Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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Sad, but okay then.
That said, it's too bad I found your TL as late as I did. Otherwise I did have some ideas for an alternate take on the Thomas Franchise...
-Season 1 adapts Henry and the Elephant and Tenders and Turntables as one story titled Elephants and Turntables. The same takes place with Off the Rails and Down the Mine so there can be an adaptation of Paint Pots and Queens.
-Season 2 still adapts The Missing Coach, and in the end, the twins are painted blue like in the RWS.
-Percy’s Promise and Percy takes the Plunge switch production order. Which means the former is in Season 2 and the latter in Season 3.
-Season 3 notably replaces OTL's Trust Thomas with an adaptation of Super Rescue.
-Season 4 replaces Rusty to the Rescue with Stepney Gets Lost. Where Stepney derails while returning from working with Toby and Mavis. The season also replaces Thomas and the Special Letter with an adaptation of Stop Theif!, and Paint Ports and Queens is replaced with an adaptation of Triple Header. Also, Only the narrow gauge stories from Four Little Engines and the Little Old Engine are made for this season.
-Season 5 introduces the Small Railway, and adapts the other Narrow Gauge Stories.
-Molly is introduced in the fifth season. With her story arc focusing on her becoming more confident and bubbly. Not to mention becoming accepted by the Big engines. She also is somewhat different in appearance, in that her bronze lining is mostly now red stripes, with the number "19" painted on her tender in blue.
-In addition to Molly. The show introduces an orange GCR Pom-Pom 0-6-0 named Susan, who has a character arc focusing on her becoming less impatient and sassy towards her colleagues like Gordon and James.
-Emily functions more as a female version of Edward, and is based on the SECR O class 0-6-0.
-TATMR is not produced.
-Season 6 airs in 2000, and adapts the evens of Jock the New Engine. In addition, it further expands on Molly and Susan, who now live with the Big Engines at Tidmouth. The former also has series of major supporting roles in some stories centered on Percy. Gordon Goes Foreign is finally adapted as an episode, as are Stop Thief! and Triple Header.
- Season 7 airs in 2002, and adapts the events of Gordon the High Speed Engine and Wilbert the forest engine. Also introduced is Belle, a large tank engine used on Suburban trains in the Tidmouth-Knapford metro area. Meanwhile, Ivo Hugh is introduced and expanded on.
- Season 8 airs in 2004, and adapts several annual stories. Plus Emily and Spencer are introduced as cast regulars, with the former being based on a SECR 0-6-0 as opposed GNR Single.
- Season 9 airs in 2006, and introduces Charlie the Purple tank engine, who works as a station pilot at Tidmouth, and unlike OTL knows when to be serious. This seasons also introduces Arthur and Murdoch as major characters.
- Season 10 is aired in 2007, and introduces Rosie and Hank, the former being in her present livery, and the latter of whom is based on the USATC S160.
- Season 11 airs in 2008, and introduces Neville and Rebecca, the latter of whom is introduced in TTL's version of Oliver's Find.
Sports In 2009
The NBA in 2009 was all about the league's young superstars coming into their own and finally asserting their dominance over the league, pushing the old-timers aside and moving into the beginning of their primes. Never was that more evident than in the season that Lebron James had in Denver. After being upset by the Sacramento Kings in the 2008 Western Conference Finals, Lebron went on the warpath, having his best season ever and leading the Nuggets to an NBA-best 63-19 record and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Though his supporting cast wasn't exactly great, they were good enough to give Lebron the help he needed when he needed it. Veteran point guard Baron Davis formed a potent pick and roll combo with Lebron, and David Lee supported Lebron as the #2 scoring option and top rebounder for the team. Meanwhile, the Lakers went even further into decline. Shaq was injured for most of the season, and Allen Iverson requested and received a trade at midseason, going to the Charlotte Hornets for two first round picks and a couple journeyman players. Tim Duncan was able to carry the load most of the way, but the Lakers still ended up in fifth in the West, behind the Clippers who were finally pulling it together thanks to the excellent play of MVP contender Deron Williams and the outstanding coaching of Gregg Popovich. The Warriors, with Kobe at the helm, claimed the #2 spot, while the Kings kept their momentum going and landed in third.
In the East, it was all about Carmelo on the Pistons, Wade on the Cavs, and Durant on the Heat. The three superstars carried their teams to the top of the conference, relegating everyone else to also-ran status. The Pacers fell all the way to 6th place, thanks to injuries to Steve Nash and being forced to let a couple of key players go in free agency following their championship win. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Hornets found themselves in surprisingly good position with their rookie point guard Russell Westbrook playing well and a couple free agency pickups also contributing. They went from being one of the league's worst teams to one of its most intriguing bounce back stories, especially after acquiring Allen Iverson. They would play an intriguing double point-guard combo with Westbrook and Iverson that would stymie a lot of teams defensively and allow them to be one of the best teams after the All-Star Break. The Boston Celtics, in what would be Grant Hill's last season, had some bad luck: O.J. Mayo got into some legal trouble midway through the season, ultimately garnering a ten game suspension, and Kenyon Martin struggled through injuries. Despite all of this, the Celtics would still get into the playoffs, but they'd have a tough road ahead of them.
Playoffs:
First Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Detroit Pistons over (8) Atlanta Hawks, 4 to 1
No surprises here, as the Pistons, led by Carmelo Anthony, gave the Hawks a beating in the first round. Ron Artest was potent, and managed to guard Carmelo fairly well, but the Pistons' roleplayers were free to score when Carmelo was locked down, and Carmelo himself still averaged 28 points a game over the short five game series. The Hawks did win Game 3 in overtime and gave the Pistons a bit of a scare in Game 4, but that was the only drama that this series provided.
(4) Charlotte Hornets over (5) Philadelphia 76ers, 4 to 3
Allen Iverson shined in this series, but it was a close one. By now, Dwight Howard had established himself as "the man" in Philly and one of the best centers in the entire league, if not the best. He bullied the Hornets in Game 1, with the Sixers winning by 21 on the road. Then, the Sixers nearly won Game 2 before Westbrook's heroics led the Hornets back from being down eight with three minutes to go. After averting a disaster of potentially going down 0-2 at home, the Hornets came out strong in Game 3 behind a 38 point effort from Iverson, but stumbled in Game 4 to lose by four. In game 5, Iverson and Westbrook both got a chance to play well, with Iverson scoring 27 and Westbrook scoring 18. Game 6 went to the Sixers, and Game 7 nearly did too: the Hornets pulled it out 100 to 96, and would advance to face the Pistons. Despite the loss, it was clear that the 76ers had a bright future.
(3) Miami Heat over (6) Indiana Pacers, 4 to 2
The defending champs were simply overwhelmed by the Heat. Despite Steve Nash being back and playing mostly like his old self, the Pacers were a step too slow and couldn't handle Kevin Durant, who was the best player in the series by far. The Pacers' Carlos Boozer found himself totally unable to deal with Durant on either end of the floor, and though the Pacers put up a valiant effort, they would lose game six at home.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers over (7) Boston Celtics, 4 to 3
Grant Hill had one last miracle in him, turning back the clock and playing like he did in the 90s to take this series all the way to Game 7. The home team won every game in this series, with several of the games coming down to the last few minutes. The Cavs' Dwyane Wade played somewhat off in the series, averaging only about 20 points a game, which was less than Grant Hill averaged over the seven games. O.J. Mayo behaved himself and played extremely well, and though the Celtics were lacking Martin, his backup Chris Kaman played well enough to handle most of Martin's duties. The Cavs routed the Celts in the deciding game, 113 to 81, but Hill still went out on his sword, with the Cavs fans giving him a standing ovation.
Western Conference:
(1) Denver Nuggets over (8) Seattle Supersonics, 4 to 0
Not too much to say about this series. Lebron and the Nuggets were just too good for the Sonics. Chris Paul had been traded away to the Spurs, who traded away rookie star Brandon Jennings and a bunch of other assets, and though Jennings and the other players acquired in the trade were good enough to get Seattle into the playoffs, they weren't good enough to hang with Lebron. Only one game, Game 4, was close, and the rumors that the Sonics would move only intensified through the offseason, with Las Vegas listed as a possible destination.
(5) Los Angeles Lakers over (4) Los Angeles Clippers, 4 to 3
In this cross-town battle between Hollywood teams, differing styles clashed, along with old (Lakers) vs. young (Clippers). The Clippers had a great team, with Danilo Gallinari playing great as a rookie, and other great players like Deron Williams all pulling it together under Gregg Popovich's system. However, Shaq had one last great series in him, and played quite well with Duncan flanking him. The Lakers got just enough out of their supporting cast to prevail in a close Game 7, and would advance to face Lebron and the Nuggets, who no longer feared what had once been a formidable dynasty.
(3) Sacramento Kings over (6) Dallas Mavericks, 4 to 3
Mark Cuban had his Mavericks fired up, and the team was playing well thanks to a bunch of young stars and skilled veterans, most of whom were acquired in free agency over the last couple years. Cuban had built a contender, and the Mavericks pushed the defending conference champs to the brink. However, the 1-2 punch of Josh Howard and Yi Jianlian were too good for the Mavs to handle, and the Kings would avoid the first round upset.
(2) Golden State Warriors over (7) Utah Jazz, 4 to 0
Kobe Bryant was on fire in this series, including a 59 point Game 1 performance that left the Jazz shell-shocked the rest of the way. The Warriors were good, and they were hungry, and weren't about to take another early upset loss. The Jazz were completely lost in this series, and though they'd started the playoffs on a somewhat promising note, they had no chance here.
