Joshua Kennon » Final Fantasy

The Success of the iPad Will Come Down to App Development

Joshua Kennon — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:57:06 +0000

After 5 days with the iPad, I can tell you it is not hyperbole ... the iPad is going to revolutionize business and personal computing. Those who point out there are more powerful tablet PCs are making the same mistake Steve Balmer did when he said the iPhone would fail because it lacked a keyboard. They are missing the point. I have a maxed-out Power Mac with two (2) 30" High Definition monitors that could process videos for Pixar and yet I still have switched to the iPad for all of my reading needs. And I love paper and pen ...

Five days or so into my experience with the iPad and it continues to exceed expectations (by far). I’ve spent somewhere between $120 and $150 in the Apple iTunes App store, which compared to my previous purchases of apps (read: $0), means there is more cash flowing into Steve Jobs’ coffers. The overwhelming indication continues to be that the success of the iPad will come down to the applications that software companies develop for it. We bought our iPads for business purposes. As an Internet company, the easier we can access data, the better we can respond to customer needs.

Business Productivity on the iPad

The main benefit of the iPad is it allows us to monitor profits, costs, bills, and customer messages in real-time across all of our businesses. I can see, quite literally, sales flow into our sporting goods business or baby retailer as I sit on the balcony drinking coffee and listening to Coldplay’s Viva la Vida (which I’ve had on repeat all day). I can monitor our investment positions and submit complex options positions with a few clicks (er… taps). It has allowed me to get up from my desk and spend time elsewhere, greatly improving the quality of life.

If I’m already using the iPad to revolutionize our trading and investing positions, can you imagine when software companies develop high-end apps that allows medical records to be wirelessly access by doctors or nurses? What about lawyers that can access case law databases?

Books on the iPad

The Apple iBook store can be great. It’s just not there, yet. There isn’t nearly enough selection, especially when compared to the Amazon Kindle (which explains why I use the Kindle app and buy books from Amazon for the iPad). I should have the ability to print directly from the iPad any page I’ve noted, complete with my markups. Imagine what that would do for business productivity.

Games on the iPad

On the gaming front, there are a lot of things that could make the iPad a game changer. For example, if Square-Enix were to release the Final Fantasy games up through FFIX, I’d buy them in a heartbeat, no questions asked. If I can play Monopoly with my family members wireless over a network connection, regardless of physical distance, I’d be thrilled because it would be another way to spend time together.

Why would they create for the iPad instead of sticking to an existing gaming console? Because the iPad will be with me for business purposes all the time. That means I can take a break and play a game of Peggle without taking out a separate machine. No one would think twice about a guy in a suit on an iPad but they would do a double take on a PSP or a Nintendo DS. It is a chance to access a much larger audience that has the ability to make impulse purchases.

Only a Fool Would Think the iPhone Makes the iPad Redundant

After only a few days with the iPad, I can tell you it is nothing like the iPhone. I’m not going to type on an iPhone or use it for apps. I didn’t buy very many games. I can actually work on the iPad. I can read the blogs, check the news, and monitor stock prices. I can update my calendar, watch videos, or send email.

The iPad is used most often where a MacBook Pro would have been but wasn’t convenient. I’ll still keep the MacBook Pro (in fact, Apple is supposed to be releasing an update to the MacBook Pro line this year), but the iPad is what I want to grab if I’m running to Panera for lunch or going to go out to dinner and want to be able to read through 10K reports. Now, instead of taking a briefcase with me, I can just bring the iPad.

In fact, I’ve already begun the process of organizing and updating my rare PDF files, including copies of Buffett’s partnership letters (which aren’t publicly available) and Ben Graham’s reports to his stockholders. As soon as someone gives me a PDF reader with strong highlighting abilities, note taking, underlying, and printing capabilities, I can get rid of most of the office. Imagine having 20+ years of annual reports on demand, with a click of the button.

I Beat Final Fantasy XIII Tonight

Joshua Kennon — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:13:56 +0000

Don’t worry – I’m not going to give away any spoilers (or the images of the final bosses other than the one everyone has already seen), but suffice it to say, I owned Final Fantasy XIII tonight. I took a break from going over the insurance policy renewals for the businesses, which are due soon, and reviewing some of our year-end dividend tax reports from the brokerage firms before sending them to our (amazing) accounting firm. I kept saying, “I’m only going to play for a few more minutes.” Then, I realized I was only a few battles away from the end and had to complete the game.

The cool thing is, as with Fable 2, the end of the plot is not the end of the game. Final Fantasy XIII goes on long after you beat the final antagonist. In fact, the final level of the crystarium doesn’t even become available until after you’ve successfully completed the final boss. There is an entire world left to explore, including far tougher enemies. I will get to that but for now, I’ve gotten Final Fantasy XIII out of my system and can return to getting everything prepared before Jocelyn’s visit next week. (She has informed Aaron and me that we cannot work very much at all, meaning we have to do everything in advance.)

