Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 171

There’s nothing like being stitched up by your boss, and if that happens with the connivance of the British establishment, then expect the worst of all possible worlds.

This week saw a guilty verdict passed on James Hipwell, one of the two City Slickers columnists from English newspaper the Daily Mirror who allegedly used his stock market column to create misleading impressions about the value of company stock market prices.

Naturally, Piers Morgan, the editor of the newspaper at the time and who bought shares tipped by Hipwell was nowhere to be seen. Consequently, James has taken the rap and faces a prison sentence when he is sentenced next month.

I should point out that James is a mate of mine and helped me out when I was skint by commissioning me to write several well-paid gambling articles when he was editor of Inside Edge magazine. I also know the DTI has conducted a six-year witch hunt against James that caused him to suffer kidney failure and whose life was only saved when his brother donated a kidney.

In short, he’s a decent bloke who has been made a scapegoat by a PR-hungry government that is very good at this sort of thing. Or as Bob Dylan once said: “Steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.”

So, according to James’s text message yesterday, I won’t be seeing him for 18 months, in which time it is only to be hoped the DTi looks at the transcripts of the trial and bangs up Piers Morgan for misleading them in the same way Martha Stewart did to regulators in the US… and let’s hope it’s not an open prison and his cellmate likes his own space.

On a somewhat happier note, yesterday’s announcement that Electronic Arts, the biggest videogames company in the world was buying mobile games publisher Jamdat for $680 million underlines what some of us have known for years – mobile games are the business.

Even so, 680 mill is a lot of money and follows Jamdat’s recent acquisition of the Tetris 15-year mobile game licence for a whip-wap-whopping $137 million. But, maybe both deals aren’t as daft as they seem. It was Tetris that made Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance the success it became and Nintendo has to move into mobile at some stage. What better way for Jamdat to position itself than by having on its board the man that did the original Tetris/Nintendo deal all those years ago?

Mmmm, interesting. EA/Nintendo merger? Oh shit, is that inside knowledge? I never bought those EA shares, guv. Actually, strike out those comments, probably best to keep schtum, probably best not to have an opinion nowadays, probably best to crawl into a hole in case the thought police come around. But, one last thing before I go. Free James Hipwell!