Gizmondo -- Engadget

gizmondo posts

Former Gizmondo exec Stefan Eriksson gets 1.5 year sentence, movie might now have ending

by Ross Miller posted Jul 11th 2009 at 2:45PM

Will this be the final chapter in the infamous and incredibly entertaining tale of former Gizmondo head Bo Stefan "Fiery Ferrari Crasher" Eriksson? Doubtful, but with any luck it'll serve as a decent thread to wrap up that optioned movie on his life. An Uppsala, Sweden District Court has sentenced the man to 1.5 years in prison for his most recent round of escapades, which include illegal threats, attempted blackmail, and robbery. Assuming he starts jail fairly soon, mark your calendars and place your bets, we're expecting a whole new slew of comical misdeeds to hit the news feeds by March 2011 -- and no, we still don't think a new Gizmondo will be out by then.

[Thanks, piraya]

Ferrari splitting ex-Gizmondo exec Stefan Eriksson's tale optioned for a movie

by Ross Miller posted Apr 30th 2009 at 9:16PM

At last, former Gizmondo head honcho Bo Stefan Eriksson's story is finally going to be told on film -- or rather, the one told in Wired will be. Writer-director Craig Zobel and producer Beau Flynn have optioned the rights to create a movie based on the publication's October 2006 article "Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up" by Randall Sullivan, which chronicles the build up to his infamous car crash. Flynn's production company Contrafilm will be backing the project, and should the movie actually make it to theaters and be successful, we suspect there'll be plenty of material for a sequel.

[Via Gizmodo]

Read - Film optioned
Read - Original Wired article

Former Gizmondo chief Stefan Eriksson lands back in jail, in Sweden

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 5:34PM

While there's been no shortage of fresh Gizmondo rumors over the past year or so, we haven't heard much of anything about former bigwig Stefan Eriksson, who's known as much for a little car crash as he is for the company he helped bring into infamy. That looks to have changed in a big way this week, however, as Herr Eriksson has now landed back in jail in Sweden, where he's facing a whole slew of new, very serious charges, including extortion, aggravated assault, grand theft, embezzlement, and a firearms violation. No word on a new trial date or anything just yet, but it looks like Eriksson won't be resting easy anytime soon, as a district judge has granted a request to keep him in jail pending an investigation.

[Thanks, JC]

Surprise! No new Gizmondo for 2008

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Dec 20th 2008 at 11:31AM

A mere two-plus months since we were let in on plans for a Gizmondo app store, our favorite (well, second favorite) character in this epic tale of doomed handheld game systems and fiery car wrecks is back with yet another chapter, this one in the form of a Socratic dialog between Carl Freer and journalist Hans Sandberg. Apparently, the global economic downturn has made otherwise cautious investors even more cautious, prompting Freer & Co. to comb the streets of Shenzhen's Special Economic Zone in search of a new manufacturer -- a move which further complicated things by necessitating a major hardware redesign. The goal? Nothing less than a truly renegade, "truly wireless pocket PC, one that also happens to have a gaming engine," with current plans calling for both a Windows CE and an Android version. The present status of this tragic farce? No new Gizmondos for 2008, we're afraid. But we're guessing that you weren't really holding your breath anyways.

Carl Freer dishes out new Gizmondo tidbits

by Donald Melanson posted Sep 29th 2008 at 1:31PM

It's been a little while since we've heard from the normally very talkative Carl Freer, but the chief Gizmondo booster has now finally returned with a few new tidbits of information about the gaming handheld, which we know you've all been patiently waiting for. Most interestingly, but not surprisingly, Freer made no mention of that supposed end of 2008 release date, with him instead saying that the company plans to release the handheld's full spec list by the end of October, and that they plan to have "volume availability" of the handled by the second quarter of 2009 -- in Europe, at least. In other news, he also confirmed that the device would boast an improved camera, and that they're even planning their "own version of the Apple App Store," which would seem to be a must considering that they're apparently also going to be relying exclusively on indie developers this time around.

Media Power CEO shows off new Android-based Gizmondo, looks just like old Gizmondo

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 11th 2008 at 9:10AM

Media Power CEO shows off new Gizmondo, looks just like old Gizmondo

The long-rumored resurrection of Gizmondo from the ashes of Stefan Eriksson's bisected Ferrari Enzo is near. Near, that is, if you believe Rich Jenkins, CEO of Media Power, the company behind this rebirth. Jenkins recently showed Swedish journalist Hans Sandberg a box full of pre-production gaming handhelds, all looking suspiciously like old, decidedly post-production units. According to Jenkins the changes are all internal, consisting of new graphics hardware from nVidia and an uprated battery (to be offered as a free upgrade to scorned owners of the original). Pricing is still undetermined but Android is confirmed; owners will have to choose either Google's new hotness or Microsoft's decidedly more tepid Windows CE, but can't have both -- unless they buy two. Release is still set for the end of this year via a "really cool website" hitting the intertubes next month.

Gizmondo taking Android for a ride?

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 8th 2008 at 4:06AM

Like a fiery car crash across the center divide, we just can't divert our attention from the antics of Gizmondo. Gizmondoforums, the self-described "home of the Gizmondo fanbase" (really, they have enough fans to create a base?) is carrying this quote from Rich Jenkins, who along with Carl Freer co-founded Media Power, the company now in charge of Gizmondo:

"We are excited about the potential of Android and have been working on an Android version of the Giz...Android would be a TERRIFIC addition to the Gizmondo and enable a TON of open source development."

Originally, the Gizmondo 2.0 gaming console was ~~expected~~ said to be WinCE 6-based and scheduled for an end of 2008 release. While this Android talk makes it all a bit more interesting, it certainly doesn't make it any more likely to happen.