Second Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Detroit Pistons over (4) Charlotte Hornets, 4 to 3
This was a very close series that saw Iverson and Carmelo dueling it out, while Eric Gordon also emerged as a strong presence for Charlotte. The Pistons and Hornets traded wins back and forth during the first four games, and then the Hornets upset the Pistons on a buzzer beater by Westbrook in Game 5. That's when Carmelo took over: the Pistons dominated Game 6 in Charlotte, sending the series back to Detroit for Game 7. In the end, the Pistons won a close one, 94 to 89, and advanced to the conference finals thanks to their youth and talent. Still, the Hornets clearly had a strong team, and though they'd mortgaged their future somewhat to get Iverson (trading away two picks that hopefully wouldn't come back to bite them), they still had a nice nucleus and a shot at pushing even farther next time.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers over (3) Miami Heat, 4 to 1
The Cavs pressed their homecourt advantage to the fullest, winning Games 1, 2, and 5 in fairly close fashion. While Durant played quite well for the Heat, he didn't have quite as strong a supporting cast as Wade did, and Wade and his teammates had developed incredible chemistry. Cleveland was a city that had been through a significant scandal due to the Michael Vick dogfighting conviction, and the Cavs rallied their city and their fans to tremendous effect. The Cavs and Heat split Games 3 and 4 in Miami, and then Cleveland won Game 5 101-100 to advance to the conference finals.
Western Conference:
(1) Denver Nuggets over (5) Los Angeles Lakers, 4 to 0
The Lakers' age finally caught up to them after that grueling Clippers series, while Lebron put on a clinic. In Game 1, he dunked on both Shaq and Duncan, demoralizing both big men and setting the tone for the series. The rest of the way, he was simply dominant: triple doubles in Games 2, 3, and 4, while Shaq found himself being outplayed by David Lee at the rim. The Nuggets arguably dominated the series even more than they had the Sonics series, and while the Lakers' run at the top of the league looked to be officially done, the Nuggets' reign looked to be just beginning.
(2) Golden State Warriors over (3) Sacramento Kings, 4 to 2
The Kings competed fiercely, but Kobe would not be denied: he had his revenge, knocking out Sacramento at home to advance to another conference finals showdown with Lebron. Kobe scored more than 36 points a game, and while the Kings had more stars, and younger stars, they lacked the experience and the star power of Kobe. Josh Howard was no match for Bryant on offense or defense, and while the Kings managed to take Games 3 and 4 at home, that was all they would win in this series that wasn't as close as the six games it went to would have you believe.
Conference Finals
(1) Detroit Pistons over (2) Cleveland Cavaliers, 4 to 3
The 2009 Eastern Conference Finals was a battle for the ages between two transcendent stars in their primes. Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade played incredibly well in this series that saw five of its seven games decided by four points or less, and three games that went down to the final possession, including Game 7. The Pistons took Game 1 in a 106-90 win, the biggest rout of the series, but Game 2 was a back and forth duel between the two stars that would go to triple overtime and would end with a controversial foul and two Cavs free throws to clinch a 114-112 win. Game 3 saw the Cavs win a hard fought, physically grinding 99 to 95 slugfest, and the Pistons would respond, winning 110 to 106 in Game 4 to tie it up heading back into Detroit. In Detroit, Carmelo would once again have a strong game, and the Pistons won 106 to 97 in a game that, while Detroit was able to pull away in the final quarter, was close most of the way. Game 6 would arguably be the best game of the series: it would go to overtime, and Detroit was up by one, 100 to 99, with just seconds to go. Wade pulled up from 18 feet with Carmelo right in his face, and sunk the game winning shot to the jubilation of Cavs fans. Then it went to Game 7, which was a back and forth affair that would also see both teams come back from double-digit deficits: Detroit took an early 34-23 lead that the Cavs closed to a 58-58 tie at halftime, and then Cleveland surged to a 90-80 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Detroit fought back to tie it at 104 with less than two minutes remaining. Detroit would hold a 110-108 lead with 13 seconds to go, and Cleveland had the last shot. Wade once again had the chance to hit a game winner when he got a chance at a 3 from the corner at the buzzer, but this time it would clank just off the rim, and the Pistons were in the Finals for the first time since the Bad Boys era.
(1) Denver Nuggets over (2) Golden State Warriors, 4 to 1
Unlike the epic Eastern Conference Finals, this series wasn't close. Fans were looking forward to another showdown between Kobe and Lebron, as epic as their 2007 clash, but the Nuggets and Lebron were just too good, and Kobe had an off series at the worst possible time. Denver dominated Games 1 and 2, and won fairly handily in Game 3. The Warriors woke up and won Game 4 to prevent a sweep, but they couldn't prevent Denver from winning Game 5 by a 14 point margin. Lebron was back in the Finals, and would have several days to await the winner of the Pistons/Cavaliers clash.
2009 NBA Finals
Denver Nuggets over Detroit Pistons, 4 to 1
Lebron and Carmelo were finally facing off in an NBA Finals, and fans, like they'd been for the Lebron/Kobe matchup, were hyped. Two of the league's brightest young stars doing battle in an epic Finals clash for the ages? But, like the Western Conference Finals, this series was anticlimactic. The Pistons had laid it all out on the court to beat the Cavs, leaving not a whole lot in the tank for their showdown with Lebron and the Nuggets, who had played only 13 games thus far in the playoffs and had yet to face a serious challenge. The result was an overwhelming Nuggets team bullying a tired Pistons team, winning Games 1 and 2 in only slightly less dominant fashion than they'd beaten the Warriors in. The Pistons showed promise after winning Game 3 92 to 84, and then starting Game 4 well, going into halftime with a slight lead... but after the Nuggets retook the lead midway through the third quarter of Game 4, they wouldn't trail for the entire rest of the series. The Nuggets won Game 4 and then Game 5 in a rout, and Lebron won Finals MVP to go with his league MVP trophy. The Nuggets were now the team to beat in the NBA, and Lebron James was the undisputed king.
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The 2009 NBA Draft was the most stacked draft class perhaps of all time. High school phenoms like John Wall, Derrick Favors, and DeMarcus Cousins joined outstanding college stars like Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, and Hasheem Thabeet. Add foreign stars like Ricky Rubio to the mix, and teams were tanking left and right to get a seat at the table. The Phoenix Suns, who still had Yao Ming, were accused of sitting him far longer than necessary for him to recover in order to tank their way to a high pick, and teams like the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks also stunk it up, angering their fanbases. However, the team that ultimately suffered the most in the draft was the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs had been bad since kicking Gregg Popovich to the curb, but they refused to tank, and their pick looked like it might be in the 9-12 range when they traded it to the Seattle Supersonics as part of a package to bring in Chris Paul. Thanks to Paul, the Spurs ended up being in line for the 13th pick due to their record... but the ping pong balls fell their way and put them in first... and they hadn't protected their pick. The Sonics, despite having very little negotiation power, got the Spurs to agree not to protect the 2009 first rounder they sent, using the leverage that other teams were making better offers. The Sonics, despite making the playoffs, got the first pick in the draft, and since they already had their point guard (Chris Paul), passed up on the phenom John Wall to take the much more experienced Blake Griffin. Sonics ticket sales surged after the pick, just enough that a seemingly imminent move to Vegas was put on the backburner. Seattle would have one last chance to keep its NBA team if fans showed up to support the Paul-Griffin combo. John Wall would go second, to the Phoenix Suns, and would be paired up with a Yao Ming who had been given plenty of rest time and was ready to give it one more go. The Chicago Bulls, just as in 1984, were sitting with the third pick in a loaded draft. They were debating between Hasheem Thabeet, a potential franchise center, and Stephen Curry, who had led his Davidson team to a miraculous national championship run in 2009, knocking off the Duke Blue Devils after Curry hit a 60 foot buzzer beater in what was called by one commentator as the "greatest moment in the history of sports". While most analysts believed that Curry's value going into the draft was highly overstated and that he was a stat stuffer on a small college team, the Bulls ultimately saw something special in him and took him with the third pick in the draft. Thabeet would go fourth, to the Houston Rockets, hoping that he would be the next Olajuwon. New York Knicks fans were furious, as they had wanted Thabeet, and instead had to "settle" for DeMarcus Cousins.
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"Ken Griffey Jr.'s farewell tour has driven major ticket sales for Mariners road opponents, as baseball fans celebrate Griffey's final year in the league. Griffey, who has spent his entire 21-year career playing for the Seattle Mariners, has taken the team to three World Series titles, all while achieving numerous records, most notably the league's all time home run mark, which currently sits at 801. Griffey hit his 800th home run right here in Seattle, during a game against the Houston Astros, and the fan who caught the ball made headlines after tearfully presenting it to Griffey following the game, despite reports that the ball might fetch as much as a million dollars at auction. The fan, overcome with emotion, told Griffey that while he knew the money from selling the ball would have changed his life, Griffey has changed his life even more, and that he wanted Griffey to have the ball as a way of saying thanks for all the joy the superstar has brought him during his time as a Mariner. The lovefest for Griffey has been seen at stadiums across the league, with some opposing teams even choosing to honor Griffey in brief pre-game ceremonies or announcements. Despite having played 21 years in the league, Griffey still intimidates some pitchers: he's currently second on the team in number of total walks, and has 13 home runs so far this season, putting him perhaps on pace to notch 30 or more in his final year in the league. Griffey has remained remarkably injury-free throughout his career, missing more than a week at a time only four times in a 21-year span. He briefly contemplated going to the Cincinnati Reds in free agency, the same team that his father won a World Series with, but decided to stay with the Mariners, citing the loyalty of the fans and the owners' commitment to winning as key in his decision. And speaking of winning, the Mariners are once again on track to win their division. They're hoping to avoid early playoff losses like they've had in the last couple of years in the wild card round, including last year to the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees in a 3 to 0 sweep. The Yankees once again are the top team in the American League, but the Mariners are nipping at their heels this year, just 2 1/2 games behind going into a crucial three game series in New York next week."
