6/6/02 Absolutely No One Under 18 Admitted?  Hardly!

Question:  If, according to those ubiquitous signs, nobody under 18 was admitted to E3, how come there was an official orange "Underage Guest" badge?  And in a year when security and restrictions would supposedly be harsher than ever, if this rule was "strictly enforced," why did I see so many of pimply attendees running around, waiting for their balls to drop?  (Remember, the media have their own badges.)  We're not talking one or two poor Make-A-Wish bastards whose last dying hope was to see the latest hairball that Dave Dienstbier coughed up—we’re talking "get my kid in because I'm important and above the rules" nonsense.  IDSA hypocrisy in action, folks.  Hell, let the rabid early adopters in on the last day and start them spreading the word on which games are really good and which ones are really bad—save the programmers who are working on dogs some trouble.  Harness the power of the fanboy for the good of the industry or lock them out and deny it—but saying one and doing the other just makes Lowenstein look even more incompetent.

There's room for Zelda.  There's room for Mario.  There's room for, like, one more.  Instead, we got a good dozen cute 3D action/adventure games this year.  People are buying fresh new hardware so they can play Bubsy knockoffs?  I don't think so.  There were tons of good games on display this year, actually—but none of them were in that genre.  Move on.

CONFIDENTIAL TO ELECTRONIC ARTS:  TURN IT THE FUCK DOWN.

Oh well.  At least G.O.D. is dead.
 

-FatSpiderJ

6/6/02 More on Tom Ham

An excellent new Tom Ham story!

According to a very reliable source personally involved in this incident, the latest Tom Ham exploit occurred during Midway’s recent trip to the U.K.  The Hamster, high on the euphoria of having been flown all the way to London on someone else’s dime, somehow forgot his underwear at the hotel Midway guests were staying in the evening before the main event.  The main event took place in Chichester (sp?) some two hours away, and it was only upon arrival that the Ham realized that he had left his underwear (possibly soiled) back at the hotel in London.  Realizing his guffaw, he alerted Midway’s beleaguered PR manager, Jay Boor, to the situation.  Jay offered to have the offending matter overnighted to Chichester, or in the worst case scenario, to buy an all new set of underwear for the burly freelancer.

Apparently that Would Not Do.  Hamburger insisted that he needed His Underwear and that he needed it that day.  Poor Mr. Boor, waiting for Ham-mania to say "just kidding," soon realized the voracious seeker of free goods was not joking.  Upon calling a local messenger service in London to jerk, pull and spirit away the billowing garments to the destination point some two hours away, Jay Boor was informed that this dubious service would cost approximately $500 including tip.  When asked one last time if he really needed these "items" that day, The Man Known As Ham insisted "yes."  And so they were delivered, these perilous swaddling clothes.

True Story.
 

-FatMustard

6/6/02 XBox Security System Hacked

Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System Mon Jun 3, 7:22 PM ET By Ben Berkowitz LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -

A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he has found a way to circumvent the security system for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video game console, opening the way for hackers to use it to run competing software, according to documents released over the weekend. The MIT computer expert, who posted his report on his university Web site, also questioned the security behind Microsoft's soon-to-launch online service, Xbox Live, saying hackers could exploit a flaw in the system to identify individual players from their game machines. Andrew Huang, who recently completed a PhD thesis on supercomputer architecture, wrote a memo May 26 describing his efforts to build hardware that would read the Xbox's internal security system. A link to the 15-page report was posted this weekend at technology news and discussion Web site Slashdot.org. Computer enthusiasts have been excited about the possibility of using the $199 Xbox, which is technologically similar to a PC, as a stand-alone computer running operating systems like Linux. Some see it as the ultimate slight against Microsoft -- using the software giant's own hardware to run software that competes against its Windows operating system. In the memo, Huang said the Xbox's primary security is contained in what he calls a "secret boot block" that is encoded into a media processor chip built for the Xbox by Nvidia Corp. Representatives of Microsoft and Nvidia were not immediately available for comment. An MIT spokesman told Reuters the university has not been received any request to take the paper down from its sites. TAPPED SYSTEM HARDWARE Huang said he had extracted the contents of the boot block by tapping the data path that travels between the media chip and the central processor. By attaching a custom-designed board to that high-speed data path, Huang was able to capture the data transmitted between the two chips and manually process it to uncover the secrets contained in the "boot block." He said it took a total of three weeks to build his custom board for a total cost of around $50. Given the particular encryption algorithm that was used and the decryption key, both of which Huang has identified, "one can run original code on the Xbox," he said, meaning it would be possible to run things like unauthorized games and other operating systems on the console. Huang also said a colleague of his, who goes by the pseudonym "visor," had had discovered a vulnerability in the console's programming, that would allow the boot-up sequence to be interrupted so that any code can be run on the system. In an e-mail to Reuters, Huang said he notified Microsoft in advance he would be publishing the paper, gave them a copy to read, and has been in regular contact with the company. He also said he is not working on any of the attempts to run Linux or other systems on the Xbox. "I know a lot of people are exploring the possibility now, but I personally am not spearheading any effort toward this end," he said. "I like doing hardware, so I'm making my little contribution to figuring out the hardware, so that those who like doing software can do what they like to do," he said. Huang also said in the paper he has discovered keys to the identity of the console owner that may, in theory, be vulnerable through an online connection. Huang said he separately discovered that the console's serial number is stored in its memory, and that the data might be readable by the central operating system. "What happens to this information when the Xbox is plugged into the Internet?" he said.

5/16/02 A Total Follow-Up

As a follow-up to the recent story about developer Totally Games laying people off due to Activision’s decision not to pursue a sequel to the totally kick ass game Bridge Commander, I got my totally fat hands on this e-mail from David Litwin, the project lead for Bridge Commander.

He did a totally cool thing and quit himself, which probably saved a few of his co-workers from having to be laid off.  Check it:

Gentlemen:

I'm sure you've all read the FatBabies post by now and will be wanting some
word from us, here's what I'll put forth.

Yep, BC 2.0 isn't going to happen, and unfortunately because of this we've
had to make some very painful layoffs at TG. We definitely wanted to go
forward and as much as it hurts to not work on BC 2.0, letting good people
go hurts a lot more.

Partially because of this, but also partially because I was considering
moving out of games anyway, I've chosen to resign from Totally Games and
take another job with a company called Connectix (they do Virtual PC for the Mac). My resignation meant fewer cuts than would be necessary if I had
stayed, so it has that benefit as well.

I know how unhappy these events will make people and so I'd like to make
sure that the information given out, sparse as it is, is accurate and people
don't glean the wrong idea. If possible, when reporting this news, keep
these things in mind:

1.) TG, despite making these cuts, is doing well and has a great and stable
project that was recently announced with LucasArts. We had to make these
cuts because without BC2.0, which we were planning on, we can't support a
portion of the team that would have worked on it. I don't want people
thinking TG is about to go under or something. We've had a hard enough time letting friends go and don't need bad publicity added to it :)

2.) Armand (Art Director) and I (Director of Technology) weren't part of the
layoff but chose to resign. Please *don't* take this to mean we are jumping
ship because we think the company is in trouble. We both chose to move on
for our own reasons and to help the company minimize the unavoidable
layoffs. This wound up being about a third of the staff.

