Gran Turismo 6 is now official as the hit franchise will be racing onto the PlayStation 3 later this year. Versions for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita have not been announced although we fully expect Polyphony Digital to bring the game to both platforms in time for the lucrative… … Read More
Filming for Need for Speed movie begins in Macon, Georgia
Filming for the screen adaptation of Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed franchise has begun in an unlikely location: Macon, Georgia. A local car wash in the southern city is being used as the backdrop for at least a portion of the Dreamworks Studios film according to a news report from… … Read More
Angry Birds Friends brings mobile competition to Android and iOS
The latest iteration in the Angry Birds franchise is now available for download. Angry Birds Friends doesn’t deviate far from its roots although this time around, gameplay is centered around competing with friends and family on Facebook. … Read More
Call of Duty: Ghosts announcement expected this week
The latest release in the Call of Duty franchise could be announced as early as this week. Promotional material for the unannounced title known as Call of Duty: Ghosts highlight a May 1 reveal although it’s unclear if Activision plans to showcase anything on that date or if it’s simply… … Read More
‘Star Trek’ podcast gives pop hit ‘Kiss Me’ a Klingon makeover
Pop band Sixpence None The Richer’s biggest hit becomes a karaoke ditty worthy of the Klingon Empire in a new video by a podcast dedicated to the Star Trek franchise. “HIchop,” Jen Usellis’ version of the band’s song “Kiss Me,” was originally featured on a…
You Can’t Just Sell an Electric Car to Someone, This is America!
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, is facing
resistance to his company’s model of trying to sell automobiles
directly to consumers. Green Car Reports rounds up
some of the problems:
Ever since Tesla announced its plans to sell cars
directly, with factory-owned Tesla Stores and Tesla Galleries
acting only as display showroms, car dealers and their associations
have denounced the plan.
They’ve also sued Tesla for violating franchise laws in several
states–Massachusetts, most notably–and gotten laws changed in
others to make Tesla’s model flatly illegal…
Most states have some variation of a law that says automakers
cannot open wholly-owned dealers that compete with franchises
selling the same brand.
Dealers feared in the post-war period that automakers would set up
their own dealerships and give them preferential financial terms
over franchised dealers.
But Tesla Motors has no franchised dealers to protect.
Nonetheless, the Colorado Auto Dealers Association ;got that
state’s law changed in early 2010 ;to forbid direct sales of
any car by any maker soon after Tesla opened its first store
there.
State auto-dealer groups are viewing the Colorado legislation as a
model, and such efforts may pop up in other states as
well.
Musk is done going through the petri dishes of
democracy, and says he’d “rather fight one federal battle.”
Automotive News
describes Musk’s two options:
1. Lobbying Congress to pass explicit
legislation to allow direct sales of electric cars made by startup
companies such as Tesla. Such legislation could be tied to an
energy or transportation bill, he said.
2. ;Filing a federal lawsuit challenging the
state restrictions as unconstitutional violations of interstate
commerce.
Tesla Motors received
nearly half a billion in loans from the Department of Energy in
2009, which should theoretically provide the feds with some impetus
to liberalize the domestic car sales industry. ;And then maybe
one day in America you can buy a car from whomever you want,
whether or not the car dealers think you’re going to get too good
of a deal for it. But it probably won’t be an electric anyway, the
president’s lofty goal of 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road
by 2015 looks
exceedingly unrealistic.
Elon Musk was profiled in
a series on rocket men (he is also the CEO of SpaceX) in an issue
of Reason last year. … Read More
