth between hackers and security software companies, it’ll just always be a continual evolution of tactics by both sides until one side loses interest.

To borrow a line of thought from Dr. Malcolm in Jurassic Park: “Free will not be contained. Free breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers. Painfully. Maybe even dangerously. I’m simply saying that free finds a way.”

(Via Mashable!)

Meanwhile, gamers put a new spin on the idea of interactive storytelling:

After a massive fan backlash, Bioware cofounder Ray Muzyka has announced that the Mass Effect 3 team is now working on “a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions” so many fans complained about having. While Mass Effect 3 garnered mostly positive review scores, many fans were disappointed by the endings, specifically their lack of variety and lack of closure. Initially, Bioware stood behind the Mass Effect 3 endings 100% percent, and although this announcement doesn’t suggest that Bioware has changed its opinion on the original endings’ integrity, it makes clear their desire to please the fan base. In short, complaining Mass Effect 3 fans may have finally gotten what they wanted.

(Via Geekosystem)

Incredible that things have brought us to the point where people can complain loudly enough to have content creators go back and change their already released content.

I hope George Lucas is paying attention.