3.) Any analysis as to Activision's long term plans with Start Trek I will
avoid. I wasn't actively involved in the business parts of the BC 2.0
proposals but essentially they decided not to BC 2.0 with TG. What that
means for them and Trek in the future I honestly haven't heard from them and I'll leave for them to announce.

Thanks again for all of your dedication and support of our game,

David Litwin
Project Lead, Bridge Commander
Director of Technology
Totally Games (at least for another 10 hours... :)

Whether you totally like or hate the game, the company, or Activision itself, I think everyone will agree with me that Mr. Litwin did a totally honorable thing by drinking the cool-aid himself, instead of having to totally stand by while his friends were totally shot one by one.

You’re a good man, Charlie Brown David Litwin.

Totally.
 

-FatTotallyLaidOffBorg

5/16/02 Game Media Whores

The recent Story titled "Tom Ham – Slow Roasted?" is a tragically accurate reflection of a fair proportion of the gaming media, but at the same time it should not serve to indict or generalize those who actually do a decent job.  The problem with many of these writers is that they start with little experience or formal training.  They’re only hired because they’re filled with love for the industry and are willing to accept the insulting pay.  Most wouldn’t understand the concept of journalistic integrity if it came and bit them in the ass; and unfortunately the bad habits they develop (such as those reported of Tom Ham in the LA Times article) are institutionalized by the very industry their work revolves around.

I hope you understand that journalists exist in a world of securing exclusive content and finding different and unique angles on a story.  The PR spin-doctors of software publishers certainly do, and the creative ideas that fuel their marketing drives are constantly redefining the bounds of commercial idiocy.  I cannot count the number of times I’ve been offered an interview with some vague celebrity at a product launch, or a ride in some rusted-out jalopy so that I might have an understanding of what it feels like to travel at reckless speeds.  Like I give a fuck.  But that’s just the tip of the iceberg – some companies even resort to sponsored excursions to the local strip joint, and I’ve even heard of writers being put on the payroll.

Personally, if you’re not going to let me sit down and chat with the coders and producers, or spend a an hour in the studio looking at concept art and early renders, then I’d rather just be sent a press pack and be done with it.

Problem is, that’s not good enough for the PR departments of software publishers.  They need results.  They require media exposure.  Some of them even get cash bonuses for scoring a main cover image.  Rather than face the risk of not getting any coverage at all, they want us to remember the experience of their so-called launch/conference, and to let those happy thoughts of fast cars and naked jiggly flesh dissolve any negative sentiments (like "Sweet Jesus, that was the most appalling load of dogshit I’ve ever seen") away.

I have a question to pose to game developers:  would you rather keep the level of exposure afforded by the current gaming media?  Or would you prefer that these hacks never existed, and settle for the occasional novelty piece in the local paper?

I’ll finish with a cut-and-paste of a little film-inspired rant…

Magazine Editor: "Son, videogame magazines are created within a system that has finite resources – resources guarded by people with games-playing experience.  Who’s going to look after that system?
You, the marketing hack who bullshits enough to run a fertilizing company?"

"I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.  You weep for negative reviews and curse the games reviewers.  You have that luxury.  You have the luxury of not knowing what I know:  that panning games and dropping reviews, while tragic, saves innocent gamers.  And my existence, while incomprehensible and expensive to you, saves innocent gamers’ money from being wasted."

"You don’t want the truth because deep down, in places you don’t like to talk about at press conferences, you WANT me on the system; you NEED me on the system."

"We use words like ‘jerky frame rates’, ‘unresponsive controls’ and ‘low poly count’ as a backbone of a life spent sorting out oversights made by game publishers who rush a product to release.  You use them as a cop-out for poor sales at management meetings."

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a person who distributes and profits under the very blanket of the media coverage I provide, then QUESTIONS the manner in which I provide it.  I’d rather you just sent me a nice little press pack; or play the games yourself and learn how to spot a turkey.  Either way, I don’t give a DAMN what you think you’re entitled to!"

Game Publisher:  "Did you pull the Daikatana cover?"

Editor:  "I did my job.  I kept the magazine respectable."

Publisher:  "DID YOU PULL THE DAIKATANA COVER?!"

Editor:  "YOU'RE GOD DAMNED RIGHT I DID!"
 

-FatGameSpotGuru

5/2/02 Tom Ham--Slow Roasted?

Video Game journalists:  Are they really a freakish collection of mutants; either raving fanboys with the English literacy of a Springer Show guest; or self-important "veterans;" tedious and strange-smelling hobgoblins with a pessimism level equal to Gunpei Yokoi the day after the Virtual Boy came out?  And if you add to the sweaty equation the fearsome term "freelancer," do you really end up with a Caucasian, pock-marked, ugly, unwashed, man-child with the sophistication and social graces of a Bukakke extra?

We're not sure, but anyone who's had the misfortune to demo a game in a room full of these hacks can face a fear not seen since the Levelord went topless [see Musings 1/2/02].  Quite how these "journalists" eked out a living was a real mystery... until
Tom Ham revealed just how great he is.

Apparently, Tom Ham is the bestest video game "journalist" in the whole wide world, according to a recent study by Tom Ham.  He's risen to the top of the heap because he's a novelty in the industry; he doesn't smell of cabbage after two hours on the E3
show floor, and he's Asian.  Of course, he's alleged to share many of the other traits of his fellow freelancers; such as being high-maintenance, requiring minute-by-minute molly-coddling, and not being afraid to lash out at beleaguered PR reps when his goody bag doesn't feature an XXXL T-shirt.  But what sets Ham apart from the rest are his ceaseless acts of self-promotion, the latest of which is a recent article one of his chums wrote about him in the L.A. Times.  However, this Tom Ham appreciation piece seems to have backfired.

[ed. You might need to register on the LA Times.com website to read the article we are referring to.  Registration on the site is free.  After registering and logging in, paste this URL into the brower: http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000025156apr08.story?_coll=la%2Dhead]

In this romp through the world of a writer who (by the tone of the piece) seems to have decided to throw out that old "objective" moniker to describe his journalism, Ham recalls the many lavish parties, rides on jets, stays in haunted castles, Hollywood premieres, and sky-diving trips he's made; all in the name of investigative journalism.  Quite what he's investigating is a bit of a mystery, but it could have something to do with cramming as many free adventure vacations into his year as possible, and then remembering to churn out 500 words of stale prose as an afterthought.  Working on a game-related article should never get in the way of what the L.A. Times embarrassingly calls "playola"--free crap for writing fervent ramblings about mediocre software titles.

