Secret Weapons Over Normandy Interview

Courtesy of Gamespy, there's a new interview with Lawrence Holland about Secret Weapons Over Normandy. This sequel to the classic PC flight combat game Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe comes from Holland and his Totally Games development house, who are also legendary for the X-Wing series of games for Lucasarts. This game is due in time for Xmas on PC, PS2, and Xbox, and Holland offers - "We're not very complicated. What we emphasize is re-creating the WWII combat experience, meaning that we try a visceral, seat-of-the-pants, total involvement on the violence of the actual battles."

Comments

first post!

[Anonymous Coward]

Look: as a Linux user and open source developer, I like to bash Microsoft just as much as anyone. Their business practices are at best unethical, and at worst, flagrantly illegal. Over the past few years I have come to rely (in part) on Slashdot for its irreverant and challenging views on the Microsoft Monopoly. Say what you will about Slashdot's editors (poor spelling and grammar, blatant editorializing on a so-called news site, etc), but I really have come to believe that Slashdot represents an important and much-needed voice among today's corporate hype-driven media.

Until now, that is. While helping my 16-year-old son (also an avid Slashdot reader) do research for a term paper on technology and journalism, I stumbled across some information that made me change my views about Slashdot completely. In a nutshell: Slashdot, and more accurately, its parent company VA Software, has deep and mutually influential ties to the Microsoft Corporation. In fact, Slashdot's own editors are paid (albeit indirectly) out of the coffers of Microsoft.

Yes. It's hard to believe. At first I couldn't believe it. But a few simple Google searches and 45 minutes' research on Lexis-Nexis (as well as a couple of phone calls to a friend of mine at the SEC) revealed the following:

• Three of the eight directors at VA Software also sit on the board of a privately-held company called Murberry-Slocomb, which as far as I can tell is some kind of stealth incubator/VC firm. Murberry Slocomb was founded in 1996 by none other than Paul Allen, and is a subsidiary of Allen's company Vulcan Ventures.
  
• Most (>80%) of Murberry's funding, including compensation for its directors, comes directly from Microsoft Corporation.
  
• In 1998, VA Software (parent company of OSDN, which is the parent company of Slashdot) receieved an investement of $3.8M from Murberry-Slocomb.
  
• The 1998 annual report for VA Software actually mentions this, and goes on in detail about how this infusion of capital has helpled them maintain and operate OSDN.
  

At first I was more amused than shocked; I mean, the technology industry is notoriously incestuous and its leaders, even those who are in competition, often sit on the same boards and are members of the same organizations. So what if a few board members of Slashdot's parent company are also directors of a company funded by Microsoft? Well, it gets more interesting.

As it turns out, in May of 1999, VA Software submitted to the SEC Form 5506-D, Application for Direct Non-Ownership Subsidization. This is the form that a corporation will submit to the SEC when it wants to directly fund a subsidiary from its own parent corporation. (It's basically a tax shelter for companies with a lot of subsidiaries) The application was approved in July 1999. The applicant name? OSDN. In other words, Form 5506-D basically eliminated the middleman between OSDN and Murberry-Slocomb. Following the money, I now saw that OSDN was being funded directly from an infusion of captal that Murberry-Slocomb has received from Microsoft!

Weird. I know. But what does this all mean? Honestly I have no idea. I'm not the custodian of any privileged information. A look at VA Software's web site and a Google search is all anyone needs to find the same information that I found. Are Slashdot's staff being paid through Microsoft? I sincerely hope not. But the facts are there and it sure looks like it. More importantly, what does this mean for the future of Slashdot? Can any grain of objectivity or journalistic ethics be preserved? What happens when the company you are bashing, nay, the very company that you preach the loudest against, Microsoft, is the same company that signs your paycheck? Could there be a deeper link still? Who knows. As far as I'm concerned, I'll never look at Slashdot the same way, ever again.

Battle of Britain - One of the Best

[Babbster]

I played Battle of Britain for over a year. It came before LAN/Internet gaming was common, it came before graphics really made their breakthrough (I played it on a VGA card that didn't even bother listing memory and was usually in EGA mode). But the campaign mode of that game was one of the best and allowed a different experience every time you "strapped in." On top of that, the manual was beautifully put together, chock full of historical information and "real" training for playing the game - I miss good game manuals that I could read for pleasure when I was nowhere near the computer.

Basically, I'd buy just about any game with Mr. Holland involved and I certainly encourage those not familiar with his, and Totally Games, work.

Just what we need

[Roto-Rooter Man]

Just what we need... more games advancing the causes of Anglo-Saxon hegemony and jingoism.

Re:Just what we need

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, just what we need, more /.ers who think they will get mod points from using webster's word of the day in their posts.

I don't understand

[jasoncart]

Secret Weapons Over Normandy Interview

Whats so secret about it? Its published on the web!

funny

[Anonymous Coward]

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