According to the translation from a Swedish radio Web site, Eriksson is looking at 1.5 years in the pen. Some of the charges against him were dismissed, but enough stuck to make a judge seize his passport to keep him from fleeing while the sentence is affirmed. Gizmondo's history as a short-lived $400 handheld, which crashed in its parent company's bankruptcy, has the added ignominy of being overshadowed by the man who killed it - Eriksson - whose wrecking of an illegally imported Ferrari Enzo back in 2006 is far more interesting than any of the 10 titles released for the platform.

Of course, Eriksson is such a charming rogue there's been discussion of his story, and Gizmondo's, heading to the big screen after a Wired piece on the fiasco was optioned. Prosecutors aren't calling the verdict a complete success, but Eriksson thinks the 18 months are "very strict," and his lawyer-mans is mum on word of an appeal.

Prison for Eriksson [Sveriges Radio P4 Uppland, via Engadget]

Of course, one of the most interesting characters attached to the drama that was the Gizmondo is Swedish businessman Bo Stefan Eriksson. He's probably best known for destroying a Ferrari Enzo, one that was illegally imported, worth one million dollars. But he's also known for blowing through $300 million in Gizmondo capital with his hardware launching cohorts, being arrested on grand theft auto charges, and having an alleged organized crime past.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that writer-director Craig Zobel and producer Beau Flynn have optioned Eriksson and Gizmondo's story, hoping to put the tale of the failed handheld in front of a lens. They've optioned the 2006 Wired story "Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up" for a potential movie.

Yes, that's potential. Just because the rights to that Wired piece have been optioned doesn't mean that a movie will ultimately be made about Eriksson and crew.

Still, it could make for very interesting cinema, if done right. And that means not showing any Gizmondo in-game footage during the film.

Con man's story a real 'Crack-up' [The Hollywood Reporter via Gizmodo] [Image Credit]

Originally planned for release this month, the second Gizmondo handheld now won't be out til next year. If it ever comes out at all. Thanks to the bum financial situation the world finds itself in, most of the company's investors have backed out, leading founder Carl Freer to totally reinvent the device.

It'll still be built around either Windows CE or Google's Android, as first planned, though instead of being a pure gaming device, it'll now launch as a smartphone/gaming device combo. A next-gen N-Gage, if you will.

Best of luck, Carl.

Yes Dear, There Will Be a Gizmondo, Just Not This Year... And It Will Be Different [The Nordic Link, via Gizmodo]

The first Gizmondo was.. not very successful, but the new device - with its NVIDIA graphics and the option of either Windows CE or Google's Android as an OS is sure to be a winner, right?

A games handheld running Android could be a goer - there should be plenty of decent Android ports of around soon, but when was the last time you went out of your way to play a game on Windows CE? Can you even name 3 games that run on that platform?

Gizmondo 2 Is Here - Sales Start In November/December [The Nordic Link via MCV]

He explained that since the platform "could never compete with Sony or Nintendo in content," they planned to take a completely open source approach instead, promoting software development from within universities. He also added, "If we do well, our roadmap entails expanding the hardware and supporting full telephony." For the full story, make sure to catch our liveblog of the event.

Currently waiting for things to get started. The event, part of GA Tech's GVU Center Brown Bag Lecture series. GVU stands for Graphics, Visualization and Usability.

YAY! Administrative announcements. Turn off your cell phones, clean up your trash. etc.

Blair, the man introducing Carl comes out waving around a Gizmondo. He's been using it for research for two years. He invited Carl to the school upon hearing about the rebirth of the handheld.

Carl takes the podium, looking fit! Starts with a survey. "How many of you have Googled Carl Freer? " Laughter. "How many of you believe what you read?" Bigger laughter.

"Gizmodo is, in my opinion, the first multi-function handheld device." Um, okay! Adding gaming to the system was originally simply a way to drive sales of the device.

"From my point of view the product didn't fail - the company failed."

He calls himself a living example of what you shouldn't do. Really? Never!

