Logical Eccentricity

According to SVM, a sister publication of vunet.com, a Microsoft
official said that Beta 2 of Vista is slated for release during the
first week of December, with the final version shipping on November
15th of 2006. The publication also stated the Beta 2 of IE 7 is set for September 2005, with the final version shipping in December, around the same time as Beta 2 of Vista.

A spokesperson at Microsoft’s headquarters said, “At this time we
have nothing to announce in regards to timing, when we feel that the
product has effectively incorporated the customer feedback we receive
during the beta process, we will release the final product.”

This comes after Microsoft unexpectedly released a full beta of
WinFS, a “revolutionary” file format system originally due to be a
part of Windows Vista. WinFS is supposed to mange files in a completely
new manner, so that if a file is changed, all relevant data is updated
instantaneously as well.

According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 will launch at $299, with a
premium version shipping at $399. The $299 version will not ship with a
hard drive, and the $399 version will include a 20 GB
hard drive, a wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable and wireless
remote control. This pricing move was expected. While the Xbox 360 will
definitely cost more the produce, the price point is low enough to
appeal to the public. Furthermore, the premium version will not be
required for any games, as Microsoft has reportedly told developers not
the count on a hard drive for all games.
This price point could be very dangerous for Sony. If Sony prices their
system at $399, as it is widely suspected, consumers will gravitate
towards the cheaper Xbox. While there might be some consumers that
think the Xbox is inferior because of a lower price, most consumers are
price conscious, and will favor the Xbox over the PS3

According to a statement by Perception Studios, they claim that
they are the official licensees from MGM of Stargate SG-1, and that
“any suggestion that JoWooD has rights to Stargate SG-1: The Alliance
upon termination of the contract is incorrect and not based on
commercial or legal fact.” Perception will continue to develop the
game. Furthermore, Perception states that JoWooD has openly breached
the contract over the past 9 months, for which Perception has given
JoWooD amply time to rectify. Perception has also started legal
proceedings against the CEO, Albert Seidl and the Chairman of the
Supervisory Board of JoWooD, Andreas Rudas, for their libelous press
statement.

The coming legal battle will definitely result a delayed game
release. Hopefully the statements made by JoWooD are incorrect, and the
quality of game, when released is acceptable.

Vivendi Universal Games announced a deal with the late Robert
Ludlum’s estate to exclusively develop and publish games based on his
literary works and associated movies. Most of Ludlum’s work is
focused on international espionage, much like Tom Clancy’s novels.
Thus, it seems VU Games is attempting to challenge Ubisoft’s high
selling Tom Clancy games. According to the CEO of VU Games, Bruce Hack,
“VU Games intends to aggressively establish Ludlum as a top-tier
games brand with high-quality franchises poised to go head-to-head with
other major spy-action games in the industry.” Since this deal was
recently announced, no information is available yet on specific games,
other than they will be released on multiple platforms. Financial
information regarding the deal was not announced.

VU Games has created some amazing games, including Half-Life and
CounterStrike. If VU Games can create products at the same quality,
Ubisoft will face stiff competition. Ubisoft, with its Tom Clancy line
of games is well established in the genre of international spy games,
and they have an enormous library of literary fiction to use for games
along with the name, Tom Clancy. VU Games, on the other hand, doesn’t
benefit from using Robert Ludlum’s name. While many gamers know of
The Bourne Identity, they don’t know who wrote it. So, for VU Games
to really create a challenge for Ubisoft, they will need to brand all
games based on Ludlum’s work with his name, to create something like
the Tom Clancy series.

The Federal Reverse raised the benchmark federal funds rate to a
four-year high of 3.5 percent. The panel stated that they have no plans
to stop raising rates in the near future, as rates are still low enough
to lend support to the economy. They plan to remove stimulus at a
controlled pace, suggesting further quarter-point moves ahead. The Fed
has been raising rates since June 2004, in an effort to head off
inflation risks in a growing economy. The Fed has raised the rate from
an historic low of 1 percent to the current 3.5 percent.