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« July 2003 |
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| September 2003 »
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ENCOURAGED...
Well, it's been a busy and productive weekend. We're forging ahead with our plans -- i can't go into detail about them yet, but i'm feeling very encouraged by the way things seem to be shaping up.
Happy labor day, enjoy the day off if you got it. Sega and vc, i hope you get plenty of rest tomorrow.
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"AN OPEN LETTER FROM GREG THOMAS"
Onlooker forwarded me the url for "An Open Letter from Greg Thomas on the segasports site. In it, Thomas mentions "rumors" of "unintended physiological effects" from playing the game, but does not come right out and emphatically deny them. Notice the careful wording he uses: "This letter is to inform you that no credible evidence exists to support these allegations." Strange wording for someone trying to deny somehting, isn't it? Why wouldn't he just come right out and say "These allegations are untrue"? Plain and simple. I would think the latter statement would set more people's minds at ease, rather than saying "no credible evidence exists" -- that sounds like something his lawyer told him to say, like as long as he pretends he didn't write those memos, and his actual signature isn't on them, he can dismiss them as not being "credible."
After that he says, "As with all Sega products, normal and responsible use of this game will not result in any physical harm.*" and the * at the bottom of the page is the standard epileptic seizures warning. Is he hoping this warning will cover his ass when people start having blackouts from this game?
Puzzlingly enough, toward the end he says "However, we also go to great lengths to make sure all of our games are thoroughly tested by a nationwide network of professional as well as amateur beta testers..." A nationwide network? But greg, I thought you said all testing is done at VC HQ! What's the deal?!?
It just infuriates me that this guy just continues to lie to th epublic and will not acknowlege the dangers of this game. Like i said though greg, this battle ain't over yet.
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WARREN SAPP VIDEO FROM BETA-X
Click here to see Sapp video, pt. 1
Click here to see Sapp video, pt. 2
Beta-x sent me this weird video of Warren Sapp doing some kind of disclaimer about the game. Unfortunately, he did not provide me with any more info about that medical site.
Notice that Sapp specifically uses the word "blackouts," saying "It will not lead you to unusual behavior, BLACKOUTS…" -- but just a few days ago, Jeff Thomas claimed he'd never even heard about blackouts! WTF?!? I guess their plan now is to just have this clown laugh it off for them and pretend the problem is not real. It really distresses me that this game is coming out in a matter of days, and sega and vc are completely unwilling to address the issues about the safety of this game. How can they do this, knowing that .5% of the people who play this game could have their lives ruined by it?
Beta-x, I really need to get some more info from you -- PLEASE email me!
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MEDICAL RESEARCH SITE STILL A MYSTERY
I've been trying to find out more info about that disturbing site that Beta-X posted sunday night, and I'm still no closer to answers than I was 3 days ago. if anything, it just raises more questions.
I took the suffixes off the url and the blank page that came up was "Index of /hmklabc" -- I looked around for every permutation of this I could think of, but couldn't find anyting about anyplace called "HMK Lab," "HMK Lab C" or anything like it. I couldn't find any leads on tracking down whoever posted it either.
It's very strange to me how the symptoms of the people in these trials are very different from those of myself and the other beta testers I know who have been affected by this game. The testers in the medical lab had a fairly wide range of symptoms, whereas we all reacted pretty much the same way. Their symptoms got worse with prolonged exposure to the game; this is not the case with us, we have experienced blackouts when not even playing the game, or anyh games for a long time. And it's beyond strange how some of them got bruises on their skin with no apparent cause. I have gotten many bruises from these blackouts, but I always assumed they were from the impact of me striking something.
Why would vc do somehting like this? Were they trying to get rid of what causes these blackouts, or refine them? What did they change about this game that made the symptoms of those affected so markedly different between january and march? And who is Beta-x? I really wish this person would give me some more details. I haven't had any more direct contact with him -- why can't he give me more info about this place?
It's so incredibly frustrating, and it just sickens me every time I look at those photos and think that this monstrosity is being released to the public in a matter of days. But like I said before, this battle's not over yet.
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HOW FAR DOES SEGA'S INFLUENCE REACH?
Well, we've had a minor setback with the google ads, which is why you're not seeing them:
"Content: At this time, (OUR) policy does not permit the
advertisement of websites that contain "language that advocates against
an individual, group, or organization (Sega)". As noted in our
advertising terms and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise
editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our
site."