Barthandelus, Lord Sovereign of the Cacoon fal'Sie bears an interesting resemblance to some of the imagery used in the book of Revelation. There is also another fal'Sie that is taken from a Persian myth involving a tyrannical god that tortured his servants and was destroyed by a group of saviors. I think the Japanese video game makers were well steeped in the literary tradition of apocalypse. (I hate to use the word in that context since it literally means "an unveiling" or "to reveal" and NOT "the end of the world" but most people don't know that so Webster finally bowed to it and now uses it in that context, so whatever ...)

15 Hours of Final Fantasy XIII

Joshua Kennon — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:41:23 +0000

I played Final Fantasy XIII for approximately 15 hours this weekend. I’m up to roughly 42 or 45 hours on the game and it is amazing thus far. It’s more of an interactive movie than anything else, but I’m really into it (which surprised me). I think it’s because we’ve been getting so much work done lately that I needed a break. Yet, I just had to keep leveling up the crystalium.

First Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII

Joshua Kennon — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:39:12 +0000

As promised, I took the afternoon to play Final Fantasy XIII with the new collector's edition player guide, which is hardbound and really well done. The game is shaping up nicely thus far. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

I’ve played Final Fantasy 13 for roughly five or six hours now and it’s starting to get good. The only concern I have is that it is feeling really linear. Part of the magic of the franchise is being able to take 20 hours and go do side quests, level up and get hidden summons, etc. I hope they haven’t taken that out because it took far too long to get this title on the market and after the utterly forgettable Final Fantasy XII, it would mean that Square-Enix is nothing compared to what it once was (I talked about this in the article on Mistwalker Studios).

Blue Dragon, for example, rocked my world. The story and plot get going deeper and deeper and you were pleasantly surprised in every sense of the word. I hope Final Fantasy XIII can capture that same plot depth. We’ll see …

Final Fantasy XIII Is Released Tomorrow

Joshua Kennon — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:54:42 +0000

Final Fantasy XIII is released tomorrow. I'll still update the blog (probably) but the business activity is halted for the week. Although, I know myself, I'll probably end up going into my investing office and playing on the television there because I had one put over the fireplace for CNBC but is more often used for taking a break in the middle of the afternoon.

When I tell you that the first stage of financial success is having control over your time, this is what I mean …

When I was a kid, the worst thing in the world was getting a video game for your birthday (ahem, Chrono Trigger), and then waking up the next morning early so you could play it before leaving for school. All throughout the day, it’s all you could think about because the characters would be calling to you … what happens next in the plot? You run home after school and play all day.

Tomorrow, Final Fantasy XIII is released. I’ve been playing the series since I was in fifth or sixth grade and Final Fantasy VI (then called III in the United States) was released and Ruby took me to the mall and bought it for my birthday. Nearly two decades later, I have a copy of Final Fantasy XIII for XBOX 360, along with a collector’s edition of the player’s guide in hardbound copy, set for delivery.

Now, I don’t have to go through that excruciating dread of going to school or the office when I’d rather be home playing the game. I’ve informed everyone that I am not to be disturbed for the week. Why? I’m going to sit in front of my beautiful high definition television at home, turn on the fireplace, and play the game undisturbed. As I progress in the game, I’ll still be collecting dividends, rents, royalties, and profits in real life because of the decisions I made years ago. I explained how terrifyingly similar my path to wealth was to the same one used by players making money in Fable 2.

I think the thing that probably makes or breaks any Final Fantasy series game, besides plot of course, is the battle system.

Aaron has informed me that he will be taking the week off to play the game, although he still plans on going to work in the mornings to get some things done that he wants finished.

This is a perfect example of everything I’ve been trying to teach my friends, family, and readers for years. Financial success is being able to do what you want, when you want, and still afford the things you desire. I get closer and closer each day to where I want to be, but I have had total control over my time my entire life – I’ve never had to work for anyone else because of my excessive habit of saving so much of my income.

Started Final Fantasy XI on XBOX 360

Joshua Kennon — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:16:48 +0000

Following several attempts to get into the game when it was first launched in 2004 and later, around 2006, I finally began seriously playing Final Fantasy XI about a week ago after beating Blue Dragon. I’m on the Alexander server and have been building my character as a Black Mage. So far, I’ve soloed on my own in the Windurst area and I’m about to hit Level 19. It’s time to get into some plot but I wanted my character to be strong enough to enjoy myself when playing. Aaron’s been playing, too, and we sometimes level up together.

I realize the game is getting older, but there are still 500,000 registered players and 2,000,000+ registered characters. It’s actually gotten me really excited about Final Fantasy XIV, which is also going to be an online, as well. It’s going to be a nice distraction when I need to take a 30 minute break from the company in the middle of the day.

