After Chen, 29, posted photos and details about the phone, Apple acknowledged the device belonged to the company, and Gizmodo returned it.
Gawker Media said California law, which protects journalists from having to turn over anonymous sources or unpublished material to law enforcement during a search, should apply to Chen's property.
"Are bloggers journalists? I guess we'll find out," Nick Denton, who runs Gawker Media, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Wagstaffe said the district attorney's office is examining that issue.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment.
Buying a "lost" prototype to an extremely hot item is pretty retarded no matter what. Apple is probably being a dick.
Couscous on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited April 2010
It's too bad Gabe is on vacation for the next couple of weeks because I would love to see him illustrate Apple corporate commandos raiding someone's house. They'd almost look like stormtroopers.
Henroid on
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mrt144King of the NumbernamesRegistered Userregular
From what I can gather things went like this:
-Apple Engineer loses phone at a bar
-Guy finds phone, doesn't turn it in to the bar as lost and found
-Guy knows who lost it due to logged in Facebook app on it but never attempts to contact him directly
-Guy calls up Apple's help line and tells them he has it: help line people, being the bottom of the totem pole, don't know shit about it and laugh it off as a prank.
-Guy then decides to sell it for $5000 to Gizmodo
-Gizmodo does an expose on not only the phone but the poor sap who lost it, then takes it apart before returning it to Apple
-California DA decides to investigate due to it being sold for $5000, which is enough to make it a felony.
I'm betting he'll be treated as a journalist but only because he works for a multi-million dollar company, not because "being a blogger" equates to "being a journalist" in the law (else everyone with a blog's a journalist).
From what I can gather things went like this:
-Apple Engineer loses phone at a bar
-Guy finds phone, doesn't turn it in to the bar as lost and found
-Guy knows who lost it due to logged in Facebook app on it but never attempts to contact him directly
-Guy calls up Apple's help line and tells them he has it: help line people, being the bottom of the totem pole, don't know shit about it and laugh it off as a prank.
-Guy then decides to sell it for $5000 to Gizmodo
-Gizmodo does an expose on not only the phone but the poor sap who lost it, then takes it apart before returning it to Apple
-California DA decides to investigate due to it being sold for $5000, which is enough to make it a felony.
I'm betting he'll be treated as a journalist but only because he works for a multi-million dollar company, not because "being a blogger" equates to "being a journalist" in the law (else everyone with a blog's a journalist).
Okay, as far as I'm concerned the guy who found the phone did everything wrong, and then had the audacity to try to make a profit off of his inability to make a reasonable effort to get it to its owner. If he had just kept it I might be willing to let him off, but selling it?
He should get smacked down, and if the law holds that Gizmodo is criminally liable for the transaction, then they should get smacked down as well.
jothki on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited April 2010
If Gizmodo people bought the phone from "just a guy" without checking his credentials of being an Apple employee, they're liable. It's already over, all that awaits is the ruling.
I'm sure it's just standard procedure and that there's nothing unusual about it, but I do hate the fact that that police just kicked his door in like that. What if all they needed to do was give him a call and have him come and open the door after seeing the warrant? It just strikes me as needlessly destructive.
I'm sure it's just standard procedure and that there's nothing unusual about it, but I do hate the fact that that police just kicked his door in like that. What if all they needed to do was give him a call and have him come and open the door after seeing the warrant?
Honestly I would bet that the board is supporting Kotick in all of this, not looking to slap sense into him. It's just so easy for him to show how the IW guys were merely a roadblock to expanding the most successful franchise of the company.
The board supports him now while the only narratives are "Kotick did everything right" from Kotick and "Kotick did everything wrong" from the disgruntled ex-employees.
If the narrative of "Oh hey, our money making CoD franchise has badly dropped sales now that you've fired the original team and started whoring the franchise out," then the board will probably take notice.
"Hmm.. Tony Hawk: Run into the ground. Guitar Hero: Run into the ground. Call of Duty: Run into the ground. I sense a trend here."
Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction found itself at the top of the UK all-platforms unit sales charts for the second week in a row, followed by another Ubisoft game, Just Dance for Wii at number two.
Chart-Track noted on Monday that it's the second week in a row that the two titles captured the first and second slots on the all platforms rankings, which lumps together unit sales of all versions of a given title.
So far this year, Ubisoft has had a game in the top UK slot for six weeks: four for the Wii-exclusive Just Dance and two for Splinter Cell Conviction.
Just Dance and Splinter Cell Conviction are both currently only available on Wii and Xbox 360, respectively, but were still able to outsell games that are available on multiple platforms. A PC version of Splinter Cell Conviction is due to release later this month.
There was one new entry in the UK top 10, with Capcom's Wii game Monster Hunter Tri, which debuted in the number five slot.
Namco Bandai's action game Dead to Rights: Retribution was the only other new game made it to Chart-Track's top 40 list, coming in at number 22.
UK All-Platforms Top 10
1. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction (Ubisoft)
2. Just Dance (Ubisoft)
3. GTA Episodes: Liberty City (Take-Two)
4. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) 5. Monster Hunter Tri (Capcom) 6. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA)
7. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision)
9. Just Cause 2 (Square Enix)
10. Pokemon SoulSilver (Nintendo)
UK Individual Platforms Top 10
On Chart-Track's individual platforms top 10 -- which ranks games by sales of individual SKUs -- Splinter Cell Conviction and Just Dance were on top.
1. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction (Ubisoft, Xbox 360)
2. Just Dance (Ubisoft, Wii)
3. GTA Episodes: Liberty City (Take-Two, PS3)
4. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii)
5. Monster Hunter Tri (Capcom, Wii)
6. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii)
7. Pokemon SoulSilver (Nintendo, DS)
8. Pokemon HeartGold (Nintendo, DS)
9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA, Xbox 360)
10. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Xbox 360)
Huh, that is quite good for a Monster Hunter game.
Couscous on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I'm sure it's just standard procedure and that there's nothing unusual about it, but I do hate the fact that that police just kicked his door in like that. What if all they needed to do was give him a call and have him come and open the door after seeing the warrant? It just strikes me as needlessly destructive.
Like I said, there's a thread in D&D about Apple's militant action about this sort of thing. I believe one of the stories is that they detained an employee for questioning and that employee eventually killed himself from the stress (it's been a while since I've read that shit, I hope I'm remembering incorrectly).
I'm sure it's just standard procedure and that there's nothing unusual about it, but I do hate the fact that that police just kicked his door in like that. What if all they needed to do was give him a call and have him come and open the door after seeing the warrant? It just strikes me as needlessly destructive.
Like I said, there's a thread in D&D about Apple's militant action about this sort of thing. I believe one of the stories is that they detained an employee for questioning and that employee eventually killed himself from the stress (it's been a while since I've read that shit, I hope I'm remembering incorrectly).
True enough, but this is more about police procedure than Apple. I really doubt Steve Jobs said "make sure you kick down that bastard's door."
Darlan on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I'm sure it's just standard procedure and that there's nothing unusual about it, but I do hate the fact that that police just kicked his door in like that. What if all they needed to do was give him a call and have him come and open the door after seeing the warrant? It just strikes me as needlessly destructive.
Like I said, there's a thread in D&D about Apple's militant action about this sort of thing. I believe one of the stories is that they detained an employee for questioning and that employee eventually killed himself from the stress (it's been a while since I've read that shit, I hope I'm remembering incorrectly).
True enough, but this is more about police procedure than Apple. I really doubt Steve Jobs said "make sure you kick down that bastard's door."
Eh, sort of. It depends what the police are being sent in to retrieve. I'm willing to bet that the estimated amount of goods expected to be confiscated increase the police muscle, rather than the expected resistance. Which is fucked up, I'm not saying it's right. Just saying that's probably how they came to their tactical decision.
Honestly I would bet that the board is supporting Kotick in all of this, not looking to slap sense into him. It's just so easy for him to show how the IW guys were merely a roadblock to expanding the most successful franchise of the company.