Like i said though, this is a minor setback and doesn't change our plans which we're still forging ahead on.
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BETA-13 INTERVIEWS PROJECT MGR. JEFF THOMAS
 Beta-13 ambushed espn nfl project manager Jeff Thomas outside VC headquarters and tried to get some answers. Jeff takes the usual company denial a bit too far; when asked about the blackouts, he says "I don't know anything about that," and "I've heard nothing about that." Give me a break! He honestly expects us to believe he's heard NOTHING about the blackouts? Sounds like an answer his lawyer told him to say. And while he did say at the beginning that he doesn't have a lot of time, he does seem like he's got a spare minute as long as the questions are harmless softballs from a fanboy -- notice how quickly he changes once he hears the word "CrashCam" though. If he really doesn't know anything about CrashCam, then why was just hearing the word enough to make him try to get away?
This guy's reaction speaks for itself -- he's clearly got something to hide. Call him at 415-479-3634 and tell him to stop lying!
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BETA-5 TAKES OUT GOOGLE ADS
Beta-5 put some money into spreading the word about this dangerous game and took out some ads on google. It's less than a week before this game comes out, and since it's clear they're actually planning on releasing it, we're trying to step up this campaign to reach as many people as possible so they don't buy it. Google ads seemed to be the most efficient use of the money. We've also got some big plans we've been working on for a while, but can't go into details about them yet.
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CONCLUSION OF GREG THOMAS INTERVIEW
Click to see Greg Thomas interview, pt. 3
Click to see Greg Thomas interview, pt. 4
Here's the 2nd half of Beta-13's interview with vc head Greg Thomas. Some points to note:
:04 into pt. 4, Thomas affirms the party line of BS, "All testing is done in, actually in this building." I guess since the time Anthony Chau told me on the phone, "Who says we don't test outside our headquarters," they execs at vc have finally got their lies straight amongst themselves.
1:09 into pt. 4, notice the big sigh that Thomas makes -- you can clearly tell he's getting nervous with where the questioning is going. Why the nervousness, Greg? If all this talk about blackouts really has no basis in reality, wouldn't you just laugh these claims off and continue with the interview? And why not talk about the CrashCam memo? If it really was never called CrashCam and the memo was fake, why not just say so, why did you have to end the interview? (Notice he didn't deny writing the memo.) And why did you "gotta go" all of a sudden, even though Beta-13 was told he would have a full 30 minutes with you?
Another interesting point to note, :18 into pt. 3, Thomas makes a freudian slip when talking about first-person football and says "REVENUE" instead of "revolutionary" -- guess we can see what's really on his mind...
It just sickens me that this game is coming out one week from today, and this scumbag is pretending that none of these dangers exist, he's going to just plod ahead and make his money regardless of the "acceptable risk" involved. Well sega and vc, this battle ain't over yet.
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BETA-13 INTERVIEWS VC HEAD GREG THOMAS
Click to see Greg Thomas interview, pt. 1
Click to see Greg Thomas interview, pt. 2
My mind is still reeling from the shock of that site beta-x posted. I really wish I;d heard about it a week ago -- Beta-13 called VC last week pretending to be a student doing a project on video game development, and he was able to get in and shoot an interview with Greg Thomas. I really wish Beta-13 could of asked him about this site.
Beta-13 had to lob him a few softball questions to get him to let his guard down before he lowered the boom, so the interview doesn't reveal much until he starts asking him about development problems and beta testing. Don't let Thomas's seemingly pleasant manner and the fact that he wears shorts to the office fool you -- this guy is just as much of a snake as any of the suits at enron.
It's a pretty big file, so I broke it into several parts for easier downloads, and I'll post the 2nd half of the interview tomorrow to spread the server load.
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HORRIFIC EVIDENCE FROM BETA-X
I was dealing with this internet worm stuff all weekend, as I'm sure a lot of you have been. When I finally got a chance to check the discussion board, I saw a post from someone claiming to be Beta-x, with a link:
http://216.120.243.164/private/users/admin/files/002/
I was horrified by what I saw at this site, and before you check it out I must warn you that it is very disturbing. I still feel sick just thinking about it, even after having had a little time to digest it. It's scans of research papers and photographs from gameplay tests done by some sort of medical research clinic in January 2003, commissioned by visual concepts. The site shows the files of 4 subjects who played in Crash Cam mode, and their side effects included bleeding from the eyes, symtoms similar to a stroke, seizures, foaming at the mouth, inexplicable bruising, and blackouts with memory loss. According to the researcher doing the study, "The reactions are acute enougth to warrant further study and to raise further concerns regarding the release of Crash Cam into the general population at this time."
