Legally Bound PC Gamer Finds Loophole in Contract to Play PlayStation 3
Posted 07/17/08 at 04:24:27 PM by Norman Chan
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Back when the PlayStation 3 launched in November of 2006, PC Gamer magazine tempted the gamers waiting in front of the Sony Metreon in San Francisco (the official PS3 North American launch headquarters) with a Faustian bargain (look it up). Our sister publication offered to give away a $7,500 Falcon Northwest gaming PC to one of the campers if they willingly relinquished their place in line. The catch: the unfaithful console fanboy who accepted the PC would also have to sign a legally binding contract preventing him from owning a PlayStation 3 for three years – an eternity in game industry time.
The (in our opinion) lucky gamer who volunteered to defect to PC gaming was one Neal Chung-Lee, a local student had at that point been waiting in line for several days to be the one of the first people to own a PS3. But after selling his console-loving soul to PC gaming (and making the front page of Digg), Neal fell off of our radar. That is, until we bumped into him this past week. And you’ll never guess where.
Our first meeting at E3 was with 2K Games, the publisher of the upcoming PC titles Borderlands, Civilization: Colonization, and Champions Online. 2K Games is also the publisher of Bioshock, and gave a presentation of the planned Bioshock PlayStation 3 port. Halfway though the presentation, we noticed that the 2K Games employee “driving” the demo looked a little familiar. After checking his nametag and doing a quick Google search on our phones, we confirmed our suspicions: it was Neal!
We caught up with Neal after the game demonstration to see what he had been up to since signing the contract. He found a job working at 2K as a game analyst, playtesting upcoming games to provide feedback to developers. The Falcon PC is still at his house, and he’s used it as his primary gaming system for multi-platform games like Bioshock. And when asked whether he or his housemates currently own a PlayStation 3, Neal responded “No” without any hesitation. However, he was also quick to add “But I have two of them on my desk at work.”
So that's what happened to
Submitted by rohit on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 6:39am
So that's what happened to him. I was really tempted to ask PCGamer
several times what the heck happened to the surveillance on this guy,
like checking in on him every 6 months or so, but this is cool.
PSP Go
Submitted by mikeart03a on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 1:24pm
I always knew that there was a loophole in things. Our contracts at work prohibit us from taking old 'surplus' PC parts and peripherals (printers, scanners, large items) home because they're tagged with an asset tracking tag, anything else is free game (cables, connectors, plugs, etc.), my fave is taking a pile of DVI-VGA adapters whenever we perform LCD swaps when the machine has a VGA port on it (95% of them are VGA equipped) so we don't bother using the DVI port on the newer machines unless it's necessary to drive a large screen display (22+ inches).
- mike_art03a
IT Technician
Gov't of Canada
Submitted by Shalbatana on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 7:39am
Good for him!!!! Both in his deal, and his job (wish I had that job).
_______________________________
"There's no time like the future."
Well...
Submitted by Devo85x on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 5:33am
Some people say he looks smug but he has a right... People are like "omg he cant have a ps3"... if it never said he couldnt "Play" one or own an xbox or wii then what did you expect? in fact they probibly should have asked if he had ether of those... thats what i want to know
I'm surprised at these negative comments
Submitted by Wildebeast on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 1:04am
How many of you guys can honestly say you wouldn't totally change places with this guy????
I personally wouldn't like to have a job that had me staring at a screen for hours on end (wondering how long I can go before bleeding from the eyes)...
He's got a wicked gaming PC (no cost), signed a contract promising not to buy the over-priced console [in my opinion] (saving major cash --which he can now spend on PC games), and he gets to have some input in the developement of some highly anticipated games.
I'd be looking smug, too. Although, I think I'd probably want to give somebody the finger, everytime they told me to play through the same series of scenes again.
I've got no PS3, no interest in a PS3. I suspect it's no better than my 360, in general --with a different stable of titles, and without the MS garbage and/or ridiculous motions you go through with the Wii's torture apparatus. I probably wouldn't mind playing a a few good games on it, for an hourly wage though.
I guess a guy could be paid for a photo shoot, using his hands to cover various super models' [otherwise naked] "naughty bits" ----that might be a better job.
Submitted by praetor_alpha on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 6:31pm
So that's what happened to him. I was really tempted to ask PCGamer several times what the heck happened to the surveillance on this guy, like checking in on him every 6 months or so, but this is cool.
Submitted by Queenof1 on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 5:52pm
I am not ashamed to admit that I did not know a Faustian bargain = deal with the devil.
Thank you for enriching my vocabulary :)
Submitted by StealthSilver on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 2:25pm
He's just so, smug!
Falcon PS3
Submitted by Rainier on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 2:17pm
PC Gamer might want to check the inside of his Falcon; it very well may have been disected to be a case mod to house a PS3 unit!
Submitted by opulent_rigs on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 2:11pm
Send him to Guntanamo Bay, Outsource His job, auctioN his Falcon for charity.
Submitted by StealthSilver on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 1:53pm
I had originally envied that guy's luck. Now I want to punch his smug face.
Submitted by brokenmoth08 on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 5:46pm
I dont have money for PC parts or a PS3..... I'm sad, wich pisses me off and makes me want to do the same thing.
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