DLog
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Encarta: upgrade to get less?
Microsoft Encarta gives you less when you upgrade.
In using Student 2006 and Student 2009, less encyclopedic content is evident everywhere. The number of articles has been reduced by 6000. The number of media in articles were reduced. The video of the Return of Hong Kong was replaced by a picture, and the picture was listed under the video section. Excerpts from Chinese philosophical texts were removed. The number of virtual tours were reduced by half. The book summaries no longer have a list by title option. And the list can go on.
In the old days, when the storage capacity of the delivery media is a limiting factor (e.g. a CD holds 600M), some features are scaled back to make room for new features. An example was the removal of "collages" in Encarta. But in the modern era of high capacity DVDs, and when there is more than a gigabyte of space left on a DVD, it makes much less sense to reduce multimedia and article counts. In releases of Encarta from 2005 to 2008, there is always something that is reduced. Remaining space on the delivery medium certainly cannot be a factor.
| Year | # articles | # pictures | # sound clips | #animations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 68,000 | 25,000 | 2,800 | 400 |
| 2006 | 68,000 | 25,000 | 2,500 | 300 |
| 2007 | 66,000 | 26,000 | 3,000 | 300 |
| 2008 | 60,000 | 25,000 | 3,800 | 800 (incl. activities) |
| 2009 | 62,000 | ? | ? | ? |
In using Student 2006 and Student 2009, less encyclopedic content is evident everywhere. The number of articles has been reduced by 6000. The number of media in articles were reduced. The video of the Return of Hong Kong was replaced by a picture, and the picture was listed under the video section. Excerpts from Chinese philosophical texts were removed. The number of virtual tours were reduced by half. The book summaries no longer have a list by title option. And the list can go on.
In the old days, when the storage capacity of the delivery media is a limiting factor (e.g. a CD holds 600M), some features are scaled back to make room for new features. An example was the removal of "collages" in Encarta. But in the modern era of high capacity DVDs, and when there is more than a gigabyte of space left on a DVD, it makes much less sense to reduce multimedia and article counts. In releases of Encarta from 2005 to 2008, there is always something that is reduced. Remaining space on the delivery medium certainly cannot be a factor.
Labels: Encarta, encyclopedias, reference
¶ 4:31 PM
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Dark trivial forces rising
Dave and Devon discuss some recent observation in the ongoing battle to get good trivia games at thrift stores.
Devon: I don't see the "big corporate store" really as a friendly force based on some of our recent purchases.
Dave: I fully agree. They appear to have some system to price games based on condition, so that a poorer looking box of TP1 can go for $2 while a newer looking one will be $3. But that is definitely not applied consistently. We've seen and bought games with missing pieces that is going at the regular price.
Devon: And sometimes the missing parts are vital to play. For example, one game Outburst requires using a clear red filter to be able to see the answers. That piece was missing from the game, thus making gameplay impossible. That clearly should have been a criteria to classifiy the game as broken.
Dave: We also seen a set of pentominoes with a piece missing, going for regular price. I feel sorry for whoever bought that thinking it might be complete.
Devon: Yet our competitors doesn't seem rattled by this. They've been on a frenzy lately.
Dave: They picked up all three of the generation TP's (The 1980's, Pop Culture, and DVD edition), all three of the TP1's, Simpons Battle of the Sexes and both Outburst Jr's within a few days.
Devon: Either there are many people with a sudden interest in trivia games, or someone is flipping these for a profit.
Dave: If it is a profit-monger, why didn't they get the SNL and Cheers trivia games as well? Or first getting the TP Millennium edition for $10. Or not getting the other games such as IQ 2000 or Who wants to be a millionaires?
Devon: This pattern of contradictions shows the sign of multiple hunters at work, each with their own agenda.
Dave: A greedy source and multiple rivals... this might be happening everywhere. Game makers should be paying attention.
Devon: I don't see the "big corporate store" really as a friendly force based on some of our recent purchases.
