Consolidates European HQ
The game company will close its European headquarters in Großostheim and consolidate its operations in Frankfurt.
The intended measures will sadly have a direct effect on some of the employees based in the Großostheim and Frankfurt offices in Germany and would lead to the release of approximately 130 permanent employees.
President not attending E3
Iwata will not attend E3 this year due to an unnamed health condition.
He’s been instructed by his physician not to travel overseas in the immediate future, and so he will not be making the trip to Los Angeles…Please understand that it is business as usual for Mr. Iwata, and he continues his normal duties as president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. while he remains in Japan. As always, he will be actively involved in all of Nintendo’s activities at the show.
Emmy nomination
Tracy Morgan is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series for his work on NBC’s 30 Rock.
It is an honor to be recognized by my peers and be a part of 30 Rock‘s 22 nominations. I want to thank everyone from Tina to Lorne to everyone in craft services.
Critical condition after crash
Morgan and Jeffrey Millea are airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and is in critical condition following a 5-car pile-up. Their chauffeured limousine bus was struck from behind by a Walmart truck. New Jersey State police say they believe the Walmart truck driver was dozing and failed to see traffic slowing in front of him before it was too late – rear-ending the Mercedes limo-bus and prompting a chain-reaction crash with a second tractor-trailer, an SUV and two cars. The limo rotated clockwise and flipped over. Police say:
Driver failed to observe slow-moving traffic ahead. He observed at the last minute – just prior to impact – the limo bus carrying Morgan and his party.
McNair, one of Morgan’s writers, dies in the crash. Two other comedians traveling in the bus, Harris Stanton and Ardie Fuqua, were also injured. Morgan’s driver, Tyrone Gale says:
I climbed around and heard Tracy screaming for help. I climbed up on the body of the limo bus…but I couldn’t reach them.
Tried to persuade Saddam Hussein to resign
During a 45-minute question-and-answer Branson says that he, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan were close to persuading Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to resign when the American bombing of Iraq began.
There had to be a better way to get rid of Saddam Hussein than having to kill and maim a lot of people. The after-effects of the Iraqi war and the fallout has been pretty horrendous for a lot of people.
Branson says his non-profit, Virgin Unite, wants to use The Elders, his group that includes Annan, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, to bring an end to conflicts world-wide.
Obviously, everybody in the world must believe that conflict is no longer necessary in the world today. It’s up to organizations like The Elders to stop conflict from happening in the first place.
Ebay will integrate Bitcoin
In an interview on CNBC Donahoe says that PayPal plans to start dealing in Bitcoins and other digital currencies soon.
We’re going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet
Donoho also explained why he owns some:
I’m not buying it as an investment. I’m buying it to understand how it can be used. I think there are two sides of it, the investment side and the digital currency side. I’m more interested in the digital currency side about how you and I can exchange value seamlessly using technology.