Out here in Killeen, Texas, this week getting certified as an instructor for Lend Lease's "Team Leader" training...so not much time to blog. The training is based off of old TQM (total quality management) theory, and for me specifically, represents a chance just to sharpen my public speaking skills, so that's definitely a good thing.

Transformers: The Movie was very good, although I could've used more acknowledgment of the heritage of the franchise. For example, quite strangely, Mute Math's remake of the Transformers theme song did not play during the credits (the new, horrible Smashing Pumpkins single and some Disturbed song played instead). I agree with what one reviewer noted, that Michael Bay seemed rather disinterested in the history of the various robot characters in the movie - when you leave the movie, you have relatively little clue on the interactions of the Decepticons amongst themselves, and even less understanding of how both the Autobots and Decepticons interact with Cybertron (which isn't even named in the movie, I don't think). So could've been more in that department...but as has been noted everywhere, the action is simply groundbreaking in the movie and was very entertaining even for my non-Transformers fan watching with me (thanks, honey!)

So, not quite the big-time foundation for a bunch of sequels that, say, Batman Begins was...but very solid nevertheless.

Also, changing subjects, here is an interesting article out of E3 this week. The Wii has had (and will continue to have, over the next few years) a tremendous impact on the evolution of the video game industry. Between Nintendo and Apple (in their respective tech sectors), there has never been more obvious examples that fearless innovation can pay off big.

EA CEO calls video games 'boring,' complicated
Riccitiello says sequel games often add little from previous versions

Reuters
Updated: 10:48 a.m. CT July 9, 2007

NEW YORK - Most video games are “boring” or too complicated, and game makers need to do more to appeal to casual players, according to the head of the world’s largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts Inc.

“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello told the Wall Street Journal in a story posted on its Web site on Sunday.

Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA’s former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.

The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.

“For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat,” he was quoted as saying. “There’s been lots of product that looked like last year’s product, that looked a lot like the year before.”

The comments were made as the $30 billion video game industry prepares for its annual gathering, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Santa Monica, Calif. Anticipation is running high that cheaper hardware and a host of keenly awaited new games will fuel the strongest sales in years.