We shouldn't be surprised that the many video game hacks are paid informers (and performers) for the software companies they suck the teat of.  What Fatbabies did find amusing, however, was the gall The Hamster had in stating matter-of-factly, that a ride in an F-14 does not, in any way, influence apparent mock-enthusiasm Ham spouts for Ace Combat 4.  Some video game journalists just can't see the problem with supposedly reporting objectively on software after traveling to hobnob with Julia Roberts at an Ocean's 11 party.  Especially as the nearest many of these guys would usually come to interacting with movie stars is via a stalking restraining order.  However, Keith Woods, who teaches journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., notes that the real question is "whether there's a way for them to get the information they need without having to jump out of airplanes or spend the night in a castle."  And I think we all know the answer to that one.

What's even more amusing is that the Washington Post editor who receives Ham's reviews is said to be super-dooper pissed about this "away with ethics, gimme the tropical vacation, Midway!" attitude that Ham adopted during the L.A. Times piece.  Doesn't this editor know the industry perceives the majority of video game hacks as the lowest on the journalistic totem pole, precisely because of these events that cloud judgment, whether unconsciously or not?  Doesn't he realize The Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and therefore pushes Fox TV news stories in a frenzy of nepotism?
Ham's work may be tainted (unintentionally or otherwise) by lavish trips to the ends of the earth, but he's certainly not the only worker bee for the Entertainment Industry's marketing departments.

So, when your allergies are playing up, you visit the doctor, and he prescribes Zertec; make sure you check the pharmaceutical company hasn't recently flown the fucker back from a free frolic with Thailand shemales.  The next time you log on to EW.com, verify
Lisa Schwarzbaum wasn't sleeping with Big Trouble's Barry Sonnenfeld before you go out and see that piece of crap on her recommendation.  And when you read an article by Tom Ham, you may (after reading the L.A. Times piece) have to take it with a pinch of salt in the future--weary PR women are likely to have worked very hard for that 90 percent review.

So is Tom Ham as irresponsible and unethical as the L.A. Times story makes out?  FatBango would like to hear from anyone with an opinion, or any other hacks out there.  In fact, if Tom himself wants to set the record straight, we'd be more than happy.  But
after a staff meeting, we'd like to apologize that we can't fly Tom out to the Caribbean, and FatInsider wasn't prepared to fellate Ham's ham in return for his fabulous banter making this site.  You'll have to write this one for free.
 

-The Fatbabies Team

5/2/02 No Assimilation for Bridge Commander

Here's a hot news flash...

Activision has turned down Bridge Commander 2, and supposedly they plan to dump the Star Trek license as soon as they can, because it has proven unprofitable.

You've got to wonder what Activision is thinking when they decide to pass on a sequel to Bridge Commander, a game that has been proclaimed "the best Star Trek game ever created" by many reviews and fans.

From what I hear, Starfleet Command 3, and already announce project by Activision, is going to try and clone elements of Bridge Commander...

Here is part of an e-mail that Peter Leahy, Totally Games' Senior Manager, sent out regarding the bad news...

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Peter Leahy
  Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 3:56 PM
  To: Staff
  Subject: Bummer - Activision News

  Hey guys!

  We heard today they have officially passed on all the options we have
  offered them as far as BC 1.5 and BC 2.0.  It is simply a matter of
  dollars and cents.  Unfortunately, unless we all move to Eastern
  Europe we can't reduce our overhead enough to make their P&L (Profit
  and Loss Risk Assessment) work for them.  It appears garage
  operations -- i.e. no overhead like rent, passionate teams of
  individuals doing the work of three at the pay of less than one
  person, using pirated software, paying no royalties, providing no
  benefits and no long term commitments is where the industry is
  headed.

Pretty depressing, huh?  So what does this mean for Totally Games?  Well, many employees, like myself, have just been laid off, and our last day is today.  In all, nearly half the company has been laid off.  The heads of the Art and Programming departments have both resigned in order to save as many programmer and artist jobs as possible.  At least Totally Games was very nice about it.  I got a fat consolation check, and I get to take home the computer I used at work, which is good because my home computer is a piece of junk.

Even so, I am very depressed.  I've been in the industry several years and I have never known a better game company, nor a more talented group of developers than Totally Games.  I was proud to count myself among the ranks of the elite...  Luckily, the World War II flight combat game that remains is well-funded, on track, and is going to rock the industry when it comes out.  At least one game publisher, LucasArts, treats Totally Games with the respect they deserve.

I'm sure Activision will get theirs in the end.  They have treated developers like crap for years, and it is going to catch up with them soon when their Tony Hawk cash cow dries up.
 

-FatLaidOffBorg

5/2/02 Infogrames Snowed Again

Is there nobody in the business development group at Infogrames who does due diligence?  Paying $47 million for the Shiny Entertainment development group is absurd!  Back in 1998, Electronic Arts bought Westwood Studios (now EA Las Vegas) for $122 million.  Inflation and dollar valuation aside, that makes Shiny roughly one-third the value of Westwood.  Let’s compare the two development studios, shall we?

Westwood has a glowing history dating back to the days of the C64 and Apple IIe when they developed Eye of the Beholder for SSI.  More recently, they developed the highly successful Command & Conquer series, spawning Red Alert and a multitude of other successful titles. C&C Renegade has been their most recent release, and they have a highly regarded massively-multiplayer space game, Earth & Beyond, in the final beta testing stage.

Shiny dates back to the Genesis days, with their successful Earthworm Jim character platform game, which spawned a sequel and a cartoon show.  They did the bug ridden, very late flying baby game Messiah, which sold poorly.  More recently, they released Sacrifice, a cool RTS, and Giants, another cool game.  However, both were late and way over budget.  They are currently working on the Matrix 2 game, after the movie of the same name.

What’s it like at Shiny today?  Most members of the development studio are slaving away trying to get Matrix 2 out for this Christmas.  However, insiders report that despite Dave Perry cracking the whip and threatening the team daily, the game is way behind schedule and not likely to ship before next Christmas.  Apparently the game is still not playable, and it has been pulled from being shown on the E3 floor due to concerns over the poor quality.

Infogrames was snowed when they bought GT Interactive almost 3 years ago.  They were again snowed when they purchased Hasbro Interactive a year later.  And now, they've been snowed for the 3rd time buying Shiny.

When will those Frenchies learn?
 

-FatGT

3/28/02 EA Tears Up Westwood

We reported this nearly 2 years ago.  Back then, May 24, 2000, nobody saw it happening, but with our pulse on the industry and our vision of the evils of Electronic Arts, we foretold the future.  The future when Westwood Studios would lose its culture and become EA Las Vegas.

Read the third paragraph from the bottom:

Key executives Brett W. Sperry, Steve Wetherill, and Louis Castle are locked in for 5 years following the purchase of Westwood, but we have word they are all chomping at the bit to bail out of that newly formed shit-hole and head for greener pastures.

Parent company Electronic Arts is tearing up Westwood!  Brett Sperry, with 6 months left on his 5 year contract, is GONE.  It's true, Brett Sperry is no longer with the company, but banished while still on payroll (he's officially on "sabbatical" for 6 months), while he secretly plans his own startup, despite his EA "non-compete" clause.  30 people have been fired in the last month, including B-Movie acting king Joe Kucan (aka the bald NOD evil-doer Kane).

