Disgruntled Programmer Accused of Sabotaging Arcade Game Classic

First and last para of the article:

"Marvin Walter Wimberly, Jr., a sixty one year-old programmer and game board designer has been charged by authorities in Florida with committing computer crimes with the intent to defraud after his employer, game maker Bob's Space Racers (BSR) uncovered an elaborate scheme in which popular arcade games were programmed to self destruct."

"Reached by phone, Wimberly said that the information contained in the affadavit was inaccurate, but declined to comment further, citing the wishes of his attorneys." [sic]

It's an interesting technique to drum up business in the short term, but it seems ultimately self destructive--if the code you are responsible is dying constantly then it just makes you look incompetent.

> In 2008, after changes to his consulting arrangement with the company, BSR offered Wimberly a job as a full time employee, hoping to replace his consulting fees with a salary. Wimberly rejected that offer and, instead, increased his fee for maintaining the games by 250%.

Wow, that's cut-throat! Though I suppose we don't know his rate before and after (maybe he went from $10/hour to $35/hour).

Accused.

That's a would-be SaaS programmer right there.

> The machine was later tested and found to contain a virus believed to have been created by Wimberly.

I bet his next step was to start an arcade anti virus company.