Look out world! Here comes Ronald McDonald, back and better than ever! On April 23rd the worlds biggest fast food chain, McDonalds announced that their old mascot, Ronald McDonald will be taking on a bigger role in the companies marketing in the near future by sporting a new, healthy look and interacting with the public through social media and taking selfies! It’s a big step for the famous clown as he’s taking a sort of background role in recent years due to the criticisms of him being used to market McDonald’s unhealthy food to children. Though with recent complaints of McDonalds getting orders wrong and becoming distant with the public, McDonalds have seen some sluggish sales as of late, so using their iconic clown and social media to strengthen their relationship with the public again certainly makes a lot of sense from a marketing standpoint. “Selfies … here I come! It’s a big world and now, wherever I go and whatever I do … I’m ready to show how fun can make great things happen,” Ronald happily proclaims marks a new era of a more friendly McDonalds. Now hopefully the food can improve as well…..
Disney Buys YouTube Network Maker Studios For $500M (Blog #10)
http://www.newsy.com/videos/disney-buys-youtube-network-maker-studios-for-500m/
Homemade videos, while fun to make, are generally not seen as a legitimate source of entertainment by official businesses. That it, until the advent of YouTube which has been a growing platform for all independent content creators out there, some of which are highly successful. Recently, Maker Studios, a major YouTube partner was acquired by Disney for $500M. Maker Studios is home to many YouTube stars such as Pewdipie and Epic Rap Battles of History and owns Polaris which is home to Game Grumps, Normal Boots Entertainment and Markiplier. The creators and companies alike have seen this as a very positive event as Maker Studios now has solid funding and can pay out a stable amount of income to its creators and has given them a stronger platform to stand on.
My Experience with Newsy.com (Blog #9)
Newsy.com is terrible. Outright terrible. Whereas Patch.com was able to give some unique news and a reason to read, Newsy.com does neither of those things correctly. In fact, it’s a very shallow and muddy experience. But first let’s focus on the good. Newsy.com is all about short videos and straight from the mouth reporting. It’s a multi-source news site so there is no clear bias to either conservative or liberal agendas which is something I appreciate. The good things stop there though because it utterly fails as a website. The darn thing barely works. The first video I clicked, suffered from constant buffering. It took about 7 minutes to get through these 2-3 minute videos. I could barely make out what they were trying to say through all the frequent stops. Secondly, the sound engineering is so quiet, that even with my volume at 100% on both my computer and the video itself, I could barely hear anything. If there was any sort of background noise occurring, there would be no way to hear the video. I will concede that Newsy.com has potential as a viable news platform but until the technical issues are fixed, it’s nothing but a big joke.
Landfill Search for Burial site of the Atari ET Games Halted (Jou2100 Blog #9)
Video games are such a prominent medium today, they’re starting to make news all the time. So much so that there’s an ongoing debate whether video games can be considered art or not. Even games from over 30 years ago are still making news today. Case in point: ET for the Atari 2600. There’s a long history behind this game so I’ll try to be as brief as I can. In 1982, before even Nintendo hit the scene, Atari was the king of the World. They had a monopoly on the home console business and became a household name through their console the Atari 2600 and its games such as Pong and Centipede. However in 1982, they made some foolish decisions that eventually led to their downfall. One of these decisions was to put out a video game based on the hit movie of the summer: ET The Extra-Terrestrial after only about a month and a half in development. They gave the programming duties to one man: Howard Scott Warshaw who was responsible for games such as Yars Revenge, another popular Atari hit to finish in that short time frame. As you can imagine, the results were disastrous and the game was buggy and incredibly frustrating to play. The game did so poorly in sales and critical reception that there was a rumor that Atari took the millions of unsold copies and buried them in the New Mexico Desert.
To this day, this rumor has yet to be proven by anyone, though that certainly hasn’t stopped companies Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Interactive from trying to find it. In 2013, both companies announced that they would begin an excavation for the cartridges and attempt to put that rumor the rest. However, in March 20th, the companies were denied digging by the city commissioner due to not having a WEP form or Waste Excavation Plan submitted to the city. And so the long awaited excavation has been halted and fans must wait a little while longer before the myth can be confirmed or denied.
In other news, the Burial myth is also getting attention from James Rolfe’s upcoming film: Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie and will revolve around the Nerd Character traveling to the New Mexico desert to find and review the worst game of all time to save his fans. The film is due out in late 2014 or early 2015.
My Experience with Patch.com (Blog #8)
In the World today, there is so much information available to us from so many different sources it can make your head spin. 100 years ago nobody would’ve ever thought they would be able to simply look up what’s happening in Russia or Japan from a device in their pockets. It’s both a blessing and a curse, for while we are able to know a lot about the World in an instant, it also makes us lose sight of the World around us. Nobody really talks about local news anymore. So when I browsed this website called Patch.com, I was pleasantly surprised. With this website, you can find news about anything in your immediate area by simply putting in your zip code. It was really nice to see stories about a city 2 minutes away from home and see people talk about it like it really mattered. It felt very personal and gave me a sense of feeling at home that major news networks such as Fox or CNN could never accomplish. I encourage everyone to give this website a look, you might learn things about your local area you might have never known before!
