Tuesday, September 12, 2006

HP’s Chairwoman to Step Down in January, 2007. Changes in HP Board after Scandal

11:51 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

According to a report by Forbes.com, Patricia Dunn, now former non-executive chairman of Hewlett-Packard, has been removed from her position on Tuesday following a an “improper investigation methods” scandal outbreak.

“Only a week after news broke that an investigation that she instigated led to the possible illegal procurement of phone records for board members and several journalists, Dunn announced Hurd will succeed her as chairman in January. She will remain a director. Meanwhile director George Keyworth, who acknowledged that he was the source of news leaks that started the scandal last year, resigned from HP’s board,” writes Forbes.com.

HP issued a brief statement with Patricia Dunn, apologizing for the methods used in the investigation and Chief Executive Mark Hurd consolidating his power.

“I am taking action to ensure that inappropriate investigative techniques will not be employed again. They have no place in HP,” said Mark Hurd.

Still, Hewlett-Packard said Monday it was “informally contacted” by the California attorney general’s office and U.S. Justice Department, requesting information concerning the company’s investigation into press leaks. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, HP said it was “cooperating fully” with the inquiries.

”These leaks had the potential to affect not only the stock price of HP but also that of other publicly traded companies. The company will work to put these matters behind us so that we fully resume our focus on the business and continue to earn the trust and support of our customers, employees and stockholders,” said Patricia Dunn in a statement.

• Forbes.com: HP after Dunn.

The Magic behind World of Warcraft. Blizzard Vice President Talks about Game Development

11:48 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Since the 2004 launch of title – which is now approaching 7 million paying subscribers and $1 billion in annual sales – Blizzard has been hard to find at the plethora of video game industry events, a rarity among major publishers.

According to Cnet News.com report, unusual as it may seem, Rob Pardo, vice president of game design at Blizzard Entertainment, held a speech at Austin Game Conference, last week. While Rob Pardo didn’t reveal any news in his morning speech, he did pull back the curtain on what Blizzard sees as the keys to the company’s runaway success with “WoW.”

“The first mantra of Blizzard is definitely ‘easy to learn, difficult to master.’ Depth comes first and accessibility later,” said Pardo.

According to Pardo, one key to the company’s approach is that developers first figure out how to make the game play fun and then they work on completing the many levels of play.

“Blizzard focuses on making the user interface easy to work with and giving players a way to find what they need immediately. But they have to dig a little deeper for more complex features and items,” explained Pardo.

“What we thought would be cooler for most people is to give them a reason for killing other than that experience bar,” added Pardo.

• Cnet News.com: The
  Winning Ways
  of ‘Warcraft’.

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