"Former Red Sox pitcher aims to catch a state tax break: Curt Schilling says he’d move 38 Studios game company for right deal" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | March 24, 2010
Former
Well, players change teams all the time now. See ya, Curt.
Yesterday, Schilling confirmed he has held preliminary talks with Rhode Island officials about relocating Maynard-based 38 Studios LCC to the Ocean State. And the negotiations are not just with Rhode Island. Schilling has been talking to officials in several other states who are interested in his growing company, he said....
Schilling has not ruled out staying in Massachusetts and has been talking with officials here for six to eight months about possible incentives to stay put....
Hit the showers, Curt!
Schilling said his quest for tax breaks was partly inspired by the success of Massachusetts’ incentives for filmmakers.
Related: The Massachusetts Oscars
Also see: MSM Monitor Movie Matinee
YOUR TAX DOLLARS subsidizing PROFITABLE Hollywood, 'eh, Bay-Stater?
And now millionaire Curt wants a chunk of the tax loot?
While your services are being slashed, budgets cut, and taxes raised?
Schilling lives in Medfield, which saw an economic surge during the 2008 filming of the Leonardo DiCaprio film “Shutter Island.’’
“I’m looking at two or three companies in Medfield that literally would be out of business if that film had not been shot,’’ Schilling said. He predicted that a similar incentive for video game companies would have a greater impact. “It’s like the film tax credit on steroids,’’ Schilling said.
Did you use them when you were playing?
The Providence Journal first reported that Schilling was in talks with Rhode Island officials.
Like Massachusetts, Rhode Island offers tax credits to movie companies. But it gives the same incentives to video game developers — compensation for 25 percent of the money they spend in Rhode Island on production costs. Schilling left no doubt that he will follow the money, but....
But what!?
BALL ONE!
Here's the wind-up, and....
"Schilling urges help for video game start-ups" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | April 17, 2010
Former
“If the state doesn’t get involved at the start-up level, this industry will stagnate here,’’ Schilling said at the MIT Sloan Business In Gaming conference held yesterday in Cambridge.
I'm SO SICK of being BLACKMAILED by SPECIAL INTEREST INDUSTRIES!!
I guess those are the breaks, 'eh, Massachusetts?
Schilling said he’s already invested $30 million of his own money in 38 Studios LLC., a company in Maynard that’s developing an Internet-based role-playing video game. “Not many people can do that,’’ he said. Schilling praised a state law that provides tax credits to companies that make movies in Massachusetts, and wants to see it extended to video game developers.
But Jason Schupbach, creative economy industry director for the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, said the state’s fiscal problems preclude the creation of new incentive programs for gaming entrepreneurs.
But it is part of our culture now.
--more--"
BALL TWO!!!
Schilling winds again: Electronic Arts will publish Schilling’s video game
2 and 1 the count and now....
"Investors bet less on video games; In downturn, hunt is on for lasting value, not trendy new hits" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | February 19, 2010
Recession or no recession, Boston-area video game companies are attractive to venture capitalists - the investors who fund much of their growth.
“I would argue there’s probably a little too much capital’’ available for game developers, said Alex Finkelstein, a general partner at the Boston investment firm Spark Capital, at a meeting last week of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Forum.
But Jeffrey Anderson, one of the region’s best-known game entrepreneurs, said local investors are hesitant to place big bets on video game development.
“There’s been a transition in the VC [venture capital] market to a more conservative view, with the economic meltdown in the last 18 months,’’ said Anderson, former president of the online adventure game developer Turbine Inc. and founder of Quick Hit Inc., of Foxboro, which makes an online football game.
Related: Video Game Schills
Hey, what is one more agenda-pushing lie from the Globe?
Gotta get Curt the Savior a tax break!
Greater Boston is a major center of video game development, with big players like Harmonix Music Systems Inc., maker of the Rock Band series of music games, and Turbine, whose products include Lord of the Rings Online. The area is also home to start-ups like 38 Studios LLC, a development house founded by former Red Sox pitcher and avid video gamer Curt Schilling. But the global recession caused an 8 percent drop in US video game revenues last year, to $19.7 billion, according to NPD Group, a research firm....
And here the Globe was telling me they were doing great and darn near recession-proof!
Anderson said geography handicaps Boston game developers. The industry’s most powerful developers and publishers, including Nintendo Co., Activision Blizzard Inc., and Electronic Arts Inc., are mostly based on the West Coast. As a result, said Anderson, California has more investors who understand the game business and feel comfortable making investments. In New England, “it’s harder to find people who understand the business that you’re in. Therefore it makes it more difficult getting VCs to invest.’’
Good old venture capital, 'eh?
Did you want your pension thrown away to make a video game -- while the kids tuition skyrockets?
Even local investors with an interest in gaming are reluctant to back efforts to build the next blockbuster console game, like the hugely successful Modern Warfare 2.
Yeah, the KILL ASPECT always turned me OFF to the video games.
That is why I BOUGHT BOOKS!
Such games cost millions to make, but rarely become bestsellers....
And Curt wants a big old tax break.
--more--"
BALL THREE!!!
3 and 1 the count.
And Schilling throws:
"Warner Bros. buys local video game firm; Turbine produces Lord of the Rings, other online hits" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | April 21, 2010
“I view this as Hollywood coming to Boston,’’ said chief executive Jim Crowley of Turbine Inc., one of the Boston area’s biggest video game companies, who also said the deal underscores Greater Boston’s increasing prominence as a center for video game development....
We already got one!
