NDM stories 24/11/13

Mr Paton, put up this paywall: a Gorbachev moment for news

John Paton, one of the great apostles of free online news, is to introduce charging. Have paywalls won? Maybe not quite yet

John Paton's announcement that the Journal Register company of more than 70 newspapers he runs would be now putting in place paywalls around almost all its products. This from his nation's leading apostle of "digital first", the prophet of free news access on the net has come to an end. 

"We believe an all-access print-digital subscription initiative is necessary to buy us that proverbial gas in the tank. With the rise of digital and the fall of print, we're at the point where we can launch". He means that Paton papers will start to mix and match subscription cash for print and digital along the now established New York Times route that allows a certain number of free visits (to keep up the numbers that attract advertising). However he will also charge progressive amounts for the regular users in order to bring in much-needed dollars for his company. 

• The proportion of US papers putting a paywall into place is now above 40% and is still rising. 
• Mail Online revenue was up 48%, moving from £13m to £28m to £41m in successive years as unique visitor totals soared 
•  Mail and Mail on Sunday print revenues went down by 5% overall, another £28m gone.

Personally I believe news should be free for people to access as it should be a basic human right. People should be allowed to get news and find out what's happening around the world for free.

PlayStation 4 hot on Xbox One's heels

British retailers and manufacturers set to make hundreds of millions from new videogame consoles

Xbox and PlayStation, the two biggest names in video games, go head to head over hundreds of millions of pounds in consumer cash.

Microsoft's Xbox One launched with a spectacular live show in London's Leicester Square. Sony's PlayStation 4 will arrive on Friday in what is expected to be an equally lavish affair. Never before have two games consoles of this scale launched so close to one another. The UK games industry is spending £68m on advertising both these new machines and their games to ensure they are this year's must-have Christmas gifts. PlayStation is tipped to make a comeback with its more affordable PS4. The Japanese company seems to have renewed vigour under the leadership of British-born Andrew House, who became president in 2011 and is tasked with taking on Xbox.

Both Xbox One and PS4 are expected to sell out this Christmas – and that's good news for the British games industry. Many of the most-anticipated video games for both consoles are being created here, including blockbusters such as Kinect Sports Rivals, The Crew and Fable Legends.

Meanwhile, PlayStation 4's new controller features a touchpad interface, and gamers will be able to upload videos of their games to YouTube simply by pressing a button.

Both consoles are really embracing new technology through the use of the touchpad as well as other features such as graphics. Furthermore, they are incorporating the social element to the consoles now as they realise that people want to interact with friends easily and through social networking too. I think the companies are really trying to emphasise this factor as its an important feature for users as they are consumers of social media.