Mistwalker Studios Might Just Eclipse Square Enix

Joshua Kennon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:16:20 +0000

Lost Odyssey by Mistwalker Studios

For a long time, I wanted to be a video game programmer. When I was still in elementary school, I saved up the $200 or so dollars for an entry-level version of Microsoft Visual Basic, went to trade shows to buy software on 5″+ floppy disks, and worked on creating my own version of the original Legend of Zelda in Microsoft Basic. At some point, however, my obsession with finance overcame everything and the idea of sitting in a skyscraper, reading stock reports, and compounding money for the sheer joy of building something eclipsed the video game dream. The reason was simple: I realized that if I achieved the empire on the financial side, I could someday just buy or establish a video game company. If I became a low-level code monkey, on the other hand, I couldn’t have the other. It was a case of having my cake and eating it, too. Perhaps I should have known my idea of fun was spending hours playing Duck Tales on the original NES, shuffling Uncle Scrooge around the world to acquire treasure.

Looking back, Squaresoft, and later Square Enix after the merger, released a series of games including Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts that eclipses nearly ever other development house in terms of pure quality and fan obsession. The only notable exception would be Nintendo, which owns the original hall-of-fame franchise covering Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Samus Aran of Metroid fame, Link and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. The problem with Square Enix is that it seems like the last unbelievable game that was released under its banner was Final Fantasy X. That was nearly ten years ago. I was in college. That should put it in perspective.

Instead, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of the Final Fantasy series launched a new studio called Mistwalker with the backing of Microsoft. He got the veritable genius composer Nobuo Uematsu to write the soundtrack for the studio’s two releases, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. I’ve been playing my way through both games over the past six months and there is no question that the quality of Mistwalker’s work far exceeds that of Square Enix, with the exception of the Kingdom Hearts series. In fact, it feels like Mistwalker is more Square Enix than Square Enix is.

Blue Dragon by Mistwalker is one of the best games that has ever been made.

What scares me is that my family and I used to buy Squaresoft / Square Enix games on the power of the brand name alone. We didn’t even need to know what the game was about or the plot, we simply knew if we bought it, we wouldn’t be disappointed. That isn’t the case any longer. The franchise value of the brand has gone down (I wrote about this concept in Profiting from Franchise Value at my Investing for Beginners site at About.com). Instead of releasing one or two unbelievable games that will change the genre, it seems like they are attempting to pump out as many derivative-based titles as possible. I can’t even count the number of releases that have been hyped under the Final Fantasy name for systems such as the DS or PSP. Wouldn’t it be better to create a handful of classics than a long stream of mediocre non-events?

The great thing about capitalism, though, is that someone, somewhere, will create a work of pure art and the market will reward them for it. I truly hope Square Enix doesn’t fall into mediocrity. But if I were forced to bet on it, my money would be on Mistwalker Studios right now. I really do wish the firm were publicly traded so I could get a look inside the operations.

Video Game Sales Fall for 5th Straight Month and Wall Street Blames … the Recession?

Joshua Kennon — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:15:35 +0000

It's not about the economy ... it's all about the games.

According to an AP Article, sales of video games have plunged 29% year-over-year and Wall Street is concerned that it is proof the video game market isn’t as recession-resistant as everyone believed. Seriously. That’s the crap that’s coming out of these news rooms. News flash: Look at the game release schedules. Last year saw a host of relaunches of various Final Fantasy titles, new version of the Civilization franchise, another installment of Harvest Moon, and the updated Soul Calibur. Nothing really exciting has been released for six months. The real action comes in the back half of the year.

My household spends a lot of money on video games. We have virtually every system imaginable and we are big RPG and action players. Right now, I’m working my way through Blue Dragon and Aaron is in the middle of Lost Odyssey, both released by the Mistwalker company setup by the genius behind the Final Fantasy series. We aren’t spending any money on games now. That will change when Aion – The Tower of Eternity is released.

You have the new Madden coming out on August 14th, Wolfenstein on August 18th, Halo 3 ODST on September 22nd, and Assassin’s Creed II on October 17th, just to name a few. The video game industry does not follow the same pattern as furniture sales or theme park admissions. It is all about the games. If a new Final Fantasy was released tomorrow, I don’t care if I hadn’t paid my electric bill and needed to come up with money to eat dinner, I’d find a way to get my hand on the title.

Aion Tower of Eternity

It’s only 1/10th as Expensive as the Movie on a Per Unit of Time Basis
Why? Hour for hour, video games represent the single greatest value for your money. A good RPG, for instance, will require you to play for at least 100 hours. I typically level my characters up, maxing all of their stats out so I can dominate. If you pay $50 for a game, that’s $0.50 per hour of entertainment. Compare that to a 2 hour movie where you pay $10 for admission, costing $5.00, or 1,000% more per unit of time. That assumes you don’t get popcorn, a Coke, and some Reese’s peanut butter cups which are, of course, absolutely required.

People who don’t understand a market should not be allowed to write about it. It is almost as bad as Tech Ticker on Yahoo Finance, which is, in my personal opinion, the single worst source of financial or investing advice that has ever been sponsored by a major media company. It takes all of my resolve not to hurl things at the screen when those idiots open their mouth. It’s a fairly good bet that we are doing almost exactly the opposite of what they say at any given time on the webcast. The civilization would be much improved if the plug was pulled on that monstrosity they call financial journalism. Again, just my personal opinion.