The board supports him now while the only narratives are "Kotick did everything right" from Kotick and "Kotick did everything wrong" from the disgruntled ex-employees.
If the narrative of "Oh hey, our money making CoD franchise has badly dropped sales now that you've fired the original team and started whoring the franchise out," then the board will probably take notice.
"Hmm.. Tony Hawk: Run into the ground. Guitar Hero: Run into the ground. Call of Duty: Run into the ground. I sense a trend here."
So long as any of those make money, nobody will really care. A sentiment we've long since established, of course. But the thing about Kotick is he'll probably leave long before he's in any significant danger of being fired.
And even if he sticks it out and gets fired, it'll probably be to collect his golden parachute on his way to some Caribbean paradise.
I'd say the writing will be on the wall if WoW profits start falling. Everything else is just (poor selling) market diversification...
Honestly I would bet that the board is supporting Kotick in all of this, not looking to slap sense into him. It's just so easy for him to show how the IW guys were merely a roadblock to expanding the most successful franchise of the company.
The board supports him now while the only narratives are "Kotick did everything right" from Kotick and "Kotick did everything wrong" from the disgruntled ex-employees.
If the narrative of "Oh hey, our money making CoD franchise has badly dropped sales now that you've fired the original team and started whoring the franchise out," then the board will probably take notice.
"Hmm.. Tony Hawk: Run into the ground. Guitar Hero: Run into the ground. Call of Duty: Run into the ground. I sense a trend here."
So Gizmodo's office was raided? Or a guy from Gizmodo's home?
The guy practically stole property and then sold it. For 5 grand. That's gonna get him into trouble. Gizmodo buying stolen property is going to get them in trouble. Raiding some dude's house with excessive force is gonna get the police in trouble. Or should. They probably won't.
Meh, I don't care if kotick gets a golden parachute. I don't even mind if he sticks around. I just want his disrupted influence to be either removed or curtailed.
And I'm hoping it's not about the fact that the games still make money, it's that they're making significantly less money than before. You don't need to know shit about Xboxers or Playcenters or Wiizers to understand "Repeated cases of brief spikes in sales, followed by serious declines"
Undead Scottsman on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
So, is it known whether the Supreme Court decision could affect sales of online games? If a kid lies to an age gate, how are the companies supposed to prevent selling to minors?
And if they aren't responsible for such cases, it seems like this would be a fairly pointless law when we start seeing digital versions of all retail games.
The age gate is a CYA for whatever website uses it. It probably attaches the results to your IP and access time so they can put it in a database in case anything involving the courts comes up. Adult content websites have to deal with this shit quite a bit more than any game seller with M-rated games.
If a minor 'lies' about their age to a website, exactly what liability is the site supposed to have? Plus, you can't just order stuff by asking nicely. Credit card companies also track their customers spending habits (as well as personal information). If a minor lies about their age and then uses an adult's CC information without authorisation, that's a different issue from a retailer knowingly selling restricted content to minors.
Dr Mario KartGames DealerAustin, TXRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Even though we havent seen how well my April NPD math is, lets skip ahead to May:
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
Honestly I think NSMB Wii will stay up there, affected a little bit but not a whole lot. Galaxy 2 will sell really relaly well its first, and then pretty well the second month, but then just hang out outside the top 20 for a long time. But overall NSMBW I expect to stay up for a good long time unaffected even by another mario platformer.
2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
Even though we havent seen how well my April NPD math is, lets skip ahead to May:
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
Alpha Protocol comes out at the very beginning of the month, and while SEGA is doing a bit better with the advertising, I'd say it's still a crapshoot if it'll break 100k on a single platform
Spoit on
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Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
Even though we havent seen how well my April NPD math is, lets skip ahead to May:
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
It'll be an interesting month for sure.
Honestly though, I'm more interested in how MHTri does this month.
Honestly I think NSMB Wii will stay up there, affected a little bit but not a whole lot. Galaxy 2 will sell really relaly well its first, and then pretty well the second month, but then just hang out outside the top 20 for a long time. But overall NSMBW I expect to stay up for a good long time unaffected even by another mario platformer.