Westwood of Technology Steve Wetherill is also on the block, with his remaining time ticking away like a US Army bomb in Bin Laden's hovel.

Louis Castle, however, remains in the smoldering aftermath.  He takes the helm of a ship listing greatly, nearly sinking under the massive weight of its parent company.  While he remains, word is he isn't happy with what's going on.

The scoop at Redwood Shores is that the "secret" real-time strategy team is already on the chopping block, but they're closely watching Earth and Beyond (now in live beta testing) and Renegade 2 development to see if they will make the cut for the next financial quarter.

Life sucks in Vegas, then you go to work for Westwood, then they get bought by EA, then you die!
 

-The Fatbabies Team

3/28/02 The Dismemberment of EA.com

Many things failed to surprise me about EA, chief among them the utter dismemberment of EA.com.  Seeing a discrimination complaint come out of that mess unfortunately doesn't surprise me either.  Although I think much was made of a lot of circumstantial remarks and incidents, I didn't know John Holden all that well as I was already in the process of leaving by the time he was hired in October.  Since I didn't interact with him, I'll just note that his experience as related by him was different from mine as recalled by me, but I'm white so that may be the simple explanation.

Having said that, I'll start this on a positive note.  I *did* know Ed Watson, and I was confused when I read his name in connection with the complaint in the 2/19 story.  I was glad to see his name cleared in the 3/6 update.  Ed is one of the most honorable men I know and if I had a chance to work with or for him I'd jump at it.

The bad part is that for all that I'm a little skeptical of John H.'s complaint, the anonymous complainant hit on a *key* issue when she said "a disturbing pattern of... favoritism, promotion, and even antagonism towards certain... members of the EA team who are outside the "social" circle of several individuals" was a big factor in the EA.com dynamic.  There was a regular drinking crew.  It started as a Kesmai tradition and management brought in by EA were coopted into (or coopted themselves deliberately into) the tradition shortly after their collective arrival.  Tuesdays at South Street, Thursdays at Court Square, Fridays After Five during the summer, two-drink minimum.

The "inner circle" consisted of, among others, Hap Campbell, Tim Richardson, Jennifer Norment, Kevin Higgins, and Randy Crane.  (Compare that with the list of management implicated in one way or another in the complaints.)

Hap I never fully trusted, from observation and personal experience; the same for Tim Richardson.  These two often discussed their plans to go to strip clubs in front of other employees, and heckled male employees who indicated no interest in joining them.

Jennifer, from what I saw of her, was actually a victim herself, in a twisted kind of way.  The position she was in, supervising the employees she was supervising, with zero training, put her under a lot of stress and I heard later that she burned out and left.  That said, she often let her personal feelings and reactions color her job-related decisions, which should be a common-sense no-no, training or no.

Kevin Higgins had some degree of personal integrity, but I got the impression that he was under orders from higher up regarding some management decisions he personally found unfair, so I cut him some slack -- a courtesy I do not extend to Randy Crane, who, when he showed interest in employees, was much more positive and friendly with the social insiders and others he got along with.  Outside that, he was the king of the snap judgement, right or wrong, and the weaselly backpedal and justification are sports he participated in on the Olympic level.

(Kevin Higgins and Randy Crane both bought new sports cars not long after EA bought Kesmai.  There's probably dirt worth digging up there somewhere.)

At this point I want to put in a good word for Angelina Halstead.  The complaint makes her look at best disorganized and at worst maliciously indifferent.  From the interaction I had with her, she had no idea of the magnitude of what she confronted when she agreed to be the onsite HR rep for EAVA; she also apparently had little backing from corporate HR back in Redwood Shores.  When I had a payroll issue, she kept me up to date; it was EAHQ HR and payroll that didn't care enough to even acknowledge my report.  When I forwarded a request for some paperwork to be sent to my new address through Angelina, EAHQ took five months to actually get around to it.

To the extent that people didn't get satisfaction from dealing with Angelina, I suspect it had little to do with her and very much to do with indifference at California HQ, as John himself noted when he said "...did not perform her duties as the law dictated but as she was instructed by senior EA management to do so as to protect the interest of Electronic Arts...."

The pattern I saw time and time again was praise and promotion for each other from members of the clique, and indifference or outright hostility to those outside it.  The sad fact is that whether you got the job done or not was less important than whether management liked you and considered you a "team player".

Do I sound bitter?  I'm not, really.  Inside of 6 months after leaving EA I was in a job where not only was the work more interesting, but I had coworkers who gave accolades based on merit: it didn't matter how anti- social or eccentric you were, if you got the job done, you were golden.   If I'm bitter about any aspect of leaving, it's that it took longer than I wish it had.
 

-GeeI'mFat

3/18/02 Former Sony Online Chief Kelly Flock

Further probing into the recent termination of Sony Online bigwig Kelly Flock has turned up some interesting tidbits:

Flock's original contract was for 2 years and was coming up for renewal.  Sources indicate that Sony Pictures exec Yair Landau, to whom all American Sony Online game units report, was not going to renew the contract.

The announcement was done in front of the whole company in one of Sony's ridiculously overcrowded parking lots (largely Flock's fault, thanks to his hiring of a bunch of people to work on a bunch of projects that were supposed to make a bunch of money) that Flock was terminated.  Everyone was told bluntly that he was let go because he was doing an awful job as Sony Online's CEO.

People within Verant report that Flock's termination was a good thing, especially after the morale hit they had taken when Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler left to start Sigil.  One guy at Verant is engaged to Kelly Flock's niece (who also works at Verant, and who has great tits), so his future isn't seen as being so bright anymore, but almost everyone else at Verant is (or should be) dancing in the streets.

Active Rumors had been circulating that Verant president John Smedley was instrumental in getting Flock fired.  Smedley and Flock never saw eye to eye on running the online operation, and it could be said that the two only "tolerated" each other, at best.  When Flock ousted Smedley's buddy Brad McQuaid late last year, that was the straw that broke the camel's back, according to our sources.  Smedley apparently made it his mission to take down Flock.  It was going to be "either him or me," according to an anonymous source.  Realistically though, this seems unlikely given Flock's former power and position at SOE.

As for Brad McQuaid, Flock seemed to be in the right getting rid of him.  Verant sources indicate McQuaid had let the whole EverQuest success story go straight to his head.  It had gotten to the point where he was strolling into work late in the afternoon, if he showed up for work at all.
 

-FatInvalid

3/18/02 Game Over -- Well, No, Paused -- for Loki

March 10

This was the week that Loki Software, Inc., the once-promising Linux games company that came to resemble Enron writ small, was scheduled to disappear beneath the waves forever.

But a trustee's hearing Monday afternoon that would have declared Loki devoid of assets and formally closed the all-but-dead company was continued until April 8 -- because Loki's president, Scott Draeker, didn't show up for the hearing. Draeker's lawyer said he had no idea where Draeker was or how he could be reached.

In such curcumstances, a four-week continuance is automatic. What if any sanctions might be imposed against Draeker for his nonappearance are not known.