I am so disturbed by this site, I am not sure what to make of all this. Beta-x, please send me more info -- what is this site? Who did these tests? I've gotten literally over 50,000 virus emails since Friday, and it completely fubared my email delivery, so Rob had to delete all my emails off the server. Beta-x, if you emailed me this weekend, please send it again, because I didn't get it (and that goes for anyone else who tried to email me this weekend as well.)
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BLACKOUT VIDEO: OAKLAND
 This video was shot last week in Oakland by a student who was doing a documentary on politics in California. He said the tackler passed out in the leaves next to the guy, and he seemed confused when he woke up. He asked the guy what his problem was, and he just mumbled something incoherent about "Sega" and "football" and then took off running.
If this is you in this video, please contact me -- your anonymity is assured.
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IS SEGA SUPPRESSING THE GAMING MEDIA?
Got an email yesterday from a guy named Pavan Moondi from the Console Gaming Network, who wanted to interview me for an article. As he said in his email, "After talking to many other gaming webmasters, it appears your story is the story everyone is afraid to report with fear of losing PR support." And as he says in the article intro, "The CGN tackles the story that everyone else is afraid to touch"
I applaud Pavan for having the balls to stand up to Sega and VC and talk about an issue that they've been trying to ignore for far too long.
Here's a link to the article.
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BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT MEMOS, THAT'S WHY
Here's a scan of one of those game reports that Beta-13 pulled out of the trash at VC HQ. People were asking why the memos that I posted didn't have the same headers as the sheets you see in the video, and that's because what you see in the video weren't memos, they were these report sheets. There were hundreds of these in there, which Beta-13 had to go through before he found the memos.
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PHONE CALLS REMOVED
My lawyer told me to take down the phone calls I put up this week, so i did.
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MEMO: BLACKOUTS ARE "ACCEPTABLE" TO SEGA
 This memo makes me sick. Apparently Sega thinks that if a half a percent of the people who play this game are effected like i was, that's okay with them. Think about that. Say they sell a million copies of this game. That means 5,000 peoples' lives are going to be ruined as a result. 5,000 people with families and friends who are all going to be affected by this. And for what? For money. This company has been going downhill since the dreamcast, and they're desperate to start making money again, so desperate they don't mind ruining a few thousand lives in the process.
And did you plan on even warning consumers about this "undesirable effect," sega? Or were you just hoping that the standard "epileptic seizures" warning would cover your ass enough that you could avoid mentioning it?
Sega and Visual Concepts, your cavalier attitude toward the lives and welfare of the people who pay your salaries is despicable.
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MEMO: THE REAL DEAL ON "GAMER CHUCK"
 Well, what do ya know, just as I've been saying all along, this ridiculous gamerchuck.com "fan" site from a "real" beta tester is just a PR tool of visual concepts. Also contradicts Anthony Chau's claim that vc had never heard of this site.
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MEMO: NEVER HEARD OF BETA-7.COM, VC?
 This memo shows that visual concepts was aware of my site within days of when it was launched, contradicting what Chris Larson and Anthony Chau claimed (well, sort of contradicting Chau -- he mostly contradicted himself, actually.) Just figured if you ignored me i'd go away, huh VC? Well, guess again.
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VIDEO: BETA-13 GETS MORE DIRT ON VC
 Beta-13 shot this footage of him and a buddy a few nights ago, going through the trash at Visual Concepts headquarters. He obtained some very enlightening memos, which I will be posting shortly.
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BETA TEST INFO FROM ONLOOKER
For the past week or so, I have been corresponding via email with a person called Onlooker, who has been giving me some very helpful information. He says he beta tested NBA 2K3 for Sega last year. Iasked him to describe the circumstances of his beta test to me, and he agreed to let me post his commentary, provided his real identity remain anonymous:
"I don't exactly make beta testing a habit, I am a gamer, but only in my spare time, nothing too major. I have major gamer friends though, they put me up to beta testing for Sega. Similar to you I did get an invitation by mail, to an office building, once again quite similar, but I live in a high-tech oriented city, in which major companies leasing office buildings is quite common.