-from the June 16, 2009 KOMO morning news broadcast
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2009 might just be the biggest year of Avril Lavigne's career. Though her skating career has slowed down somewhat, she has a number of projects being released this year, including the highly anticipated sequel to her hit 2004 video game Thrillseekers and an upcoming LP of songs she's recorded. She's also making appearances in several films and TV shows, but despite all the fame and the detours, Lavigne says she remains a skater at heart, even if her tournament schedule is a bit lighter than it's been in recent years.
We met up with Lavigne as she finished up a short practice, and she was happy to give us some of her time, speaking with us even as she toweled off and drank from a large bottle of water.
"The level of competition, it's increased so much in the last five years," said Lavigne, as she recalled her heartbreaking losses in the last three X-Games, including in 2008 when she failed to finish in the top 3. "I'm glad to see all these girls getting into the sport, it's humbling I've inspired so many of them, but it's definitely gotten tougher to win."
Despite only being 24 years old, Lavigne talks and carries herself like a seasoned veteran, which she is. Her first victory in the X-Games came in 2000 when she was just 15, performing a spectacular routine in the women's skateboarding freestyle competition that some say has yet to be matched. It was an iconic moment in the sport, an iconic moment for women in sports in general, and it opened up a world of opportunities for Lavigne to not only become the undisputed queen of her sport, but a bonafide crossover superstar. In addition to her hit video game series, she's sold billions of dollars worth of sports equipment, makes tens of millions a year from sponsorships, and has released numerous singles, both as tie-ins with her video game and as stand alone songs accompanying DVDs or documentaries.
"You guys know my original dream was to be a singer, right?" said Lavigne with a laugh. "And I still sing all the time, I still love singing, so any chance I get to do that is awesome."
Lavigne seemed destined to be a superstar singer, but a bout with laryngitis in 1995 robbed her of her voice for several months. While her first dream was on the backburner, she picked up skateboarding to pass the time, and the rest was history.
Some skateboarding purists believe that Lavigne's "extracurricular" activities have negatively affected her skateboarding, but when we talk about that topic with Lavigne, she almost gets defensive.
"Those people who say I've been too distracted to skateboard, that's a bunch of bullshit," Lavigne told us, her voice rising with anger. "I've skated more tournaments in the last three years than I have in all the years before put together. I gave up a chance to voice my own character on the Thrillseekers cartoon so I could focus 100 percent on my skateboarding. I've turned down big movie roles so I could keep skating. I have never been more devoted to skateboarding than I am right now."
Fortunately for us, Lavigne's anger was directed at her detractors, and not at our interviewer, and she laughed apologetically soon after her reply.
"Sorry about all that, but when I hear people talking shit at me like that, it just pisses me off, you know? Like, if you're gonna talk shit about me, fine, but don't accuse me of things that aren't true."
Lavigne does admit that she's going to focus on other projects for the time being, but only for a brief while, and that skating remains her #1 love.
"It's tough, because I want to skateboard, but I want to give myself time to take advantage of some of these other opportunities too. It's not that I'm burned out or anything like that, but I wanna broaden my horizons, and I think maybe I've earned it? I won't be 24 forever."
Lavigne told us that she's going to spend some time promoting her new game, and then she plans to work on her album. She has several collaborators in mind, including Thrillseekers co-star and film actress Lacey Chabert and 90s rock icon Kathleen Hanna, along with newer pop stars such as Hikaru Utada.
"Apparently I'm pretty popular in Japan, and I've been getting offers left and right to do stuff over there, so I'd really love to record some songs with Hikaru, who's amazing. She loves doing collabs with people, and I think if I could maybe just do some singing with her, maybe even write something for her, that'd be pretty rad."
Lavigne also has a guest star appearance on the upcoming eighth season of the hit ABC drama Lane, in which she'll play a college senior who becomes a major part of the title character's life.
"I can't say too much about any of that, but I'll be in at least three episodes," said Lavigne, "and it's a huge honor to be on that show and work with all the talented people on there, especially Kristen Stewart. Now if I could get her to do a voice on Thrillseekers or something, that would be pretty sweet."
Even with all the new opportunities being afforded to her, Lavigne is still focused on skateboarding, and she has a big motivation for making sure she keeps her eyes on that prize: the opportunity to compete for her native Canada in the 2012 Olympics in Toronto, which will feature men's and women's skateboarding events for the first time.
"Obviously training for the Olympics is going to be a huge priority going forward," said Lavigne, who hopes to begin training as early as 2010 as she gets ready for qualifying. Despite her recent tournament stumbles, she's still the #1 ranked female skater in Canada and #4 in the world, and would be a top contender in the Olympics if she qualified. "To say I'm stoked to compete for Canada in Canada would be like, the biggest understatement ever."
X-Games legend, multimedia star, head of a billion dollar empire, and maybe Olympic gold medalist. Avril Lavigne has it all, but she still wants more, and despite all she's accomplished, she's got a long way to go.
"Would I give everything up for an Olympic gold medal?" said Lavigne, perhaps anticipating one of our questions. "To be honest, probably not, but it'd be pretty sweet to have one, wouldn't it?"
-from an article in the June 29, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated
In the East, it was all about Carmelo on the Pistons, Wade on the Cavs, and Durant on the Heat. The three superstars carried their teams to the top of the conference, relegating everyone else to also-ran status. The Pacers fell all the way to 6th place, thanks to injuries to Steve Nash and being forced to let a couple of key players go in free agency following their championship win. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Hornets found themselves in surprisingly good position with their rookie point guard Russell Westbrook playing well and a couple free agency pickups also contributing. They went from being one of the league's worst teams to one of its most intriguing bounce back stories, especially after acquiring Allen Iverson. They would play an intriguing double point-guard combo with Westbrook and Iverson that would stymie a lot of teams defensively and allow them to be one of the best teams after the All-Star Break. The Boston Celtics, in what would be Grant Hill's last season, had some bad luck: O.J. Mayo got into some legal trouble midway through the season, ultimately garnering a ten game suspension, and Kenyon Martin struggled through injuries. Despite all of this, the Celtics would still get into the playoffs, but they'd have a tough road ahead of them.
Playoffs:
First Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Detroit Pistons over (8) Atlanta Hawks, 4 to 1
No surprises here, as the Pistons, led by Carmelo Anthony, gave the Hawks a beating in the first round. Ron Artest was potent, and managed to guard Carmelo fairly well, but the Pistons' roleplayers were free to score when Carmelo was locked down, and Carmelo himself still averaged 28 points a game over the short five game series. The Hawks did win Game 3 in overtime and gave the Pistons a bit of a scare in Game 4, but that was the only drama that this series provided.
(4) Charlotte Hornets over (5) Philadelphia 76ers, 4 to 3
Allen Iverson shined in this series, but it was a close one. By now, Dwight Howard had established himself as "the man" in Philly and one of the best centers in the entire league, if not the best. He bullied the Hornets in Game 1, with the Sixers winning by 21 on the road. Then, the Sixers nearly won Game 2 before Westbrook's heroics led the Hornets back from being down eight with three minutes to go. After averting a disaster of potentially going down 0-2 at home, the Hornets came out strong in Game 3 behind a 38 point effort from Iverson, but stumbled in Game 4 to lose by four. In game 5, Iverson and Westbrook both got a chance to play well, with Iverson scoring 27 and Westbrook scoring 18. Game 6 went to the Sixers, and Game 7 nearly did too: the Hornets pulled it out 100 to 96, and would advance to face the Pistons. Despite the loss, it was clear that the 76ers had a bright future.
(3) Miami Heat over (6) Indiana Pacers, 4 to 2
The defending champs were simply overwhelmed by the Heat. Despite Steve Nash being back and playing mostly like his old self, the Pacers were a step too slow and couldn't handle Kevin Durant, who was the best player in the series by far. The Pacers' Carlos Boozer found himself totally unable to deal with Durant on either end of the floor, and though the Pacers put up a valiant effort, they would lose game six at home.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers over (7) Boston Celtics, 4 to 3
Grant Hill had one last miracle in him, turning back the clock and playing like he did in the 90s to take this series all the way to Game 7. The home team won every game in this series, with several of the games coming down to the last few minutes. The Cavs' Dwyane Wade played somewhat off in the series, averaging only about 20 points a game, which was less than Grant Hill averaged over the seven games. O.J. Mayo behaved himself and played extremely well, and though the Celtics were lacking Martin, his backup Chris Kaman played well enough to handle most of Martin's duties. The Cavs routed the Celts in the deciding game, 113 to 81, but Hill still went out on his sword, with the Cavs fans giving him a standing ovation.
Western Conference:
(1) Denver Nuggets over (8) Seattle Supersonics, 4 to 0
Not too much to say about this series. Lebron and the Nuggets were just too good for the Sonics. Chris Paul had been traded away to the Spurs, who traded away rookie star Brandon Jennings and a bunch of other assets, and though Jennings and the other players acquired in the trade were good enough to get Seattle into the playoffs, they weren't good enough to hang with Lebron. Only one game, Game 4, was close, and the rumors that the Sonics would move only intensified through the offseason, with Las Vegas listed as a possible destination.
