Level Orange

According to MySpace, a recent study by Nielsen shows that the popular social networking site has risen above sites like Yahoo!, Google and AOL for 15-24 olds to become the top source of movie information, based on a recent survey of activity for The Dark Knight.

That’s right. One study based on the findings surrounding the biggest film of the summer and MySpace says “we’re number one!”. Never mind sites like IMDb or even Wikipedia that people might use to look up and reference information about movies. Thanks MySpace, maybe it’s because I’m not in the 15-24 age group, but I don’t really think I’ll be looking to you for movie information.

Just like Redbox did a couple of weeks ago, Houston-based TNR Entertainment Corp. have acquired legal counsel to take on Universal Studios’ new policy on kiosk-based DVD rental services. Operating kiosks under the names The New Release and MovieCube, TNR is preparing to address the same changes to Universal’s policy starting December 1st that would require a 45-day delay for new releases and number of items allowed in each kiosk among other ridiculous demands.

This after a week when the only two major new releases, The Incredible Hulk and The Strangers, were both from Universal and probably saw a fair amount of rental business. I picked up both of them over the weekend, but would Universal rather I have not rented those? Because if it were any other week with more appealing titles available and/or if there weren’t enough copies to go around, I probably wouldn’t have.

Tech news site Ars Technica ran an article yesterday about GameCyte, a relative newcomer to the gaming blog arena, charging it with not disclosing enough about its behind-the-scenes connections to TriplePoint, a PR firm that represents various game publishers.

While accusations of conflict of interest and unethical behavior can quickly escalate to distrust and defection amongst readers, the catalyst of Ars Technica’s piece–a positive review of a game published by Telltale Games, one of TriplePoint’s former clients–seems fairly innocuous on the surface. It’s a fair, adequately-written review of a highly-anticipated game that makes no bones about what there is to like and not like about the game itself. However, according to Ars Technica, the crucial missing element is that there is no statement about the thrice-removed connection between GameCyte and Telltale Games. If it were simply a matter of stating up front that GameCyte is a part of Pantheon Labs and let’s say Pantheon Labs was actually owned  by Telltale Games, then that wouldn’t be unheard of, but that’s not the case at all.

Yet, Ars Technica has drawn a hard line and demanded that any and all relationships between Pantheon Labs and TriplePoint must be disclosed at all times, which, along with being impractical, is simply unnecessary for the most part. From what I’ve seen, people who operate in the gaming press and industry have most likely come into contact with each other at some point or another and so painstakingly detailing and listing every single connection of everyone involved–as Ars Technica seems to suggest–is a task bordering on the ridiculous, especially with a PR firm. Is it really that surprising that these people that work or worked at a PR firm actually know other people in the gaming industry? Shock! Awe!

I’ve learned that you can only go so far to earn peoples’ trust before you’ve overextended yourself and/or possibly compromised your ability to actually produce quality content. While I think laying low is a reasonable reaction, given the speed and unchecked nature that news spreads across the net these days, I’d much rather see a statement or commentary from GameCyte directly to clear the air.

Now, for the sake of full disclosure, other than knowing a cool cat that works there, I don’t have any other affiliation (financial or otherwise) with GameCyte or Pantheon Labs, nor TriplePoint, Telltale Games nor your mom.

Pretty awesome announcement from Internet Movie Database today that users can now watch over 6,000 movies and TV shows for free at imdb.com. The selection includes episodes of shows like 24, Heroes, CSI, The Office, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, Raising Arizona and Some Like It Hot. Check out the action at imdb.com.

There’s something truly spectacular about what’s happening with the Web these days in regards to social networking. While the Web was built on the principle of unfettered, worldwide communication and reached for new levels of complexity for the sake of commerce over the last couple of decades, it’s the advent of “Web 2.0″ and personal connectivity that are taking the Web to new heights. Thanks to advances in hardware and the global nature of the Web itself, the level of “connectedness” between users is something previously unseen in any other technology or medium. Using sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and a score of others, it’s easier than ever to keep up with your friends, your favorite “things” and just about anything that anyone in the world might take an interest in.

Just a five years ago, it was a common practice for someone to have to search and find their friends online, and then resort to other, more-traditional forms of communication (e-mails, phone calls, etc.) just to interact with them. These days, traces of personalization, transparency and social interactivity are finding their ways into sites of all purposes. It would seem that in its relatively short history, the Web has gone from being a place of open communication and discussion to a promising-yet-ultimately-busted marketplace to a dazzling new hybrid. A hybrid where users can communicate and connect with each other and where companies are able to get in on the game and become more approachable by “networking” with customers. Same puzzle, same puzzle pieces, but somehow, it’s all a much happier combination.

And yet, I think I’ve hit my limit.

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