I digress, I tested for Sega a while back, testing NBA 2k3, I was taken into an office complex, filled with tech companies. The settings were comfortable, a well lit office, an attendant in the room, a partner beta tester to play multiplayer. The conditions were very comfortable, nice chairs, with reclining features. Flat screen TV to play on. If I recall the X-box dash I played on was different from a normal one."
These circumstances are very different from the shoddy, fly-by-night circumstances of my beta test, in which Sega purposely used a bogus outside company ("Sunshine Survey Systems") and made the circumstances of the test deliberately suspect and unprofessional so that they'd have an easier time denying the tests ever took place.
I asked Onlooker if he only played in multiplayer mode when the other player was there, as it seemed strange to me that at my beta test the other "player" was not playing at all (which I later discovered was so they could see what effect first-person mode had on "non-participating observers." Onlooker replied:
"As to the information you requested...You are correct in assuming that I played only in multiplayer mode, I can only assume that they were testing for multiplayer satisfaction. It was actually a very comfortable, hospitable, and mildly boring experience, aside from the actual game. Thats really all I can tell you."
This next part is very interesting. I asked Onlooker where he beta tested nba 2k3:
"I'm not sure if I should tell you. It probably wouldn't be prudent. I shall tell you anyway. Austin TX, I'm not sure what Sega was doing there, but they make alot of games in Austin. Alot of the best games next year will have something to do with Austin."
Again, this goes against both Sega's and VC's claims that they only beta test in-house, in their headquarters in California.
What's the deal here, Sega/VC? Having trouble keeping your story straight? I'll be posting another phone call shortly that shows just how much trouble VC has keeping their "facts" straight.
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17TH BLACKOUT
Had anohter blackout a little while ago while i was doing some posts. I remember sitting at my computer, then I woke up facedown on the floor. I sat back down to my computer and my mouse was gone. I looked around and it was broken on the floor on the other side of my bed, so I had to start using my crappy old mouse instead. At least I didn't mess up my computer or anything though.
The top of my head is pounding, and my shoulders and neck are killing me, from the base of my skull, all the way down past my shoulder blades. God, this pisses me off! It's like i don't have one of these for a while, and it's almost like things seem kind of normal again, and then bam! And these corporate scumbags at sega and vc just keep on denying everything…It really pisses me off too, that this game is going to be unleashed on the public in only two weeks, and sega/vc don't seem to care what effect this dangerous product can have on people.
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OUR PLAN IS COMING ALONG...
Well, i've been getting some pretty interesting information from vc this week, but i still can't tip my hand about it because it could mess up what beta-13's still working on out on the west coast. We'll be revealing some of what we've been working on though, starting very soon.
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MEMO: MORE "TECHNOLOGY" PROBLEMS
 Pieced together another memo from Greg Thomas to Sega of Japan, again saying the "technology" won't be ready for an August release date. Except unlike the first such memo I found, this one was written five days before I played it in CrashCam mode, and the "technology" seemed to be working just fine.
What's the real deal here, Greg? And why was Sega of Japan apparently being kept out of the loop while Sega of America clearly knew what was really going on? (see Jan. 13 and April 4)
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BETA-13 MOVING AHEAD
Just heard from beta-13, and things are looking very good where he's at. Our plans are progressing very well, but i can't talk about them just yet. I wish i could, cuz i'm stoked! I'll keep you posted though.
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BLACKOUT VIDEO; MORE MED. INFO
 Picked up this video from the owner of a cafe here in orlando. He emailed me last night and told me a friend had forwarded him the url for my site. Said he probably wouldn't of believed the blackouts if he hadn't seen one with his own two eyes a couple months ago. This guy was in the middle of ordering, and he just started screaming and charged and tackled this guy. The owner said when he woke up, he looked around at everybody looking at him and just started sobbing. The guy who got tackled bruised his arm pretty bad and was pretty shook up, but wasn't serously hurt. He didn't want to press charges because he felt bad for the guy.
It's hard to make out the tackler's features even on my tv, but the way he throws his hands in the air like that looks a lot like this one really excited guy who was at the march 22 beta test. If this is you in this video, or you know how to reach him, please contact me!
Got some more helpful info from onlooker today, this time some lecture notes on dissociative disorders, and one specifically called dissociative trance disorder sounds very close to what happens to me. i'm going to do more research on this. thanks again, onlooker!
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MEMO: TACKLING THE FURNITURE, VC?
 Janine pieced together this memo that's kind of a headscratcher...why are you guys going through so many chairs, Jeff?
Been working today on implementing our plans to brign the fight to the corporate weasels...cant say anymore right now, but i'll keep you posted.
