I'd like to see the electronics journalism industry receive a stern admonition from John Bunnell about the dangers of exclusive stories.
News Blips:
Police have raided Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home after the website's exclusive reveal of Apple's next iPhone. Members of California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team seized four computers and two servers under a warrant issued by the San Mateo Superior Court. Predictably, the Internet was in uproar shortly after the raid, with Gizmodo COO Gaby Darbyshire and the Electronic Frontier Foundation proclaiming the warrant illegal due to a California shield law which protects any property used by journalists and reporters from being confiscated. The punch line to this whole ordeal? Just days before, Apple had sent the Gawker offices an exceedingly polite letter requesting the return of the iPhone.
A group of former and current Infinity Ward employees have filed a mass lawsuit against Activision for its failure to pay royalties owed to Modern Warfare 2's development team. The lawsuit charges the publisher with a staggering $500 million in punitive damages, in addition to upwards of $125 million in unpaid bonuses earned from sales of the game. The lawsuit contends that Actvision's real reason for reneging on payment of bonuses is quite sinister: "Activision withheld the property of the [Infinity Ward employees] in an attempt to keep the employees hostage so that Activision could reap the benefit of the completion of Modern Warfare 3." [G4TV]
The SyFy Channel plans to release a straight-to-TV film based on Red Faction. The two-hour-long movie will hopefully serve as a springboard for a potential TV series, according to SyFy Ventures senior vice president Alan Seiffert. "It is the kind of content that fits our genre," he said. "It is a great fit for a big Syfy Saturday movie, and if it really works, it is a great back-door pilot." If the movie possesses any shred of quality — which I doubt — then it will star best-actor-in-the-world Casper Van Dien. [BroadcastingCable]
Kotaku reports on the rumor of a sleek black version of the Wii appearing in U.S. stores very soon. Tips from major retailers such as Target and GameStop have hinted at the $199 console showing up as early as May, packaged into a bundle deal that includes Wii Sports Resort and the MotionPlus add-on. A formula for success: Coat anything in black paint, and gamers will eat it up.
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