Dave: I fully agree. They appear to have some system to price games based on condition, so that a poorer looking box of TP1 can go for $2 while a newer looking one will be $3. But that is definitely not applied consistently. We've seen and bought games with missing pieces that is going at the regular price.
Devon: And sometimes the missing parts are vital to play. For example, one game Outburst requires using a clear red filter to be able to see the answers. That piece was missing from the game, thus making gameplay impossible. That clearly should have been a criteria to classifiy the game as broken.
Dave: We also seen a set of pentominoes with a piece missing, going for regular price. I feel sorry for whoever bought that thinking it might be complete.
Devon: Yet our competitors doesn't seem rattled by this. They've been on a frenzy lately.
Dave: They picked up all three of the generation TP's (The 1980's, Pop Culture, and DVD edition), all three of the TP1's, Simpons Battle of the Sexes and both Outburst Jr's within a few days.
Devon: Either there are many people with a sudden interest in trivia games, or someone is flipping these for a profit.
Dave: If it is a profit-monger, why didn't they get the SNL and Cheers trivia games as well? Or first getting the TP Millennium edition for $10. Or not getting the other games such as IQ 2000 or Who wants to be a millionaires?
Devon: This pattern of contradictions shows the sign of multiple hunters at work, each with their own agenda.
Dave: A greedy source and multiple rivals... this might be happening everywhere. Game makers should be paying attention.
Labels: boardgames, games, thrift stores, trivia
¶ 7:00 AM
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ideas for using trivia resources
Dave and Devon discuss what they might do with the trivia boardgames being collected.
Dave: When I bought the first trivia game -- Trivial Pursuit, the main purpose was to collect trivia games to use them as information resources. In other words, I'm treating them like books on cards.
Devon: Then we found out there are too many editions of TP to get them all, and in fact there were many other trivia games available. There were trivia categories that we had little interest in. So getting "all" trival games was not practical given budget and storage limitations.
Dave: I found that I have more interest in the science questions, and had an spark of an idea to use them for personal projects. So the purchase criteria focused on getting games with Science questions. The current plan is to do an online quiz or a question of the day generator for websites.
Devon: Or maybe even a simple game in Perl. That might lead to an interactive kiosk application that could be useful as an activity station in a learning centre or in a science centre.
Dave: The first major hurdle is entering the questions. Manual data entry is very resource intensive. Scanning might be useful, but my OCR program isn't very good.
Devon: Practical consideration aside, what about making our own trivia game, using the existing cards as the source of questions. It could be a general trivia game, just plug in your own questions.
Dave: That's sounds like a very good project idea. We always have opinions about other people's game design, so it's time to walk in another pair of shoes.
Devon: Another idea, if we have the proper storage environment, is to display the boxes of cards along side the reference books, treating them like printed sources of trivia.
Dave: Would there be any copyright issues involved in using the questions in our own product?
Devon: Trivia represent known facts, and cannot be copyrighted. Using an entire collection verbatim might be a problem, but using a combination from different sources is just ordinary research and data gathering. After all, when the trivia questions were created they came from different sources too.
Dave: It is the game design and gameplay that can fall under copyright. But the general concept of answering trivia questions for points is a well known idea already.
Devon: So the first question would be "When did the first edition of Science Trivia Universe first appear?"
Dave: When I bought the first trivia game -- Trivial Pursuit, the main purpose was to collect trivia games to use them as information resources. In other words, I'm treating them like books on cards.
Devon: Then we found out there are too many editions of TP to get them all, and in fact there were many other trivia games available. There were trivia categories that we had little interest in. So getting "all" trival games was not practical given budget and storage limitations.
Dave: I found that I have more interest in the science questions, and had an spark of an idea to use them for personal projects. So the purchase criteria focused on getting games with Science questions. The current plan is to do an online quiz or a question of the day generator for websites.
Devon: Or maybe even a simple game in Perl. That might lead to an interactive kiosk application that could be useful as an activity station in a learning centre or in a science centre.
