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Google gets YouTube

It was the story of the week. It wasn’t that long ago that financial investors were voicing their doubts that YouTube ( www.youtube.com ), a popular video posting and sharing website, could ever generate a profit.
andrewbyline

It was the story of the week. It wasn’t that long ago that financial investors were voicing their doubts that YouTube ( www.youtube.com ), a popular video posting and sharing website, could ever generate a profit. There was no business plan, they said. There was no way to generate profit, they said, short of attaching billboard ads and commercials to everything and charging users for content — a move that has meant certain death for companies in the past as users move elsewhere.

But they all forget about Google. Google attempted to launch its own video search and archive tool a year ago, but it never really got past the test beta version — unlike Yahoo’s very popular and very functional video search tool. It was the one way that Google was noticeably behind Yahoo; something that was missing.

Not anymore. Google announced plans to purchase YouTube last week for $1.65 billion in Google stock — not a bad windfall for a company that was launched in February 2005 by three now extremely wealthy former employees of PayPal.

Although it’s now under new ownership, there’s still the issue of exactly how YouTube will generate profits, but Google has proven to be a wizard over the years in generating revenue from things that nobody believed could make a profit.

Besides, the goal may not be to make YouTube pay off, although that’s certainly possible given the millions of people who access the site each day. More than likely the goal is to give people more reasons to use the Google search engine and other Google products, like e-mail, spreadsheets, word processing, Picasa photo sharing software, or any of the dozens of other Google products.

The only drawback for Google is the fact that YouTube is a sitting duck for copyright lawyers, as users regularly steal, post and sometimes edit snippets of video without the owners’ permission.

A lot of networks do allow their content to be posted — every time a snippet of The Daily Show makes it on YouTube, it only increases The Daily Show’s visibility and reputation for being funny — but it’s only a matter of time before someone decides to sue. The fact that Google’s deep pockets are now behind the site invites lawsuits for the simple reason that YouTube had nothing to sue for until a week ago. The liklihood that Google will try to profit from the service also opens the door a little wider for lawsuits — copyright infringement is always easier to prove when there’s financial gain for the infringer.

Will YouTube be the same now it’s a Google property? Only time will tell.

Rockstar has a conscience

Few companies have been vilified by the press, politicians, and parent and religious groups more than Rockstar Games, the producer of such controversial titles as the Grand Theft Auto series, The Warriors and the soon to be released Bully.

GTA has been blamed for encouraging theft and violence among impressionable youth, but ironically the biggest controversy so far came when geeks discovered the hidden “Hot Coffee” feature that shows the main character of GTA: San Andreas having sex with various female characters. American senators and congressman called for the game to be banned, and religious and parent groups called for everything from criminal charges to stiffer laws to keep the game away from children.

Here’s the irony, in case you missed it — one of the most violent games ever is released, a game where the character can have sex with a prostitute to recover health, then kill said prostitute to get that money back, but it was the scenes of consensual sex that got the pundits angry. It’s the Janet Jackson halftime show all over again.

All the critics have seemingly missed the point of GTA games. Through the plot and radio commentary the games take shots at corrupt politicians and police, hypocritical evangelists, and even video game violence itself. And it’s not the game that does bad things, it’s always the player who is at fault — Rockstar just created a game where people have the ability to behave badly, if they choose. Or not. There are moral lessons throughout GTA if you look closely enough.

Which brings us to Bully. The game hasn’t even been released yet but has already been called a “Columbine simulator” in reference to the 1999 massacre at a Colorado high school. Legislators want it banned in some states, some are calling for the makers to be fined, and everywhere there are groups demanding the game be slapped with an X rating to ensure kids don’t get their hands on it.

But here’s the thing — everyone is up in arms and they haven’t even seen it yet. Clive Thompson at Wired Magazine ( www.wired.com ) has written the only review of the game I’ve been able to find, and found that it is actually anti-bully — the main character stands up for geeks and injustice, and the most trouble he gets in is wandering through the school after curfew. Moreover, the game delves into the psychological aspects of bullying, as school miscreants perpetrate the same humiliations on others as they themselves experienced at the hands of bullies when they were younger.

The game also addresses the issue of female bullying, the insecurities and alienation of youth, class warfare between rich and poor, the cruelty inherent in the school systems (e.g. dodgeball), and other taboo topics with a great deal of delicacy — and a wicked sense of humour.

There is some fighting, but then Rockstar Games never candy coats the world — just holds up a mirror to it.

For more on Bully, visit www.rockstar.com.