LOTRO Players News Episode 71: Bears and Bugs

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Featured Comments

DJ Pimp Daddy left a comment on last week’s episode:

“So after listening to this show in the car for the parts I missed live I was caught with this bug of “Why wouldn’t WB cross promote the films and the game”? After tumbling down a long rabbit hole of web searches and official press release statements I have come to 3 sound conclusions:

The state of the feature film industry is in decline while the cost to make and even show the films is increasing. I have heard this from my wife who is a manager of Cincinnati’s largest theater. She tells me this repeatedly that ticket sales are slumping, but I never searched for the statistics. Their theater chain alone has cut 25% of their staff world wide. Film studios are fishing more and more for those mega-hit films, but after over a decade of film making it is more about statistics, like baseball. Somewhere someone knows exactly how much advertising vs return profit they make on everything, so they are maximizing their profit for the 3rd Hobbit film (or as I call it: “Shadows of the Lonely Mountain DLC Season Pass 3″).
While Warner Bros Entertainment is the parent company of everybody, Warner Bros Studios is completely separated from Warner Bros Home Entertainment, of which Warner Bros Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is a child of. Soooo many nested levels of divisions within a global corporation. Anyone who has worked a major company with segregated divisions as such clearly understand that they just don’t talk or get along. They all have a vested interest in making their own pile of cash for the stock holders, and cross division projects are just not worth the effort. For example, my wife’s theater is owned by National Amusements Inc, which if you follow all the way up the chain leads to Sumner Redstone. Ultimately he also owns a “super voting share” of CBS and Viacom(which owns Paramount Pictures). While their theater does show more Paramount Picture films, they still charge Paramount the same fees for promotions, just as they do for Sony, Columbia, Fox Films, etc and other stuff. Indie art-house level films are not given discount rates, even with the Viacom brand, can’t afford to advertise within the larger space.
Lastly one can clearly find all sorts of articles about how the film industry is threatened by the surge of video game profitability in the past few decades. I can see why a 100 year old film established studio would snub their nose at an annoying young cousin. Even if that cousin is coming close to making more money now!! Warner Bros Studios, heck even the directors themselves like Jackson, see the spin off industry as an enemy. The only way I could see them advertising during the movie previews is if Turbine paid for those spots. The advertising spots before movies half go to the theater chain, half to the studio that is showing the film. 95% of the ticket cost go to the film, so they concentrate mostly on that number, whereas the theater itself concentrates on advertising and concessions. And yes before you ask, I do in fact know the actual cost of popcorn: $0.08 to make, then sold at $5.75 <–(sneak in food!!! to the Hobbit)”

Emails

Barnabras sent in their sixth origin story:

“This is dedicated to Lilikate. You are not forgotten! Barnabras

One fine evening Lilikate was enjoying her favorite wine as she read all of the wonderful articles on Lotroplayers.com. Her face turned red and she spit out the wine in her mouth. “You can turn into a bear!” she shouted. She continued to read and her face turned glum. “But I don’t want to be a big hairy man, I’m a hobbit, a proud Buggins” she declared. There had to be a way to make this happen. She turned to the one person that might know the answer. “Hullo Pinesong, I want to turn into a bear, how can I make this happen?” she said in a soft London accent. Pinesong thought for a moment, and then replied “I know a way, but it won’t be easy”. “What is it?” asked Lilikate. “Down south, in the north of Italy, there is a mountain. It’s called Mount Notloreappropriate. Inside you will find a Magic Ho-Ho that will grant you a wish if you impress it.” “What?! a Ho-Ho” responded a shocked Lilikate. “It’s not

what you think, it’s sort of a pastry, like a Twinkie” explained Pinesong. “Oh Tinki, I know her very well, but I haven’t been able to find her lately, I think she’s behind the camera.” “No, no, no, it’s a magical dessert not a person” said Pinesong. “Alright I guess I’ll be off then, would you like to come with me?” said Lilikate. “I can’t” replied Pinesong. “I have to be here for the next origin story”.

Lilikate gathered all of her creatures and began the long journey. It was a harsh trip and Lilikate had many challenges. I would like to say that all of the creatures made the trip safely, but Lilikate got really hungry. She found the mountain and entered into a long tunnel. At the end, there was a large cavern, and in the creamy center was the Ho-Ho. Lilikate was awed by its presence and she knew she had to do something fantastic to get her wish. So she pulled out a very special instrument. “Hostess Lute, you have never failed me and were truly created by the Ho-Ho under the mountain.” She strummed the instrument, and began to play the tastiest, most delicious song ever known.

“You have melted my chocolate exterior with that wonderful song” declared the Ho-Ho. “Your wish is granted”. Lilikate was very excited and ran out of the cave. At once she mustered all the fury she could and something began to happen. “I’m transforming, I can feel it!” Lilikate shouted. It was true she did change into her new shape. And as we all know, making wishes is a dangerous business. “This is not what I had in mind” said a disappointed Teddy Bear Lilikate.”

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