Stocks/smocks - I just find it interesting tracking trends. As a video game nerd, I'm always up to date on the highest selling games, new tech that's about to pop out, etc. So, I often make calls on what I'm seeing. Often news would leak in the video game world about interesting things before the stock markets would queue up on it - for instance, ATI being used for components in the WII. To me, at the time, that was a huge reason to buy ATI stock (considering its stock price at the time). If the Wii did really well, then ATI sees a really nice return. Anyway, little bits of info like that really don't paint a full picture (as ATI is into so many other things than just providing graphics for the Wii). The problem with speculation is that while a company might be expanding or doing awesome with this or that, other crazy things may be going on with the business. Same goes for my job. My part of the company could be completely awesome, but if another part is doing rot, then our shares could drop.
Anyway, blahblah. The new WoW game mode sounds like it will increase penetration in China, but who knows if folks in the states will dig it. From a consumer point of view, I know I'll pick up Diablo 3 and the upcoming SC2 expansion. No question. If I was a WoW fan, I'd get the year pass without another thought. As I've only dabbled in WoW, I'm tempted to get a year pass for the free $60 game, but I don't think I'd get my money's worth at the current rates. But that said, I thought about it. And folks that like WoW more than me and have perhaps taken a break might buy it up for diablo 3. Anyway, there are a ton of angles... if blizzard gets paid immediately for the 1 year pass, that could be a substantial increase in cash flow. If its some deferred billing, then they can "speculate" on their cash flow based on folks that "commit" to the year pass on a monthly basis, etc. This means they can project X dollars without receiving any money based on a promise (god knows this was a great idea in the housing market).... and perhaps they have something in place like a cell phone company where you get charged X dollars if you cancel your 1 year pass before completing it. Anyway, as you can see, there are alot of angels...
Back to my main thought, I'm actually a little more on the fence with blizzard's dota. While they don't have the same influences as LoL or Dota 2 (will), they could still pimp out the game and update it a ton. It certainly is true that a company like blizzard could easily put several devs on a team that is responsible for cranking out content. But the only logical reason to do so would be to increase sales of SC2 UNLESS they adopt a strategy that uses microtransactions like LoL. If they do that, then I'm VERY certain it will become a competator to LoL/Dota2. If they don't, then its a HUGE question as to whether or not it will receive support past a year or so - and by support, I mean new characters, balancing, etc. I will certainly play it when its released.