Draeker's nonappearance was the latest parallel between the game software publisher and the more famous recent corporate bankruptcy. As with Enron, the company heads appear to have come out okay, leaving unpaid employees holding the short end of the joystick.

The final official blow had been set to be delivered Monday when the trustee overseeing the company's liquidation was to declare Loki devoid of assets and close the case. That action is now expected at the April 8 hearing.

The action, when and if it comes, will be he conclusion to more than a year of turmoil at the Tustin, California, games publisher. Loki stopped paying employees' salaries in late 2000, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, and announced in January that it would close its operation and file Chapter 7 bankruptcy papers.

Former employees, who are owed thousands or in some cases tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars by the company, say that Loki cheated them one last time: Instead of sending them W-2 income tax forms, they were sent 1099s, meaning that they are left to pay taxes on income for which the company was already supposed to have -- but hadn't -- paid federal withholding.

And, they claim, the company's owners gutted the firm, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves while leaving employees and investors penniless.

Among the company's largest creditors were SuSE, VA Linux, theKompany.com, Activision, and Federal Express, as well as a number of former employees owed from $20,000 to almost $350,000. At the time of the Chapter 11 filing, Loki claimed assets of an even $20,000 against liabilities of $2,004,842.41.

Founded by California intellectual property lawyer Scott Draeker and incorporated in November 1998, at its height Loki offered 20 action and roleplaying games. But from the beginning, former employees say, something seemed amiss. Draeker, for instance, collected unemployment compensation in 1999 while also working for Loki. His wife, Kayt, was listed in corporate papers as the company's secretary.

Loki was on the financial rocks by December 2000, when a $26,000 payroll could not be met. Employees were told via email that this was due to a contract with an outside firm having failed to yield expected revenues. Employees counting on Loki paychecks would experience a long dry spell; as of the end of May 2001, regular payroll payments had not resumed.

During that period, however, the Draekers took almost $92,000 out of the company, according to court filings; in counter filings, Loki claimed that the funds went chiefly to pay employees, though it did note that Scott Draeker was paid $46,504 in salary during the period from January 15 to July 31, 2001, with Kayt Draeker receiving $18,643.52 during that time; the company paid medical insurance premiums for both during that period. The August bankruptcy filing sought $125,000 per year salary, plus $1,776 for medical insurance, for Scott Draeker during the period in bankruptcy, and $40,000 annual salary plus $3,744 insurance costs, for Kayt Draeker. These demands were later modified when the creditors objected.

During at least part of the period when employee payrolls were not met, Loki sometimes gave employees "advances" on salary owed. Former employees say that these advances were in the amount of their net pay; the benefit to the company was that federal and state taxes on the payroll were not paid, because the money was treated as loans rather than pay. This in turn resulted in the now-former employees receiving 1099 forms instead of W-2s in January. The 1099 covers moneys paid to non-employees, but more important to the former employees, it meant that they would now have to pay taxes -- and perhaps penalties -- on what would have been their net pay.

Among the liabilities listed in the bankruptcy filing was a total of $560,412.65 in unpaid salary, of which it was claimed that $302,009.70 was owed to the Draekers in unpaid salary and unreimbursed expenses.

(A single employee is listed in creditor filings as being owed almost $350,000 in unpaid salary and in expenses the company incurred using the employee's credit card.)

Though the trustee's action, whenever it comes, will bring a formal end to Loki, it is not known whether investigations being sought by former employees will continue its legacy even longer. The Internal Revenue Service and several California state agencies have been asked to look into Loki's handling of its employees.
 

-Linux Main

3/6/02 Pack It Up & Roll 'Em Out

Dateline February 25, 2002.  The end of an era.
The place:  Electronic Arts Seattle studio.

As of this afternoon, about half the work force in the studio was let go.  Among the body count, Randy Dersham (who took over for Mike "The Axeman" Ryder), most of Motor City Online’s Dev team, MCO's on-site community management team, the entire QA department, and several other major & key personnel.  The MCO team has been reduced to a handful of individuals to cover the project during its "holding pattern" phase (i.e. before the execs pull the plug on it).

As I am technically still under a non-disclosure agreement, I cannot give any more detail to the state of MCO, nor of the upcoming project in the studio.  I enjoyed my time with the company & the studio, even through the hard times that befell us all almost 2 years ago when Motor City went through one of its many design changes and many employees were cut during the "transition" year.  I regret that the EA top brass (namely Don Mattrick) forced us in to taking the project the way of the "online" world and not letting it be what it should have been: a GREAT single-player game with multiplayer capabilities.  As we've seen with Majestic, EA really doesn't know how to organize such a large-scale online community game.  Just because Origin is huge with Ultima Online doesn't mean that EA, their "parent" company, can do the same or better.

Best of luck to the remaining EAS personnel...  the future doesn't look promising, but the people who are left (other than studio management) kick some serious ass at what they do!
 

-FatLucid

3/6/02 Paging HR.  Come in, HR.

We received this e-mail from a former of employee of Mission Studios who is trying to obtain his W2 from the company.

I don't know if this is a related issue to your Take-2 musing on the 19th, but as a former employee via the now defunct Mission Studios I have a mildly interesting story to share.

Currently I am in the middle of getting the run-around from the assholes in HR, but perhaps they are not even manning the desks.  Sure would explain the issue.  Anyway, I worked at Mission Studios through the day of the layoffs last year, meaning I am supposed to get a W2 this year.  I have not yet received it.  I called Feb. 2nd, and an actual human resources representative got back in touch with me the very same day.  They had sent my W2 to the wrong address.  She could send me a copy then send me the actual W2 when it got sent back to them.  This was fine with me.

Since it's been over two weeks I started calling Take-2 on Tuesday of last week.  I have left a message every day since then, even Monday which they apparently got off, and have received no response.  I've tried being nice, mean, and snide, none work.  I'm concerned, in lieu of your report, that there may be no HR staff anymore.

If anyone knows how to get in touch with an HR representative of the former Mission Studios who can help, mail us so we can help out.
 

-FatBango

3/6/02 8K Yo Momma

Word games.  That’s what it’s all about.  Re-reading the 8-K about Brian Fargo filed by Interplay, one would notice that the disclosure statement included the line "Full text of resignation letter attached to the 8-K."  Therefore, as a well educated scholar that one is, one went to the SEC database website and researched the 8-K.  The resignation letter would provide the piece of the missing puzzle.  After all, everyone knows that while no blatant lies are listed on the 8-K/10-K forms, companies certainly color a story in a manner they see fit.

Here is the letter from the 8-K:

[Certified Mail - Return Receipt Requested]
Interplay Productions, Inc.
16815 Von Karman Avenue Irvine, CA 92606
Attention: President Re: NOTICE OF TERMINATION FOR GOOD REASON
This shall constitute my notice to you of my resignation as a director,
Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and any and all such other positions or employment or otherwise with Interplay
Entertainment Corp. ("IEC") for Good Reason pursuant to and in accordance with Section 4(c) of my Employment Agreement dated as of November 2, 1999 (the "Agreement").