Turbine, a privately held, venture-backed company in Westwood, is one of the leading makers of Internet-based, multiplayer adventure games. The company produces Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron’s Call. Thousands of players subscribe to Lord of the Rings and Asheron’s Call, paying monthly fees of around $15 for the right to play and socialize with one another online. Dungeons & Dragons is a “free-to-play’’ game. Anyone can log on and play for no charge, but players can also purchase additional powers and abilities that make the game more entertaining....
I'd rather just watch The Lord of the Rings.
Kid is on the video game about as long.
--more--"
STRIKE TWO, readers!
Full count. Runner are going and here's the pitch.....
"Parents seek balance as screens’ allure grows" by Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | February 4, 2010
Noah Burkholz got his first taste of video gaming three years ago, when his family bought an Xbox 360 and the game “Gears of War.’’ The Groton teenager played every day, deep into the night.
“I was against it,’’ says his mother, Sheara Friend.
“It became intense,’’ says his father, Mark Burkholz.
Last month the 17-year-old and three teammates won the Gears of War 2 national championship. His mother and father now wax rhapsodic about Noah’s collaborative and stategic skills and his ability to focus.
You mean block everything else out, right?
“These are skills he’s going to need when he gets to be an adult,’’ says the elder Burkholz, who is technology director at Lawrence Academy.
So he can pilot a drone aircraft from dark room in the desert of Nevada?
So he can be prepared for occupier duty in some far-away Muslim land?
A new Kaiser Family Foundation report finds that young Americans between ages 8 and 18 spend more than 7 1/2 hours a day using a computer, smartphone, television, game console, and other electronic devices, a dramatic jump since 2004 of nearly an hour and a half.
While the Burkholzes reflect parental acceptance of that reality, the findings stunned the report’s lead author. “We thought we’d hit the ceiling in 2004, and now we see the ceiling shattered,’’ said Vicki Rideout, director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program for the Study of Media and Health. “For parents, this is a moment to stop and take a look at what’s happening with your kids,’’ she said.
Related: Shut Down South Hadley High School
Is that where the kids are getting it?
The report is fueling debate over just how much screen time is acceptable. While some specialists are quick to catalog the negatives associated with heavy media use - lower grades, behavior problems, and childhood obesity, among them - there is an upside, as well. Numerous studies have shown that video gaming can improve cognitive and perceptual skills and that spending time online gives young people opportunities to develop the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age. The trick for parents - and it’s no small one - is to help children navigate wisely....
Yeah, make sure you go to the agenda-approved sites and not those "conspiracy" cranks. I mean, look at the war-promoting paper pushing the video games now.
Kristin Garland, like many other parents, describes the process of accumulation as “caving, little by little’’ and says she and her husband have reached the breaking point.
“The boys want to come home, drop everything, and head to that box, which Ted and I are calling the rot box,’’ the mother said. “They’re going to bed really late, and they’re really tired in the morning. If they’re not on their computers doing Facebook, they’ve got iPod headphones in their ears. They do a lot of texting. They’re good kids, but I feel like they never interact, even with each other.’’
Hey, I'm not the one who foisted all these consumer goods on them.
**********
Child psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, a faculty member at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and author of “Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families.’’ “Left to themselves kids will mostly consume junk, both in media and food. There’s great stuff out there. The idea is to plan media like you’d plan meals.’’
They can't avoid it; they live in AmeriKa!
But just as children within a single family may have different dietary needs, youngsters who live under one roof may well have different media needs. Add to the equation a mother and father with clashing views on the subject, and you have a challenging set of circumstances, like those facing Martin and Margie Dermady of Lincoln, whose three boys range in age from 8 to 14.
When their sons were young, Martin wanted to ban television, but Margie, who worked from home, enjoyed the benefits of the proverbial electronic baby sitter. Two years ago Margie bought a used PlayStation 2, which provided the two older boys, Liam and Aidan, who are both introverted and shy, an easy way to interact with their peers. Even Martin became a convert when he saw what an effective social lubricant it was. Meanwhile Niall, an easygoing and extroverted third-grader, has been nicknamed “videohead’’ by his brothers. And 14-year-old Liam has moved on, spending more time on his computer and iPod Touch.
“I allow it because Liam is socially awkward, and it’s important for him to have things that other kids have,’’ says Margie. “It’s a way of mainstreaming himself.’’
Of course, balance isn’t always the goal. Some parents believe in media abstinence, and although it is hard for many people to grasp such a concept, Zach and Autumn Soares of Bar Harbor, Maine, are trying to raise their young children with as little screen time as possible. They have surrounded themselves with a like-minded community of families that, like the Soareses, are home-schooling their children and have similar value systems.
Warning!
See: Sour Tea at the Boston Globe
Yeah, this pair of parents must be nuts, too!
And still, Autumn marvels, her 2 1/2-year-old knows how to stroke his mother’s iPhone screen to find games, which assuages her occasional worry that her children will be at a disadvantage in a tech-saturated world.
“I don’t feel they’re evil things; I just try to not make it a big part of our lives,’’ she said. “The kids are incredibly creative and imaginative, and I strongly value that. I also know at some point they’ll just go, ‘Awesome, Mom’s not here.’ And I can’t prevent that.’’
Yeah, until we break their spirit and subjugate their will.
We call that adulthood.
And she should not, many argue. Like the rest of life, the digital world is a maze of menace and opportunity. Guiding children through the pitfalls and possibilities is a job more parents should take to heart, said the Kaiser Foundation’s Rideout. “It’s part of the air we breathe.’’
Sure smells like a newspaper to me -- but with one of the nation's best sports sections.
Related: Twas the Paper Before Christmas....
Playing War at Summer Camp
Video Game Graduations
Junior should make a good soldier.
