Redbox is considering using its self-service kiosks to rent video games

With its self-service video rental kiosks, Redbox is putting the hurt on traditional movie rental stores like Blockbuster.
Redbox, a unit of Coinstar, rents DVD movies for $1 per night from its automated machines in grocery stores, drug stores and fast-food restaurants. It operates about 13,000 red kiosks nationwide in Walgreens, Wal-Mart and McDonald’s outlets and plans to have over 20,000 deployed by year’s end. (I profiled Redbox in a story published April 8 in Investor’s Business Daily.)
Meanwhile, GameFly, which rents video game discs by mail, is experimenting with self-service game rental kiosks. Privately held GameFly is the online video game rental leader. It provides video games on a subscription basis, much like Netflix does for DVDs.
Redbox is watching the video game market closely. I asked Coinstar President, and former Redbox CEO, Gregg Kaplan about the GameFly test and Redbox’s plans for video games in a March 18 interview.
“Video games is an obvious place for us to look,” he said. “I can’t really comment on plans for the future specific to video games because we’re currently focused just on DVDs. But it seems like a pretty obvious place for us to consider. You could bet that it’s certainly something that we’re looking at.”

People who forward alarming e-mails need to consult Snopes.com first

Tech-media-tainment’s senior correspondent – my mom – forwarded another conspiracy e-mail to the home office today.
This one was about a terrorist expert who supposedly accurately predicted 9/11 and other attacks and was now predicting multi-city, simultaneous attacks in the U.S. within the next 90 days.
A quick check on Snopes.com revealed the e-mail’s claims to be false.
Once again, Snopes quickly shot down another Internet rumor. It’s amazing that bogus rumors and urban legends continue to be spread online when a fact-checking service like Snopes does such a thorough job.
The April 2009 issue of Reader’s Digest profiles the couple behind Snopes.com. The husband-and-wife team of David and Barbara Mikkelson has run the Web site since 1995. The two started the Web site as a hobby and it has become a full-time profession. Each month, 6.2 million people visit Snopes.com.

Fringe sports get their own video games

Football has "Madden NFL." Basketball has "NBA Live." Sports fans like to indulge their passions by playing video games featuring their favorite teams and players.
Now even fringe sports are getting their own video games. Fringe sports are sports that haven’t found a mainstream audience. They have niche fan bases and are working to expand the popularity of their sports.
Two of the wackiest fringe sports – beer pong and competitive eating – now have their own video games.
Publisher X, a global publisher of digitally downloadable games and interactive software, is now selling “Beer Pong – BPong 2009 Edition” for download to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.
The publisher partnered with BPong.com, the official governing body of the annual World Series of Beer Pong, on the video version of the drinking game.
“Beer Pong – BPong 2009 Edition is the closest you can get to Beer Pong without getting splashed in the face with beer,” Doug Kennedy, co-founder of Publisher X, said in an April 8 press release.
Last summer, video game publisher Mastiff launched the first video game based on the sport of competitive eating for Nintendo’s Wii console.
“Major League Eating: The Game” features “the world’s greatest gurgitory athletes competing across a variety of foods and venues,” a July 11, 2008, press release announced. The game is available for download as WiiWare. The game uses the motion-sensing Wii Remote to simulate a variety of eating techniques including the cram, toss, and “typewriter.” Gamers guide their on-screen characters as they eat hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and other dishes.

Twitter mockery continues

Twitter’s owners should have sold out to Facebook for $500 million late last year when they had the chance.
In the five months since those talks broke down, Twitter has attracted a lot of users because of the buzz surrounding the microblogging service. And lately it’s attracted a lot of ridicule too.
Given the state of the economy right now, potential acquirers are likely to be very cautious anyway. But all the joking about Twitter is making it look like a fleeting fad.
While Twitter might have 6 million users by one recent count, it still hasn’t found a way to make money.
In a New York Times article last month, analysts with Sanford Bernstein said monetizing Twitter “would be difficult at best and likely unsuccessful.”
Twitter has the makings of a “value-destroying acquisition” for the purchaser, along the lines of eBay’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Skype, the article said.
The backlash against Twitter is in full swing. Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and political cartoonists are among those poking fun at the superficiality of Twitter.
Many people are getting “online sociability fatigue” and are backing away from social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, according to the Associated Press.
Politicalcartoons.com has a bunch of Twitter-themed funnies. Here are three of my favorites: the first from Mike Keefe of the Denver Post, the second from John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune and the third from Patrick Corrigan of the Toronto Star.