2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
This is so true. I basically gave up on console gaming in the mid 90s because Nintendo simply refused to release real Mario and Zelda games for the N64. I only came back into the fold when I realized how amazing the Playstation lineup was. The only reason I bought a DS was for New Super Mario Bros. I've actually considered buying a Wii solely for NSMB Wii, but in the end I just can't bring myself to buy the console for one game.
A lot of people who grew up on 2D Mario, such as myself, probably don't give a flying fuck about the 3D games. The audience is therefore absolutely tremendous for the 2D games, and somewhat limited for the 3D ones.
CygnusZ on
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Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
Honestly I think NSMB Wii will stay up there, affected a little bit but not a whole lot. Galaxy 2 will sell really relaly well its first, and then pretty well the second month, but then just hang out outside the top 20 for a long time. But overall NSMBW I expect to stay up for a good long time unaffected even by another mario platformer.
2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
This is so true. I basically gave up on console gaming in the mid 90s because Nintendo simply refused to release real Mario and Zelda games for the N64. I only came back into the fold when I realized how amazing the Playstation lineup was. The only reason I bought a DS was for New Super Mario Bros. I've actually considered buying a Wii solely for NSMB Wii, but in the end I just can't bring myself to buy the console for one game.
A lot of people who grew up on 2D Mario, such as myself, probably don't give a flying fuck about the 3D games. The audience is therefore absolutely tremendous for the 2D games, and somewhat limited for the 3D ones.
It all depends. I grew up with an Atari 2600 as my first system, then I got a Nintendo for Christmas as a gift. So yea, I grew up on 2-D Mario also, and after the SNES, I also gave up on Nintendo.
But the Wii made me decide to jump back in with Nintendo, and I went back (Through VC and BC) and played SM64 and Sunshine for the first time, as well as SMG. Needless to say, I love 3-D Mario, since it holds all the charm of Mario and his universe.
NSMBWii was a fantastic experience though too, since I grew up on those 2-D Mario games.
Either way, I love both types of Mario games for various reasons.
Honestly I think NSMB Wii will stay up there, affected a little bit but not a whole lot. Galaxy 2 will sell really relaly well its first, and then pretty well the second month, but then just hang out outside the top 20 for a long time. But overall NSMBW I expect to stay up for a good long time unaffected even by another mario platformer.
2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
This is so true. I basically gave up on console gaming in the mid 90s because Nintendo simply refused to release real Mario and Zelda games for the N64. I only came back into the fold when I realized how amazing the Playstation lineup was. The only reason I bought a DS was for New Super Mario Bros. I've actually considered buying a Wii solely for NSMB Wii, but in the end I just can't bring myself to buy the console for one game.
A lot of people who grew up on 2D Mario, such as myself, probably don't give a flying fuck about the 3D games. The audience is therefore absolutely tremendous for the 2D games, and somewhat limited for the 3D ones.
It all depends. I grew up with an Atari 2600 as my first system, then I got a Nintendo for Christmas as a gift. So yea, I grew up on 2-D Mario also, and after the SNES, I also gave up on Nintendo.
But the Wii made me decide to jump back in with Nintendo, and I went back (Through VC and BC) and played SM64 and Sunshine for the first time, as well as SMG. Needless to say, I love 3-D Mario, since it holds all the charm of Mario and his universe.
NSMBWii was a fantastic experience though too, since I grew up on those 2-D Mario games.
Either way, I love both types of Mario games for various reasons.
"Damn kids! Get off my third dimension!"
Gibbs on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I've got a bad case of lovin' you.
0
Dr Mario KartGames DealerAustin, TXRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Amazon and Gamestop have moved Alpha Protocol to June 1. Its also ranked #1205 at Amazon. Sounds like an epic disaster.
Honestly I think NSMB Wii will stay up there, affected a little bit but not a whole lot. Galaxy 2 will sell really relaly well its first, and then pretty well the second month, but then just hang out outside the top 20 for a long time. But overall NSMBW I expect to stay up for a good long time unaffected even by another mario platformer.
