From The Sunday TimesFebruary 17, 2008
Carl Freer makes comeback with new version of Gizmondo games consoleBen Laurance
THE man who headed a video-games console company that went spectacularly bust after losing more than 150m in 18 months has re-emerged trying to launch a new version of the same device.
Swedish-born Carl Freer ran Gizmondo Europe, which launched a console to challenge industry leaders Sony and Nintendo. The operation was based in Hampshire, but owned through an American company.
Less than a year after the device described by the company as a futuristic multi-entertainer came on to the market, liquidators were appointed. Over a single six-month period, losses had topped 100m.
Freers pay in his last year with the company topped 1m.
Now, Gizmondo is making a comeback. It is understood that Freer, 37, and the British electronics design firm Plextek have bought the rights to Gizmondo from the liquidators. In its original form, the Gizmondo device incorporated an MP3 player, could send and receive text messages, and incorporated a global-positioning system as well as being used for playing games.
After Gizmondo collapsed two years ago, it emerged that Freer had been convicted of fraud while still in his teens. He was also fined 200,000 (150,000) for writing bouncing cheques while working as a car dealer in Germany in the 1990s.
Plextek confirmed it was working with the revived Gizmondo development.
