Joystiq fires Robert Summa over post, Summa responds and joins Destructoid

Robert Summa responds to being fired by Joystiq.

Anyway, Joystiq knew the news (I told them) and they knew I was posting a note to let readers know to come back later. If they, at any point, thought I was sensationalizing things or was not in line with their “mission,� then they had an entire day to edit or take down the note. But, of course, they left it up. Why?

Destructoid was smart enough to bring is Robert Summa as soon as he was let go.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, Robert Summa ran a post on Joystiq entitled “Major next-gen console news coming tonight“. The post said that at 12:01am Joystiq would run a feature with next-gen console news which they couldn’t reveal until then. This particular post got a lot of attention and was hyped all over the net. It ended up with slightly over 1000 comments.

At 12:01 Robert Summa posted the promised news, which basically was that IBM has been shipping their Broadway chip for Nintendo’s Wii console since July. He also speculated that while this was great news, the release date of the Wii might be much sooner than originally though.

As it turns out a lot of readers were disappointed with the news, as they were expecting much much more. If you want to read through some of the comments you can see that some people were expecting ridiculous news, such as the Nintendo Wii being available for sale the next day, or the PS3 canceled. Numerous times throughout the night Robert Summa posted hints and debunked crazy ideas.

Soon after the feature started to receive negative attention, the feature was updated with “toned down language throughout”, which basically means they took any fun and interesting speculation out of it. Eventually, Joystiq ended up issuing a public apology, and firing Robert.

In their apology, Joystiq throws Robert Summa under the bus, basically saying that they agree with the readers.

We believe that Joystiq overreacted, and didn’t know how to deal with the negative attention. They should have not fired Robert and they did just to save face, as they were well aware of the contents of the upcoming feature, and still allowed the whole event to take place.

If you enjoy reading Robert Summa’s posts, you can now read them over at his new home destructoid.com

Halo 3 Officially Announced. Download the trailer now!

Halo 3 was officially announced at Microsoft’s E3 Pressconference this afternoon. You can download the Halo 3 trailer now on Xbox Live Marketplace, or you can just head over to Bungie’s site to download it on your computer.

Release date seems to be 2007.

Apple MacBook coming Tuesday, May 9th

Think Secret sources have confirmed that Apple’s MacBook will be available on Tuesday, May 9th. Meanwhile, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro shipments have been delayed by a few days, after encountering a minor quality control issue with production of the laptops. The issue has been remedied, and shipment of the 17-inc MacBook Pro laptops should begin next week.

Introducing: Nintendo Wii

It’s official! Nintendo’s next generation console is named “Nintendo Wii“. Wii (pronounced ‘we’), emphasizes this console is for everyone, according to the official statement at Nintendo.com.
From Nintendo’s Site:

Introducing … Wii.
As in “we.”

While the code-name “Revolution” expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games … and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like “we,” which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive “ii” spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.

Because, it’s really not about you or me.

It’s about Wii.

And together, Wii will change everything.

… So there you have it fan boys and girls.. Wii is it!

THIS JUST IN: We have the first images of what appear to be some Nintendo Fan Girls posing with the official Nintendo Wii gang sign!

Google expands into Arizona. Now hiring!

Google is now hiring at their new Phoenix, Arizona facility.

Built close to the Arizona State University, the brand new Google faciliy will employ 600 people, focusing mainly on engineering. Google will be recruiting computer science and network engineering graduates from the near by University.

As of late last year, the company was hiring at an average rate of 10 people a day.