Slashdot Mirror
Infinium Labs Countersues HardOCP
loftydog writes "Gamespot is reporting that our favorite console manufacturer has thrown down a gauntlet in Florida. Seems they didn't want to play in Texas with HardOCP. Turns out that SCO doesn't have a corner on the lawyer market after all, and we'll see something from Infinium, even if it is an overpaid suit."
...none of this would have happened if Infinium Labs had actually shipped a working product on time. Mudslinging or "legal relief" won't make them ship it quicker either. As far as I can tell, HardOCP has been more than reasonable with its assertions... more sites should have the guts to expose the true colors of the companies they cover.
However exciting the infinium technology allegedly is, I temper any enthusiasm for that product with the reality that they're entering a market full of big boys who don't like to share their toys. Whoever gave them venture money to go head-to-head with Sony, MS, and Nintendo should have their head examined.
Who cares if the product is interoperable, etc. As long as the big guys can sell their consoles below manufacturing cost via lucrative licensing deals, there is NO way that a small startup can compete. IMHO, the right thing to do in this case is Infinium giving what little cash they have left back to the investors and crawling back under the rock they cam from.
This is going to become all the more ridiculous as the 970-based next gen consoles come out. I just don't see a way to outperform that kind of horsepower...
I have to give credit to HardOCP for not backing down in the face of ridiculous threats. They posted a factual article that painted an unflattering picture, because the fact's ARE unflattering. I know Florida is home to some of the worst judicial decions ever but here's hoping they get this one right.
Litigation expense 320,000
Development costs 259,407
I guess this pretty much says it all?
Read the news of the day that goes along with the next comic. Tim Roberts posted this on his forum, then retraceted after a PA reader grabbed a screenshot.
"Actually, that is not what the comic portrayed. It actually meant they were upset that we wouldn't sue them and they ended with outright slander saying that I can only have an orgasm if I kill a dog.... very funny... love it... they want the publicity and traffic driven to there website like is happening to hardocp...
The Penny Arcade guys were nice enough to call us in the beginning and tell us they didn't mean any harm and would be putting us through the gaming console initiation process that all of the past consoles have gone through with the hard core techies.
Tim"
Gabe claims they've never spoken with him.
See for yourself
That's in Rhoad Island, where this suit will not be taking place, and further more the plantiff still must prove that the statement was made with malicious intent. Hardly, "quite possible." Technically possible, theoretically possible, not out of the realm of possibility. Sure.
Further more, there is the matter of being a public entity or figure, which requires a higher standard.
HardOCP has a number of true statements, presented as part of an opinion and asks their readers to draw their own conclusions, to their individual benefit, about a public corporation, and relatively public executives in it. They have this won barring any unforseen changes to our code of laws.
In short, yes, Infinium might win, but NASA also might have faked the moon landings with the help of the guys who faked the faking of the Loch Ness monster and Big Foot to divert people's attention away from their preparing to make OJ Simpson the first human on Mars, while arming him with only a powerbook to combate the vast alien hoards. Their chances are only slightly worse than a Sharpton and Keys joint ticket taking the White House.
The best part about this is Gabe posted alink to the alexa graph comparing both sites.
Infinium's traffic is so low it doesn't show up on the graph except for the days when it was linked to by PA.
It seems to me that companies like SCO and Infinium are abusing the American legal system. They are playing silly buggers with the law in order to extract wealth from the economy without actually providing a service or product of value in return.
In the not-so-long run, this is damaging to innovation and fair competition which will in turn damage the economy.
It's probably time for Americans who are aware of the issue to start lobbying for new legislation to target this kind of behaviour - removing the financial rewards and administering punishment to the responsible individuals.
But hey, that's just me... I'm not even an American.
Release it? Have you not be paying attention? There is NO business, NO development, NO engineering and certainly, NO manufacturing. It's a scam that makes a few people rich and the expense of some other people that are richer.... ahh the american way... You act like they have a warehouse full of consoles rearing to go once the lawsuit pans out... The real story is they never got INTO the design phase... that would... of course cut back on the size house the CEO could buy.
I don't want to get hysterical and overdramatic, but I think this is an issue of freedom of speech.
The greatest thing about the internet is its ability to put real power in the hands of the average citizen. Look at the Russian motorcycle chick's Chernobyl photos to see an example of just how much potential there is for the average person.
I don't know, but I imagine that Hard OCP has its roots with some average guys who thought it would be cool to put out a gaming review and news site. Simple, not much at stake, no big deal.
Except that these guys and their little gaming site brought forth some information that exposed a company that could have been (may still be?) on the way to screwing over average guys like me.
A fairly small site (I'm sure they're big in gaming circles, but they're not CNN or even Hard Copy) harnessed the power of the internet to do this, and it's power that we all have access to. What's at stake here (and I know that this particular lawsuit seems ridiculous) is a precedent that could potentially scare off the average person from attempting to use the power that is at our fingertips.
I can't afford a lawyer to defend against this kind of stuff. The threat of legal action would probably be enough to deter me: I can't afford to risk my home or my car over a BS lawsuit that I wouldn't have the money to even try to mount a defense against.
The Dalai Llama
stepping down from his favorite soapbox...
My sig could be your sig!
The Infinium Labs website, under "Special Events", says they were going to be at the Game Developers' Conference this week. I didn't see an Infinium booth there, and they're not on the exhibitor list or the booth map.
Right. And remember Nokia's response? They sold what they had, and got right to work on building a superior version that addressed the issues that everyone was complaining about.
Now I gave Nokia a lot of flak for their horrific original design, but to take such overwhelming criticism and respond by addressing everyone's complaints is admirable bordering upon heroic. And they'll get a superior product out of the other side to boot, which still will integrate well into their other product lines.
Indrema, on the other hand, has responded to criticisms by suing everybody in sight. This is not the way to get customers, this is the way to shut up people who are blowing your cover. Nokia handled the (well deserved) response to the N-Gage elegantly and should be given a second chance in the market. Indrema has taken their (well deserved) criticisms terribly, and on the slight possibility that they aren't a scam their failure in the market should evoke no sympathy.
The ______ Agenda
Hard OCP actually comes out on top of all of this, in my accounting. They get A: Slashdot traffic several times, B: Penny Arcade traffic several times, and perhaps most importantly C: an iron clad precedent if anybody else tries to muscle them into submission. HardOCP is going to come out of this as a force to be respected.
And for this, they have to hire an intelligent intelligible attorney who can argue that water is wet.
The ______ Agenda