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Sony's Harrison on Sony Arrogance 136

Posted by Zonk from the it-is-opposite-day dept.
Joystiq had the chance to exchange a few words with Sony's Phil Harrison at the UK Develop Conference. They asked him some hard questions about the crazy comments that have been coming out of the company since E3. From the article: "There's always going to be a risk when you are market leader for ten years that we start to lose perspective; and we have to make sure that we don't lose perspective. But I don't think we're arrogant, I think we have to recognize that we're in a highly competitive industry and that anything that we say will be eternally editorialized by professionals and consumers alike. So we're always in the spotlight." After the tape was off he snarked that he hadn't been asked very nice questions. Poor guy, having to answer questions that aren't 'How awesome is the PS3 going to be?'
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Sony's Harrison on Sony Arrogance More

Sony's Harrison on Sony Arrogance

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  • Dear Zonk (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:33PM (#15721479)
    Dear Zonk,

    You are not a journalist nor a competent editorial writer. Please post your snarky comments (in response to others' snarky comments) in the comments section like I'm doing, so that they may be voted "+5, Taking potshots at the market share leader in a given field."

    • Re:Dear Zonk (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tfurrows ( 541222 ) <tfurrows@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:38PM (#15721508)
      And yet, in spite of Zonk's apparent lack of writing skills, hundreds of /. readers will take this opportunity to get their energy out concerning yet-another arrogant industry-leader... None of us uses slashot for the quality (or grammar) of the writing, but for the chance to participate in the mele of the comments :)
    • Only problem is that Zonk would be Anonymous Coward and your point is moot.

    • ^^ Phil Harrison (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jakhel ( 808204 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:49PM (#15721576)
      log in you arrogant bastard

    • Dear Anonymous Fanboi, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14, 2006 @06:09PM (#15722041)
      > Taking potshots at the market share leader in a given field

      I don't give a damn if they're #1 or #100, frankly I don't like Sony due to all the crap they've been pulling of late like the rootkits.

      And I'm sick of fanbois who act like "oh no, our precious Sony! they gave us the Playstation, you can't criticize them!"

      Face it: Sony sucks. And I don't care how good their games are, or even if the PS3 lives up to the hype. I won't buy it because I won't endorse the things Sony has done. They "promise" not to use the patent that kills our ability to rent (or even loan!) games to others, but don't explain why they hell they bothered to patent it if that's true (umm, yeah, so our competitors can't sue us for infringing upon it when we're not, umm, going to do that! suuuurrre....) or how we can ever trust them again after the rootkit?
      • Face it: Sony sucks.

        This is not something I expect to read in a "Score:5, Insightful" post.

        You are not forced to buy Sony's product. By not doing so you send exactly the right signal. However, the way things work is that each individual makes this choice for themselves. If Sony's sales drop as a result and they make huge losses, then the market has adequately expressed disapproval.

        I suspect what's really annoying people round here is that we all know perfectly well Sony's going to do just fine with t

  • To Sum Up (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    So let's see...Some guy from joystick.com does an ambush interview that basically amounts to "Do you admit that you are arrogant, Yes or No!"

    And this is...news?

  • Not about the PSP, they're not. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Rachel Lucid ( 964267 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:36PM (#15721493) Homepage Journal
    Hard to be arrogant when you just shelved your main media distribution [gamespot.com]...
    • And instituted a yet infinitely stupider format in its place. Dropping the UMD in favor of a $60-120 memory stick which will only play one movie (out of a choice of Hitch, S.W.A.T., The Grudge, or XXX: State of the Union) at 240x320 resolution! We can rule out arrogance at this point in that it implies self preservation.
    • I never understood who they thought would buy another copy of a movie at DVD prices just to play on the PS3. The new memory-stick system should fare no better.

      If they were really smart they would have built a transcoder that downsampled DVD's to fit on a memory stick and play on the PSP, then convince the Sony movie studios not to sue themselves. The media division still has a little too much pull to let that happen, I guess.