Pharrell seeks N.E.R.D.vana with Gizmondo Enzo Tee

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 6th 2008 at 2:22AM

Look Pharrell, just because you've Yin'd Stefan Eriksson's crashed Enzo onto your Tee doesn't mean your own Enzo won't get Yang'd. Dietrich is out there, somewhere.

Carl Freer dishes dirt on the new Gizmondo

by Joshua Topolsky posted May 9th 2008 at 8:54PM

If you were starting to get worried that the new Gizmondo device would never see the light of day, fear not! According to an interview with Carl Freer, the company is hard at work on its next handheld, which he claims will feature a number of improvements on the previous, practically perfect iteration. First up, the new system will be built atop Windows CE 6 (which Freer claims has lots of "new goodies"), utilizes a separate graphics chip, will be an open platform with a readily available SDK, and can grab content form a web portal (Gizmondo.com, likely). Most interesting of all, however, is that Freer says the old Gizmondo units will be returning to store shelves. All of this magic is said to be happening by the end of the year -- though since we're nearly half-way through it, Carl and co. have a pretty small window. This is where the "exciting psychic worlds" come into play, right?

[Thanks, Trevor]

Carl Freer updates Gizmondo's status: delayed already

by Donald Melanson posted Feb 19th 2008 at 10:52AM

Brace yourself Gizmondo fans, for it seems that not all of Carl Freer's recent prognostications about the resurrection of the ill-fated handheld are exactly coming to pass. While he apparently is still intent on bringing the handheld back from the dead, he now tells Swedish journalist Hans Sandberg that he was being "too optimistic" with the stated May 2008 launch date, and that it should now be available "by the end of 2008." That deal with Plextek to build the new device apparently is still in place, however, and Freer's "co-pilot" in this latest endeavor, Mikael Ljungman, is reportedly on his way to China this week to check out the manufacturing operations. Needless to say, we'll be keeping you posted on any future developments, or future delays.

Carl Freer: "I'm going to resurrect Gizmondo" -- indeed he is

by Thomas Ricker posted Jan 24th 2008 at 9:25AM

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!

Gizmondo to rise again in 2008?

by Thomas Ricker posted Jan 23rd 2008 at 7:29AM

Oh cruel, cruel word... is it true? A teaser site for Gizmondo just appeared in the fetid bowels of the Internets boasting that the "legend is reborn." A cruel hoax or has Stefan Eriksson, freshly sprung from the clink, really teamed up with former accomplice Carl Freer in a bid to resurrect Gizmondo as the Swedish press claims? If true, the service is set for a Christmas 2008 launch with the promise of a "Gizmondo Live Marketplace" presumably chock-full of open source games running on a supposed $100 device. Will it really "democratize gaming?" Hardly. No worries though, we'll be too busy checking out the "exciting psychic worlds" to notice.

Update: Ha, Gizmondo spared no expense with the teaser -- it's all yours for just $66 bucks over at TemplateMonster.

[Thanks, Olof and Jon R.]

Read -- [Warning: Swedish]
Read -- Teaser site

"Dietrich" sentenced to jail for Gizmondo crash

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 18th 2007 at 11:42AM

Trevor Michael Karney – aka, The Elusive Dietrich – has been sentenced to jail by an LA judge for misleading police in the 162MPH crash of that $1.5 million Gizmondo Ferrari Enzo. Besides lying to police about his involvement as a passenger, the 27-year old German playboy also fled to Ireland before sneaking back into the US through the Mexican border in search of some tasty bud and cool waves. The sentence? 30 days, which roughly translates to a punishment of tickling by virgins until the onset of bellyache by the time the appeals process is through.

Gizmondo units available on the cheap

by Donald Melanson posted Feb 8th 2007 at 6:55PM

It looks like those trying to round out their collection of handheld video game systems now have a decent chance at picking up one of the more infamous entries in the class relatively cheaply, with a lot of 15 Gizmondo units recently turning up on eBay and bidding not exactly going through the roof. While original games for the handheld are few and far between, you should still be able to put its built-in camera and PMP functions to good use, not to mention load it up with any number of the "homebrew" games available for the system. We wouldn't worry too much if you're not lucky enough to score one this time around though, with these likely only a sign of future cut-rate systems to come.

[Thanks, John W]

Justice FTW: Eriksson pleads guilty, gets three years and a one-way plane ticket

by Evan Blass posted Nov 8th 2006 at 1:08PM

As much as we're going to miss covering the entertaining side show that has been the life of Bo Stefan Eriksson for the last nine months, we're relieved that the former Gizmondo Europe director has finally admitted some culpability in this strange saga -- and that he'll soon be forced to leave the country and become someone else's problem. After a Los Angeles jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in Eriksson's grand theft auto case last week -- resulting in a mistrial -- the imaginary friend-loving Swede apparently decided that a retrial coupled with the separate weapons charges would be too much to bear, and ended up receiving a pretty sweet deal from prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of embezzlement and one count of illegal gun possession, the one-time mobster weaseled his way out of an auto theft charge and ended up receiving a three-year sentence plus three years of probation -- but because of the time he's already served as well as "other allowances," he should be free in about a year. Once he gives up his orange jumpsuit, Eriksson faces immediate deportation from the US, although his lawyer has stated that the now house-less and car-less felon was planning to leave anyway (expect us to be liveblogging his bon voyage party). The only matter that has yet to be settled is how much loot will have to be paid to the British banks who repo'd Eriksson's Mercedes and non-crumpled Ferrari, so after December 7th, ol' Stefan will be lucky to have enough money in his commissary account to afford a package of Twinkies.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]