I just finished reading Game Over: Press Start to Continue: The Maturing of Mario by David Sheff and Andy Eddy awhile back. Since it had such a nice business slant, I posted my review over at my business blog at wannabeMogul.com–even though I really read the book because of my incredible urge as a childhood Nintendo fanboy.

If you haven’t read this book and want to learn more about the gaming industry, read it. I suggest checking Half.com or Amazon to try and pick up a used copy.

The book is a great read even if you aren’t a Nintendo fan.

The really interesting part of the book is how it sheds a light on what Microsoft might have been thinking when they launched the Xbox and how much Nintendo’s plan for the NES might have influenced that.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I may be in the minority in the way that I consume media.

When I am reading a book, magazine or even checking out things in email, I tend to keep a pen and pad or at least some sticky notes handy to write down quotes or questions that I want to look up later, songs that I might want to check out or links to Web sites I might want to visit when I get a chance.

It goes back to the way I consume online media. In my RSS feeds in Google Reader, I can star articles that I need to check back on and share everything after I have processed it so that I can find it later. It makes the whole process much more digital, but I do the same thing just on paper when I read a magazine or book.

As a side note, I wrote down a note to write this post while I was reading the latest issue of Maxim. There wasn’t too much to note out of it considering it was such a slow month for gaming that they reviewed Ultimate Duck Hunting for the Wii with 3 stars. Not that it doesn’t deserve 3 stars, but I can’t really see that game being at the top of the charts as the only Wii game reviewed for August.

I never realized the connection between my online habits changing my offline habits, but how do you consume media? Has online media changed it?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Shockingly enough, Scholastic is doing everything in their power to go after whoever leaked the Harry Potter page images onto the Internet days before the actual book’s release.

In their thirst for blood, they have discovered that the serial number and camera model was embedded in the image files. If the leaker happened to register their camera with Canon, they are screwed. Time to ebay that camera, buddy.

Maybe you could even get rid of it by promoting the fame aspect of having a camera that committed the greatest literary crime of the decade.

Book companies might be smart to listen to Internet marketing guru Seth Godin. He posted recently about how he feels books have become too slow of a medium but still retain a great keepsake value for their owners.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

FilmThreat just posted a review of the new Harry Potter film also expressing their disappointment in the movie.

I didn’t realize that this latest film acually had a new screenwriter. That script adaptation really seemed choppy and did nothing to close plot holes left from omitted segments of the book. Maybe fans can hope that they do a better job on the next movie OR get a new writer…

I feel ya, Harry.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Okay, I understand that the Harry Potter series isn’t exactly centered in reality, but the new movie totally opened up a MASSIVE plot hole for me.

SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read past this if you haven’t seen the movie yet.
….

When Sirius Black, Harry’s only remaining semi-relative, the bad witch–forgot her name–does the death curse on him. Death curse? When did a death curse become possible? I don’t understand that at all.

It would make sense if it took a lot of time or effort or if only one or two wizards in the world could pull it off like the big baddie Voldemort and all-knowing Dumbledore, but the witch that does it to Sirius pulls it out in about one second flat. That’s it. Sirius goes out like a light.

I thought Sirius was supposed to be some super badass of the Order of the Phoenix? He wasn’t watching out for a death curse in a room full of bad wizards? Crazy.

If there was death curse, why didn’t Voldemort just jump out on Harry and Dumbledore and death curse them right at the very start of this series? Even if it took a lot of power, you would think that Dumbledore could have gotten the axe from the nutty professor in the first movie with Voldemort in his head.

That is ridiculous. That is all I have to say. It seems like if there was a death curse, people would use it more often, and it doesn’t make sense that the wizard hit by it can’t be saved by anyone else or get any chance to recover. I know he could have blocked it, but it is so quick to do, it would be hard to block.

I think the book might have done a better job explaining but I am pretty confused about the introduction of something like this in this latest movie.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To point out yet another example of a grassroots PR plan that finds huge success, Steve Rubel wrote an article for Advertising Age last week that highlighted one of the blog darling books of the last several months.

Timothy Ferriss has made his book The 4-Hour Workweek top the charts at Amazon by appearing at SXSW in Austin and finding the influential bloggers to establish relationships.

This move, my friends, is the next level of public relations: finding the voices that are trusted by your target audience no matter where they may be and getting them to promote it. Blogs create easy buzz, so discovering who the “cool” types are that people will listen to and winning them over on your product will make you a success.

Maybe I should write a book like Ferriss. Now that I have blogged about it, there is another notch in the blogger belt for his publicity.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!