Dave: The first major hurdle is entering the questions. Manual data entry is very resource intensive. Scanning might be useful, but my OCR program isn't very good.
Devon: Practical consideration aside, what about making our own trivia game, using the existing cards as the source of questions. It could be a general trivia game, just plug in your own questions.
Dave: That's sounds like a very good project idea. We always have opinions about other people's game design, so it's time to walk in another pair of shoes.
Devon: Another idea, if we have the proper storage environment, is to display the boxes of cards along side the reference books, treating them like printed sources of trivia.
Dave: Would there be any copyright issues involved in using the questions in our own product?
Devon: Trivia represent known facts, and cannot be copyrighted. Using an entire collection verbatim might be a problem, but using a combination from different sources is just ordinary research and data gathering. After all, when the trivia questions were created they came from different sources too.
Dave: It is the game design and gameplay that can fall under copyright. But the general concept of answering trivia questions for points is a well known idea already.
Devon: So the first question would be "When did the first edition of Science Trivia Universe first appear?"
Labels: boardgames, games, trivia
¶ 9:04 AM
Monday, July 21, 2008
Trivia games that got away
Dave and Devon reflect on the trivia games that they didn't collect.
Devon: We hesitated on certain trivia board games, which were then promptly snapped up by our competitors. On hindsight, some of them could have been worthwhile buys.
Dave: How true. The Da Vinci Quest was one such game. With categories such as Genius and the Grail, People Places, Faith and Fable, and Quest Curiosities, it encompassed science, religion and mysticism all in one theme.
Devon: The geography game was another interesting one. It used geographic trivia, flags of the world, world map locations, and captial cities as categories. Geography buffs may be the only ones who know enough to play it.
Dave: Ditto for the Chapters game, where you need to have read a large collection of books, or manage a bookstore or library, to answer the variety of questions.
Devon: Then there are other category specific ones based on Friends, SNL, and sports that we didn't even open. I think there was also one for Lord of the Rings.
Dave: One family oriented trivia game has two questions on each side of the card, both on the same category. The top one is easier and meant for kids, while the more difficult one is on the bottom for adults.
Devon: How about the slew of "over priced" Trivial Pursuits such as the DVD edition, 20th anniversary edition or Millennium edition. There were only $3-$6 higher than average, but that was enough to lower the value proposition below our comfort zone.
Dave: But we did get the Junior edition and also Table Talk (food themed) and they only had about 1200 questions, so their value was actually less than the pricier ones. The value rationale may need a little fine-tuning.
Devon: We hesitated on certain trivia board games, which were then promptly snapped up by our competitors. On hindsight, some of them could have been worthwhile buys.
Dave: How true. The Da Vinci Quest was one such game. With categories such as Genius and the Grail, People Places, Faith and Fable, and Quest Curiosities, it encompassed science, religion and mysticism all in one theme.
Devon: The geography game was another interesting one. It used geographic trivia, flags of the world, world map locations, and captial cities as categories. Geography buffs may be the only ones who know enough to play it.
Dave: Ditto for the Chapters game, where you need to have read a large collection of books, or manage a bookstore or library, to answer the variety of questions.
Devon: Then there are other category specific ones based on Friends, SNL, and sports that we didn't even open. I think there was also one for Lord of the Rings.
Dave: One family oriented trivia game has two questions on each side of the card, both on the same category. The top one is easier and meant for kids, while the more difficult one is on the bottom for adults.
Devon: How about the slew of "over priced" Trivial Pursuits such as the DVD edition, 20th anniversary edition or Millennium edition. There were only $3-$6 higher than average, but that was enough to lower the value proposition below our comfort zone.
Dave: But we did get the Junior edition and also Table Talk (food themed) and they only had about 1200 questions, so their value was actually less than the pricier ones. The value rationale may need a little fine-tuning.
Labels: boardgames, games, thrift stores, trivia
¶ 1:01 PM
Friday, July 18, 2008
Elements of a good trivia game
With a slowing growing collection of trivia board games but not any actual gameplay, Dave and Devon conjecture about what makes a good trivia game.