Question from the audience - Will the Gizmondo change from the original version?

"We decided that we wanted to get the product out on the market quickly, and the spec of the current Gizmondo is good enough."

They'd like to incorporate new tech, but the time to market would be extended by a year.

Gizmondo will be the same except for an upgrade to the NVIDIA graphics chip.

Next year they are working with NVIDIA to completely restructure the PCB. Development is already started.

"We could never compete with Sony or Nintendo in content."

Freer is going over the benefits of the product being open source.

Freer's sons are here. His 12-year-old asked to come watch his dad make a fool of himself. Oh those kids.

Part of the strategy of Gizmondo is creating a platform that people can use to create their own games.

They want to create centers of development throughout technical university campus, offering hardware and such for free in order to foster creativity and growth.

They'll be hitting the blogs and forums pretty hard with the information about developing as the Gizmondo. Oh yay!

One of the reasons the company failed he said is long lead times for components. Retailers won't prepay, so they couldn't keep up financially with manufacturing.

They have a new manufacturing with a Chinese company that will let them pay as they receive the product, allowing them to get paid for the units immediately.

We're going to start selling the Gizmondo online before retail.

They've been talking to companies like Barnes & Nobles about carrying the product for use as a book reading device for young children.

They're not going to be spending $10-$15 million on EA to secure their new titles. He says he spent way too much on securing games. He spent $15 million on three EA games, not including development costs. Damn!

They will be focusing on areas of development that are less competitive. He mentions the PSP. "We feel that the Gizmondo...can be used in areas the PSP cannot."

"I'm taking a step back. I'm putting the product out there and letting you guys handle development."

The SDK will be completely free. Hail SDK!

He claims keeping the original Gizmondo closed source was a fatal mistake.

He says the Gizmondo started as an anti-theft device for cars. Freer was a car dealer at one point...go figure...who had a bunch of cars stolen. The device was a GPS / GSM tracker. Then, due to a series of child abductions in England the focus shifted to being a child tracker.

In 1997 Freer was named the Swedish entrepreneur of the year. "The press forgot about that." Whoops.

Now he's moved on to the main talk, tips about getting your own ideas into the open market.

"I think it's key to find and understand your limitations."

His first point - Empower your audience - make sure they can understand what you are creating. Have a hook that grabs their attention.

Create compelling experiences. Slowly sinking into the less interesting bits of his talk.

Now he's showing a CGI ad for the Gizmondo to illustrate creating a compelling experience. The good old bumblebee video.

They tried to make Gizmondo look bigger than they actually where. Sometimes you have to embelish things, but being ethical and honest is very important.

Again, the man said, "Being ethical and honest is very important."

Now he's showing a video for his streaming mobile video company, featuring music by The Cardigans.

Look at the market. "If you feel like it's half-done, it's probably 75% done."

"I've had 13 startups, 9 have been alright, the rest have not. I've learned more from the failure."

Blowfish Works...a mobile video player you download to your phone..is launching next month. Over 1.2 million people have signed up for the service before launch. They'll be launching on Facebook a week before the main launch. Exciting. Gaming important? Nope. Moving on.

Could the Gizmondo integrate a phone? Version one will not.
Version 2 will have the ability to process sound and voice telephony.
"I would be very happy if the Gizmondo remains an entertainment device."
He doesn't want to deal with the VOIP issues.

The current Gizmondo will have a lifespan of 3 years.

"If we do well our roadmap entails expanding the hardware and supporting full telephony."

When the company went bankrupt Freer was hit with a gag order, not allowed to talk to the press. The fact that he couldn't defend Stefan Eriksson . "You can take the gangster out of the ghetto but can't take the ghetto out of the gangster." Ouch.

The facts of the failure. Yes there were high salaries - "Which by the way were market rate..."
Carl himself didn't draw a salary.

Apparently they had talks with some big companies about acquisitions.