While I was away on my honeymoon in September, IEC actively removed all
operational duties and set up "special committees" specifically to work
around my duties. And as you know, I would have resigned my position months ago but for our efforts over the past few months at reaching agreement on the Consulting Agreement, which would have included terms for my resignation. Additionally, I was specifically asked not to resign so IEC could conclude its business negotiations with Vivendi without disruption.

The Good Reason which is the cause of this resignation includes several
events including, but certainly not limited to those significant events
listed below which have either removed me from my duties set forth on
Exhibit A of the Agreement or are materially inconsistent with such duties:
o I have been effectively removed from any ability to supervise the legal and contractual affairs of IEC. For example, marketing and legal have now been told to report to Herve Caen and Nathan Peck instead of me. In addition, a special committee ("the operating committee") has been formed to which I must report. This is inconsistent with most, if not all, of the "Duties of Executive" set forth in Exhibit A to my Employment Agreement.

o I have been deprived of virtually any role in setting global corporate
strategy and development of corporate relationships. For example, IEC has audit rights with respect to Virgin Interactive Entertainment, which is its European distributor. Titus owns 100% of Virgin. IEC has been attempting to audit the books of Virgin, as we all believe that Virgin owes IEC money.

Virgin has refused to let our auditors into the offices for nearly a year.

When Titus took over IEC I left instructions for my people to continue to try and get access; however, Herve Caen and Nathan Peck have instructed my people that they would not let the audit happen. Another example is that without my approval, Titus Interactive SA took $1 million from IEC's account after Vivendi has made a large payment to IEC. In sum, for quite some time, I have not had any supervisory control or meaningful input as to corporate strategy.

o I have been stripped of virtually all supervision of internal and
external product development activities of the company. All the department heads report to Herve Caen and Nathan Peck, and IEC has started work on new "titles" which I know nothing about and have not been consulted.

Therefore, I am tendering my resignation now which resignation is effective as of the 10th business day from the date hereof, as provided under Section 4(c) of the Agreement. In light of my disagreements described above concerning the operations, policies and practices of IEC, which form the basis of my resignation, I request that my disagreements be publicly disclosed.
 

Sincerely, /s/ Brian Fargo Brian Fargo

Cc: Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
660 Newport Center Drive, Suite 1600
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Attention: K.C. Schaaf, Esq. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP
2029 Century Park East Suite 2600
Los Angeles, CA 90067 Murray Markiles, Esq
 

2/19/02 EA.com Discrimination Complaint

Fatbabies.com has obtained a copy of a complaint that has been sent to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission due to sexist and racist behavior of Electronic Arts at the former subsidiary EA.com.  Shocked?  We certainly are.

The complaint is 9 pages long, so we've given it its own special page.  Read on...

2/19/02 The Other Side of Fargo

This is a follow-up on the 2/6 Game Over For Fargo Story, regarding the “raw deal” he got from Titus.  Did anyone see the SEC filing Titus did about Fargo’s departure?   Fargo can claim anything he wants in his press releases and private talks, but SEC filings are much more authoritative and trustworthy.  Here's an exerpt from the SEC filing about Fargo's resignation/removal:

In a letter dated January 7, 2002, Brian Fargo informed the Company of his resignation as a director, chairperson of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective January 21, 2002.  Mr. Fargo stated several reasons for his resignation, which are summarized below.  The full text of Mr. Fargo's resignation letter is attached as an exhibit to this Form 8-K.

Mr. Fargo gave as reasons for his resignation the alleged reduction in his responsibilities as chief executive of the Company commencing in September 2001, including his supervision of the Company's legal and contractual affairs, global strategy and development of corporate relationships, and internal and external product development activities.  Mr. Fargo cites as specific examples the instruction to company departments to report directly to Herve Caen, the Company's President, and Nathan Peck, the Company's Chief Administrative Officer.  Mr. Fargo also references actions by Messrs. Caen and Peck to stop an audit by the Company of Virgin Interactive Entertainment Limited, which Mr. Fargo alleges is contrary to his express instructions in September 2001 to continue to seek the audit.  Mr. Fargo also references the return by the Company of $1 million to Titus Interactive S.A. without his approval.

In response to reasons given by Mr. Fargo, the Company offers the following:

Mr. Fargo has not regularly attended to his responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer of the Company for more than 4 months.  Instead, Mr. Fargo has focused his energies on attempting to secure a highly lucrative severance and separation package for himself.  The Company is investigating whether Mr. Fargo, during his 4-month absence from the Company, has improperly engaged in competition with the Company by, among other things, soliciting Company employees.  The Company is considering pursing civil actions against Mr. Fargo for breach of his duties to the Company.

As to Mr. Fargo's contention that he has been effectively removed from his ability to supervise the Company's affairs, including its legal and contractual affairs, its global corporate strategy, its development of corporate relationships and its internal and external product development, the Company contends that he could not have supervised these functions while absent from the workplace for a third of the year.  The supervision of these affairs requires regular attendance.  To the extent Mr. Fargo is not currently supervising these functions, it is as a result of his own misconduct and his failure to perform the duties and responsibilities owed by him to the Company.  Having absented himself from the Company, it is inequitable for Mr. Fargo to claim that he does not have supervisory authority over these important and necessary corporate functions.

Mr. Fargo's allegation that Virgin has refused to let the Company's auditors perform an audit is without merit. Had Mr. Fargo been attending work, he would have known that the audit is currently in progress.

The circumstances of the Company's repayment to Titus of $1 million, which is referred to in Mr. Fargo's letter as a reason for his resignation, has been publicly disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The Company agreed to sell to Titus certain distribution rights to the Company's products. Because of Titus' relationship with the Company, the transaction was conditional upon approval of the transaction by a Board committee of disinterested directors, of which Mr. Fargo was a member.  Titus advanced $1 million to the Company to be held as a good faith deposit against the purchase price pending approval of the transaction by Mr. Fargo and the other committee members.  The Board committee, however, never approved the transaction. Consequently, the agreement was terminated and the $1 million deposit was returned to Titus.

In response to Mr. Fargo's letter, the Company informed Mr. Fargo that his actions constituted violations of his employment agreement, and provided him with thirty (30) days to cure his performance defects and immediately carry out the responsibilities and duties required of him by his employment agreement. Mr. Fargo declined to return to work at the Company, and his resignation took effect on Monday, January 21, 2002.
 

-FatFan

2/6/02 Follow-up on Argonaut's Jez San

Here's a follow-up to the Jez San story:

So, Jez San gets an OBE for his "services to the games industry."  His company is probably going to say it's for excellency in games publishing and instantly re-release the entire Argonaut back catalogue.  In reality it's more than likely for his services as a
very efficient export company bringing in much needed foreign cash to Her Majesty's Government.

Looking forward to watching Jez at GDC attempt to get clueless yanks to introduce him as "Sir Jez" [1]

Rumours are that Pete Molyneux is very, very pissed off at not getting there first.
 