Devon: Although factors such as gameplay and design are important issues, I think the most vital part is the trivia questions themselves.
Dave: I agree. When one plays a trivia game, it really comes down to the challenge of answering the questions. The game Super Quiz even omits the board and pieces, and highlights that as an advantage of being able to be played anywhere.
Devon: I like questions that you can almost answer right, but still has to put some thought into it.
Dave: Questions can't be too easy, but also can't be too obscure. That's the challenge of fact based questions. If it is too field specific, only specialists can answer. One example was the Chapters boardgame, where one really needs to be very well read, or work as a librarian, to get many of the questions. At least that's what I thought as someone who's not into fiction, literature or history. Likewise trivia based on sports or a particular media series (e.g. Friends, Lord of the Rings) have very segmented appeal -- you have to like both the topic and playing trivia.
Devon: The generation based questions have a similar disadvantage. If you grew up during that era, then you can relate to many of the questions. But everyone else would be completely stumped. This almost shows that it is difficult to have a trivia game that appeals to the general population.
Dave: There are several things that help with alleviating the difficulty of the questions. One is to put hints in the question itself to help trigger your memory. Jeopardy does a good job of that. Some games split questions into easy and hard categories, which I think is a nice way too. And as for the problem of having to socre in every category, I saw a game where you have to get N credits, where each category is limited to a max of 2 or 3 credits. This is a nice way to overcome being stronger in some categories and weaker in others.
Devon: There's also brain teaser type of questions used in Mindtrap and Wit's End. They are more problem solving oriented rather than fact oriented. That transcends the generation and knowledge issues, but could put-off those who hate problem solving.
Dave: Gameplay also plays a minor role in enjoying the game. TP allows another turn when a correct answer is given, which allows one person extended play while others are just waiting. One way to overcome that is to stop the turn when a wedge is obtained.
Devon: Interestingly, the game In Pursuit, by the makers of Trivia Pursuit, does away with the wedges altogether. Instead, it is a race by 2 teams, but at the end only the "team leader" will win. On your turn, you ask the question to the other team, and one team will move ahead depending on the correctness of the ansewr. This speeds up gameplay, keeps more people involved, and makes for a good mix of teamwork and an internal race.
Dave: The game Psychologizer have you predicting other player's guess, but uses a wager amount to reflect the confidence of your answer. That adds an interesting element to the voting process.
Devon: And the game Numaro has all numeric answers, and everyone makes a guess. The person who is closest to move ahead. This is good because you can be way off, but as long as you are closer you still have a chance.
Dave: As with game design and play testing, one has to play the game to get a feel to see if the rules work out as well as they seem on paper.
Devon: Although factors such as gameplay and design are important issues, I think the most vital part is the trivia questions themselves.
Dave: I agree. When one plays a trivia game, it really comes down to the challenge of answering the questions. The game Super Quiz even omits the board and pieces, and highlights that as an advantage of being able to be played anywhere.
Devon: I like questions that you can almost answer right, but still has to put some thought into it.
Dave: Questions can't be too easy, but also can't be too obscure. That's the challenge of fact based questions. If it is too field specific, only specialists can answer. One example was the Chapters boardgame, where one really needs to be very well read, or work as a librarian, to get many of the questions. At least that's what I thought as someone who's not into fiction, literature or history. Likewise trivia based on sports or a particular media series (e.g. Friends, Lord of the Rings) have very segmented appeal -- you have to like both the topic and playing trivia.
Devon: The generation based questions have a similar disadvantage. If you grew up during that era, then you can relate to many of the questions. But everyone else would be completely stumped. This almost shows that it is difficult to have a trivia game that appeals to the general population.
