Data Presentation

For those of you who haven't gotten on the Tufte bandwagon, or don't see why you should, here's why: As people who are presented with an ever-increasing amount of information every day, we have to find a way to make this data orderly and comparable. In my own two fields of study, psychology and public relations, this is painfully apparent. People far too often are experiencing information overload to the point where their ability to make decisions is impaired. This is big stuff. Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize for his work on this subject. This is what Edward Tufte is all about. Below are two examples of his work. Data Analysis for Politics and Policy Power Point is Evil

Sparklines

If you don't know Edward Tufte by now, you should. Read about sparklines here so you can start making better use of your data.

Wii

Nintendo announced the "Wii Zapper" today, essentially a gun-type mount for the current Wii controls. They made this during akeynote address where they touted the fact that the video game market is making much greater inroads with older and female consumers.

They did this at a iPhone-style keynote launch, but with a twist - everyone at E3 gets to try out the Zapper on actual games.

This is a good move that will generate no small amount of press for Nintendo, but overall the games that they announced seemed to be mostly shooters and hack-and-slash games that the Wii isn't really considered the primary platform for. I mean, I'd love to see my girlfriend play Ghost Squad again, but how many other people are looking for that experience? This also sort of undermines the idea that this E3 was the "coming out party" for the video game industry. It is getting greater market penetration with older consumers, but it doesn't appear that Nintendo was going after the older demographics.

They also have invited a couple of blogger-types up to explain how some of their new controllers work.

Furthermore, they talked about the new "Wii Wheel" and online MarioKart play that will be upcoming.

Stay on message

How many times have you seen some blowhard on television go on a ill-advised tirade that blows in up in their face? Well, Michael Moore went on a real doozy of a rant on CNN. However, it looks like he came prepared. What I think made this so effective is that he was prepared for the usual SituationRoom "schtick": Bring a guest on, show them a clip that attacks them or their message in some way, and have Wolf Blitzer follow it up with a few prearranged questions. However, Moore's people briefed him very well on what he was going to be up against. It was probably made easier by the fact that the "attack" segment had aired several times earlier during the week. Kudos for taking the time to review that segment ahead of time.