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PETITION
I put up a PETITION -- please sign it and forward the URL to your friends and family so they can sign it too.
Thanks!
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MEDICAL INFO FROM ONLOOKER
Got an email from a very cool and helpful person called Onlooker earlier today, who fwd'd me an article on something called intermittent explosive disorder. It doesn't sound exactly like what happens to me, but it's probalby the closest thing ive come to in terms of finding out info. The symptoms sound pretty darn close:
"destroys property, has repeated acts of sudden verbal or physical aggression, is unable to stop or control the impulsive, aggressive actions. A person who has this disorder is not violent or aggressive most of the time. The outbreaks of severe rage and anger are usually isolated. The amount of aggression is out of proportion with the incident that triggered the outburst."
--That last part is what gets me though, because I can't seem to find ANY incident that really triggers these outbursts. Apparently not a whole lot is known about this disorder, especiallly the causes. Did a little more reading on it, but couldn't find any info on people passing out or having memory lapses because of it, but I want to do some more reading on it. Maybe this could be a step in the right direction.
Thanks, Onlooker! :)
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MEMO: "DISCONTINUE ALL BETA TESTING"
 Janine pieced together this memo, dated about two weeks after i took the beta test.
So sega of america legal told vc to stop all beta tests until further notice, yet according to this vc memo, they had beta tests sceduled for july. Does this mean vc went against sega's orders, and if so, why would they? What happened between april and may?
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"TAKE ACTION" PAGE
People have been asking me lately how they can get in contact with sega and vc, so i've compiled all the applicable info i could find and put it on one page.
Please give them a call and speak your mind, then post on the discussion board and tell us about it!
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BATTLE LINES BEING DRAWN...
I've been working like mad with beta-13 and beta-5 all weekend, ironing out all the details for our plans to bring the fight riight up in sega's face, which will commence very soon. Can't talk about it any more than that for now, but I'm stoked!
Beta-13 had got really sick of being on the run, and just said screw it, he refuses to live in fear anymore. he's spent the last seveal nights at home again, and so far no cops or anyone has showed up on his doorstep. Why is that, sega/vc? I mean, surely you must know where he lives by now, so why not send the cops over there? oh that’s right, you don't really want to be talking to the authorities about your involvement in all this mess, now do you.
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ANOTHER VC AD!
 Just found this classified ad in the back of teh Orlando Weekly. It's the same info that appeared on a san fran message board a few days ago; the number is to the customer service dept. of visual concepts.
First of all, why would they need to put out a bulletin asking for people who beta tested to contact them? Shouldn't they already have the contact info of the people who tested the game? I think beta-x or somebody else on the inside is working against them (haven't had any more direct contact from beta-x since that first email though.)
Secondly, why are they putting an ad in a newspaper in orlando, if indeed they "NEVER test games outside of our headquarters in San Francisco" as they claim?
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XWINGMAN'S BLACKOUT
Heard from xwingman, one of the people i sent the revision discs out to. He posted the account of his blackout on the discussion board, which took a lot of courage. It's a pretty messed up situation he's in, and i feel really bad for him. i felt guilty about it at first, like i should of never sent these discs out, but the real blame should go on sega's shoulders. They need to stop lying about this game and take responsibility. It really concerns me that this game is coming out in a matter of weeks, and there's no way for us to know if its safe or not. I really hope sega fixed whatever causes these blackouts, but we have no way of knowing this. And if they did fix it, it doesn't change the fact that earlier versions of the game messed up peoples heads, and sega needs to address this.
Sega, i know you probably have a lot of money riding on this game, and maybe you figure if the new version is safe, you can get away with just ignoring the damage caused by previous revisions, but peoples lives are more important that money.
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THINLY VEILED THREAT FROM VC
Got this email from Visual Concepts, er, I mean, "Gamerchuck":
-------------------------------
From: "Chuck Hall" chuckhall@gamerchuck.net
To: beta-7@beta-7.com
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 2:14 PM
Subject: Time to end it
"Beta-7,"
I think it is time you stopped this insanity. Everyone knows you are
lying so what do you hope to gain by all this nonsense? I'll bet if you
took your site down and apologized to Sega and VC then they might even
forget about the whole thing instead of having you arrested or
something.
You should really stop before you push things too far.