Dave: There are several things that help with alleviating the difficulty of the questions. One is to put hints in the question itself to help trigger your memory. Jeopardy does a good job of that. Some games split questions into easy and hard categories, which I think is a nice way too. And as for the problem of having to socre in every category, I saw a game where you have to get N credits, where each category is limited to a max of 2 or 3 credits. This is a nice way to overcome being stronger in some categories and weaker in others.
Devon: There's also brain teaser type of questions used in Mindtrap and Wit's End. They are more problem solving oriented rather than fact oriented. That transcends the generation and knowledge issues, but could put-off those who hate problem solving.
Dave: Gameplay also plays a minor role in enjoying the game. TP allows another turn when a correct answer is given, which allows one person extended play while others are just waiting. One way to overcome that is to stop the turn when a wedge is obtained.
Devon: Interestingly, the game In Pursuit, by the makers of Trivia Pursuit, does away with the wedges altogether. Instead, it is a race by 2 teams, but at the end only the "team leader" will win. On your turn, you ask the question to the other team, and one team will move ahead depending on the correctness of the ansewr. This speeds up gameplay, keeps more people involved, and makes for a good mix of teamwork and an internal race.
Dave: The game Psychologizer have you predicting other player's guess, but uses a wager amount to reflect the confidence of your answer. That adds an interesting element to the voting process.
Devon: And the game Numaro has all numeric answers, and everyone makes a guess. The person who is closest to move ahead. This is good because you can be way off, but as long as you are closer you still have a chance.
Dave: As with game design and play testing, one has to play the game to get a feel to see if the rules work out as well as they seem on paper.
Labels: boardgames, games, trivia, trivial pursuit
¶ 9:03 AM
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Bargain hunting price inconsistencies
With the recent discovery of possible competitors to Dave and Devon's quest for question based boardgames, the plot takes another unexpected turn with ... betrayal!
(Dave and Devon had just returned from an excursion from a thrift store)
Devon: I still can't believe those prices... and such limited selection of games.
Dave: I'm surprised too. I thought stores from the same chain would have similar pricing. The store close to our house was the one that had TP and other games for $2. Yet the same stores, albeit in a more upscale neighborhood, were selling games for $5-$6.
Devon: And those were the same games that the "big corporate store" were selling for $3. Perhaps we have aligned ourselves with the wrong axis.
Dave: It could be most larger chains are expensive, and our nearby store is a renegade. I noticed that they have a "sub-lease" sign out right now. So they are probably not making enough money to cover the rent.
Devon: That makes for an interesting dilemma. We like the nearby store because of their lower prices. But to help them survive we have to want to pay higher prices, which makes them no different than other stores. But if they don't survive then we have to shop in the more expensive stores anyways. So either way we have to pay more. The only difference is whether the store is one block or ten minutes drive away.
Dave: But let's also remember that the games are still at least 1/4 of what the regular retail price would be, if they were still available.
Devon: I wonder if our expectations would be the same if we bought the first TP game for $4 instead.
(Dave and Devon had just returned from an excursion from a thrift store)
Devon: I still can't believe those prices... and such limited selection of games.
Dave: I'm surprised too. I thought stores from the same chain would have similar pricing. The store close to our house was the one that had TP and other games for $2. Yet the same stores, albeit in a more upscale neighborhood, were selling games for $5-$6.
Devon: And those were the same games that the "big corporate store" were selling for $3. Perhaps we have aligned ourselves with the wrong axis.
Dave: It could be most larger chains are expensive, and our nearby store is a renegade. I noticed that they have a "sub-lease" sign out right now. So they are probably not making enough money to cover the rent.
Devon: That makes for an interesting dilemma. We like the nearby store because of their lower prices. But to help them survive we have to want to pay higher prices, which makes them no different than other stores. But if they don't survive then we have to shop in the more expensive stores anyways. So either way we have to pay more. The only difference is whether the store is one block or ten minutes drive away.
Dave: But let's also remember that the games are still at least 1/4 of what the regular retail price would be, if they were still available.
Devon: I wonder if our expectations would be the same if we bought the first TP game for $4 instead.
