Monthly Archive for May, 2008

My news diet is going well

Published on May 28, 2008 in Life. 1 Comment Tags: .

Since starting my “no-news” diet I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m avoiding the newspapers. I’m avoiding the 6pm news. I’m avoiding the late night news (its interesting that the late news used to be somewhat compelling, even though it was the the same news… with a bit of new packaging).

And this week I’ve really improved my diet by making better use of Google Alerts. We’ve all probably used Google Alerts to keep track on articles relating to various web sites at some stage, but I’ve now fine-tuned my alerts. Google now forwards me all the exact news that I want to consume — therefore I can skip everything else.

Where’s the benefit in knowing everything going on the world? What’s the point in consuming more information than you can ever digest?

Google Alerts can provide you with an exact information diet. Not too little. Not too much. It really is the ultimate tool for any media diet. :)

Icon Digital Entertainment Administrators report online

Published on May 22, 2008 in E-commerce and Gaming. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Even while trying to avoid the doom and gloom with my no-news diet… I found a recent report from the Administrators for Icon Digital Entertainment Ltd (the company behind the failed Sounds and Games Plus stores) and it makes for some interesting reading.

Icon Digital Entertainment was formed in September 2006 when a combination of Blockbuster and Games Plus stores were combined with the purchase of the (then-struggling) Sounds music stores for $12 million.

The Administrators report includes financials for the company and according to Icon’s Management Accounts, losses totalled $9,576,000 for the 14 Months to 31 October 2007.

The company commenced trading on 1st September 2006 and was instantly losing money. On average Icon Digital Entertainment lost over $700,000 with the exception of a tidy profit in December 06. Overall the margins looked reasonable, but sales on the other hand declined dramatically from $3.1 million in Sept 06 to $1.7 million in Sept 07. Ouch.

From the outside its difficult to know exactly what killed them, but overheads would have been very high (and somewhat difficult to reduce) and sales heading permanently south is a killer on its own.

One does have to wonder… just how much of the sales decline could be blamed on the internet? There is no doubt legal and illegal downloads have been hurting the music industry and online stores, like GPstore, have been quietly gobbling up market share in the entertainment area.

It’s also interesting that the administrators made no mention of the companies web sites in the report at all. As if they didn’t exist? Both the Sounds and Games Plus web stores have since been abandoned.

While Icon would be the first to admit that their web stores were pretty average, a quick-fire auction on Trademe or Zillion might have yielded some value for the creditors? Worth a shot?

More information about the Icon Digital Entertainment liquidation can be found on the now-defunct Sounds web site.

EMI downgrading in New Zealand

Published on May 19, 2008 in E-commerce and Life. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

The NZ Herald reported last week that Chris Caddick, the Managing Director of EMI Music New Zealand will be leaving EMI, as the global company is downgrading their presence in New Zealand. The moves are part of an on-going crisis at EMI and the continuing decline of the global music industry.

Its bloody sad to see EMI NZ becoming a marketing-office run from Australia and from our experience, we’ve yet to see any company benefit by from this structure. (Actually that’s not entirely true — the companies that do benefit are the Australian-owned retailers, who have relationships in Australia, that simply can’t be matched by New Zealand owned companies).

EMI have dealt the New Zealand music industry a heck of a blow. Chris has been hailed as one of the best talent scouts in the country and has been credited with promoting some great local talent including the likes of Salmonella Dub, Hollie Smith, Golden Horse and Opshop. Its likely that NZ artists are going to find it harder and harder to break-through into other countries, as more decisions are made in Australia.

The last couple of months have been very interesting for us as we’ve met with all the big music companies and we were very impressed with EMI and how they were identifying the local opportunities online. In fact, we found it difficult to not be infected by Chris’s passion for music — very few people work where there passion is, but Chris and his team definitely do.

The EMI downgrade is definitely… “not cool”.

Retail sales are down?

Published on May 16, 2008 in E-commerce and Life. 1 Comment Tags: , .