-FatLimey

[1] Officially it's "Mr Jez San, OBE"

2/6/02 Game Over for Fargo

January 24, 2002

Founder of Interplay, the Irvine video-game company, resigns amid financial woes and struggles with key stockholder.

Brian Fargo holstered his laser pistol, hung up his rocket helmet and elected not to continue down the multibranching maze of menace.  In other words, Fargo resigned this week as chief executive officer of Interplay, the Irvine video-game company he founded in 1984 by selling games on floppy disks wrapped in plastic baggies.

Interplay President Herve Caen declined to comment on Fargo's resignation but said Interplay would announce the appointment of a CEO within days.

Fargo said the decision to separate from the struggling company has been in the works for months.  Interplay, whose shares closed Wednesday at 50 cents each, down from their 1998 IPO price of $5.50, has lost money in 11 of the past 12 quarters.  The company has violated credit agreements with lenders, struggled to get new titles on the shelves and laid off about 25 percent of its staff, leaving 265 employees at last count.

Tensions grew over the past year between Fargo and Titus Interactive, the Paris-based video-game company that supplied the debt-ridden Interplay with cash and installed Caen as president in exchange for its investment.  Interplay is in the midst of a shift from PC-only games to games for video consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation.

Fargo spent most of last year trying to engineer a sale of Interplay.  Titus, after floating the idea of selling its shares in Interplay, decided instead to increase its stake to 51.5 percent.  That, Fargo said, "pretty much ended (the sale)."

Titus also hired Europlay 1, a turnaround firm, to help restructure Interplay, and increased its number of representatives on the company's board.

Fargo said he and Titus weren't always on the same page about plans for the company, and that contributed to his decision to resign.

"It's only when they announced their own intentions (to take control of Interplay), that I realized I can't fight the market and a shareholder with 50 percent of the shares at the same time," Fargo said.

Fargo says he won't miss the pressure of keeping Interplay above water, but he will miss the people and the games.  "We can certainly be criticized for the financial performance, but I don't think anyone can criticize our games," Fargo said.  "We continued to put out quality games, games of the year, even with all this going on."

Fargo is especially proud of the deal he forged to produce the video-game version of "The Matrix," a movie that starred Keanu Reeves.

"That product is well along, and it looks great.  I think it will end up seeing the light of day, one way or the other," Fargo said.

Other titles include Baldur's Gate, Earthworm Jim and a series of games based on "Star Trek."

Fargo isn't sure what will come next for Interplay.  There aren't any more standalone, PC-only game publishers, he said, and the transition to console games has been tough.

However, the market probably won't react to Fargo's departure, said Miguel Iribarren, a research analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.  "Fargo really hasn't been involved since Titus took over," he said.  "Realistically, I think the market was anticipating this."

Interplay's survival is an open question, Iribarren said.

"They have no money, but some good franchises," he said.  "We're kind of waiting for them to recover or completely drop out."

As for his own future, Fargo is keeping his plans under wraps for now.  "I can tell you one thing," he said. "In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back.'"

2/6/02 Folio First Day

January 16, 2002

Ziff Davis Media sidestepped bankruptcy yesterday by making its $15 million bond-interest payment after lead investor Willis Stein & Partners came to its rescue with a $16 million loan. But having gone into forbearance with its bank lenders, the tech-heavy publisher has to find its financial footing by March 15, when it must present a long-term capital structure detailing the company's future growth, according to chief financial officer and chief operating officer Bart Catalane.

Ziff Davis, now $446 million in debt, will need funding through "additional investments or further borrowings under its senior credit facility to meet its future working capital and debt service requirements," according to a company statement.  "With interest payments due every six months," said Catalane, "those are obviously big cash commitments, those are the big dates that we focus on where's the cash going to come from."

The company has hired merchant bank Greenhill & Co., LLC, to help implement a financial recapitalization to reduce the company's debt.  More than half of the company's financial burden comes from $250 million in junk bonds.  Coughing up $15 million to meet the interest payments every six months has proved too weighty for the company since the dot-com market went belly up.  The next interest installment is due on July 15.

Ziff Davis also announced the restructuring of its fiscal year to fall along calendar lines rather than beginning April 1.  This was done to align Ziff Davis with all other media companies' fiscal calendars, according to Catalane.  "It's much more reflective of how everyone else creates their budgets: agencies, advertisers, even suppliers and will
make things easier for us," he said.  CEO Bob Callahan said in a note to staffers that there will be "more changes in the organization."

Since July, the company has shuttered Family PC, Expedia Travels, and Smart Partner.  It has also folded Interactive Week into eWeek.  The company also sold its 50 percent share of Macworld to IDG.  Most importantly, majority owner Willis Stein fired former CEO Jim Dunning in mid-August and hired Callahan to replace him, starting Oct. 1.  Callahan brought on Catalane and Stephen D. Moylan as executive vice president of sales and marketing.

So which employees are next on the chopping block?  Catalane suggested that shared services are most susceptible to further cuts.  "Whether it be circ, production, IT, you name it," he said, "every one of those departments is scrutinizing the cost structures they've got even though we've locked down a budget.  They've got to even do better because right now you can't control your revenues but you can control your costs."

1/16/02 GameCube Reader Up for Grabs

Check out eBay UK.  Behind the auctions for crumpets, warm beer, and cars that develop severe electrical problems after six months is a rather "dodgy" auction. It seems an unscrupulous video game hack, possibly affiliated with GamerWeb (we're waiting for their rebuttal), has managed to "acquire" a GameCube Reader.  What's a
GameCube Reader?  Only the Debug station all the developers use to check their games.  You know, the one that plays gold discs, Japanese, and US systems.  It's not available to anyone, under the strictest of NDA agreements.  But at time of writing, the auction can be found here.

Although the packaging looks kosher, the system itself is purple, and as we all know, Readers are generally green.  Still, we're waiting to see Nintendo's crack team of bounty hunters dispatched to brutally maim the hapless chap stupid enough to sell this system.

Good luck bidding!
 

-FatInsider

1/16/02 Arise Sir San!  Argonaut's Founder Grabs an Honor

Over in Blighty, every year the Queen stops stepping on the groins of the poor long enough to repremand Prince Charles for dating a horse-faced troglodyte, and gives out special awards to people who made a real difference in their field of expertise.  And Jez San.

Jez formed Argonaut Software back in the 1980s, and has been attempting to create games ever since.  Who can forget... er... erm... Buck Bumble? Croc 2?  Harry Potter for the PlayStation?

Obviously the Stamper Brothers of Rare didn't return the Queen's calls.  All joking aside, Fatbabies congratulates Sir Jez San OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his chutzpah, and request that he now makes a game worthy of this honor.

Just for the record, the British Empire now comprises a small sheep farm off the coast of Argentina, and a large rock in southern Spain.  Anyone for tea?
 

-FatInsider

1/16/02 Interplay Insider Info

Interplay made payroll later on the day on December 31st.  It was supposed to be from 10-12pm.  They didn't tell anyone anything except that they could not give out the pay checks.  Some people packed their shit and left.  One of the directors at the company stayed around and got the ok to release the checks, but after everyone had left.