He couldn't defend himself. On Eriksson's famous car accident - "I was sleeping, but I felt like I was sitting on the front end of the car when it happened."

Freer learned the lesson of guilt by association in regards to working with Erikkson. "When you're in the public light you have to find alternatives."

The definitive reasons the Gizmondo failed - We were public too early so we were victims of day trading. The second failing was not opening the device to open source. The third was spending big bucks for EA. The fourth was a far too rich renumeration policy. Make sure you have the money before hand - don't expect you'll gather capital as you go along.

Now he's talking about marketing, and just like when I went to college, I am starting to doze off. What a lovely, nostalgic feeling!

And now it's done! There you have it folks. The Gizmondo marches on with Freer banking on it's varied functionality and open-source nature to get it into consumer's hands, with another version already in the works. Good luck, Carl!

Report: Gizmondo delayed until end of 2008 [GameSpot]

"There are a few things to do, and it will be a while before that happens," Murphy continued. "But yes, the product has been recovered from the liquidators and we are bringing it back to market."

Gizmondo is coming back - it's official [Eurogamer]

They rumor smash the whole scenario, from bullshit quotes from former execs to poor Swedish sources to theories that the site is the work of a prankster. There's not much in the way of hard evidence, but we genuinely hope that no one sinks their money into such a poorly considered venture.

Gizmondo Is Dead, Dead, Dead. DEAD and Not Coming Back [Gizmodo]

Ferrari Swede released from jail [The Local via Jalopnik]

"Dietrich", according to a report from the LA Times, is actually Trevor Michael Karney, now in custody on charges of drunk driving, resisting arrest and providing false information to a police officer.

Karney allegedly backed up Eriksson's claim that the then-Gizmondo employee was not driving the car, but that someone else who fled the scene after the accident was responsible for destroying the million dollar ride. Police found that Karney was actually filming Eriksson shattering the speed limit with a video camera when the Swede cleaved his Enzo in two with a sharp telephone pole.

Confused? Just read our archived Gizmondo coverage. The gross majority of it will provide helpful backstory on this extremely weird situation.

Police say man is mysterious 'Dietrich' in Ferrari crash [LA Times]

Well, it's late December, and that means bring on the year end look-backs. From flying Wii-motes and Halo Hollywood pull-outs to crashing Enzos and Microsoft non-exclusive, game site Next-Gen has a look at all the muck-ups and fuck-ups. And this year's biggest loser? Well, we'll leave that to you to hash out in the comments section. Brian Ashcraft

Mistakes of 2006 [Next-Gen]

It's been a wild ride, but it's over. Former Gizmondo don and career thug, Swedish born Bo "Fat" Stefan Eriksson has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years after pleading guilty to embezzlement and drunken driving chargers. Eriksson's California mansion has been seized and once he serves his time, Bo will be deported. What caused the plea? The Swede's attorney says:

Essentially, it was what Stefan wanted to do. Stefan believes he can be successful in the future. He wanted to move on and ultimately be out of jail in a year.

And hopefully never ever return to the gaming industry again. Brian Ashcraft

Bo Gets Jail Time [Yahoo, Thanks G.P.!]

Eriksson is no stranger to prison, having served a 10 year sentence for conspiracy to pass counterfeit currency and attempted fraud, but his lawyer said he "wasn't disappointed with the outcome." No shit?

Fortunately for burned Gizmondo owners and those who suffered in the wake of the company's collapse, Eriksson is not quite off the hook yet. He still faces gun possession charges and additional court time.

Come on, legal system. Hasn't this man suffered enough? Think of the unemployed Swedish call girls he could be supporting! Michael McWhertor

Mistrial Declared in Tech Kingpin's Ferrari Crash Case [ABC News]

Car-lovin' sister site Jalopnik sends an update on the Gizmondo craziness. Former company honcho and Swedish gangster Fat Stefan Eriksson has rejected his plea deal. If Eriksson, whose real first name is "Bo," had accepted this deal and pleaded "no contest" to four counts, he would've been hit with a two year, four month sentence and a US $25,000 fine. There's more, including admitting previous felony conduct.