Labels: boardgames, games, thrift stores
¶ 1:42 PM
Bargain hunting competitors
In the fiercely competitive, dog-eat-dog world of bargain hunting high drama, I've portrayed myself and my alter ego Devon as the protagonists. But for each protagonist there must also be an antagonist. And now, I sense a disturbance in the force. There maybe another...
Devon: What gave you the suspicion that we have a competitor?
Dave: In the past several weeks, we've made multiple trips to the thrift stores. I've noticed what was still on the shelf, and what was disappearing within days. And it is the uncommon question-based boardgames that are moving fast. Take for example the geography game that we looked at but didn't get.
Devon: That was an interesting one. It had four types of questions: geography trivia, capitals, flags, and map locations. I had wanted to get that because of its uniqueness and educational value, but you thought our geography knowledge was too weak to fully appreciate it.
Dave: In hindsight, you were right. That game was gone in a few days. The Da Vinci boardgame was another example, with categories in covering both science, religion and mysticism, and the renaissance.
Devon: The reason we didn't get it was because of the price, $6 for around 800 questions. The question/dollar ratio from TP really have spoiled us.
Dave: That game too was gone in a few days. So someone with a bigger budget is snatching these up.
Devon: Maybe it was just general moving of the merchandise.
Dave: But there are two telltale signs from what didn't move. The standard items such as Scrabble and Clue Jr are still there. Common question based games such as TP1, Balderdash, Pictionary, Outburst are still there.
Devon: So it is the uncommon question based games that go fast. Just like what happens when we visit.
Dave: Someone has the same interest as us. And remember the stack of TP's and the People Magazine boardgame in the other store. They were also gone relatively fast.
Devon: Must it be the work of a single person? Perhaps there is no conspiracy and it is just a bunch of regular shoppers picking up the good stuff.
Dave: If it was just regular people, I would be surprised if they all focus on the same genre of games. This would mean I underestimated how popular trivia games are. But the decline of trivia games seem to contradict that view. And the worst case scenario is that there are several trivia hunters out there.
Devon: Wow, I never thought a $1 purchase could lead into such intrigue and tension.
Devon: What gave you the suspicion that we have a competitor?
Dave: In the past several weeks, we've made multiple trips to the thrift stores. I've noticed what was still on the shelf, and what was disappearing within days. And it is the uncommon question-based boardgames that are moving fast. Take for example the geography game that we looked at but didn't get.
Devon: That was an interesting one. It had four types of questions: geography trivia, capitals, flags, and map locations. I had wanted to get that because of its uniqueness and educational value, but you thought our geography knowledge was too weak to fully appreciate it.
Dave: In hindsight, you were right. That game was gone in a few days. The Da Vinci boardgame was another example, with categories in covering both science, religion and mysticism, and the renaissance.
Devon: The reason we didn't get it was because of the price, $6 for around 800 questions. The question/dollar ratio from TP really have spoiled us.
Dave: That game too was gone in a few days. So someone with a bigger budget is snatching these up.
Devon: Maybe it was just general moving of the merchandise.
Dave: But there are two telltale signs from what didn't move. The standard items such as Scrabble and Clue Jr are still there. Common question based games such as TP1, Balderdash, Pictionary, Outburst are still there.
Devon: So it is the uncommon question based games that go fast. Just like what happens when we visit.
Dave: Someone has the same interest as us. And remember the stack of TP's and the People Magazine boardgame in the other store. They were also gone relatively fast.
Devon: Must it be the work of a single person? Perhaps there is no conspiracy and it is just a bunch of regular shoppers picking up the good stuff.
Dave: If it was just regular people, I would be surprised if they all focus on the same genre of games. This would mean I underestimated how popular trivia games are. But the decline of trivia games seem to contradict that view. And the worst case scenario is that there are several trivia hunters out there.
Devon: Wow, I never thought a $1 purchase could lead into such intrigue and tension.
Labels: boardgames, games, thrift stores
¶ 8:47 AM