This week I’ve decided its time to stop watching the news and stop reading the newspapers. All the talk of tightening credit, high petrol prices, high interest rates and retail sales dropping, is starting to affect our thinking and decision making. Is it just me… or is all of the economic news doom or gloom? Things do look tough out there, but should we really care at a company level?

For example, GPstore is still growing and we’re in need of a bigger premises and more staff. But if I listen to the economic data, I start to feel just a little crazy for thinking about investing for the future in the current climate. All the “tough times” talk does create some hesitancy.

So I’ve been asking myself… “How big a role should national economic data play in the short-term decision making process?” Well I’ve decided the answer is… well, none.

After listening to the gloom, we’ve been expecting GPstore’s sales to slow. But thats not happening — April sales were up 148% on last year (thanks GTA4) and we expect the next 2 months to be well-up on last year too. Our data is very different to what we’re seeing on the news every night.

Some people would suggest there’s a fine line between listening to the economy and burying ones head in the sand… but I think its time we lived like ostrich’s. No more caring about the economy. No more watching the news and no more reading the business section (in reality its going to be about as hard as going on a diet, but I’ll give Mr Cold Turkey a try anyway).

Overall I’m confident we’ll make better decisions by focusing 100% on our own data… and we can react when we start seeing trends that suggests something other than growth.

This topic does raise an interesting question… are economic recessions self-fulfilling prophecies? Does all the negative “reporting” create negative thinking, that leads to negative decisions, that lead to the negative result that was originally talked about?

We won more Netguide Awards!

Published on May 9, 2008 in E-commerce and NZ Internet. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The 2008 People’s Choice Netguide Web Awards were held last night at Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland and we were pretty stoked to win two more awards this year.

Gameplanet Store picked up the award for the Best Online Shopping Website and Gameplanet picked up the award for Best Games Related Website. Zillion was a finalist in Best Trading site (won by Trademe) and happysheep was also a finalist in Best New Site (won by bookabach). It was also great to see Happysheep get a little extra “exposure” from the MC for the night, Rabon Kan. Great name for a web site. No… really!

Winning “Best Shopping Site” at tonight’s 2008 NetGuide Web Awards confirms what we’ve suspected for a while… New Zealand desperately needs a local version of Amazon.com. We’ve raised the bar in gaming and movies, but its time we looked at what else our customers want to buy from us.

This years award ceremony seemed to be lower key than in previous years, even though the crowd was as big as ever. Maybe the impending economic climate has dampened a few spirits, or maybe it was a lack of alcohol being consumed prior to the awards ceremony itself!

We certainly had a great evening and we’re thankful to everyone who voted for us… and of course to Netguide for another great evening. But the evenings are becoming more expensive… our team is growing fast… and the rule is “winner pays” for dinner afterwards. Doh. :)

Is Nintendo a dead duck?

Published on May 2, 2008 in Gaming and GPstore. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Worldwide, Nintendo can seem to do no wrong. Profits are soaring. Their share price is hitting record highs. Nintendo is on fire.

But here in New Zealand things are different — Nintendo seems to be floundering in New Zealand. Big time.

GPstore has always been a strong supporter of Nintendo products. Nintendo has, over the years, been the confined to the hard-core gaming niche which has suited us well. We’ve always punched above our weight for Nintendo and we probably sell more Nintendo than many of the mass merchants.

But, our sales from the last quarter show the Nintendo Wii has hit a wall. The Wi’s share of GPstore’s game sales for the quarter ended March were down 41% over the previous quarter. The Wii came in at sixth place — behind Sony’s PSP and even its own Nintendo DS. Given we’re probably preforming well above the general market… this is a real concern.

The Nintendo Wii, with its revolutionary game controller, lends itself brilliantly, to appeal to the mass market… to even reach people that PlayStation and Xbox can’t. People who aren’t even gamers.

But with Nintendo’s own premium releases now missing their street dates, the future is starting to look questionable. Mario Kart was due April 24th, but it’s gone AWOL. The local Nintendo distributors can’t provide a release date, yet the game was released in Australia two weeks ago.

Retailers and gamers must be wondering… what the heck is going on? I wish I knew.