(5) Los Angeles Lakers over (4) Los Angeles Clippers, 4 to 3
In this cross-town battle between Hollywood teams, differing styles clashed, along with old (Lakers) vs. young (Clippers). The Clippers had a great team, with Danilo Gallinari playing great as a rookie, and other great players like Deron Williams all pulling it together under Gregg Popovich's system. However, Shaq had one last great series in him, and played quite well with Duncan flanking him. The Lakers got just enough out of their supporting cast to prevail in a close Game 7, and would advance to face Lebron and the Nuggets, who no longer feared what had once been a formidable dynasty.
(3) Sacramento Kings over (6) Dallas Mavericks, 4 to 3
Mark Cuban had his Mavericks fired up, and the team was playing well thanks to a bunch of young stars and skilled veterans, most of whom were acquired in free agency over the last couple years. Cuban had built a contender, and the Mavericks pushed the defending conference champs to the brink. However, the 1-2 punch of Josh Howard and Yi Jianlian were too good for the Mavs to handle, and the Kings would avoid the first round upset.
(2) Golden State Warriors over (7) Utah Jazz, 4 to 0
Kobe Bryant was on fire in this series, including a 59 point Game 1 performance that left the Jazz shell-shocked the rest of the way. The Warriors were good, and they were hungry, and weren't about to take another early upset loss. The Jazz were completely lost in this series, and though they'd started the playoffs on a somewhat promising note, they had no chance here.
Second Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Detroit Pistons over (4) Charlotte Hornets, 4 to 3
This was a very close series that saw Iverson and Carmelo dueling it out, while Eric Gordon also emerged as a strong presence for Charlotte. The Pistons and Hornets traded wins back and forth during the first four games, and then the Hornets upset the Pistons on a buzzer beater by Westbrook in Game 5. That's when Carmelo took over: the Pistons dominated Game 6 in Charlotte, sending the series back to Detroit for Game 7. In the end, the Pistons won a close one, 94 to 89, and advanced to the conference finals thanks to their youth and talent. Still, the Hornets clearly had a strong team, and though they'd mortgaged their future somewhat to get Iverson (trading away two picks that hopefully wouldn't come back to bite them), they still had a nice nucleus and a shot at pushing even farther next time.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers over (3) Miami Heat, 4 to 1
The Cavs pressed their homecourt advantage to the fullest, winning Games 1, 2, and 5 in fairly close fashion. While Durant played quite well for the Heat, he didn't have quite as strong a supporting cast as Wade did, and Wade and his teammates had developed incredible chemistry. Cleveland was a city that had been through a significant scandal due to the Michael Vick dogfighting conviction, and the Cavs rallied their city and their fans to tremendous effect. The Cavs and Heat split Games 3 and 4 in Miami, and then Cleveland won Game 5 101-100 to advance to the conference finals.
Western Conference:
(1) Denver Nuggets over (5) Los Angeles Lakers, 4 to 0
The Lakers' age finally caught up to them after that grueling Clippers series, while Lebron put on a clinic. In Game 1, he dunked on both Shaq and Duncan, demoralizing both big men and setting the tone for the series. The rest of the way, he was simply dominant: triple doubles in Games 2, 3, and 4, while Shaq found himself being outplayed by David Lee at the rim. The Nuggets arguably dominated the series even more than they had the Sonics series, and while the Lakers' run at the top of the league looked to be officially done, the Nuggets' reign looked to be just beginning.
(2) Golden State Warriors over (3) Sacramento Kings, 4 to 2
The Kings competed fiercely, but Kobe would not be denied: he had his revenge, knocking out Sacramento at home to advance to another conference finals showdown with Lebron. Kobe scored more than 36 points a game, and while the Kings had more stars, and younger stars, they lacked the experience and the star power of Kobe. Josh Howard was no match for Bryant on offense or defense, and while the Kings managed to take Games 3 and 4 at home, that was all they would win in this series that wasn't as close as the six games it went to would have you believe.
Conference Finals
(1) Detroit Pistons over (2) Cleveland Cavaliers, 4 to 3
The 2009 Eastern Conference Finals was a battle for the ages between two transcendent stars in their primes. Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade played incredibly well in this series that saw five of its seven games decided by four points or less, and three games that went down to the final possession, including Game 7. The Pistons took Game 1 in a 106-90 win, the biggest rout of the series, but Game 2 was a back and forth duel between the two stars that would go to triple overtime and would end with a controversial foul and two Cavs free throws to clinch a 114-112 win. Game 3 saw the Cavs win a hard fought, physically grinding 99 to 95 slugfest, and the Pistons would respond, winning 110 to 106 in Game 4 to tie it up heading back into Detroit. In Detroit, Carmelo would once again have a strong game, and the Pistons won 106 to 97 in a game that, while Detroit was able to pull away in the final quarter, was close most of the way. Game 6 would arguably be the best game of the series: it would go to overtime, and Detroit was up by one, 100 to 99, with just seconds to go. Wade pulled up from 18 feet with Carmelo right in his face, and sunk the game winning shot to the jubilation of Cavs fans. Then it went to Game 7, which was a back and forth affair that would also see both teams come back from double-digit deficits: Detroit took an early 34-23 lead that the Cavs closed to a 58-58 tie at halftime, and then Cleveland surged to a 90-80 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Detroit fought back to tie it at 104 with less than two minutes remaining. Detroit would hold a 110-108 lead with 13 seconds to go, and Cleveland had the last shot. Wade once again had the chance to hit a game winner when he got a chance at a 3 from the corner at the buzzer, but this time it would clank just off the rim, and the Pistons were in the Finals for the first time since the Bad Boys era.
(1) Denver Nuggets over (2) Golden State Warriors, 4 to 1
Unlike the epic Eastern Conference Finals, this series wasn't close. Fans were looking forward to another showdown between Kobe and Lebron, as epic as their 2007 clash, but the Nuggets and Lebron were just too good, and Kobe had an off series at the worst possible time. Denver dominated Games 1 and 2, and won fairly handily in Game 3. The Warriors woke up and won Game 4 to prevent a sweep, but they couldn't prevent Denver from winning Game 5 by a 14 point margin. Lebron was back in the Finals, and would have several days to await the winner of the Pistons/Cavaliers clash.
2009 NBA Finals
Denver Nuggets over Detroit Pistons, 4 to 1
Lebron and Carmelo were finally facing off in an NBA Finals, and fans, like they'd been for the Lebron/Kobe matchup, were hyped. Two of the league's brightest young stars doing battle in an epic Finals clash for the ages? But, like the Western Conference Finals, this series was anticlimactic. The Pistons had laid it all out on the court to beat the Cavs, leaving not a whole lot in the tank for their showdown with Lebron and the Nuggets, who had played only 13 games thus far in the playoffs and had yet to face a serious challenge. The result was an overwhelming Nuggets team bullying a tired Pistons team, winning Games 1 and 2 in only slightly less dominant fashion than they'd beaten the Warriors in. The Pistons showed promise after winning Game 3 92 to 84, and then starting Game 4 well, going into halftime with a slight lead... but after the Nuggets retook the lead midway through the third quarter of Game 4, they wouldn't trail for the entire rest of the series. The Nuggets won Game 4 and then Game 5 in a rout, and Lebron won Finals MVP to go with his league MVP trophy. The Nuggets were now the team to beat in the NBA, and Lebron James was the undisputed king.
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The 2009 NBA Draft was the most stacked draft class perhaps of all time. High school phenoms like John Wall, Derrick Favors, and DeMarcus Cousins joined outstanding college stars like Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, and Hasheem Thabeet. Add foreign stars like Ricky Rubio to the mix, and teams were tanking left and right to get a seat at the table. The Phoenix Suns, who still had Yao Ming, were accused of sitting him far longer than necessary for him to recover in order to tank their way to a high pick, and teams like the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks also stunk it up, angering their fanbases. However, the team that ultimately suffered the most in the draft was the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs had been bad since kicking Gregg Popovich to the curb, but they refused to tank, and their pick looked like it might be in the 9-12 range when they traded it to the Seattle Supersonics as part of a package to bring in Chris Paul. Thanks to Paul, the Spurs ended up being in line for the 13th pick due to their record... but the ping pong balls fell their way and put them in first... and they hadn't protected their pick. The Sonics, despite having very little negotiation power, got the Spurs to agree not to protect the 2009 first rounder they sent, using the leverage that other teams were making better offers. The Sonics, despite making the playoffs, got the first pick in the draft, and since they already had their point guard (Chris Paul), passed up on the phenom John Wall to take the much more experienced Blake Griffin. Sonics ticket sales surged after the pick, just enough that a seemingly imminent move to Vegas was put on the backburner. Seattle would have one last chance to keep its NBA team if fans showed up to support the Paul-Griffin combo. John Wall would go second, to the Phoenix Suns, and would be paired up with a Yao Ming who had been given plenty of rest time and was ready to give it one more go. The Chicago Bulls, just as in 1984, were sitting with the third pick in a loaded draft. They were debating between Hasheem Thabeet, a potential franchise center, and Stephen Curry, who had led his Davidson team to a miraculous national championship run in 2009, knocking off the Duke Blue Devils after Curry hit a 60 foot buzzer beater in what was called by one commentator as the "greatest moment in the history of sports". While most analysts believed that Curry's value going into the draft was highly overstated and that he was a stat stuffer on a small college team, the Bulls ultimately saw something special in him and took him with the third pick in the draft. Thabeet would go fourth, to the Houston Rockets, hoping that he would be the next Olajuwon. New York Knicks fans were furious, as they had wanted Thabeet, and instead had to "settle" for DeMarcus Cousins.