Vivendi didn't pay the last payroll, that was before XMAS.  Titus made the last one.

There was no big Interplay meeting about Neverwinter Nights, it and BioWare are an ongoing problem.  NN is still being published by Interplay but distributed by Infogrames.  Despite BioWare's claims, Interplay owns the property.  BioWare is one of the hardest studios to work with ever, but, they do make nice products--usually 1 to 2 years late.

BlackIsle's success has been BioWare, without them they are shit.  SnowBlind pulled off a good Dark Alliance--we'll see if they work with El Presidente Urqheart again.  Have they done anything internally worth a shit?... Stone Keep II?  Cancelled.  Icewind Dale is it... and is just a so so rip off of BG.

Digital Mayhem's Run Like Hell indeed has under gone problems, this project was inherited by DM (a new division 2 years ago) who's biggest mistake wasn't cancelling it on day 1 and second biggest problem was hiring "Big T" -- a producer who can't produce shit... and thinks he should make all decisions down to writing code.  No shit.  I prefer "Runs like shit"... in the last month it has been taken over by a technical person who has turned things around... too little too late?  Don't know yet.

DM's Giants title was a good acheivement of technology on the PS2.  DM not cutting it?  They've only started two titles since existence, Hunter: The Reckoning and Giants PS2.  Sure Giants PS2 was late, but a good job. Hunter is a very good project.

Several key engineers have already left which poses a problem for internal development's future.  All but 2 or 3 in DM and 2 or 3 in Black Isle are not worth a shit.

Shiny & Matrix are "fucked beyond belief".  Just imagine parallel development...this means all levels complete at the same time -- yeah right.  All I can say about Shiny is that Mr. Perry must spend a lot of time Shining someone's ass with his nose.

As for Engineers and Artists.  There are no "high salary no-talent who should have been laid off" people, unfortunately, there str a lot of medium salary people who indeed should have never been hired.  All but one or two of the top engineers are gone.

As for producers, this is Interplay's biggest problem.  There are only two or three good producers at Interplay, the rest suck and suck big... big meaning Big T Williams.  Who's biggest claim to fame is that his big spin that he puts on everything is big bull shit.

Titus is the problem at this point in time, they don't get it at all.  They don't understand where the problems are and believe the bullshit that's being told to them by some people who should not be in upper or middle management.
 

-FatBC

1/16/02 Ziff on the Cliff

The clock is ticking for financially reeling Ziff Davis Media.  On Jan. 15, the company must cough up $15 million to meet the interest payment due on $250 million in junk bonds - and right now the company doesn't have the cash on hand to meet it.

Feverish negotiations are underway between the company's principal owner, Chicago-based investment company Willis Stein & Partners, and more than 50 banks headed by principal lenders CIBC, Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown, and Fleet Bank.

"It's a deeply distressed security," said Hal Diamond, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. "It's a potential default, a potential bankruptcy."  The company already slipped into technical default in October on its $180 million revolving credit facility.

While it was meeting the monthly interest payments, it had fallen afoul of the bank covenants.  Since the company has defaulted on its bank notes, the bankers have a right to block the bond interest payment due next week.  Currently, the junk bonds are trading at about 20 to 30 cents on the dollar.

Negotiations to restructure the debt and avoid a bond payment default are now underway but nobody is predicting how it will turn out.

"We're hard at work, but it is fluid," concedes Bart Catalane, who joined as chief operating officer and chief financial officer in November, a month after former ABC and Fairchild executive Bob Callahan took over as the CEO.

Willis Stein & Partners have pledged to pump another $25 million into the company by the end of the month - if they can come to certain accords with the banks.

So far, the company believes it can avoid bankruptcy and avoid a fire sale of assets.

"The assets we have now are good assets and they work well together," said Catalane.  "It would not make sense to sell them.  Nor do we feel we have to."

But the question looms as to whether even another $25 million capital infusion will be enough. "They have more than $25 million worth of problems," said an analyst at Moody's.

"While this amount, if funded, may be sufficient for the company to meet its next interest payment, Moody's expects Ziff to need additional financing in the near term as its business continues to deteriorate," said a Moody's report issued in late December.

The company, which publishes PC Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life and a score of computer gaming magazines, was once one of the most high-flying in the media world when it was owned by William Ziff Jr. and family.

The Ziff family sold to financier Teddy Forstmann in the mid-1990s.  Fortsmann kept it for a year, then sold it to Japan's Softbank for more than $2 billion.

Softbank ultimately sold the magazines at a loss to Willis Stein - but what looked like a rock-bottom price of $780 million in April 2000 now looks like a tremendous overpayment in light of the high-tech meltdown.

As the hi-tech market unraveled and the Internet bubble burst, so too did the companies [sic] fortunes.

James Dunning had made millions for Willis Stein in past deals but as the Ziff situation unraveled, Dunning was unceremoniously fired as CEO in August.

Now he and Willis Stein partner Avy Stein are involved in a bitter court fight.  Stein is claiming Dunning did not perform and squandered a fortune on extravagant expenses such as an outdoor cigar verandah, two company cars and jobs for his girlfriend.  Dunning says the company owes him millions in severance and performance money and is alleging everything from libel to age discrimination.

1/2/02 PS2 Holds Slight Edge in Sales Over Xbox

Technology: Report finds Sony has been better able to meet demand than rivals Microsoft and Nintendo.

Sony Corp.'s year-old PlayStation 2 is leading the multibillion-dollar video game console race, followed closely by Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Nintendo Co.'s GameCube, according to a report released Monday by Credit Suisse First Boston.

Sony sold 962,000 PlayStation 2 consoles between Nov. 11 and Dec. 8, according to CSFB estimates based on figures compiled by research firm NPDFunworld. Microsoft, which launched Xbox on Nov. 15, sold 934,000 consoles. The GameCube, introduced Nov. 18, sold 602,000.
 

Read the rest of the story here.

1/2/02 Piracy Groups Walk the Plank

Law enforcement officials around the world carried out a series of dramatic actions around the world on several weeks ago in an effort to curb software piracy.  The three operations, codenamed Operation Buccaneer, Operation Bandwidth, and Operation Digital Piratez succeded in executing nearly 100 search warrants, an untold number of arrests, and the seizure of a large number of computers from various businesses, residences, and colleges.  A group going by the name of "DrinkOrDie" is reported to be the hardest hit, its most senior staff and computer systems having been taken away.  Other larger pirate organizations are also named, but it is unclear how they have been affected by Tuesdays events.  The official Department of Justice press release can be read here.  Yahoo! coverage of just Operation Buccaneer can be read here, it includes a video.

A quick glance at a well known forum frequented by pirates gives a picture of mixed reactions from members of this underground scene.  While some are heralding these operations as the end of software piracy, others are claiming that it is simply going to cause pirate groups to go further underground.  In general, most in the forum agreed that the action would have a major impact on internet software piracy for some time to come.
 
 

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