Nintendo’s revolutionary Wii Fit is due May 8th, but I’d be surprised if it makes that date. So far there’s little hype, no press coverage and muted demand for this revolutionary “game”. There’s no doubt it is a very very cool product… but its already going to under-perform.

So, even though its not officially duck season until tomorrow, the question has to be asked… is Nintendo a dead duck in New Zealand? Is there room for only two console platforms in the NZ market?

We’re big Nintendo fans and we really do want to see it to do well here, so we certainly hope not. But the clock is ticking. What are your thoughts?

Ban GTA4? Ban Gordon Copeland…

Published on May 1, 2008 in Gaming and Life. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

Gordon Copeland has come out this week saying he wants “Grand Auto Theft IV” to be banned (its Grand Theft Auto IV btw Gordon).

He was interviewed on 95BFM’s “The Wire” show this morning and I encourage you to listen to what this independent Member of Parliament has to say. There’s some scary stuff…

So lets take a quick look at some of Mr Copelands claims from his interview:

“Grand Auto Theft IV has got no redeeming features.”

Grand Theft Auto IV is rated the best game ever released by the critics. As Tim Neale from BFM mentioned, Rockstar expect to sell 6 million copies in the first week alone. What was the last book that sold 6 million copies at over $100 a pop? What was the last movie that grossed US$400 in its first week? There’s got to be some redeeming features for the game to be this BIG.

“We’re an already violent society and the last thing we need is a game like this to come in and to let people pretend to be… criminals.”

Would it be true that pretending to be a criminal… is better than actually being one? ;)

“As human beings we become what we watch…”

If we become what we watch… then I’m going to become an All Black. And a ninja. This statement is idiocy. It’s more likely that the environment you are raised in determines the person you become. In fact, experts such as Philip Zimbardo suggest that while parenting, schooling, upbringing, genes etc all help determine who we are… its our environment and our immediate situation that actually tips people to commit crimes.

“I think its time and say No to this video… its a small word but we should use it more”

Thankfully saying “No” is still the job of the Chief Censor, Bill Hastings. Can you imagine Mr Copeland having a say on our censorship laws? Sounds like a good time to say “No”.

“I don’t believe any individual needs to spend valuable time watching such rubbish”

Spending time playing video games or watching movies is a freedom of choice. One which a lot of people do exercise. I’ve personally been playing video games for over 30 years… and I still haven’t morphed into something evil. Well… at least not in the real world. ;)

“The very fact we make it R18 gives it an aura for kids…”

Most people suggest that calling for the game to be banned is adding to the so-called “aura”. I’m not. I’m going to suggest that with good parenting, this is a non-issue. Parents should keep an eye on their kids video gaming habits, as they should for the movies they watch, the music they listen to and the friends they hang out with.

“We may well find the murderer has been given a steady diet of porn and violence”

Supposing that a murderer had links with porn and violence is irresponsible. Trying to link this game to the murder of Marie Davis’s just seems wrong?

“Things like Grand Theft Auto IV is a simulator”

Video games are not simulators. Video games do not train you to do anything. So far I have not turned into a ninja, nor a pilot, nor a soccer player, nor a secret agent, a warlock, racing car driver or even a tennis player. Video games may improve your hand-eye co-ordination and even your problem solving skills… but train you to be something? Unfortunately not.

“Why take the risk?”

Well why stop at video games? Why not ban all adult material and take no risks? No porn? No violent movies? No violent books? How about those cigarettes? Ban alcohol? Ban cars? Dumbing down our whole world for the sake a few idiots would kinda suck? A lot?

“The police and parents in particular are saying the same thing”

Good parents have already banned their kids from watching or playing this game. Its R18 remember?

Dan Cheer, Editor in Chief of Gameplanet, was also interviewed by 95BFM. You can listen to Dans response to Mr Copeland here. Interesting stuff.

If there’s one thing Gordon does highlight… it’s that the MMP system can be very flawed at times. But thankfully, we can all say that we didn’t vote for this guy — he’s a list MP after all. Bring on the next election!