ZeniMax statement reveals John Carmack googled how to wipe a hard drive

ZeniMax won a whopping $500 million judgment earlier today in its lawsuit against Oculus Rift, which naturally led to the release of statements from both sides. For the most part, they were what you'd expect: Expressions of pleasure and disappointment, and commitments to appeal, seek injunctions, and otherwise carry on the fight in whatever legal ways remain possible. 

But there's an interesting tidbit buried in the middle of ZeniMax's statement regarding John Carmack, former id Software mastermind, current Oculus VR chief technology office, and a man widely considered to be one of the most brilliant people to ever work in the games industry. 

"Carmack intentionally destroyed data on his computer after he got notice of this litigation and right after he researched on Google how to wipe a hard drive," the statement says. "And data on other Oculus computers and USB storage devices were similarly deleted (as determined by a court-appointed, independent expert in computer forensics)." 

That's weird, right? That John Carmack had to hit the Googs to find out how to erase a hard drive. Clearly he was interested in something a little more thorough than your basic "format c:" but the fact that he didn't just know how to do that... well, I just don't know what to think anymore. For the record, PC Gamer recommends rowing out to sea, Dexter-style, for disposal. Sorry, dolphin friends.