I was surfing around the Web today and didn’t have to go far to find a quick column by Matt Asay over on CNET’s “Open Road” discussing YouTube and Hulu.

In a piece entitled, “Quality pays: Hulu trumping YouTube,” Asay makes the point that because of Hulu’s $12 million profit, Google needs to do more with YouTube. Asay believes that Google “needs to show equal care for the [entertainment] industry’s IP” and “improve quality.”

Generalizations aside, I need to disagree with my colleague on what YouTube should do. Asay claims that YouTube shouldn’t become Hulu, but I think that’s plain wrong. Hulu is a success this day not because it has high-quality programming or respects intellectual property. Hulu is a success today because all the content contained on the site is controlled and demographic data is readily available.

Rest assured that no matter how much money Google is losing on YouTube, it’s well worth the cost. No matter what we might think about YouTube and its obvious issues, we can’t lose sight of the fact that without all that copyrighted material, YouTube wouldn’t be half as popular as it is this day and whether Google wants to admit it or not, it needs those clips on there.

It’s no longer a question of whether user-generated video is important — it is — or if it should be kept on YouTube. User-generated video is how YouTube can bring people to the site and grant it to funnel those people to professional content that Google can monetize. User-generated video isn’t the key to making money, it’s the professional video that matters most to advertisers.

…

source The Digital Home

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In case you missed it, Hewlett-Packard announced today that it will be bringing a multitouch notebook to consumers in the form of the TouchSmart tx2. The device will feature a swivel, LED-backlit display, Windows Vista, and full touch abilities on the screen.

That’s quite the development. Sure, HP already had some touch-screen devices in the desktop market and other companies are trying desperately to make some headway in that space, but why has no one made such a large deal about the device?

I know what you’re thinking: why should we make a big fuss about a device that has evolutionary abilities and hasn’t been put through the paces? We need to wait and see.

Sorry, I just don’t purchase that.

When Apple announced new MacBook Pros last month featuring its own multitouch abilities in the trackpad, the world rejoiced. Consumers were already saying how they couldn’t wait to pick one (or maybe two) up at the Apple store and every major news outlet was discussing it in minute detail. I turned the nightly news on when it was first announced and it was everywhere.

And yet, as HP ups the ante, we don’t hear anything about its latest notebook.

…

source The Digital Home

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In case you missed it, Hewlett-Packard announced today that it will be bringing a multitouch notebook to consumers in the form of the TouchSmart tx2. The device will feature a swivel, LED-backlit display, Windows Vista, and full touch capabilities on the screen.

That’s quite the development. Sure, HP already had some touch-screen devices in the desktop market and other companies are trying desperately to make some headway in that space, but why has no one made such a huge deal about the device?

I know what you’re thinking: why should we make a large fuss about a device that has evolutionary capabilities and hasn’t been put through the paces? We need to wait and see.

Sorry, I just don’t purchase that.

When Apple announced new MacBook Pros last month featuring its own multitouch capabilities in the trackpad, the world rejoiced. Consumers were already saying how they couldn’t wait to pick one (or maybe two) up at the Apple store and every major news outlet was discussing it in minute detail. I turned the nightly news on when it was first announced and it was everywhere.

And yet, as HP ups the ante, we don’t hear anything about its latest notebook.

…

source The Digital Home

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On Friday we reported that MTV Games and Harmonix were being hit with a class action lawsuit over what was being labeled a “design defect” in the bass pedal for Rock Band drums.

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On Friday we reported that MTV Games and Harmonix were being hit with a class action lawsuit over what was being labeled a “design defect” in the bass pedal for Rock Band drums.

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Even though the Xbox 360 launched with its fair share of issues, once the system started picking up big-name titles like Gears of War and Halo 3, it was only a matter of time before the console outsold the original Xbox.

That time, is now. Microsoft VP of Interactive Entertainment Chris Lewis broke the news to MCV saying, “We’ve already surpassed the installed base of the original Xbox – which is a really significant milestone. We’ve been blown away by the appetite of people to consumer digital entertainment experiences.”

If you recall, the Xbox sold 25 million units worldwide in five years, while it only took the Xbox 360 three years to reach that same level of overall sales.

Honestly, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. The 360 has been this generation’s PlayStation 2 for a while now, and those recent price cuts certainly aren’t hurting sales.

[Via Edge]

Via Destructoid

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Electronic Arts has released a handful of new screenshots for the upcoming multi-platform sequel The Godfather II, and unsurprisingly, most of them feature sharp-dressed, angry-looking Italian guys with guns. They’ve also revealed the game’s box art, which is decidedly brighter than the art for the original, but also features sharp-dressed, angry-looking Italian guys with guns.

We had a chance to check out The Godfather II a few months back, and came away intrigued, if not a bit impressed. EA could have gone the easy route and tossed out a sequel that was almost identical in every way to the original sandbox title, but they didn’t. Instead, Godfather II is a curious mix of sandbox play and mafia-management strategy using something they’re calling “The Don’s View.”

We’ve no clue how it’s going to turn out when The Godfather II is released in February of 2009. But we’re worried about expressing any negative concerns about the game — EA might send a sharp-dressed, angry-looking Italian guy with a gun to our offices.

Via Destructoid

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Halo Wars handles superior than a PC RTS. At least, that’s what the guys at Ensemble (the developer of the game) seem to think. In a recent interview with CVG, lead designer Graeme Devine noted that the game trumped the typical PC and mouse setup and noted that he “wouldn’t state it if [he] didn’t believe it.” He also commented on the fact that Ensemble spent the majority of their first year in development simply ironing out the supposedly stellar controls.

From the interview:

We spent the first year of this project just working on the controls. Without the controls working it’s pointless even doing the game. We actually took Age of Mythology and we set ourselves a target. One of our testers, who’s a hardcore RTS PC guy came over and told us that it’s easier to play with the controller than it is with a mouse and keyboard.

Devine went on to state that when the tester stated that it was superior, Ensemble “gave [themselves] the green light” with the lofty project. Using Age of Mythology as a benchmark is an excellent idea, even though I question if a Cyclops has anything on a Warthog. Too bad we won’t ever see a mash-up on that scale.

Via Destructoid

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You might have noticed that we’ve been speaking about Left 4 Dead an awful lot lately. While we petty Destructoid editors jumped around, hurriedly calling dibs on our favorite characters, you may have wondered when the actual review was coming.

That, or you were so busy playing the game yourself that you really didn’t care when we’d get around to reviewing it.

Either way, this is the review. How did Conrad Zimmerman and I feel about Left 4 Dead’s gory, ambitious blend of single-player aesthetics with a cooperative experience? How does the versus mode match up with the campaign? If you only own a PS3, should you be really depressed, or just regular depressed?

Hit the jump to find out.

Via Destructoid

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