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"Ken Griffey Jr.'s farewell tour has driven major ticket sales for Mariners road opponents, as baseball fans celebrate Griffey's final year in the league. Griffey, who has spent his entire 21-year career playing for the Seattle Mariners, has taken the team to three World Series titles, all while achieving numerous records, most notably the league's all time home run mark, which currently sits at 801. Griffey hit his 800th home run right here in Seattle, during a game against the Houston Astros, and the fan who caught the ball made headlines after tearfully presenting it to Griffey following the game, despite reports that the ball might fetch as much as a million dollars at auction. The fan, overcome with emotion, told Griffey that while he knew the money from selling the ball would have changed his life, Griffey has changed his life even more, and that he wanted Griffey to have the ball as a way of saying thanks for all the joy the superstar has brought him during his time as a Mariner. The lovefest for Griffey has been seen at stadiums across the league, with some opposing teams even choosing to honor Griffey in brief pre-game ceremonies or announcements. Despite having played 21 years in the league, Griffey still intimidates some pitchers: he's currently second on the team in number of total walks, and has 13 home runs so far this season, putting him perhaps on pace to notch 30 or more in his final year in the league. Griffey has remained remarkably injury-free throughout his career, missing more than a week at a time only four times in a 21-year span. He briefly contemplated going to the Cincinnati Reds in free agency, the same team that his father won a World Series with, but decided to stay with the Mariners, citing the loyalty of the fans and the owners' commitment to winning as key in his decision. And speaking of winning, the Mariners are once again on track to win their division. They're hoping to avoid early playoff losses like they've had in the last couple of years in the wild card round, including last year to the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees in a 3 to 0 sweep. The Yankees once again are the top team in the American League, but the Mariners are nipping at their heels this year, just 2 1/2 games behind going into a crucial three game series in New York next week."
-from the June 16, 2009 KOMO morning news broadcast
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2009 might just be the biggest year of Avril Lavigne's career. Though her skating career has slowed down somewhat, she has a number of projects being released this year, including the highly anticipated sequel to her hit 2004 video game Thrillseekers and an upcoming LP of songs she's recorded. She's also making appearances in several films and TV shows, but despite all the fame and the detours, Lavigne says she remains a skater at heart, even if her tournament schedule is a bit lighter than it's been in recent years.
We met up with Lavigne as she finished up a short practice, and she was happy to give us some of her time, speaking with us even as she toweled off and drank from a large bottle of water.
"The level of competition, it's increased so much in the last five years," said Lavigne, as she recalled her heartbreaking losses in the last three X-Games, including in 2008 when she failed to finish in the top 3. "I'm glad to see all these girls getting into the sport, it's humbling I've inspired so many of them, but it's definitely gotten tougher to win."
Despite only being 24 years old, Lavigne talks and carries herself like a seasoned veteran, which she is. Her first victory in the X-Games came in 2000 when she was just 15, performing a spectacular routine in the women's skateboarding freestyle competition that some say has yet to be matched. It was an iconic moment in the sport, an iconic moment for women in sports in general, and it opened up a world of opportunities for Lavigne to not only become the undisputed queen of her sport, but a bonafide crossover superstar. In addition to her hit video game series, she's sold billions of dollars worth of sports equipment, makes tens of millions a year from sponsorships, and has released numerous singles, both as tie-ins with her video game and as stand alone songs accompanying DVDs or documentaries.
"You guys know my original dream was to be a singer, right?" said Lavigne with a laugh. "And I still sing all the time, I still love singing, so any chance I get to do that is awesome."
Lavigne seemed destined to be a superstar singer, but a bout with laryngitis in 1995 robbed her of her voice for several months. While her first dream was on the backburner, she picked up skateboarding to pass the time, and the rest was history.
Some skateboarding purists believe that Lavigne's "extracurricular" activities have negatively affected her skateboarding, but when we talk about that topic with Lavigne, she almost gets defensive.
"Those people who say I've been too distracted to skateboard, that's a bunch of bullshit," Lavigne told us, her voice rising with anger. "I've skated more tournaments in the last three years than I have in all the years before put together. I gave up a chance to voice my own character on the Thrillseekers cartoon so I could focus 100 percent on my skateboarding. I've turned down big movie roles so I could keep skating. I have never been more devoted to skateboarding than I am right now."
Fortunately for us, Lavigne's anger was directed at her detractors, and not at our interviewer, and she laughed apologetically soon after her reply.
"Sorry about all that, but when I hear people talking shit at me like that, it just pisses me off, you know? Like, if you're gonna talk shit about me, fine, but don't accuse me of things that aren't true."
Lavigne does admit that she's going to focus on other projects for the time being, but only for a brief while, and that skating remains her #1 love.
"It's tough, because I want to skateboard, but I want to give myself time to take advantage of some of these other opportunities too. It's not that I'm burned out or anything like that, but I wanna broaden my horizons, and I think maybe I've earned it? I won't be 24 forever."
Lavigne told us that she's going to spend some time promoting her new game, and then she plans to work on her album. She has several collaborators in mind, including Thrillseekers co-star and film actress Lacey Chabert and 90s rock icon Kathleen Hanna, along with newer pop stars such as Hikaru Utada.
"Apparently I'm pretty popular in Japan, and I've been getting offers left and right to do stuff over there, so I'd really love to record some songs with Hikaru, who's amazing. She loves doing collabs with people, and I think if I could maybe just do some singing with her, maybe even write something for her, that'd be pretty rad."
Lavigne also has a guest star appearance on the upcoming eighth season of the hit ABC drama Lane, in which she'll play a college senior who becomes a major part of the title character's life.
"I can't say too much about any of that, but I'll be in at least three episodes," said Lavigne, "and it's a huge honor to be on that show and work with all the talented people on there, especially Kristen Stewart. Now if I could get her to do a voice on Thrillseekers or something, that would be pretty sweet."
Even with all the new opportunities being afforded to her, Lavigne is still focused on skateboarding, and she has a big motivation for making sure she keeps her eyes on that prize: the opportunity to compete for her native Canada in the 2012 Olympics in Toronto, which will feature men's and women's skateboarding events for the first time.
"Obviously training for the Olympics is going to be a huge priority going forward," said Lavigne, who hopes to begin training as early as 2010 as she gets ready for qualifying. Despite her recent tournament stumbles, she's still the #1 ranked female skater in Canada and #4 in the world, and would be a top contender in the Olympics if she qualified. "To say I'm stoked to compete for Canada in Canada would be like, the biggest understatement ever."
X-Games legend, multimedia star, head of a billion dollar empire, and maybe Olympic gold medalist. Avril Lavigne has it all, but she still wants more, and despite all she's accomplished, she's got a long way to go.
"Would I give everything up for an Olympic gold medal?" said Lavigne, perhaps anticipating one of our questions. "To be honest, probably not, but it'd be pretty sweet to have one, wouldn't it?"
-from an article in the June 29, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated
TehIrishSoap
Banned
2009 was the year Messi-Ronaldo emerged as the greatest of the generation - where are they at now in ATL?
Seeing as both of them predate the POD it would be interesting to see if we lost or gained any great players, maybe in this ATL Owen Hargreaves wasn't made of glass or Original Ronaldo didn't have that terrible knee injury in 2000!
Seeing as both of them predate the POD it would be interesting to see if we lost or gained any great players, maybe in this ATL Owen Hargreaves wasn't made of glass or Original Ronaldo didn't have that terrible knee injury in 2000!
Seattle sports actually living up to the talent they have always had OTL? I can highly rate this timeline. Blake Griffin and Seattle is a combo that I would gladly go to games of even if I would be in elementary school at the time.
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An early Finals win is going to boost LeBron’s career massively. He’ll be seen on a more equal level with Jordan now.
I hope ITTL Seattle also gets its NHL team to complete the trifecta.
At least ITTL they kept the Supersonics/Thunder in the city.
Spring 2009 (Part 11) - Microsoft In Crisis?
Microsoft's latest stumble, a lackluster presentation at E3 2009, has left the company's future in the gaming industry in doubt. Sales of the Xbox 2 have declined steadily since the release of the Nintendo Sapphire in early 2008, and apart from a brief sales bump after the release of Cyberwar 3, the Xbox 2 has seen continued sales slippage for the last fourteen months. In 2009, the Xbox 2 has achieved just one-seventh of total game console sales thus far, with Nintendo's Sapphire and Apple's iTwin splitting the remaining 86 percent.
The reasons for the Xbox 2's poor performance are numerous, but mainly stem from two factors: a lack of strong exclusives, and a perceived similarity with its closest rival, the Nintendo Sapphire. At first glance, the Xbox 2 doesn't seem to be lacking exclusives. Games such as Cyberwar 3, Techno Angel: Immortal, Alien: Xenowar, and Halloween have all proven successful with critics, and all but Halloween have sold over a million copies thus far, with Techno Angel achieving the feat in just two months. However, while these games all have strong sales amongst Xbox 2 owners, none of them, with the exception of Cyberwar 3, have moved hardware units. Even 2007's The Covenant 3 failed to move a significant number of Xbox 2 systems, with many potential buyers electing to wait for the upcoming Nintendo Sapphire. The Xbox 2 does boast a strong attach rate, slightly higher than that of the Nintendo Sapphire. However, even the Xbox 2's relative attach rate is dropping, with software sales starting to slow to reflect the lack of hardware sales. The second reason that the Xbox 2 has seen its sales suffer is the Nintendo Sapphire. The Sapphire, a powerful console with a slightly stronger processor than the Xbox 2 and a Blu-Ray drive, is the preferred purchase amongst gamers looking for the best possible machine, with most multiplatform releases now selling better on the Sapphire than on the Xbox 2. The Xbox 2 boasts an HD-DVD drive, but HD-DVD has seen its support erode significantly, and with all but one holdout movie studio now releasing its films in the Blu-Ray format, it's inevitable that the HD video format war will be won by Sony's Blu-Ray and not HD-DVD. HD-DVD support did give the Xbox 2 an early edge, and many analysts in 2006 predicted that the combination of the Xbox 2 and HD-DVD technology would win the technological war for both console and format. However, Blu-Ray had crucial support from key movie studios such as Fox and Disney, and many consumers chose to wait for the Sapphire to pick up their HD video machine. Though the Xbox 2 had more than a year's head start on the Sapphire, there just weren't enough compelling reasons for people to take the leap rather than wait for Nintendo's machine.
