The lights are on
There's a guy named Erik Estavillo out there. He's your garden variety Internet tough guy, getting banned from PlayStation Network and hacking his Wii to play homebrew software. He's also made a habit of abusing the civil court system with ridiculous lawsuits. His latest target: World of Warcraft. The complaint against Activision Blizzard accuses the company of "sneaky and deceitful practices" for making players level up before they can buy a mount. The slow pre-mounted movement supposedly extends subscription revenue by making it take longer to do things in the game. The lawsuit asks for $1 million and a court order to make Blizzard change WoW to be more to his liking.Hilariously, Estavillo has subpoenaed Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode founder Martin Lee Gore to lend credence to his case. The plaintiff shares an interest in J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye with Ryder, and claims that she can speak to the feeling of alienation captured by the book and relate it somehow to World of Warcraft. Gore has "himself has been known to be sad, lonely, and alienated as can be seen in the songs he writes.” Estavillo has previously filed suit against Sony over suppressing his First Amendment rights by banning him from PSN, Microsoft for the red ring of death, and Nintendo for a Wii update that broke his homebrew hack. None of the suits have resulted in a judgement in his favor to date.Might we suggest Estivillo look into a middle school civics class to explain the purpose of the civil court system and the limitations of the Constitution instead of wasting everyone's time and money on silly court cases?[via GamePolitics]
Email the author Adam Biessener, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
This guy is just trying to make some money, their is no way possible that a judge is even going to consider these cases before the guy gets thrown out of the courtroom.
Wow.... Can this guy be any more greedy and whiny? I call phail sir. Please tell that guy to GTFO....
This is a joke. He is just trying to make a name for himself and a buck.
maybe after he loses this time they'll send him to jail for a little while.
wow! what a noob
LMFAO!!! His first admendment rights where "suppressed" because he was banned hahahahah!!! I believe for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo in their terms of service it states that illegal mods of any kind will void any warrenty. If this guy is just trying to make money off these lawsuites he is not doing a very good job. Seeing has how it coasts alot of money to get a laywer, court fees etc, etc... This guy is epic fails.... And if you can't get to lvl 20 to get your mount before your game time is up you sir are the worst gamer ever!!!
bleh... what a freak he's gonna lose.
That's like calling upon OJ Simpson when you're on trial for double murder because, hey, you have the same interests.
Just another reason we need tort reform in the US. Pathetic
Wow...thats just stupid.
That's hilarious. Good job that guy.
Wow, eventually courts will altogether stop listening to him and then when he has a legit complaint he won't get any attention. Cry wolf Erik, cry wolf.
Personally I love this. It's so hard to find good comedy these days, and Mr. Estavillo is definitely stepping up.
I think I'll sue Square for making it take so long to get an airship in Final Fantasy titles. The time it takes to actually progress through the story is time I could have used to eat. Since I didn't eat, my immune system was weakened and now I'm on tubes in a hospital bed. And it's all Square's fault.
the posts on gamespot are pretty good two i hope he gets counter sued btw
What. A. Idiot. Why does it seem these days there are little legal action against movies, but when its videogames, all of a sudden there has to be something wrong!
Wow, what a joke.
Wow, welcome to the world of MMOs where it takes forever to do anything. Thats just reality, and how they make money. Its also why MMOs suck. Whats the legal basis for suing over a poor business practice?
LMFAO HOW IS THAT SNEAKY!!! ITS KIND OF OBVIOUS THAT IT'LL TAKE LONGER TO WALK!
Wow...../facepalm
......../golfclap
......../LOL
THIS IS A JOKE!
People like this always make me smile.
It's nice to see the American judicial system put to work. I hope he represents himself though I can't imagine anyone wanting to aid his "struggle" in these trying times.
we needz moar guyzes like him. He is going to raep teh court.
No, but really, this guy is stupid. He is wasting his and everyone elses time.