Microsoft has sacked games tester Robert Delaware for speaking publicly about Xbox 360 hardware failures.
Delaware's comments were published in an article by Dean Takahashi on Venturebeat last week. Now, reports Takahashi, the whistleblower has been fired for breaching his confidentiality agreement.
Delaware has been told he's likely to end up in court over the whole thing, but he has no regrets.
"I don't regret it," he told Takahashi. "I'll fight it. If they want to come after me, bring it on."
The now-ex-Microsoft employee reported he learned about problems with the Xbox 360 hardware while working for VMC, which tests games for Microsoft. According to Takahashi, he saw how "Xbox Live updates embedded in retail games could turn working consoles into worthless hulks". Delaware later went on to test games for Bungie.
Source:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-fires-whistleblowing-employee_7
Electronic Arts has revealed in its Q4 2008 fiscal numbers that game sales for Sony platforms far outweighed its rivals across the three months, with the PlayStation 2 leading the way on 166 million units, followed by the PlayStation 3 on 152 million.
The Xbox 360 managed 128 million units by comparison, with the Wii a relatively meagre 75 million units - meaning that both Sony console platforms combined accounted for 61 per cent of all EA console titles sold.
In terms of year-on-year sales the PS3 numbers almost tripled, showing growth from Q4 2007 of 192 per cent, while the Wii's numbers doubled, the Xbox 360 added 56 per cent and the PS2 added 42 per cent.
Additionally, the PlayStation Portable was responsible for the largest number of portable units sold - 69 million games in total gave it a 47 per cent share, while mobile phone titles accounted for 28 per cent and the Nintendo DS for the remaining 25 per cent.
PSP title sales grew by 77 per cent year-on-year, outpacing the DS on 33 per cent and mobile titles on 14 per cent.
Meanwhile PC game sales slowed by 11 per cent year on year, selling 114 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Source:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-platforms-dominated-ea-fiscal-q4-2008-sales
