Today Anamanaguchi released their new single “Pop It.” It’s a bit of a departure from chip-tune pop-punk but I can’t argue with the hooks. This band is too good. Really wish I had enrolled in the School of Chip-Tune.

UPDATE: “Pop It” is now featured in this Target commercial. That is huge.

Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime, as quoted by Polygon:

It’s always really, really hard to make those kind of decisions. It was hard when we canceled Warcraft Adventures. It was hard when we canceled StarCraft Ghost. But it has always resulted in better-quality work.

I have a new found appreciation for calling it quits on high-stakes, heavily invested projects. Apple, Nintendo, Pixar — companies I deeply admire — share a singular characteristic: Sacrifice in the name of quality. The iPod OS came from Pixo, a company founded by two ex-Apple Newton developers. The history of the Animal Crossing franchise is rooted in the short-lived Nintendo 64DD. Even Pixar knows a thing or two about canceling huge investments.

Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc., on the cancellation of Newt:

There are some who will read this and conclude that putting this film into production in the first place was a mistake. An untested director, an unfinished script—it’s easy to look back, after the shutdown, and say that those factors alone should have dissuaded us at the outset. But I disagree. While it cost us time and money to pursue, to my mind it was worth the investment. We learned better how to balance new ideas with old ideas, and we learned that we had made a mistake in not getting very explicit buy-in from all of Pixar’s leaders about the nature of what we were trying to do. These are lessons that would serve us very well later as we adopted new software and changed some of our technical processes. While experimentation is scary to many, I would argue that we should be far more terrified of the opposite approach. Being too risk-averse causes many companies to stop innovating and to reject new ideas, which is the first step on the path to irrelevance. Probably more companies hit the skids for this reason than because they dared to push boundaries and take risks—and, yes, to fail.

To be a truly creative company, you must start things that might fail.

While Titan is (sadly) added to the list of cancelled Blizzard projects (it still pains me to think of StarCraft: Ghost), I commend the company for sacrificing in the name of quality. I have always deeply admired Blizzard.

Peter Cohen, iMore:

These days the Internet Rage Machine swings into overdrive at the drop of a hat. Everyone uses almost every excuse to get angry about whatever they can. Because rage drives traffic, and traffic can drive revenue when you run a web site that’s dependent on page impressions and unique visits to generate traffic for advertisers. For some people, it’s all about going viral and getting eyes on your pages.

And for others, it’s just about venting your spleen because it’s the Internet, and that’s what people do because they’re angry all the damn time or they just want to be heard and acknowledged.

Context aside, Cohen crushes Internet rage. If you’re going to offer feedback, positive or negative, make it specific and constructive. If you’re going to vomit nonsensical ignorance/hate/rage, don’t. I’m done listening.

Mojang.com, regarding Microsoft’s Minecraft acquisition:

It was reassuring to see how many of your opinions mirrored those of the Mojangstas when we heard the news. Change is scary, and this is a big change for all of us. It’s going to be good though. Everything is going to be OK. <3

If I were a Minecraft player, these words would not bode well with me.

John Gruber after Apple’s September 2014 Special Event (iPhone 6, Apple Watch):

Believe it or not, this might be the biggest tech news of the day in the Gruber household.

I believe it.

John Archer, writing for Forbes:

What every single person who gets caught up in these hilariously petty arguments fails to recognise is that actually the PS4 and Xbox One are both past their sell by dates. In fact, they’ve been living on borrowed time from the very day they launched. Why? Because neither of them truly support 4K.

This argument might initially seem a stretch to ‘normal’ people not involved day to day in the inner workings of the AV industry. But I’m confident that within as little as 12 months most of you will agree that their inability to deliver games at a ‘4K’ or Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution of 3840×2160 pixels – or something close to it, at least – will make both the supposedly ‘next generation’ consoles feel like yesterday’s news.

I don’t know anything about John Archer or his qualifications so I take his opinion about 4K penetration with a grain of salt. However, I would love to believe that 4K will be taking the speedy and monumental strides Archer claims. Relinking to my (premature) excitement about the adoption of 4K.

But where does this fit in with console gaming? Contrary to Archer’s argument, I don’t believe the core console gamer will put up much of a fuss as long as 1080 is the maximum render their console of choice offers. If anything, there will be a continued and tired assault from PC gaming enthusiasts as to why this is a sign that PC gaming is better. Though he’s speaking on the software front, I believe the points made Polygon’s Chris Grant on console software’s generational obsolesce are relevant.

I won’t lie and pretend that the resolution differences between the Xbox One and PS4 don’t bug me. Even if a huge difference between the two can hardly be seen, there is discomfort in knowing that the specs of the Xbox One can’t quite keep up with the PS4. This coming from a guy that continued to enjoy the original Wii long into the PS3/Xbox 360 cycle. But when the difference is as stark as two-fold, graphical comparison must be shelved and each individual system taken on it’s own merits. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was a hell of a sight on Wii. Likewise, The Last of Us seemed to be on another level against other PS3 titles. That said, it is a far cry from saying core gamers will be upset about not performing at 4K if neither of the HD Twins can perform at that rate.

I won’t hold my breath, but wouldn’t it be something if the Wii U’s successor rendered 4K resolutions in time for the next-gen Legend of Zelda?