Barry Diller Gets Into Gaming ... Lloyd Kaufman Will Head IFTA

- Portfolio has an interesting Q&A with Barry Diller of InterActiveCorp. He just invested $50 million in GarageGames, which is developing graphically-rich games for the Web. A snippet:

L.G.: What have you got here? The Xbox?

B.D.: The Xbox and the PlayStation—and of course they’re incompatible with each other. And they’re whiz-bang on graphics—they’re beautiful. But on both sides of it—on the equipment side of it that you have to purchase in on, the production side where you make a game—you’re spending huge amounts of money. The Web, as is proven in so many other areas, is a pretty good distribution mechanism for programming. And very few people have done really high-graphic Web games in a system that will have—in InstantAction.com, which is a gathering place both for people who make the games and for viewers to get them—where there’s one easy-to-use, fast place to do pretty sophisticated games. So we think it’s a really original and good idea.

L.G.: Does this attract you because you know there’s a market for games and people like to do it, or is it because you yourself enjoy them?

B.D.: No. I mean, I enjoy doing it. I enjoy playing games, but I am not the audience, you know. I’m too old and I have too many other things that I do. But I shouldn’t even say that. Even if I had nothing to do I still wouldn’t be playing games hour upon hour. But, you know, if you get me started, it’s great—it’s great fun.

- I like Karina Longworth's post about Lloyd Kaufman being chosen to chair the Independent Film and Television Alliance for the next two years. (Kaufman is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment ... and has very strong opinions about indies being the ones to embrace new technology first.) Here's Kaufman's full quote from the press release:

"The independent community today faces rampant media consolidation and challenges to copyrights in the digital universe, and I will work closely with the IFTA Board of Directors, member companies and IFTA’s executives to give our fellow independents more control and opportunities in both the U.S. and abroad. New technology will continue to be our new frontier.”

“Independent film has the most creative, inspired and resourceful people working in the business. We shape future trends and inspire tomorrow’s creative talent, and IFTA will continue being at the forefront of this movement.”