Oh yeah, if you want to check out some mad clips from ESPN NFL
Football, then come on over to my site and see the truth:
http://www.gamerchuck.com
-Chuck
------------------------------------
"You should really stop before you push things too far." -- oh really? Well guess what gamerchuck, you can tell your bosses at Sega/VC that i am not going to stop pushing until they come clean and take responsibility for what they've done! And i guess i don't need to tell you what you can do with your "mad clips"...
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GOODBYE, CAR
Well, i just sold my car. Sucked to see it driven away, but i really needed the money, and i haven't driven it in months anyway since i've been having these blackouts. Should have enough money now to live on at least through october, plus some for the things that i've got planned with beta-13 and beta-5.
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BETA-X STILL AT WORK?
Beta-13 emailed me a link to a San Francisco community board post somebody forwarded to him:
"NOTICE to videogamers
Reply to: see below
Date: 2003-08-01, 8:42AM
If you or anyone you know has volunteered in the last two months as a Beta Tester for ESPN NFL Football, please call 415.507.7777.
Your response will remain confidential.
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests"
--The number is a hotline for visual concepts, with the following message:
"You have reached the customer service dept. of visual concepts, if you are a beta tester who has recently participated in a test of espn nfl football, just leave us your name and contact information and someone will get back to you as soon as possible. thank you for calling visual concepts."
Then somebody posted on the board earlier, claiming to be Beta-x.
This post from VC leads us to believe that beta-x is still working from the inside somewhere, still making beta tester contact info "mysteriously disappear", otherwise why would they need to put out a bulletin like this? Obviously they are desperate to get ahold of these beta testers, either to bribe or threaten them into silence. DON'T FALL FOR THEIR TRICKS! If you have beta tested this game, DON'T GIVE VC YOUR CONTACT INFO! Please contact me instead; if enough beta testers come forward with the truth and show they aren't afraid of Sega, then they will HAVE TO take responsibility for their actions!
I tried emailing beta-x at the addy he sent that one email from, beta-x@sega.com, but again, it came back as "no such mailbox, user unknown." Beta-X, if your'e still out there, please email me!
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ANOTHER BETA TESTER?
Awesome! Somebody called Beta-Zero posted under the comments of yesterdays blog:
"I to have experienced blackouts, beta-7. However, mine are alot more severe than yours. I'll have to discuss this with you later. Your ordeal is a walk in the park compared to what I'm going through."
This is some of the most encouraging news i've heard yet! Haven't heard any more from this person yet, hopefully i'll get some info soon!
And if anybody else out there has beta tested this game, PLEASE let me know!
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MEMO: VC IN A "DANGEROUS POSITION"!
 HELL YEAAAAAH! Janine just put together this memo from Greg Thomas! This is the most incriminating memo I've seen yet! it shows the real reason they changd the name from "CrashCam" to "First Person Football" -- to try to disassociate themselves from something that could put them in a "dangerous position." This proves that Visual Concepts knew months ago that something was dangerous and potentially incriminating about this game.
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MEMO: "LIABILITY ISSUES"
 Janine pieced together this memo, dated the day before the one she found a couple weeks ago. It's to the SOA legal department, cc'd to Greg Thomas, the head of visual concepts.
Why would there be "liability issues" involved in beta testing? Doesn't a beta test just involve people sitting around playing video games? What could be dangerous about that, huh VC?
Just go ahead and keep hiding behind your wall of bullshit, Sega/VC. The truth keeps coming out, and you will soon be buried by it!
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MORE LAWYER BULLSHIT
GODDAMMIT!! Now this jennifer lai is sending out letters to the people i sent copies of the revision discs out to! Fldude2k1 posted his letter on the board:
"Dear Mr. Pham,
It has come to out attention that you may recently have come into possession of a beta version of our new game, ESPN Football. THis Letter is to inform you of something you were undoubtly unaware when you accepted that game: it is property of The Sega Corp.As the Sega Corp and all its subsidiaries, including Visual Concepts we take the development of our games very seriouslyu and spend a great deal of money to sensure that they are of the highest quality. Our competitors would like nothing more than to be able to get an advanced look at some of the innovative features of the game, like First Person Football. To avoid this, we nmust develop out games in the strictist secreacy. We're Sure you'll understand and when we ask that you drop the disc in the enclosed, SASE, and return our property to us. Thank you in advance for your swif compliance. We appreciate your interest in Sega Sports and look forward to serving your gaming needs in the future.
Very Truly yours,
Jennifer Lai Esq.
