Amazon's Double-Helix Acquisition Hints At Gaming Console 116
Nerval's Lobster writes "A more prominent role in video-game development could prove the latest territory on Amazon's 'attempt to conquer' list. Yes, there's already Amazon Game Studios, which produces smaller games such as Air Patriots (a tower-defense title), but that evidently wasn't enough — Amazon has acquired Double Helix, most notably the developer behind Killer Instinct and other big-action games for PCs and consoles. Amazon confirmed the deal to multiple media outlets, suggesting that it would use Double Helix's developers and intellectual property 'as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers.' Why would Amazon want to bulk out its game-creation abilities? Rumors have floated for the past couple weeks (hat tip to Gamespot) that the company is hard at work on an Android-based gaming console that will retail for below $300. Over the past year, it's also hired gaming luminaries such as Halo author Eric Nylund, which it probably wouldn't have done without something big — or at least interesting — in the works. Amazon would doubtlessly position such a device (if it actually becomes a reality) as the low-cost alternative to Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. But even the cheapest console won't sell without some killer games to attract customers — and that's where Double Helix might come in. ... With Nintendo flagging, there's potentially an opening for a third console ecosystem to take hold."
Re:Dice have already written off Slashdot (Score:5, Interesting)
My guess is it's a combination of:
1. Belief that the current Slashdot will provide declining and not that meaningful revenue in the future; and
2. Gamble that the "Slashdot brand" can be resurrected as a vaguely tech-oriented blog/news site positioned as something more like Valleywag or Gawker.
The problem seems to be that category #2 is making a ton more money than Slashdot at the moment, so a redesign to look like those shitty sites, even if a gamble, might have positive expected returns. Even if it alienates the existing community, if the existing community just isn't making them much money, some bean-counters might not care about razing it and just repurposing the Slashdot brand for something else.
Re:So isn't Slashdot.org code open source? (Score:2, Interesting)
What is stopping someone from reopening Slashdot on another site under another name?
Check out AltSlashdot [altslashdot.org].
Re:Dice have already written off Slashdot (Score:2, Interesting)
1. Belief that the current Slashdot will provide declining and not that meaningful revenue in the future; and
Well its a big question as to whether slashdot is worth more $$$ to Dice Holdings as a success or as a failure. Wiping that $13 or so million off the books will have an effect on their end of year financials
Re:Dice have already written off Slashdot (Score:4, Interesting)
Ars Technica [arstechnica.com] generally covers a lot of the same material that Slashdot does, except with proper editing and writing. News-wise they're quite a lot better than Slashdot, IMO (I only really come here for the comments, since Slashdot's moderation system and sheer quantity of comments means you can often find some real gems).
Fuck Beta, Fork Alpha.Time to resurrect slashcode? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/slashcode/ [sourceforge.net]
food for thought: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SlashDot [c2.com]