DJs gaining rock-star status

Since when did spinning records make someone the object of adulation?
DJs in recent years have become celebrities. They’re dating Hollywood stars, attracting big crowds for their gigs, and getting written up in the gossip pages with the A-listers.
I recently caught a music video of a Dutch DJ named Tiësto and couldn’t believe my eyes. He was on stage playing recorded music for a crowd of thousands who were going wild for him. He just stood at his turntables and digital mixing controls, wearing his headphones and played music. He didn’t sing, dance, or play a guitar, keyboard or drums. He simply smiled and pumped his fist in the air while playing his dance beats and grooves. Not very compelling for a live performance. But the fans loved it. Maybe it’s a European thing.
I like electronic dance music – house, rave, trance, you name it. But I wouldn’t join thousands of fans to hear or see a particular DJ.
Enjoying the work of a good DJ in a club is one thing. But in a stadium or arena setting? No thanks. It’s bad enough going to see a rock concert at a big stadium and ending up watching the video screens because you’re so far away. But a DJ is a lot less interesting to watch.
There’s a range of DJs – from those who mash up and remix other people’s recordings like Girl Talk to those who create their own beats and melodies. Some like DJ Colette from Chicago even sing their own songs.
DJs have been around for a long time, but mostly as an underground culture with a devoted, but niche following.
Now U.S. DJs like Samantha Ronson and DJ AM are frequently in the gossip columns.
Kids are learning about DJs thanks to “Yo Gabba Gabba!,” a show on Nickelodeon in which DJ Lance Rock orchestrates the activities.
Later this year, everybody will get a chance to play DJ when video game publisher Activision Blizzard releases the music game “DJ Hero.” An extension of the company’s “Guitar Hero” rock music franchise, “DJ Hero” will feature a new genre of music and different game controls.
I’m sure it comes with everything you need to be a DJ. Except the adoring crowds.

Photo of Tiësto from djtiesto.com.
Photo of DC Lance Rock and characters from “Yo Gabba Gabba!”

Fox needs to pink slip the guy who green lit this show – a reality TV series about layoffs

The Fox network is making a reality TV show about layoffs in the current recession.
The upcoming series, called “Someone’s Gotta Go,” lets employees of a small business decide which one of their colleagues will be laid off. Each week a different company lays off an employee, according to the Associated Press.
No air date has been announced for the show, which is being developed by Endemol USA, the company behind “Big Brother,” “Fear Factor” and “Deal or No Deal.”
“Someone’s Gotta Go” sounds just as slimy as Fox’s lie-detector show “Moment of Truth.”
Not only does the show sound exploitative and in poor taste, I don’t think it will do well in the ratings. People don’t want to be reminded about the troubled economy. They see the effects of it every day. They want escapist entertainment – superheroes, B-list celebrities learning how to dance, young singers looking for their big break, etc.
“Someone’s Gotta Go” will fail for the same reason movies about the Iraq war have bombed. It’s a serious and sensitive topic that hits too close to home.

Photo: Advertisement for Fox's reality TV programming.

Nintendo is the new Disney

My 5-year-old son, who will be 6 in a little over a month, loves Nintendo. And so do his schoolmates and friends.
They play with Nintendo’s Wii video game consoles and DS handhelds and talk about game strategy and characters.
My son, Christopher, can discuss in detail the characters from Nintendo’s Mario universe – their personalities, relationships, strengths and weaknesses. I have to feign interest when he talks at length about the merits of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, etc.
All of Chris’ friends and young cousins speak the same language of Nintendo. They’re all growing up with Nintendo’s games and characters.
Nintendo has taken the role once served by Disney. Nintendo is now the most significant, mass market, pop culture influencer of young kids today.
Years ago, kids talked about the Mickey Mouse Club and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Now they talk about Mario and friends.
With interactive entertainment like video games, kids are immersed in Nintendo more than they ever were in Disney’s cartoons and comic books.
Chris has owned a Nintendo DS dual-screen handheld game device since early March 2008. We bought a used DS from GameStop and a couple of games to keep the then 4-year-old occupied on a long flight. It worked. And he quickly mastered Mario Kart DS and a few other games.
He had wanted a digital camera, so we upgraded to the new Nintendo DSi over the weekend. (Again at GameStop.)

The DSi includes two cameras – one pointed at the user and the other away from the user. He’s been taking lots of pictures in the first three days. He uses the included software tools to edit, morph, draw and put artwork on his photos.
The DS has been a good experience for Chris because it’s gotten him used to using icon-based software tools for operating computers. He's comfortable with technology. It’s also inspired him to learn to read more because he has to follow the on-screen instructions for games like Mario Party DS and Super Mario 64 DS.
My only question for Nintendo is: Why no theme parks?