We seem to finally be on the brink of a reality where action packed movies have fallen in entertainment value when compared to interactive euphorias
and social utopias. Maybe this is the end of the era of couch-potatoes, or maybe there is something deeper that dwells among us. It could be that
people have started to leave the private family room and move into a more social websphere.
Let's point out the historic event, first:
Activision's Modern Warfare 2 sells 4.7 million units on its first day
$310 million revenue despite the $US 60 price tag per box.
Comparably, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," the top movie of the year at the box office and on DVD, opened with $220 million in its first
weekend, and sold 7.5 million DVD and Blu-rays, in its first week. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" still has the top opening weekend of any
pic to date with a $394 million worldwide haul.
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How much did it cost for each person to see these movies when they first came out? Or, how much did it cost the entire family, and how often does
that cost per family go over $US 60? I think the answers are obvious to us, already.
You can imagine how the MPAA feels about this. The MPAA has been consistent to sue every man, woman, grandma, and child over any suspected piracy
issue. While they haven't gone much after those that pirate games, they sure have made a stand on those that pirate movies. The Pirate Bay is still
alive today despite the effort of the MPAA's actions and many others. TPB is just a search engine, yet that is not what the MPAA claims for damages.
The MPAA might not have been able make a dent in TPB despite the legal action, but they recently sure have their own euphoria after a successful blow
on a whole town's wifi system:
MPAA shuts down entire town's muni WiFi over a single download
The MPAA has successfully shut down an entire town's municipal WiFi because a single user was found to be downloading a copyrighted movie.
Rather than being embarrassed by this gross example of collective punishment (a practice outlawed in the Geneva conventions) against Coshocton, OH,
the MPAA's spokeslizard took the opportunity to cry poor (even though the studios are bringing in record box-office and aftermarket receipts).
Source
I'll let this thread develop for any further commentary based on the two events above. I'm sure I could write up an essay worth, yet I rather make
this simple point of the historic event than to sway the conversation just one way or the other about these headlines above.
For one, I could say it is a conspiracy theory by the MPAA to keep the glamorous private family room alive (prison without walls) in order to prevent
these new interactive worlds. Wasn't the the whole idea behind the talk of 'Dumbing Down America'
(
google it) in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s until the DOT COM Boom broke
through all that mess! I remember when security forces where being called into a federal building in early 1990s just because an Internet connection
was installed and FreeBSD (like Linux) was downloaded from that Internet and installed on a computer that once had MS-Windows 3.1. It came across as a
serious threat despite it was just normal software tools in order for a developer to do his work. The security forces didn't yet recognize it as
normal until a few years later. I don't know if we'll ever know if this event relate to the strategy behind the MPAA or if it is just one big mess
that tried to make people conform to the ideals of the 'Dumbing Down' movement. We could say that the MPAA derived such strategy, yet I tend not to
believe in such conspiracy theories despite the argument.
Instead...
Let's point out what the next obvious movement. The immense storage of Blu-Ray disks not only allows one to fit an entire high-quality movie on the
disk, yet there is enough room to also put games on the same disk. Sony has already started:
Game Demos Included on Future Blu-ray Releases
The first such offering will be released on December 29th with the release of the sci-fi thriller District 9. District 9 already has a slew of extras
including a Digital Copy of the film for PC, the PSP system (PlayStationPortable), Mac or iPod; the Interactive Map feature "Joburg from Above:
Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9," which provides a highly detailed environmental exploration of the world through a series of
interactive satellite maps, technology schematics and photo-real files that take the viewer deeper into the world of the film; and movieIQ, which
allows viewers to immediately access continuously updated information on the cast & crew and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music
and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie. In addition it will contain a playable demo of one of the most anticipated PlayStation
exclusive game of 2010 - God of War III.
Source
You see where this is headed? You like the movie? Now, enjoy the interactive world based on the movie. All on the same disk. Sony is no beginner to
virtual worlds.
If you curious about virtual worlds, they are not just games like Modern Warfare. Virtual Worlds allows for many games to be within the the online
experience. They become seemless to each other. We haven't yet had mainstream technology to make virtual worlds as high-quality as a movie or as
scripted like Modern Warefare, yet that is because virtual worlds are dynamic in the same sense in the real world that they constantly change. Try
Second Life if you continue to be curious to experience it live.
Finally we have the means and the technology to bring interactive worlds to once was the private family room. Not everybody has been able to afford
this. Third-world development hasn't yet been upgraded to meet such mainstream demands. Despite those and many more listed, I do think we can say
based on these headlines that "We are there." (and pat Homer Simpson on the head after all his "Are we there yet?" questions.)
What's next?