However, despite the Xbox 2's recent woes, Microsoft has expressed their continued desire to support the system. The Xbox 2 now has an MSRP of $299.99, cheaper than both the Sapphire and iTwin, and with Nintendo and Apple both seemingly reluctant to cut prices to match Microsoft's console, it could present an opportunity to present the Xbox 2 as the "budget" gaming solution, packing more power than the iTwin and enough power to run almost every Sapphire game. Though Microsoft has been forced to trim fat in a number of areas, particularly with the ongoing economic recession, the company is still keen on supporting its major products, including its computer software and its game console. The Covenant 4 is still early in development and likely won't see release until summer 2010 at the absolute earliest, but could be delayed as late as 2011. It seems inconceivable that the Xbox 2 would drop out of the market before 2011, but stranger things have certainly happened. This holiday season will be a big one for Microsoft and the Xbox 2, and though the console is unlikely to finish stronger than either the Sapphire or iTwin in this round of the console wars, a decently strong performance in this year and the next could go a long way toward justifying an Xbox 3.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on June 9, 2009
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Microsoft To Shutter All X-Zone Locations By End Of Year
One of the boldest, and, for a time, one of the most successful experiments in American arcade history is coming to an end before the year is out. The X-Zone, Microsoft's interactive arcade experience in which one could eat, drink, and play thousands of arcade and Xbox console games all in one place, will close its remaining 34 locations over the next few months. The X-Zone originally launched in 2001, alongside the Microsoft Xbox console itself. It rose out of the ashes of Blockbuster's Block Party franchise, which combined the entertainment cache of movie rental giant Blockbuster with the growing "megaarcade" craze. Though the concept achieved some initial success, the locations soon proved too expensive to maintain, and Blockbuster sold all 14 locations to Microsoft, using the money to start their online rental service. Microsoft revamped the locations and opened several more, turning them into X-Zones, arcades featuring Xbox games and interactive Xbox-themed experiences. Fans could partake in live games based on the popular Covenant and Grand Theft Auto franchises, and the X-Zone location in Los Angeles became the most lucrative single arcade location in North American history, playing host to tens of thousands of visitors a day along with dozens of special events featuring celebrities and sports stars. For the first five years of its existence, X-Zone thrived while virtually every other arcade failed, and it seemed as if marrying the console experience to the arcade experience would pay off. However, beginning in 2006, a number of X-Zone locations began to see declining attendance and profits, and by 2008, all locations, even lucrative locations such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia, saw sales decline significantly. The current economic recession, which began in 2008, was the final nail in the coffin for the X-Zone experiment, with locations closing seemingly every month. With the failure of Microsoft X-Zone, many former locations are being left empty and abandoned, but a few, such as the X-Zone that anchored the Mall of America, have been bought up and transformed. In the Mall of America's case, the former X-Zone location is now part of "Super Nintendo World", an interactive Nintendo-themed amusement park. In fact, Nintendo has shown interest in a number of other former X-Zone locations as well, though so far the Mall of America is the only X-Zone that's been re-purposed by Nintendo. The X-Zone is shutting down at a time when Microsoft's video game division has seen its fortunes decline significantly. Xbox 2 sales are down 40 percent from the previous year, and after a tough E3, sales expectations remain low.
-from an article on Gamespot, posted on June 24, 2009
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Brittany Saldita: This is a shame, and I'm really sad to hear this... Microsoft's X-Zone is closing.
Keith Smith: I heard about it too, and that's pretty sad. I didn't really frequent the X-Zone but it's always sad to hear an arcade chain is closing down, especially since I know for a time they really revived the arcade scene in America.
Brittany: I used to go there when I could, I'd take my son Arturo to the Los Angeles one. I'd go with my husband of course too, and sometimes I'd take Regan, even though she's... she's really too young to enjoy most of those games.
Keith: How many old machines did they have?
Brittany: The LA one had a whole section of them, over in the corner. Retro Corner, with an awesome mural of classic characters on the walls. I mean, it wasn't a huge section but it had like at least a hundred old machines. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, all the classics.
Keith: Did they have Donkey Kong?
Brittany: Nope. *laughing* No Nintendo machines, not Microsoft!
Keith: *laughing* What about the history?
Brittany: The console wars are even bleeding over into the arcade space. But anyway, it's a shame.
Keith: It's just the recession, I think. Because a place like the X-Zone, where... it wasn't like the old arcades where you would just bring a handful of quarters.
Brittany: Oh no, no no no. You could spend like a hundred bucks a pop on a single trip.
Keith: Exactly. And that's why it's failing.
Brittany: It used to be, like... a middle class family could afford to go to a place like the X-Zone maybe... once a month. Maybe once every couple weeks even, depending on the size of the family. But now, a place like that, it's a birthday trip and that's it. Like you might go once a year. When you go from having some families going every Friday to going only at Junior's birthday, I mean, that's a crushing blow. Obviously you'd have people with tons of disposable income going every day. I know that the Syracuse location was so close to the campus of Syracuse University that some of those college kids would go every single day and that location did HUGE business. It was one of the last new ones and it was one of the most profitable in the whole company, and even that one is getting shut down.
Keith: I heard about that, they were showing, remember that year Syracuse went to the Final Four a year or two back? They were showing footage from inside the X-Zone on CBS during the games, and it was standing room only in there.
Brittany: Well, the college kids I think went there because of the novelty of having a huge arcade like that so close to campus, but that novelty went away quickly. *snickering* When I was in college and I remember when they first got the Street Fighter II machine down at the student union, that was a big deal. I was in there playing I think every day my junior year. And then, I mean, you know, my senior year I wasn't playing as much. ...okay, part of that is because I got it on the SNES-CD that year, but still. Even that machine got kind of old after a while.
Keith: I don't think the arcade scene is completely done, but it's shifted.
Brittany: Exactly. The barcades, your Dave and Buster's, that's still around.
Keith: Right, I think that's the future of arcades, the sports bars that happen to also have big arcades in them. Dave and Buster's is doing really well, even during the recession. And then there's Challenger's, that's a new franchise but that one's growing.
Brittany: Oh yeah, they just built one of those and I've been going to that one. I love that place, they focus more on console games and tournaments but it's still a sports bar at heart.
Keith: It's very much a video game centric place, but they make most of their money off food and drinks, not the arcade games. People aren't going there and spending lots of money.
Brittany: There's another place I like, it's called Goldman's, it's kind of a small chain. Ron Goldman started it, the guy who won the original Survivor, you know him?
Keith: Yeah, yeah, he's got a sports bar too?
Brittany: He used his Survivor money to start one, and then it did well and now there's like eight of them all over Southern California, and there are tons of games at his places too. Sometimes he actually stops by and hangs out with people too, like he'll show up, one time I remember I'm playing Golden Tee and he just shows up and he's like "hey, I'm Ron Goldman, are you having fun?". Really nice guy, really happy all the time. I think I was like, "I'd be having more fun if I hadn't bogeyed that last hole!" but, you know, yeah, I was having fun.
Keith: I think stand-alone arcades do still have a future though, even in North America. I just think they're going to become more specialty places, catering to certain crowds, people who appreciate the classics, that sort of thing.
Brittany: But the big standalone arcades, you think those are gone for good?
Keith: Those are gone for good, in North America at least.
Brittany: And that's all the time we have for tonight's interview here on Geek Radio. I want to thank my guest, the Arcade Historian Keith Smith, and I want to thank all of my listeners for being so awesome. I'll be back tomorrow night at 8 PM, and it'll be another fun night of video games, we'll be playing all RPG soundtracks tomorrow night so if you're into music from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star, you'll definitely want to tune in. I'm Brittany Saldita, and as always, "you play like a girl" is the best compliment you can possibly get. See you tomorrow!
-excerpted from the June 24, 2009 evening broadcast of Northstar Satellite Radio's Geek Radio channel
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Verdict Still Out On Windows 7
Microsoft's Windows 7 has launched to generally better reviews than the company's disastrous Vista OS of 2006, but it has yet to be seen whether the company's do-over will help to lift Microsoft's struggling fortunes in the wake of the economic reception and the continued sluggish performance of its Xbox 2 console. Windows 7, which features a less clunky interface and more stability than its predecessor, has been received well by industry press and early beta testers, with the OS earning high marks in ease of use and aesthetic appearance as well. However, many users are still leery of the product due to the failure of Vista, and say that they'll continue using XP and wait until more reviews are in. It's a troubling sign for a product that needs to succeed if the company is to recover from its current doldrums. The combined disappointing sales of both the Xbox 2 and Windows Vista have led to plunging stock prices for the once dominant company, which has seen its market share in significant decline due to the rapid rise in popularity of Apple products around the world. The company recently announced the closure of its popular X-Zone arcade franchise, once a place where Bill Gates promoted the Xbox launch and Grand Theft Auto to a rockstar-like reception. The closure of the X-Zone, which Microsoft used to promote and sell a wide range of its products including computers, is a major blow to the company's attempts to reinvent itself as a multimedia icon. However, many within the company and even a good portion of the company's shareholders believe that by streamlining, Microsoft can right the ship. Stock prices have steadily risen since the first reviews came in for Windows 7, and the X-Zone closure announcement didn't seem to put a dent in investor confidence. Even if Microsoft decides to pull out of the console gaming business, as many in the industry now believe is highly probable within the next two years, a successful Windows 7 could allow the company to pivot toward other projects, such as the rumored launch of the Microsoft-branded smartphone.
