| rdfs:comment | - Joystiq's Gamespot-Gerstmann coverage Tom and Molly finally comment on Jeff Gerstmann’s termination. The firing of GameSpot’s editorial director following an unflattering review of a game, and the fact that the video review for that game was subsequently pulled from GameSpot’s website, drew criticism and speculation. CNET Networks, Gamespot’s parent company, seemed slow to comment on the event, which drew more speculation. Tom says, “But we have seen a statement from CNET, and we have been told internally, frankly, that CNET will never dismiss someone because of outside advertiser pressure.” Molly and Tom seem cautiously optimistic that the company did not act improperly. Molly concludes, “I do have faith that my company is working to make sure we get it right in the end.”
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| abstract | - Joystiq's Gamespot-Gerstmann coverage Tom and Molly finally comment on Jeff Gerstmann’s termination. The firing of GameSpot’s editorial director following an unflattering review of a game, and the fact that the video review for that game was subsequently pulled from GameSpot’s website, drew criticism and speculation. CNET Networks, Gamespot’s parent company, seemed slow to comment on the event, which drew more speculation. Tom says, “But we have seen a statement from CNET, and we have been told internally, frankly, that CNET will never dismiss someone because of outside advertiser pressure.” Molly and Tom seem cautiously optimistic that the company did not act improperly. Molly concludes, “I do have faith that my company is working to make sure we get it right in the end.” Video game giants in $18 billion merger A new company, Activision Blizzard, will combine Activision, the publisher of Call of Duty, the Tony Hawk series, and Guitar Hero, and Blizzard, the developer of World of Warcraft and Starcraft. Activision will invest $1 billion and Blizzard, which is owned by Vivendi, will invest $2 billion. Roll over, Beethoven: Deutsche Grammophon ditches DRM Classical music distributer Deutsche Grammophon, a Universal subsidiary, has set up a DRM-free online shop that is selling 320kbps mp3’s. Due to the extended length of many classical music tracks, the shop will charge variable prices for its music based on track length. Also, Amazon hopes to give away 1 billion mp3’s during the Super Bowl, and Wal-Mart is requiring Warner and Sony BMG be DRM-free next year. Amazon and Wal-Mart unwittingly team up against DRM Sony is thinking about letting people have its music in mp3 format. Since EMI and Universal have already done this, it means that Warner is the only one still not considering the DRM-free path. Wal-Mart says it will quit offering song files that are not also available in mp3 format. Wal-Mart is also set to buy 3 million copies of the Eagle’s album “up front.” Coca-Cola puts its Facebook participation on hold; Overstock and Travelocity as well Coca-Cola, Overstock, and Travelocity are changing their minds about being involved with Facebook’s Beacon advertising program, after the “opt-out” fiasco. Beacon is Facebook’s advertising program that tells your friends what you have bought. The program became infamous when people found they had been automatically included in the program. Coca-Cola, as it turns out, wasn’t involved with Beacon from the beginning, so is now just thinking about participating. Overstock and Travelocity are not currently using the Beacon program. News Corp./Fox close to deal with Apple for iTunes movies: Report Twentieth Century Fox might allow their movies on iTunes, but only if Apple will give them more money. NBC content gets removed from iTunes All of NBC’s content is now gone from iTunes. NBC Direct, Hulu (although still in beta), and the old-fashioned TV are now the only options for watching NBC shows. AT&T steps away from the phone booth AT&T will no longer operate pay phones, though the phones will probably still be there, kept in service by independent operators. Pay phones in New York have earned more revenue from ads than from calls since 2001. Google crowdsources malicious Web site detection to combat search poisoning Google wants people to help get rid of malware sites. Google will provide a report form that will allow people to report malware and phishing sites. Google will investigate reported sites and add them to a database if they are malicious.
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