      • It was never going to be big, but the PSP movie thing had a little promise. For example if I go on a business trip and I have to pack light (or leave stuff in the overhead compartment) a PSP movie would be nice. But NOT at that price point: that was just really poor planning.
  • Any answer Sony gives is "wrong."

    "We're not arrogant" yields, "see?! Seeeeee??"

    "Ok, we're arrogant" is just as stupid.

    I can't imagine how joystiq figured that'd be a useful question, except in the context of badgering Sony. Why he'd set out to do that intentionally is clearly up for debate. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, I suppose.

    So, joystiq, "have you stopped badgering Sony?"

    \harv
    -
    no sig today, maybe tomorrow

    • agreed, this is a horid interview. Joystick set out to make sony look the fool and did a good job of making themselves look bad insted.

      Now, I'm about as much of a Wii fan-girl as you're ever going to find, but I think that Mr Harrisson handled that interview with class and more civility then Joystick deserved.... I think Phil may have just got a new greese rag in the form of a t-shirt.

    • Re:Have you stopped beating your wife? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by oahazmatt ( 868057 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:51PM (#15721593) Journal
      Any answer Sony gives is "wrong." "We're not arrogant" yields, "see?! Seeeeee??" "Ok, we're arrogant" is just as stupid. I can't imagine how joystiq figured that'd be a useful question, except in the context of badgering Sony. Why he'd set out to do that intentionally is clearly up for debate. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, I suppose. So, joystiq, "have you stopped badgering Sony?
      The question is relating to how he felt regarding comments of Sony's arrogance. The question moved on to how the negative comments are affecting Sony.

      I don't see that as badgering Sony. It is asking relevant questions. Had the question been "Why are you so arrogant" it would have been a different story. The questions were asking for responses to accusations, not accusing in themselves.
    • People like it when others confess that they have sinned, on the one hand and on the other, they occasionally like it when somone admits that they are doing something, but then say "It may not be popular, but we were right to do it". It's called having the courage of your convictions.

    • "Ok, we're arrogant" is just as stupid.

      Well, Sony have given some world class stupid answers lately. I think the ones that did the most damage were.

      • "Rootkit? What rootkit?"
      • "That's not a rootkit"
      • "The customers don't even know what a rootkit is why should they care?"
      • "This program removes the rootkit"
      • "OK, that was a bug. This program really removes the rootkit"

      Now that was arrogance.

      Is it surprising if their other business interests get tarred with the same brush? I know it changed my mind a

      • No that was stupidity. Arrogance was making me pay a ridiculous amount of money for a 2Gb memory stick for the psp because they use a propriatory format. Then expecting me to fork out again because they use a *different* propriatory format on their phones. Bastards.

    • Re:Have you stopped beating your wife? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:52PM (#15721935) Homepage Journal
      I don't know, I'd call the CD spyware thing arrogant. Selling portable audio players that required users to convert their entire libraries to ATRAC in order to play them is pretty arrogant. Sony thinking they could sell movie UMDs at nearly the price of the DVD counterparts was pretty arrogant, in my opinion. The DVD "+" writable standard was pretty arrogant, IMO, they didn't get accepted so they joined HP in making it anyway. I don't think the Blu-Ray standard counts as it's not a Sony format, but a format co-developed by at least a half-dozen major companies like Pioneer, Matsushita (Panasonic, JVC), and all the other hardware makers on the DVD consortium save two.
    • The trend in video game "journalism" these days is asking "tough" questions for the sake of asking them. If you look like you're standing up to big corporations, you'll get the preteens who equate aggressive badgering with journalism. Just last week we had an article where some asshat "game journalist" with a blog "stood up" to some stupid and non-binding PR request from Square by writing a hostile, lengthy rant about it. And it got Slashdot front page coverage, because both parties know it'll get the hits.

  • One "zonked" tag to go please (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @04:59PM (#15721644)
    And can I get a few comments from the people that think Slashdot has no console bias on the side please?

    • Re:One "zonked" tag to go please (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NonSequor ( 230139 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:05PM (#15721685) Journal
      What bias? How do you expect him to report anything good about the PS3 when there isn't any good news about it available?
      • What bias? How do you expect him to report anything good about the PS3 when there isn't any good news about it available?