-from an article on Yahoo! News, posted on June 27, 2009
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June 28, 2009
Bill Gates was determined to keep the Xbox brand alive. He'd already directed the console gaming division to begin work on the Xbox 2's successor console, but watching the success of the iTwin and its integration with the radically popular iPhone, Gates knew that the best chance the Xbox had of survival was the development of a Microsoft-branded smartphone.
The X-Zone was never meant to turn a significant profit. It was meant to promote the Xbox, and, at least with the first iteration, it had succeeded. Polling and consumer surveys indicated that nearly one-fourth of the Xbox's buyers were, at least in part, convinced to purchase the product because of their visit to an X-Zone location.
So, devised Gates, if a mega-arcade like the X-Zone was no longer commercially viable in the current economic climate, the next logical step would be to take the X-Zone and shrink it down so small that it would fit in someone's pocket.
"I don't see it," said Steve Ballmer, as Gates laid out the concept of how the phone would tie into the Xbox. "People aren't going to buy a phone just to play Xbox games on."
"No, they're going to buy a phone to have a phone," Gates replied, "a phone that will just happen to be able to download and play original Xbox games and play Xbox 2 games remotely from either a user's console or from a central Microsoft server."
"You want to sell Xbox 2 games to people, but not the Xbox 2," said Ballmer, scratching his head. "How is that going to sell Xbox 2s?"
"It's going to sell Xbox 3s, hopefully," said Gates. "And we're taking a loss selling the Xbox 2 for 300 anyway. We'll take an even bigger one after the price drops to 250 later this year. Remember the old saying, 'give away the razors to sell the blades'? What if you didn't even have to give away the razors?"
"I still don't see why we can't just kick the Xbox to the curb," muttered Ballmer.
"Video games are a huge market," Gates reminded him. "Tens of billions of dollars a year. We need to keep our foot in that market."
"But not at the cost of dragging down the rest of the company!" Ballmer replied, starting to raise his voice. "The Xbox 2 is dragging us down, to the point where if Windows 7 fails, the whole company could be fucked!"
"I'm not going to keep us in the video game market if the Xbox 2 completely tanks," said Gates, "but we've still got a long way to go before that happens. We're still selling hundreds of thousands of units a month."
"And Nintendo and Apple are selling millions," Ballmer continued. "We shouldn't even be thinking about the Xbox 3 right now."
Deep down, Bill Gates knew that his longtime business associate was right. The Xbox 2, in its current state, was hurting the company. If sales didn't pick up, both significantly and soon, it would only be practical to pull out of the gaming business. But Gates and Ballmer disagreed on where, exactly, that point was. And with Microsoft still producing a number of highly successful products, the company wasn't exactly in danger of going bankrupt. Microsoft was hurting, yes. But so were a lot of companies in 2009. Gates knew when to throw in the towel, but he wasn't ready to do so just yet. Windows 7 could save the company, and the Microsoft smartphone could save the Xbox.
"Give it six more months," said Gates. "We'll see what happens with the phone."
Ballmer grumbled again, but he decided not to escalate the discussion any further. He'd had enough explosive shouting matches with Bill Gates to know how much they accomplished, which was almost always nothing.
And he did hope Bill Gates was right about Microsoft's phone.
Because he hated the iPhone.
The reasons for the Xbox 2's poor performance are numerous, but mainly stem from two factors: a lack of strong exclusives, and a perceived similarity with its closest rival, the Nintendo Sapphire. At first glance, the Xbox 2 doesn't seem to be lacking exclusives. Games such as Cyberwar 3, Techno Angel: Immortal, Alien: Xenowar, and Halloween have all proven successful with critics, and all but Halloween have sold over a million copies thus far, with Techno Angel achieving the feat in just two months. However, while these games all have strong sales amongst Xbox 2 owners, none of them, with the exception of Cyberwar 3, have moved hardware units. Even 2007's The Covenant 3 failed to move a significant number of Xbox 2 systems, with many potential buyers electing to wait for the upcoming Nintendo Sapphire. The Xbox 2 does boast a strong attach rate, slightly higher than that of the Nintendo Sapphire. However, even the Xbox 2's relative attach rate is dropping, with software sales starting to slow to reflect the lack of hardware sales. The second reason that the Xbox 2 has seen its sales suffer is the Nintendo Sapphire. The Sapphire, a powerful console with a slightly stronger processor than the Xbox 2 and a Blu-Ray drive, is the preferred purchase amongst gamers looking for the best possible machine, with most multiplatform releases now selling better on the Sapphire than on the Xbox 2. The Xbox 2 boasts an HD-DVD drive, but HD-DVD has seen its support erode significantly, and with all but one holdout movie studio now releasing its films in the Blu-Ray format, it's inevitable that the HD video format war will be won by Sony's Blu-Ray and not HD-DVD. HD-DVD support did give the Xbox 2 an early edge, and many analysts in 2006 predicted that the combination of the Xbox 2 and HD-DVD technology would win the technological war for both console and format. However, Blu-Ray had crucial support from key movie studios such as Fox and Disney, and many consumers chose to wait for the Sapphire to pick up their HD video machine. Though the Xbox 2 had more than a year's head start on the Sapphire, there just weren't enough compelling reasons for people to take the leap rather than wait for Nintendo's machine.
However, despite the Xbox 2's recent woes, Microsoft has expressed their continued desire to support the system. The Xbox 2 now has an MSRP of $299.99, cheaper than both the Sapphire and iTwin, and with Nintendo and Apple both seemingly reluctant to cut prices to match Microsoft's console, it could present an opportunity to present the Xbox 2 as the "budget" gaming solution, packing more power than the iTwin and enough power to run almost every Sapphire game. Though Microsoft has been forced to trim fat in a number of areas, particularly with the ongoing economic recession, the company is still keen on supporting its major products, including its computer software and its game console. The Covenant 4 is still early in development and likely won't see release until summer 2010 at the absolute earliest, but could be delayed as late as 2011. It seems inconceivable that the Xbox 2 would drop out of the market before 2011, but stranger things have certainly happened. This holiday season will be a big one for Microsoft and the Xbox 2, and though the console is unlikely to finish stronger than either the Sapphire or iTwin in this round of the console wars, a decently strong performance in this year and the next could go a long way toward justifying an Xbox 3.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on June 9, 2009
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Microsoft To Shutter All X-Zone Locations By End Of Year
One of the boldest, and, for a time, one of the most successful experiments in American arcade history is coming to an end before the year is out. The X-Zone, Microsoft's interactive arcade experience in which one could eat, drink, and play thousands of arcade and Xbox console games all in one place, will close its remaining 34 locations over the next few months. The X-Zone originally launched in 2001, alongside the Microsoft Xbox console itself. It rose out of the ashes of Blockbuster's Block Party franchise, which combined the entertainment cache of movie rental giant Blockbuster with the growing "megaarcade" craze. Though the concept achieved some initial success, the locations soon proved too expensive to maintain, and Blockbuster sold all 14 locations to Microsoft, using the money to start their online rental service. Microsoft revamped the locations and opened several more, turning them into X-Zones, arcades featuring Xbox games and interactive Xbox-themed experiences. Fans could partake in live games based on the popular Covenant and Grand Theft Auto franchises, and the X-Zone location in Los Angeles became the most lucrative single arcade location in North American history, playing host to tens of thousands of visitors a day along with dozens of special events featuring celebrities and sports stars. For the first five years of its existence, X-Zone thrived while virtually every other arcade failed, and it seemed as if marrying the console experience to the arcade experience would pay off. However, beginning in 2006, a number of X-Zone locations began to see declining attendance and profits, and by 2008, all locations, even lucrative locations such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia, saw sales decline significantly. The current economic recession, which began in 2008, was the final nail in the coffin for the X-Zone experiment, with locations closing seemingly every month. With the failure of Microsoft X-Zone, many former locations are being left empty and abandoned, but a few, such as the X-Zone that anchored the Mall of America, have been bought up and transformed. In the Mall of America's case, the former X-Zone location is now part of "Super Nintendo World", an interactive Nintendo-themed amusement park. In fact, Nintendo has shown interest in a number of other former X-Zone locations as well, though so far the Mall of America is the only X-Zone that's been re-purposed by Nintendo. The X-Zone is shutting down at a time when Microsoft's video game division has seen its fortunes decline significantly. Xbox 2 sales are down 40 percent from the previous year, and after a tough E3, sales expectations remain low.
-from an article on Gamespot, posted on June 24, 2009
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Brittany Saldita: This is a shame, and I'm really sad to hear this... Microsoft's X-Zone is closing.
Keith Smith: I heard about it too, and that's pretty sad. I didn't really frequent the X-Zone but it's always sad to hear an arcade chain is closing down, especially since I know for a time they really revived the arcade scene in America.
