*smile* Ars just posted an article on EA and it really does seem like a pure case of creative accounting: Net income was really $179 mil :)

From the article:
"The company ended the quarter with $2 billion in cash and short-term investments, so it's in decent shape to ride out the current economic storm. Still, there were some worrisome notes, such as a planned workforce reduction of 11 percent, which works out to over 1,000 employees. The year-over-year figures also reveal a shift from R&D to marketing, which many would view as a bad sign for the future."
I just had a brief vision of a closed meeting between EA execs:
"Okay, here's what we do: we doctor the numbers, to make it seem like we've lost tons of money. Then we use that as an excuse to fire a lot of people. We can cut down R&D enormously, as long as we boost Marketing a little, so the games will sell anyway. And of course, we'll blame it all on the general economy. Then we'll laugh all the way to the bank. What do you say?"

GADZOOKS!
It's as if a thousand voices suddenly went silent...

Yush?

More like this...

Executive #2: You forgot piracy, we have to blame it for something, it's as much an annual tradition as the re-release of Madden

Hmm, true. It's strange they haven't made another anti-piracy pro-DRM rant along with the other announcement.
I was just reminded of a post I made about half a year ago on the Spore forums. What would you think of DRM schemes like the ones the industry are currently fond of, carried over into other aspects of daily life?

"BY ACCEPTING THIS BRICK THROUGH YOUR WINDOW, YOU ACCEPT IT AS IS AND AGREE TO MY DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS WELL AS DISCLAIMERS OF ALL LIABILITY, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL, THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE INSTALLATION OF THIS BRICK INTO YOUR BUILDING." :P

hahaha nice one. I may have to steal that and claim it as my own! After all, you said nothing about not being able to copy it

:P I quess I need to add the following in start of all my future posts:
Reading, redistribution, use and performance of this text in source and binary forms, with or without modification , are permitted provided that user agrees with following terms:
THIS TEXT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS TEXT, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

If you'd scrolled down to the last post of that page, you'd have seen me link to that quote. Or maybe you did? ;-)

I think it suxs that people are losing there jobs cause we are going through a resession. I hate it cause I cant get a job cause there is none. Arrrrr