        Nor has there been any bad news either - yet all we see are articles re-hashing old issues people have with the PS3. There are plenty of similarily content-free positive news bits about the PS3 as well, since as game announcements and interviews with people like the makers of Warhawks. A lot of that is in fact more newsworthy than a stupid attack interview that tells us nothing, yet you

      • Re:One "zonked" tag to go please (Score:5, Interesting)

        by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:44PM (#15721867) Homepage
        No kidding. Delays in the system, delays in the cell, delays in Blu-Ray, the price, last-minute half-features (the controller tilt), feature removal (Ethernet hub, rumbling), cell yields of 10-20%, and low laser diode yield [arstechnica.com]. Sony hasn't had ANY good news. Even at E3 when they were expected to make a killing they didn't show a ton of impressive stuff. Sure it looked good, but they didn't look as good as the target renders and they didn't have a large variety of games. They also didn't have much in the big name department (GTA, just a video of Jak and Daxter).

        Compare that to MS who while not great did show a wide variety of games and had some good announcements (GTA no longer exclusive to PlayStation for one).

        Then there was the "little guy", Nintendo. A fantastic showing of tons of games that got tons of press. People were interested in much of it. Wii Sports, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Red Steel, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and more. Name 7 big upcoming games off the top of your head for either other system.

        I've gotta say, I thought the PS3 would be a scarce but big hit with great graphics. Now I'm starting to get much more interested as it seems the PS3 will be overpriced with great graphics and a fair helping of "what are they doing now."

        • last-minute half-features (the controller tilt)

          Well now that you mention it, there was an interview [ign.com] with the same Warhawk developers that were the ones that stated they got the controllers just a few weeks before E3 - in the interview it said the statement had been misconstrued; Sony in fact had let them know about the tilt feature much earlier but had only delivered physical controllers with the tilt sensors built in a few weeks before E3. The exact words:

          Actually, Incognito has secretly been working with
          • I read that, and I know that it wasn't given to them two weeks before the show or whatever was initially reported. Still, I think it's a rushed half feature because my guess is that while they have been planning the PS3 ever since the PS2 was released, my guess is that the tilt functionality has only had real consideration since the learned what Nintendo was up to (either through a leak or through the press conference that the rest of us learned about it through).

          • So, in other words, Sony had been working on the tilt feature ever since Nintendo announced the Revolution controller, but only got it working recently, and only managed to eak out prototypes mere weeks before E3.

            Which is pretty much what everyone already knew; Sony rushed to get a copy-cat controller out immediately after Nintendo announced the controller for the Wii.

            Notice how no one has ever said "oh, yeah, Sony was working on this before the Revolution controller announcement." Instead it's always

            • I don't know if Sony "borrowed" the idea from Ninetndo or not, nor do I care. The fact remains that the common refrain of "Sony only added it two weeks before E3!" is factually incorrect - just as the oft-quoted price of $600 for the cheapest PS3 you can buy. The use of either term plants someone as either ignorant or a simple fanboy without any desire to be correct, only loud.

              • Yeah, $600 is just the cheapest PS3 you can buy if you wanna, you know, actually be able to make use of those nifty HDTV features. The HDMI port cannot be added to the $500 one.

                Yeah, yeah, I know - "only for Blu-ray movies" and "Sony says you won't need to yet." Except Sony has already told us that the PS3 is really "a cheap Blu-ray player" and I don't exactly want to get a movie player that'll be effectively useless in a couple of years when HDMI is required.

                While $600 may not be the cheapest PS3, it

                • Yeah, $600 is just the cheapest PS3 you can buy if you wanna, you know, actually be able to make use of those nifty HDTV features. The HDMI port cannot be added to the $500 one.

                  It's pretty odd how this particular myth continues to persist, despite numerous corrections on this very subject from myself and others in every Sony story.

                  In fact you can watch Blu-Ray movies at 1080i using the component output of the PS3. You may even be able to do 1080p, that is less certain due to AACS... But no matter, the point
      • What bias? How do you expect him to report anything good about the PS3 when there isn't any good news about it available?