2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
Agree.
NSMBWii will drop in sales a bit while Galaxy sells well, and then Galaxy will fall off the map while NSMBWii sells 200k a month until next generation.
Sheep on
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Even though we havent seen how well my April NPD math is, lets skip ahead to May:
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
I really do see Lost Planet 2 selling 150k in a month... the first one sold one million in 3 months. UFC I'm sure will, as well.
Even though we havent seen how well my April NPD math is, lets skip ahead to May:
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
I really do see Lost Planet 2 selling 150k in a month... the first one sold one million in 3 months. UFC I'm sure will, as well.
The original Lost Planet also launched at the beginning of January, after everyone who bought a 360 for Gears of War was looking for a new shooter. I bought it because I was looking forward to it, but I think most people bought it because it was one of the first new 360 games of that year.
Lost Planet 2 is not launching in such a fortunate position.
Lead character artist Joel Emslie and artists Ryan Lastimosa and Brad Allen are the latest employees at Infinity Ward to hang up their hats and leave the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer.
All three now-former employees have updated their Facebook profiles to reflect the recent decision, a source close to Infinity Ward has told me. None have announced their future development plans.
Posts
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Apparently not. And given how insane Apple is about their privacy, he should have expected this. Dude's on pretty shaky legal ground right now.
Still, I can't say I didn't see this shit coming. They dragged the dude through the mud and now are themselves looking bad.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=10480702 Buying a "lost" prototype to an extremely hot item is pretty retarded no matter what. Apple is probably being a dick.
Shareholders don't all understand the sector they hold shares in nor are activist shareholders.
-Apple Engineer loses phone at a bar
-Guy finds phone, doesn't turn it in to the bar as lost and found
-Guy knows who lost it due to logged in Facebook app on it but never attempts to contact him directly
-Guy calls up Apple's help line and tells them he has it: help line people, being the bottom of the totem pole, don't know shit about it and laugh it off as a prank.
-Guy then decides to sell it for $5000 to Gizmodo
-Gizmodo does an expose on not only the phone but the poor sap who lost it, then takes it apart before returning it to Apple
-California DA decides to investigate due to it being sold for $5000, which is enough to make it a felony.
I'm betting he'll be treated as a journalist but only because he works for a multi-million dollar company, not because "being a blogger" equates to "being a journalist" in the law (else everyone with a blog's a journalist).
I hope they take that jerk for all he's worth
Okay, as far as I'm concerned the guy who found the phone did everything wrong, and then had the audacity to try to make a profit off of his inability to make a reasonable effort to get it to its owner. If he had just kept it I might be willing to let him off, but selling it?
He should get smacked down, and if the law holds that Gizmodo is criminally liable for the transaction, then they should get smacked down as well.
Shock and awe, son
The board supports him now while the only narratives are "Kotick did everything right" from Kotick and "Kotick did everything wrong" from the disgruntled ex-employees.
If the narrative of "Oh hey, our money making CoD franchise has badly dropped sales now that you've fired the original team and started whoring the franchise out," then the board will probably take notice.
"Hmm.. Tony Hawk: Run into the ground. Guitar Hero: Run into the ground. Call of Duty: Run into the ground. I sense a trend here."
Like I said, there's a thread in D&D about Apple's militant action about this sort of thing. I believe one of the stories is that they detained an employee for questioning and that employee eventually killed himself from the stress (it's been a while since I've read that shit, I hope I'm remembering incorrectly).
Eh, sort of. It depends what the police are being sent in to retrieve. I'm willing to bet that the estimated amount of goods expected to be confiscated increase the police muscle, rather than the expected resistance. Which is fucked up, I'm not saying it's right. Just saying that's probably how they came to their tactical decision.
So long as any of those make money, nobody will really care. A sentiment we've long since established, of course. But the thing about Kotick is he'll probably leave long before he's in any significant danger of being fired.
And even if he sticks it out and gets fired, it'll probably be to collect his golden parachute on his way to some Caribbean paradise.
