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Carl Freer: "I'm going to resurrect Gizmondo" -- indeed he is
We've been in contact with Hans Sandberg, the Swedish journalist who quoted Carl Freer saying unequivocally, "I'm going to resurrect Gizmondo." This, plus yesterday's teaser, is the source of the Gizmondo mongering lighting up the Intertubes yesterday. Fortunately, all the important bits from Hans' interview are now translated from Swedish into English for some good ol' fashioned global scrutiny. As unthinkable as the proposition might sound, we bring you the highlights for your morning amusement and trepidation: Carl believes there is a still a market for Gizmondo and is "ashamed" of his failure -- he hopes the resurrection can pay back early investors Florida-based Tiger Telematics will formally own the new Gizmondo Gizmondo v2 could be up and running by May 2008 -- by Christmas 2008 we'll see "a more advanced version with widescreen" 35 titles will be available at launch, 6 are new, more on the way An "easy to use program" will allow kids to create games, save them to SD, and play them on their Gizmondo Price: $99, possibly free if Carl can work a deal with a cellular provider Unfortunately, he doesn't offer any explanation of the "exciting psychic worlds" in this interview snippet Our personal favorite has to be this, though. Carl says he has a deal in place with a Chinese company in Shenzhen which will manufacture the device "on credit" on condition that they will be the sole reseller in China. Oh, that sounds like a deal alright.Update: Plextek, the original Gizmondo device developer, have confirmed to Eurogamer that they will indeed be building the resurrected Gizmondo. Stefan Eriksson is currently not involved, Freer is. You know what this means... Gizmondo lives!
Eriksson case ends in mistrial; jurors likely bribed with Gizmondos
In yet another sign that maybe this whole "trial by jury" thing isn't all it's cracked up to be, jurors in the grand theft auto case against former Gizmondo Europe director and current jailbird Bo Stefan Eriksson were unable to come to a unanimous decision regarding his guilt or, ahem, innocence, resulting in a mistrial. Although ten members of the Los Angeles panel felt that Eriksson did indeed steal a Ferrari and a Mercedes imported from England, two of the jurors apparently bought the defense's rather lame excuse that the one-time mobster only stopped making payments because his sham of a company finally disintegrated. Luckily for fans of justice and fast cars, prosecutors have already stated that they are planning to retry Eriksson for the same crimes, not to mention the weapons charges that the slippery Swede still has hanging over his head. At this point it's not clear why those two jurors chose to remain so steadfast in their convictions, although it's somewhat telling that they were spotted skipping around the courthouse halls after the trial was over, clutching unsold Gizmondos in one hand and hundreds of shares of nearly worthless Xero Mobile stock in the other.[Via BoingBoing]
Eriksson rejects plea offer, goes on trial for multiple counts of shadiness
Notorious mobster, party animal, exotic automobile enthusiast, and failed gaming executive Bo Stefan Eriksson is finally being exposed to the harsh lights of a Los Angeles courtroom today, after rejecting a plea bargain on Monday due to the fact that "I cannot agree that I stole the car because I didn't." The car that Eriksson was referring to is the famous million dollar Ferrari Enzo that he drunkenly crashed along a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway earlier this year, which authorities later learned was among several leased vehicles that the former Gizmondo director had exported from Europe and stopped paying for in late 2005. Eriksson also faces a charge of illegal weapons possession, and if convicted on all counts, could spend the next eleven years in prison -- a familiar setting for the thug-turned-businessman. Prosecutors are still hoping that Eriksson's imaginary friend Dietrich will return to the States to testify, but sources close to the matter say that the German playboy has reportedly taken permanent asylum on the island of Atlantis, where he's been managing a unicorn farm co-owned by Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Gizmondo chief finally arrested for being too shady
We shamelessly ripped this headline verbatim from the subject of reader Dave M's tip, because, well, it's just so perfect, isn't it? Specifically, former Tiger Telematics Europe executive and drunk driving enthusiast Stefan Eriksson was arrested at his Bel-Air residence on Saturday, booked on suspicion of grand theft, and is currently enjoying decidedly less-luxurious surroundings, as the Sheriff's Department is wisely holding the slippery Swede without bail. It's not immediately clear whether the theft charge is related to Eriksson's destruction of that million dollar Ferrari Enzo in February (pictured in cake, above), but since we'd already heard that a Scottish bank may be the rightful owners of the mangled supercar, we wouldn't be surprised if the former videogame exec is guilty of playing a little real life GTA along with his favorite DUI. Meanwhile, Eriksson's imaginary friend and supposed co-conspirator, "Dietrich," remains at large.[Thanks, Dave M]
Tough times for Tiger Telematics; filing for bankruptcy in UK
The video game world has been rocked by the news that one of the true giants of the industry has filed for bankruptcy protection in the UK, their homeland. At least that's the way Tiger Telematics would prefer the headline to read; in fact it reads something closer to this: comically ugly video game console hemorrhages money, almost kills company.The bankruptcy filing surfaced today in an explanation to the SEC regarding plans for their US operations. While Gizmondo Europe "made a reduction in payroll of approximately 50% of monthly staff costs during the week prior to the court application," operations elsewhere continue unabated. "The action does not affect any other subsidiary of the Company including its United States operations and sales under Gizmondo USA Inc."Does this mean the tens of fans clamoring for the widescreen version will be disappointed?[Via Engadget]