        This isn't a negative story. This isn't a story at all. This is 100% content free. The non-biased thing would be to ignore it.

        And that's my comment on your comment on zonk's bias for posting an article about a Sony exec's comment on joystiq's question about the feeling that there was arrogance percieved in Sony execs' previous comments. Write a blog post about it. It's sooooo relevan
      • And still the PS3 is outselling the XBox360 at a major store in my country.

        That's right - people are already pre-ordering them in droves. And they're happily paying a lot more than $600 for the privelige.

  • $599 is fine (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:02PM (#15721664)
    for launch. I don't know why people are surprised. The last 3 console releases (ps2, Xbox and Xbox360) where all scalped on ebay for way more than that. Sony's just responding to that. Expect the price to come down pretty quick as sales drop.
    • But what if that IS the price...

      And they are NOT planning price drops for a 1-2years....

      What if the price drop 1.5years later is 399-499

      What then pray tell? 2-3 more years till the magic 200$ price tag making it 4-5years into production?

    • Re:$599 is fine (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MBCook ( 132727 )

      On the one hand, you're right. I think MS should have done that. Just put all the console up for bid in one giant eBay auction and let people pay what they are willing to.

      That said, it doesn't have to be that way. I bought TWO PS2s on launch day in a major metro area for the launch price without having to sit in line from 2:00 AM or something. I could have easily done the same for the 360 launch or the XBox launch without any problem.

      But with the PS3 instead of having a choice of trying on my own or payin

    • And $500 is better (Score:3, Interesting)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 )
      A correction, the base price that contains everything a gamer would need is $500, not $600. There has been a lot of confusion around this because many people like to pretend the $500 model does not exist even though it offers all the features of the premium 360.

      $500 is also very expensive, no need to raise the figure any to complain about price.

      That said, I totally agree with your point. Pretty much all through December I don't think a 360 sold on eBay (any model) for less than $800 - Sony I think is just
      • The thing that causes the PS3 to be $500 and not $300 is not completely useable at the $500 price. If you want to watch a Blu-Ray movie and be sure you can actually see it in HD, you need to buy the $600 model. If you only wanted needed to play PS3 games, the cost should be $300 or $400 at absolute maximum.

        The problem with the PS3 is not that it is a $600 gaming machine. The problem is that it is a $300 gaming machine that is being sold for $500-600.

        Don't give me any shit about the movie companies not using
        • The thing that causes the PS3 to be $500 and not $300 is not completely useable at the $500 price. If you want to watch a Blu-Ray movie and be sure you can actually see it in HD, you need to buy the $600 model.

          It's pretty odd how this particular myth continues to persist, despite numerous corrections on this very subject from myself and others in every Sony story.

          In fact you can watch Blu-Ray movies at 1080i using the component output of the PS3. You may even be able to do 1080p, that is less certain due t

          • No, no you can't. Blu-Ray movies with ICT activated will ONLY display in full HD over HDMI. Anything else and it'll degrade it down to DVD quality[1], making the extra cost for the PS3 completely worthless. It's not worth cheaping out on $100 (which won't even buy you two PS3 games anyway) when all you'll accomplish is making your PS3 become worthless in a few years. See the Wikipedia article on Blu-ray [wikipedia.org] and a HDTV Canada article on the ICT itself [digitalhomecanada.com].

            There's no reason to criple your PS3 by getting the che

            • No, no you can't. Blu-Ray movies with ICT activated will ONLY display in full HD over HDMI. Anything else and it'll degrade it down to DVD quality[1], making the extra cost for the PS3 completely worthless. It's not worth cheaping out on $100 (which won't even buy you two PS3 games anyway) when all you'll accomplish is making your PS3 become worthless in a few years

              They are not enabling ICT now. They will not as long as the dominant Blu-Ray player is the $500 PS3 which cannot do HDMI. By Buying the $500 P

              • They say they won't enable the ICT now. However, Sony also said they'd never bundle a rootkit with CDs.

                The ICT will be enabled at some point, and $100 seems like a small price to pay to ensure your PS3 won't become severly crippled at an unknown point in the future.