I'd say the writing will be on the wall if WoW profits start falling. Everything else is just (poor selling) market diversification...
Of course there's a trend there.
The guy practically stole property and then sold it. For 5 grand. That's gonna get him into trouble. Gizmodo buying stolen property is going to get them in trouble. Raiding some dude's house with excessive force is gonna get the police in trouble. Or should. They probably won't.
And I'm hoping it's not about the fact that the games still make money, it's that they're making significantly less money than before. You don't need to know shit about Xboxers or Playcenters or Wiizers to understand "Repeated cases of brief spikes in sales, followed by serious declines"
I've gotten the impression that MHTri's been doing pretty well for itself, actually. Didn't the CCPro bundles sell out?
And if they aren't responsible for such cases, it seems like this would be a fairly pointless law when we start seeing digital versions of all retail games.
If a minor 'lies' about their age to a website, exactly what liability is the site supposed to have? Plus, you can't just order stuff by asking nicely. Credit card companies also track their customers spending habits (as well as personal information). If a minor lies about their age and then uses an adult's CC information without authorisation, that's a different issue from a retailer knowingly selling restricted content to minors.
These are not ordered. How many titles will hit the 150k benchmark for May?
150k (guaranteed)
Mario Galaxy 2 [1]
Red Dead Redemption [2][3]
NSMB Wii [4]
Wii Sports Resort [5]
150k (probably)
Alan Wake [6]
Pokemon Soul Silver [7] (175k in 3rd month for Platinum)
Just Dance [8]
Wild Cards:
UFC Undisputed [9][10]
Prince of Persia (No)
Lost Planet 2 (No)
Seems like odds are that the titles will be below 150k well before #10.
Inquiry:
NSMB Wii is the new evergreen, but what happens to it when Galaxy 2 comes out? Surely you wouldnt buy two Mario platformers at once with your new system. Thats a lot of money spent. Is one going to cannibalize the other?
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2D Mario games have broader appeal IMO. Yes, 3D marios also have mainstream appeal, but I don't think it is as broad, and I imagine that a lot of traditional gamers will help boost its initial sales up front and then it will dip down after, maintained by a steady yet moderate flow of sales that are good but not enough to stay in the top 10 or 20 perhaps.
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It'll be an interesting month for sure.
Honestly though, I'm more interested in how MHTri does this month.
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This is so true. I basically gave up on console gaming in the mid 90s because Nintendo simply refused to release real Mario and Zelda games for the N64. I only came back into the fold when I realized how amazing the Playstation lineup was. The only reason I bought a DS was for New Super Mario Bros. I've actually considered buying a Wii solely for NSMB Wii, but in the end I just can't bring myself to buy the console for one game.
A lot of people who grew up on 2D Mario, such as myself, probably don't give a flying fuck about the 3D games. The audience is therefore absolutely tremendous for the 2D games, and somewhat limited for the 3D ones.
It all depends. I grew up with an Atari 2600 as my first system, then I got a Nintendo for Christmas as a gift. So yea, I grew up on 2-D Mario also, and after the SNES, I also gave up on Nintendo.
But the Wii made me decide to jump back in with Nintendo, and I went back (Through VC and BC) and played SM64 and Sunshine for the first time, as well as SMG. Needless to say, I love 3-D Mario, since it holds all the charm of Mario and his universe.
NSMBWii was a fantastic experience though too, since I grew up on those 2-D Mario games.
Either way, I love both types of Mario games for various reasons.
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Agree.
NSMBWii will drop in sales a bit while Galaxy sells well, and then Galaxy will fall off the map while NSMBWii sells 200k a month until next generation.
I really do see Lost Planet 2 selling 150k in a month... the first one sold one million in 3 months. UFC I'm sure will, as well.
The original Lost Planet also launched at the beginning of January, after everyone who bought a 360 for Gears of War was looking for a new shooter. I bought it because I was looking forward to it, but I think most people bought it because it was one of the first new 360 games of that year.
Lost Planet 2 is not launching in such a fortunate position.