We've not really talked about the bizarre trail of detritus that followed from the handheld Gizmondo's mysterious disappearance late last year because it's all seemed way too weird to be real. The plot reads like a made-for-TV daytime serial, with mob bosses, explosive car crashes, stolen vehicles and multi-million dollar scams. Thankfully, GameRevolution has summarised the important issues here. In brief:
Gizmondo is set up by the Swedish mob in order to swindle investors out of buckets of dough. A Gizmondo store opens up on Regent Street. A whole load of financial wranglings deeply pads the pockets of the top brass, including mob-connected executive Stefan Eriksson. Gizmondo costs an investment company a profound amount of money ($320 million between 09/04 and 09/05) and goes belly-up. The Regent Street store disappears. Eriksson crashes his limited edition Ferrari Enzo on the Pacific Coast Highway, blames it on a fictional person called "Dietrich", is "rescued" by a couple of people claiming to be from US Homeland Security (but in fact are from a transit service based in a shop called "Homer's Auto Service") and disappears before the authorities realise that the Mercedes he usually drives is listed on Scotland Yar's stolen cars list.
And there are guns in this story too.
For more detailed information, head to Game Revolution for a handy overview, to the LA Times for information on the link between Homeland Security and Homer's Auto Service, Kotaku for extensive coverage throughout this whole ordeal, and even more from Gamesindustry.biz.
You can also see what we thought about the Gizmondo ore-controversy here.
Thanks Ben!
