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Gizmondo Not Only Crappy But Funded By Mob
In a 'we live in an odd world' moment, Gamasutra reports that several executives of the company that is producing and distributing the Gizmondo handheld have stepped down after possible connections to organized crime were publicized. From the article: "...fellow senior Gizmondo Europe executive Stefan Eriksson has resigned from the company, also to pursue 'new entrepreneurial pursuits', following an expose by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, which alleged Eriksson's involvement in the 'Uppsala Mafia', a criminal enterprise which led to his convictions in his native Sweden from charges including counterfeiting in the early 1990s. Fellow Gizmondo employees Peter Uf and Johan Enander have also apparently left the company, and Enander is currently wanted by the Swedish police, according to Aftonbladet." We recently reported on the poor quality of the console.
Half the industry seems to be organized crime...
You can tell I'm an aries because of my ram.
the timing of this news couldn't be more amusing. about a week ago i started reading the Gizmondo SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings. They read like a sordid and unbelivable Grisham novel. spouses were being paid huge "consultant" fees while the company staved-off lawsuits by paying with worthless stock. execs were giving themselves huge car allowances while the company had no liquidity. partnerships set-up by the execs were being used to funnel corporate accounts. they were being sued for dumb stuff like not paying rent or their marketing firm. and through all this and losses in the hunreds of millions, the execs themselves were making obscene salaries and bonuses in the millions.
none of those occurances are necessarily uncommon or illegal, but taken together it all just smelled bad. it all jut seemed like the company was being used as a device for the execs to make money rather than anything tangible, and that they were all acting totally unethically. que Enron, i thought.
well, not but a week later here we see the truth writ large that the company is a den of thieves and a ship for fools.
reading the sociology, the psychology and the implied subtext of SEC filings is my new bedtime reading.
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Never heard of the 'Uppsala Mafia' and I'm even Scandinavian-American. What, they make you a pancake you can't refuse?
Maybe they can get a deal on games like Hitman: Contracts, though I'm not sure they could simply port it over to a tiny hand-held device. They'd have to offer incentives, like finding hidden seconds of the game that lets players partake in real organized crime.
Find all the hidden packages! Become a mob enforcer!
.
The $99 version calls your girlfriend and tells her you never loved her, then puts out a mafia hit on you.
.
.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
good thing i didn't use it to buy services with, then. wouldn't want the mob to have its own ISP or anything, either
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
nt
How do you use your mob connections to sell a crappy game system anyway?
...But...OUMPH!
Mobster1 and Monster2 enter Gamestop. Mobster1 looks at the clerk witha cold stare. Mobster2 looks at the shelf with the DS and PSP hardwares
Mobster2: I see you're selling PSPs and DSs... but I see no Gizmondos... why might I ask?
Clerk: Um... Gizmondo's don't sell. No one wants them.
Mobster1 alks slowly up to the clerk, the desk beign the only thing between them.
Mobster2: I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
Clerk: I said that no one wants a GizmoAHH!!
Mobster1 grabs the Clerk by the neck, draging him over the top of the desk, and throws him on to the ground between the two Mobsters.
Mobster2: You look here you little puke! This store doesn't sell PSPs and DSs anymore. It sells Gizmondos. Do you understand!
While he says this, Mobster1 picks him up and hold him against a wall of Gamecube games.
Clerk:
Mobster1 Punches him in the gut.
Mobster2: Do... you... UNDERSTAND?
Clerk: Yes, please, just don't hurt me!
Mobster2: Good to see we could come to an understanding
Mobster1 starts to leave, but picks up a copie of San Andreas, and then leave with his partner
I'd watch any more bad reviews... you're likely to wake up with the monitor of your favorite machine in the bed next to you... cat-5 everywhere... Oh the humanity!!
Want to find other gamers to play board and role playing game
"Yeah, we lost that $20M because of... Uh... Gizmondo. Man, yeah, that was a blow."
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Geez, mobs are really into geeky stuff nowadays.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
When at GameStars Live in the UK in 2004, there was a Gizmondo stand. It was a reasonably large stand, but also relatively empty. It was large in area, but really only consisted of a Humvee with a couple of scantily clad girls lying across it. There was one guy, with one Gizmondo console, giving demos. To be honest, he looked totally disinterested in the whole affair.
I took a quick go on the console, which was loaded with a 2D, sprite-based, vertical shooter. It was really quite dire. The console felt quite plastic-y, the D-pad was too smooth to be useful, and the game was decidedly average.
Needless to say, there wasn't a queue to play on it.
Organized crime. *drool*