But, "Bo" said "no."

Now, the mafioso businessman is looking down an 11 year sentence for two counts of theft, two counts of embezzlement and two counts of driving under the influence. Too bad they can't nail him for that junk gaming portable. Brian Ashcraft

Bo Says "No" [Jalopnik]

This article is straight-up fantastic From Wired comes the sordid tale of Stefan Eriksson, the man we know as the Ferrari-crashing hoodlum responsible for the failed Gizmondo handheld console, but his story goes so much deeper than that.

Eriksson started his criminal career as a roly-poly teenager known as Tjock-Steffe (Fat Steve). He was suspected of small but clever crimes and received his first prison term at age 19 for robbing a bank van. Released after serving a short sentence, Tjock-Steffe rapidly transformed himself into a heavily muscled young man through anabolic steroids and karate lessons.

I knew virtually nothing about the Gizmondo or its insane affiliations until I read through this. Even little things like that Fat Steve started the Gizmondo as a way to make children carry GPS trackers, escaped my noticed previously and are now fascinating.

Apparently the financial records are so muddied up that the London firm that's been hired to sort it all out has little hope of ever doing so, so this may be the best insight into the whole mess that we'll ever get. Go give it a read. It's raw entertainment.

It also features stunning graphic novel illustrations by Jae Lee. Eliza Gauger

Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up [Wired, via Aeropause]

Games-that-never-were review site LostLevels recently got ahold of Colors, which never made it to the Gizmondo. Colors is your basic thug-em-up, but is notable in that it includes prison rape as a key game mechanic

I share a cell with three guys. One of them is fat, and I don't like fat people, so I'm going to ignore him. Let's start with the guy on the left.

[...]

James Earl Wyatt can get me out of jail, but it involves raping my butt.

Well, I could say no, but then I'd have to talk to Moose and Ricky Knox again, and that would be embarrassing. I guess it's sodomy for me.

And now it's loading the sodomy minigame!

Oh, my mistake. I'm in the hospital now, because I guess the jail doesn't actually have an infirmary. And hey, I'm out of jail! I've traded my anal virginity for freedom.

But was it worth it, son? Was it really worth it?

Also, I don't think it's rape if he agreed to it. I mean, as Sizzlepig was quick to point out, maybe he changed his mind halfway through and it became rape. As usual, the S-Pig makes a compelling point. And as usual, it's about rape.Eliza Gauger

Lost Levels Reviews "Colors" [LostLevels, via Joystiq]

Spending more time buying racehorses and model agencies than fine tuning their business strategy, Gizmondo crashed and burned like Fat Stefan in a Ferrari. But not all the ideas were terrible. In fact, this little prototype video of the unreleased Gizmondo game Catapults is pretty frickin' amazing. The game doesn't look terribly fun, but watch the Gizmondo superimpose three dimensional objects on a real space, appropriately adjusting the angle of their geometry with the angle of the mounted camera.

That is really frickin' amazing; makes me sad we'll never see the portable Halo title that was supposed to be driven by the camera. I always thought they'd just never be able to pull that off, but this prototype footage gives me newfound respect for the Gizmondo tech team. Florian Eckhardt

Officially, his not guilty pleas, which he entered earlier this week, were to grand theft, embezzlement and drunken driving. That's a total of seven felony charges and two misdemeanors, that the 40-year-old is trying to avoid. And the delusions continue...Brian Crecente

Ferrari case defendant pleads not guilty [AP]

Dean Takahashi, who has been a voting member of the nefarious Game Critics Awards "for a few years", has posted up the full list of nominees on his site. Now the 38 publications get together in some ginormous misshapen star chamber to decide who gets what awards and then vote on what ill-conceived portable gets pushed into the limelight for half a year before dying an ignoble death. You didn't think the Gizmondo happened by accident did you? Brian Crecente

Best of E3 Judges Nominations [Merc News]