Corporate Conunsel"
--i don't know how they got their mailing addresses to even send these letters out, but i intend to get to the bottom of this. I find it interesting that the reason she gives for wanting the discs back is "Our competitors would like nothing more than to be able to get an advanced look at some of the innovative features of the game, like First Person Football." -- like that feature hasn't been old news for weeks already. It's clear they want these early beta versions all rounded up because they contain INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE AGAINST THEM!
Nice try again sega, but your attempts to silence me only strenthen my resolve to keep on fighting, and no amount of harassment you dish out will make me give up!
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16TH BLACKOUT
I remember going to bed last night, and when I woke up a little while ago I was on the floor. My wrist and arm are bruised and I have a pretty bad headache. Thank god Janine wasn't still here, she was over here last night, but left before I went to bed. She's been amazigly cool and has been helping me out a lot, but I just still worry that it might drive her away if she actually witnesses one of these blackouts firsthand.
GOD,THIS PISSES ME OFF! These goddamn blackouts continue to disrupt my life and keep me from having any kind of normal existence, and these lying, soulless pricks at sega and vc STILL deny everything and try to shut me up, like I'M the one who's wrong here! I'm beyond sick of their bullshit, and so are beta-5 and beta-13. Especially beta-13, whose sick of running like a goddamn fugitive! Talked to them last nigth, and they've both got some sick ideas theyre working on, but I can't talk about them yet. that reminds me, if anybody out there has ideas on how to fight sega, please email them to me instead of posting on the board, since the corporate weasels at sega and vc are clearly watching every move I make now.
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SO LONG, HOTMAIL
If you're new to beta-7.com, welcome! Read all about my fight with sega/visual concepts in my blog ARCHIVES, starting on March 21, and check out the evidence I've compiled in the SEGASWINDLE and BLACKOUTS sections.
Well, the kinks seem to have been worked out with this new server, so I won't need to be using crappy-ass hotmail any more. If you need to reach me, it's back to good old beta-7@beta-7.com.
Speaking of email, seems some people are jumping on sega's bandwagon and trying to silence me as well -- I got banned from operationsports.com the other day. I emailed the forums administrator, Brent Doughty to find out why. Here's the transcript:
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From: "Beta 7"
To: "Brent Doughty"
Subject: Banning
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003
Mr. Doughty,
Tried to get in the forums and got this:
"Your account has been banned or locked: really you are amusing, we just got bored of you really quick. Oh and I guess you missed the NO ADVERTISING of your site policy we have mentioned numerous time."
I really don't see how you can claim I was "advertising"; I wasn't making any money off my site, and it pertained to espn nfl football, so I figured it was on-topic. People were wondering what was up with the site, and i was answering them (which i would of put in the already existing thread if you hadnt locked it). As you can see, I've only done a handful of posts to your boards, so its not like I was flooding your site with spam or something.
Regarding being "bored" with me, is it your policy to ban people from posting on your site when you get "bored" with them?
Just wondering what's really going on here…
Thanks,
Beta-7
From: "Brent Doughty"
To: "Beta 7"
Subject: Re: Banning
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 14:11:46 -0700
Money has nothing to do with it. Our advertising policy
covers any who owns a site trying to direct traffic to it.
Once does not have to be in the business of making money to
have the desire/need to advertise.
It was in the TOS you agreed to and failed to adhere to.
As far as the Beta-7 stuff it was getting tiresome, real
fast and so was locking posts on it (3 or 4 were of yours).
Sure some of the kids are easily amuse by this stuff but
we try to cater to a different crowd.
As far as bored, I get that when I have to lock up a
persons threads a few times over the same problem. Hence
we solve the problem by banning you from the site.
Anything else I can assist you with?
From: "Beta 7"
To: "Brent Doughty"
Subject: Re: Banning
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003
So even though you guys had a sticky of "The Official Beta-7 Discussion" before I ever even posted to your site, and you apparently had no problem with me when I was posting gameplay footage, you're booting me off now because of "advertising"? What about the other board posters who link to other sites? Why haven't they been banned? Seems like kind of a double standard, especially since I was never given a warning about being banned, and several of the threads that were locked weren't even started by me.
From : "Brent Doughty"
To: "Beta 7"
Subject: Re: Banning
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 20:49:08 -0700
Sometimes life throws you lemons...
Hmm now I am thirsty for some lemonade...
Gotta run to the fridge now...
Later
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--Whatever, Napoleon! Good luck with your little lemonade stand!
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