Brittany: I used to go there when I could, I'd take my son Arturo to the Los Angeles one. I'd go with my husband of course too, and sometimes I'd take Regan, even though she's... she's really too young to enjoy most of those games.
Keith: How many old machines did they have?
Brittany: The LA one had a whole section of them, over in the corner. Retro Corner, with an awesome mural of classic characters on the walls. I mean, it wasn't a huge section but it had like at least a hundred old machines. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, all the classics.
Keith: Did they have Donkey Kong?
Brittany: Nope. *laughing* No Nintendo machines, not Microsoft!
Keith: *laughing* What about the history?
Brittany: The console wars are even bleeding over into the arcade space. But anyway, it's a shame.
Keith: It's just the recession, I think. Because a place like the X-Zone, where... it wasn't like the old arcades where you would just bring a handful of quarters.
Brittany: Oh no, no no no. You could spend like a hundred bucks a pop on a single trip.
Keith: Exactly. And that's why it's failing.
Brittany: It used to be, like... a middle class family could afford to go to a place like the X-Zone maybe... once a month. Maybe once every couple weeks even, depending on the size of the family. But now, a place like that, it's a birthday trip and that's it. Like you might go once a year. When you go from having some families going every Friday to going only at Junior's birthday, I mean, that's a crushing blow. Obviously you'd have people with tons of disposable income going every day. I know that the Syracuse location was so close to the campus of Syracuse University that some of those college kids would go every single day and that location did HUGE business. It was one of the last new ones and it was one of the most profitable in the whole company, and even that one is getting shut down.
Keith: I heard about that, they were showing, remember that year Syracuse went to the Final Four a year or two back? They were showing footage from inside the X-Zone on CBS during the games, and it was standing room only in there.
Brittany: Well, the college kids I think went there because of the novelty of having a huge arcade like that so close to campus, but that novelty went away quickly. *snickering* When I was in college and I remember when they first got the Street Fighter II machine down at the student union, that was a big deal. I was in there playing I think every day my junior year. And then, I mean, you know, my senior year I wasn't playing as much. ...okay, part of that is because I got it on the SNES-CD that year, but still. Even that machine got kind of old after a while.
Keith: I don't think the arcade scene is completely done, but it's shifted.
Brittany: Exactly. The barcades, your Dave and Buster's, that's still around.
Keith: Right, I think that's the future of arcades, the sports bars that happen to also have big arcades in them. Dave and Buster's is doing really well, even during the recession. And then there's Challenger's, that's a new franchise but that one's growing.
Brittany: Oh yeah, they just built one of those and I've been going to that one. I love that place, they focus more on console games and tournaments but it's still a sports bar at heart.
Keith: It's very much a video game centric place, but they make most of their money off food and drinks, not the arcade games. People aren't going there and spending lots of money.
Brittany: There's another place I like, it's called Goldman's, it's kind of a small chain. Ron Goldman started it, the guy who won the original Survivor, you know him?
Keith: Yeah, yeah, he's got a sports bar too?
Brittany: He used his Survivor money to start one, and then it did well and now there's like eight of them all over Southern California, and there are tons of games at his places too. Sometimes he actually stops by and hangs out with people too, like he'll show up, one time I remember I'm playing Golden Tee and he just shows up and he's like "hey, I'm Ron Goldman, are you having fun?". Really nice guy, really happy all the time. I think I was like, "I'd be having more fun if I hadn't bogeyed that last hole!" but, you know, yeah, I was having fun.
Keith: I think stand-alone arcades do still have a future though, even in North America. I just think they're going to become more specialty places, catering to certain crowds, people who appreciate the classics, that sort of thing.
Brittany: But the big standalone arcades, you think those are gone for good?
Keith: Those are gone for good, in North America at least.
Brittany: And that's all the time we have for tonight's interview here on Geek Radio. I want to thank my guest, the Arcade Historian Keith Smith, and I want to thank all of my listeners for being so awesome. I'll be back tomorrow night at 8 PM, and it'll be another fun night of video games, we'll be playing all RPG soundtracks tomorrow night so if you're into music from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star, you'll definitely want to tune in. I'm Brittany Saldita, and as always, "you play like a girl" is the best compliment you can possibly get. See you tomorrow!
-excerpted from the June 24, 2009 evening broadcast of Northstar Satellite Radio's Geek Radio channel
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Verdict Still Out On Windows 7
Microsoft's Windows 7 has launched to generally better reviews than the company's disastrous Vista OS of 2006, but it has yet to be seen whether the company's do-over will help to lift Microsoft's struggling fortunes in the wake of the economic reception and the continued sluggish performance of its Xbox 2 console. Windows 7, which features a less clunky interface and more stability than its predecessor, has been received well by industry press and early beta testers, with the OS earning high marks in ease of use and aesthetic appearance as well. However, many users are still leery of the product due to the failure of Vista, and say that they'll continue using XP and wait until more reviews are in. It's a troubling sign for a product that needs to succeed if the company is to recover from its current doldrums. The combined disappointing sales of both the Xbox 2 and Windows Vista have led to plunging stock prices for the once dominant company, which has seen its market share in significant decline due to the rapid rise in popularity of Apple products around the world. The company recently announced the closure of its popular X-Zone arcade franchise, once a place where Bill Gates promoted the Xbox launch and Grand Theft Auto to a rockstar-like reception. The closure of the X-Zone, which Microsoft used to promote and sell a wide range of its products including computers, is a major blow to the company's attempts to reinvent itself as a multimedia icon. However, many within the company and even a good portion of the company's shareholders believe that by streamlining, Microsoft can right the ship. Stock prices have steadily risen since the first reviews came in for Windows 7, and the X-Zone closure announcement didn't seem to put a dent in investor confidence. Even if Microsoft decides to pull out of the console gaming business, as many in the industry now believe is highly probable within the next two years, a successful Windows 7 could allow the company to pivot toward other projects, such as the rumored launch of the Microsoft-branded smartphone.
-from an article on Yahoo! News, posted on June 27, 2009
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June 28, 2009
Bill Gates was determined to keep the Xbox brand alive. He'd already directed the console gaming division to begin work on the Xbox 2's successor console, but watching the success of the iTwin and its integration with the radically popular iPhone, Gates knew that the best chance the Xbox had of survival was the development of a Microsoft-branded smartphone.
The X-Zone was never meant to turn a significant profit. It was meant to promote the Xbox, and, at least with the first iteration, it had succeeded. Polling and consumer surveys indicated that nearly one-fourth of the Xbox's buyers were, at least in part, convinced to purchase the product because of their visit to an X-Zone location.
So, devised Gates, if a mega-arcade like the X-Zone was no longer commercially viable in the current economic climate, the next logical step would be to take the X-Zone and shrink it down so small that it would fit in someone's pocket.
"I don't see it," said Steve Ballmer, as Gates laid out the concept of how the phone would tie into the Xbox. "People aren't going to buy a phone just to play Xbox games on."
"No, they're going to buy a phone to have a phone," Gates replied, "a phone that will just happen to be able to download and play original Xbox games and play Xbox 2 games remotely from either a user's console or from a central Microsoft server."
"You want to sell Xbox 2 games to people, but not the Xbox 2," said Ballmer, scratching his head. "How is that going to sell Xbox 2s?"
"It's going to sell Xbox 3s, hopefully," said Gates. "And we're taking a loss selling the Xbox 2 for 300 anyway. We'll take an even bigger one after the price drops to 250 later this year. Remember the old saying, 'give away the razors to sell the blades'? What if you didn't even have to give away the razors?"
"I still don't see why we can't just kick the Xbox to the curb," muttered Ballmer.
"Video games are a huge market," Gates reminded him. "Tens of billions of dollars a year. We need to keep our foot in that market."
"But not at the cost of dragging down the rest of the company!" Ballmer replied, starting to raise his voice. "The Xbox 2 is dragging us down, to the point where if Windows 7 fails, the whole company could be fucked!"
"I'm not going to keep us in the video game market if the Xbox 2 completely tanks," said Gates, "but we've still got a long way to go before that happens. We're still selling hundreds of thousands of units a month."
"And Nintendo and Apple are selling millions," Ballmer continued. "We shouldn't even be thinking about the Xbox 3 right now."
Deep down, Bill Gates knew that his longtime business associate was right. The Xbox 2, in its current state, was hurting the company. If sales didn't pick up, both significantly and soon, it would only be practical to pull out of the gaming business. But Gates and Ballmer disagreed on where, exactly, that point was. And with Microsoft still producing a number of highly successful products, the company wasn't exactly in danger of going bankrupt. Microsoft was hurting, yes. But so were a lot of companies in 2009. Gates knew when to throw in the towel, but he wasn't ready to do so just yet. Windows 7 could save the company, and the Microsoft smartphone could save the Xbox.
"Give it six more months," said Gates. "We'll see what happens with the phone."
Ballmer grumbled again, but he decided not to escalate the discussion any further. He'd had enough explosive shouting matches with Bill Gates to know how much they accomplished, which was almost always nothing.
And he did hope Bill Gates was right about Microsoft's phone.
Because he hated the iPhone.
Not sure about LG, but Samsung are definently in the market in some capacity because the mentiom of a community manager in the OP...
It still seams like windows 7 will be succesful. It may may not be succesfull enough to save microsoft but it may be enough to cause some company like Oracle or Google to offer bill gates big buck for Windows and maybe even some other Microsoft programs.
I meant more in just the gaming sector. Windows 7 seems similar to OTL's and became standard for the vast majority of workplace OS' so that should be more than enough to keep them fine, just much more streamlined than OTL.
Their video game department though... probably either barely surving or heading towards the dumpster.
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