Bill Bashing a No-No

One message that seems to emanate from this year's Comdex: "Don't mess with Bill Gates."

Representatives of Parroty Interactive (Palladium Interactive's humor division, which has released the computer game parodies Pyst, Star Warped, and the X-Fools) report that they were booted from the Comdex convention show floor yesterday "in yet another confirmation that the PC industry takes itself far too seriously."

Seems Parroty had hired a Bill Gates look-alike to work Comdex, handing out cards and buttons promoting the company's latest effort, Winblows 98.

By Tuesday, Comdex had seemingly had enough. As Palladium puts it, "Comdex security personnel shut down distribution of Microshaft Winblows 98 materials and expelled the Bill Gates look-alike and a support team from Parroty Interactive from the Las Vegas convention center grounds."

Palladium issued a press release denouncing the action, but you've got to think it's secretly pleased. After all, getting kicked out of Comdex is sure to bring some attention to its title.

Scheduled for release in January, Winblows 98 boasts features such as the VirtualBill cyber pet, which has to be fed money ere he throw a tantrum; satirical "peeks" at Bill Gates' e-mail and journals; a Microshaft Monopoly-like board game; and the Winblows Exploder arcade game.