Pandasuit!

By now many of us have seen this post on Reddit.  It is a post by a user named CactusHam detailing how his mother, a muralist, painted a wrestling themed mural for his room.  The mural features such well known WWF stars as The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, and The Hurricane.  Many of the comments made about this story noted how wonderful it was for a mother to do this for her son, as well as the loving detail shown throughout this work.  That is what many people thought of this post.  However, some people, in this cynical world that we find ourselves, choose to look at such things in a negative context.  Some of those cynical people are lawyers.

Today, the World Wildlife Fund filed suit against the Reddit user known as CactusHam, and furthermore filed suit against Reddit seeking to find out more information about this CactusHam so they can further their civil lawsuit against him.  When reached for comment, Irwin R. Schyster, general council for the World Wildlife Fund, gave the following reasoning for filing this lawsuit.

"While we at the World Wildlife Fund know that we took a public image hit when we filed a copyright lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation, we felt that was important to vigorously defend out rightly held copyrights.  We take the same stance today.  It is clear in the pictures posted online that this so called "CactusHam"'s so called "Mother" used the older version of the World Wrestling Federation logo, the very logo that we, the World Wildlife Fund, successfully contested in civil court.  While we do not think that the artist responsible for this work had malicious intent in their use of the contested logo, it is still a priority to us to defend the use of that contested logo no matter the context of the use."

Both Reddit and CactusHam could not be reached for comment in this matter.  When asked for their opinion, World Wrestling Entertainment sent us a form letter informing us of the current availability of the WWE Network.

This Is Reporting?

Earlier today, Joystiq posted a report about a leaked email detailing an upcoming Steam Sale.  In the story, Danny Cowan, contributing Editor at Joystiq, says, "GameTrailers' @Wario64 corroborates the e-mail, confirming that the noted dates are correct."

Wario64 is a contributor to Gametrailers, as well as Cheap Ass Gamer and Side Mission.  The "corroboration" that Joystiq is referring to is this tweet sent by Wario64.  In it, Wario64 provides a link with an image of the leaked email, provided below.

Joystiq is reporting that the information that is provided in this Reddit post are rumors for now, but Joystiq is using Wario64's tweet as confirmation that the information is true.  Wario64's information appears to come from the same Reddit post that Joystiq is reporting as rumor.  What can we conclude from this?  That both Joystiq and Wario64 read Reddit.  That is all.  Neither news outlet quotes any sources on the subject, either on the record or anonymously.  Nothing about the upcoming Steam sale is really confirmed here.  There is no real story here outside of rumors on the internet.  Nothing.  So, this is reporting?

HMZ-T2 Rumors

This morning, two European tech news sites, Eurogamer.net and Computerandvideogames.com, published stories detailing a virtual 3D headset that Sony is planning to release alongside their hotly anticipated Playstation 4.  The CVG article states that the plan was to reveal this device at Gamescom, but plans fell through at the last minute.  The Eurogamer article draws comparisons between the rumored device and a device that Sony has already put out, the HMZ-T2, as well as drawing comparisons to the Oculus Rift.

I didn't believe this story when I initially read it.  In the months and years before the Playstation 4 and Xbox One were revealed, there were many different rumors going around about what those consoles were going to be, what accessories they were going to have, and what grand and spectacular things those devices were going to be able to do.  Most of those rumors turned out to be false.  Some of those rumors turned out to be laughably false.  Since the articles referenced above referenced a virtual 3D headset, I thought this would turn out to be one of those rumors that would be laughably false.  However, as I dug around, the story started to become more real to me.

Most of the rumors about the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One that turned out to be laughably false sites as sources posts on Reddit, Neogaff, or other sites where rumors spread like wildfire.  People now believe that the laughably false rumors were either plants made by Microsoft or Sony to see where leaks were coming from, or an elaborate joke by some internet prankster.  The stories posted this morning reference none of these sources.  The CVG article sites several sources who wish to remain anonymous, as well as an interview they did with Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida.  The Eurogamer article sites multiple sources, as well as detailing a demonstration involving Evolution Studios' upcoming title DriveClub, a studio which they note has been involved in 3D development before.

There's also the question of the headset.  The Eurogamer article references a device called the HMZ-T2, the name of which brings up memories of the action-blockbuster Terminator 2.  The thing is, the HMZ-T2 is real.  Not only that, Engadget is reporting about a third iteration of this product, set to be unveiled at a Sony event to be held tomorrow.  Leaks the day before a product unveiling are not uncommon, as it is significantly harder to keep news from coming out about a product that it was in the 80's and 90's.

So this may turn out to be real.  Sony may be putting out a virtual 3D headset alongside their hotly anticipated Playstation 4... or they may be coming out with a new product that will not be successful.  Remember, the HMZ-T2 has not been much of a success, and the new iteration of this product may not be so much a Playstation 4 accessory, but an accessory that can hook into most modern video playing devices, including the Playstation 4.  If the rumors are true, we may see tomorrow what this product actually is.  Is it the wave of the future that some think that it is, or is it the thing that will slowly collect dust on the shelf of that rich guy you know who blows all his money on the latest tech?  Well will soon see.