Nintendo Shutting Off Wifi Services for Wii and DS (Jou2100 Blog #8)
In the World of Nintendo, May 20th will be quite a sad day. According to Nintendolife.com WiFi services for the Wii and Nintendo DS will be shut down for good shortly before the release of the newest Wii U title Mario Kart 8. For the millions of owners that own a Wii and DS, games such as the four Pokemon DS games (Diamond, Pearl, Black and White) Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Metroid Prime Hunters will no longer be able to compete against others around the world. It’s unfortunate but the reality is that managing servers for these platforms costs money and with the Wii U and 3DS being on the forefront of Nintendo’s business plan, it makes no sense to keep maintenance to servers of old, outdated (though beloved) consoles. Also with the Wii U still selling meager numbers, it is vital for Nintendo to shift all of its focus on its current platforms to ensure that the experiences on those platforms is the best that it can be. The Wii and DS platforms have been slowly stripped of their online services for awhile now with omission of the Wii’s news channel and the DS Flipnote Studio so it’s no surprise to me that this is happening. It’s unfortunate but it is time to move forward. Farewell old friend.
R.I.P Harold Ramis (Jou2100 Blog #7)
On this blog, I usually try to blog about positive topics because I like to uplift spirits and put smiles on peoples faces but as an avid Ghostsbusters fan I have to pay my respects to Harold Ramis. He was a brilliant actor and a perfect fit for the character of Egon Spengler. As a kid, I fell in love with the duo of movies that rocked the world in the mid 80’s, enjoying the humor and dynamic between him, Dan Akyroyd and Bill Murray. It’s such a shame to see such a wonderful person die so young at the age of 69.
Though despite his death apparently, Sony Pictures will still go forward with Ghostbusters 3. Harold Ramis was planned to make a small cameo in the movie but will now have to be written out of the script. Honestly, I wish the executives and Dan Akyroyd would just let Ghostsbusters 3 lay to rest. The only person who is still really pushing for this movie to happen is Dan Akyroyd as Bill Murray has stated his refusal to be a part of the third film and Ernie Hudson has made no comment on the matter. Can the project really go forward without 3/4ths of the Ghostbusters? Would a whole new cast be able to live up to the legacy of the original group? Only time will tell. But for now, I tip my glass to Mr. Ramis. He will be dearly missed.
Photojournalism (Blog #7)
Well this will certainly be interesting! The next story I have been assigned to write after the service journalism project is a story that involves not much writing but is purely told through pictures. The old saying is “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the saying certainly rings true. What takes great explanation and detail in writing can be summed up in only a few images. As a result, with this project, I am given the opportunity to tackle a story that I wouldn’t normally be able to tackle in writing. This is why for this story, I am opting to tell the story about the city life of Tampa. What would take several pages and stories of writing and editing, I can sum up in only a few images more powerful than my words could ever convey. There are many possibilities I can tackle with this so I’m going to have to think hard and narrow down my possibilities. Wish me luck!
Sony to Develop Movie about Sega and Nintendo Console War Rivalry (Jou2100 Blog #6)
You knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Sony Pictures recently confirmed last week that they are currently developing a movie based on Blake J. Harris’ upcoming book “Console Wars: SEGA, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation.” The book (as well as the movie) will give insight on the business side of the Sega and Nintendo rivalry in the form of a narrative drama. The film adaptation will be developed by Sony and Scott Rudin and directed and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Blake Harris himself will be the executive producer as well as the co-director on a separate documentary. As an avid gamer myself, I’m definitely going to see this movie. I’ve been following the console wars since early 2000 and to see a movie about it, is truly exciting. Sega and Nintendo has a rivalry that defined the very nature of the Console War today and is solely responsible for what gaming culture is. No release date or window has been given for the film but it is certain that all gamers alike, including myself, can’t wait to see it.
Great Scott! The Power Laces are real?! (Jou2100 Blog #5)
“Whoa! That’s heavy!” You might be saying to yourself. You heard me right! The Nike Power laces from Back to the Future 2 are coming to store shelves sometime in next year. For those who haven’t seen the Back to the Future Trilogy (which if you haven’t you haven’t truly lived) the Power laces were the fictional shoes Doc Brown gave Marty to wear upon arriving in the future. They were self lacing and laced upon being put on. It was a sneaky marketing ploy at the time for Nike, but taking their gag very seriously, they are putting the shoes in production and aim for a 2015 release; comically the same year Marty traveled to in the movie. Pricing and specific release have not been confirmed but I can assure you, we will be seeing many fans of the film will be purchasing these shoes. Now if only we could get Mattel working on that hoverboard….
seanwaldron 