                • As I said, even if they enable ICT they only reason they could do so would be that HDMI capible players were plentiful enough they would be able to do so. Unless you'd care to explain why a company would release a product only a hundred thousand people could buy and use instead of millions by simply not enabling the flag? You see, I am not relying on the goodness of the movie studios hearts but only thinking of what will bring them the greatest profit - as are they.

                  That's exactly why ICT is not on today.
                  • One, only Sony has "promised" not to use the ICT. There are many other studios that are free to do so and have not made such statements.

                    Two, If you think Sony cares about you or your purchase past the point where you cough up $500, you haven't been paying attention.

                    Think of it this way. If the ICT will never be implemented, the $600 SKU is a red herring and a rip-off. If the ICT is implemented, the $500 SKU is a red herring and a rip-off. Someone is getting screwed, and that is absolutely consistant with So
                    • One, only Sony has "promised" not to use the ICT. There are many other studios that are free to do so and have not made such statements.

                      There is an "unofficial" announcement of a pact between all studios - on the HD-DVD and Blur-Ray side.

                      But even if there were not it doesn't matter, for the reasons they are doing so have already been outline by myself. The motive is as clear as day - sales. If you wish to propose some alternate theory about how studios have suddenly taken a dislike for money all of Slashd

                    • The thing you're constantly forgetting is that Blu-rays with ICT enabled will still play on the $500 PS3 - just at the lowest HD resolution, which is ever-so-slightly greater than DVD resolution.

                      When the ICT becomes enabled, all ICT discs played in a $500 PS3 will turn the $2500 HDTV the PS3 is hooked to into nothing more than a $500 low-def TV. But they'll still play. I don't think the studios will care that they're screwing over people with the crippled PS3 when they activate the ICT - they'll still b

                    • The thing you're constantly forgetting is that Blu-rays with ICT enabled will still play on the $500 PS3 - just at the lowest HD resolution, which is ever-so-slightly greater than DVD resolution...

                      But they will look like hell compared to the other 1080 discs. People will notice the difference; It is easy to see. They'll buy a new disc and say "why does this look so poor compared to my other Blu-Ray discs?" Then they will return and/or complain.

                      The thing you're really forgetting is if people do not notic
    • That was the MARKEDUP price desperate people were willing to pay. I dont even want to know what people will be selling the PS3 online for, cause they will obviously try and make as much money as possible. But not a lot of people have money to be dropping over 1000 online for a console. Yes is happened with 360, yes it will happen with ps3, but that is no reason to markup the initial price so much.

    • Re:$599 is fine (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rohlfinator ( 888775 )

      The last 3 console releases (ps2, Xbox and Xbox360) where all scalped on ebay for way more than that.

      But to how many buyers? 50k? 100k? The Xbox 360 had a pretty weak launch as it was. If Microsoft had sold it at $600 retail, it would have been plain embarrassing.

      The eBay market can give the impression that hardcore gamers are willing to pay a lot for a new toy, but it's not entirely accurate. If money was not a concern to gamers, people would have purchased the $300 360 Core system (which was readily a

      • Exaclty. It will take years to get the cost of the BR drive and the Cell processor down and any price reduction is going to be that much more money Sony has to recover in licensing fees. The PS2 doesn't have the highest game/console ratio, so nothing makes me think the PS3 will be any better. Sony has a challenge in front of them. I plan to buy a PS3, but it will be a few years from now when the hardware is stable and the price is lower.
    • So recently after its launch, how many of current Xbox 360 owners actually bought theirs at scalper prices on eBay? If it's more than 5% I'll be surprised, and I'm being very generous going that high.

      So Sony is charging more for a console than the vast majority of current console shoppers were willing to pay.
  • They just asked him a few questions and they were all basically, "hey, what's up with your company's attitude these days?" I guess actually asking about anything at all directly related to their products would be too relevant or something?
    • "I guess actually asking about anything at all directly related to their products would be too relevant or something?"

      Directly related to their products? The PS2 and even the PSP don't make for interesting news any more, and we still have months before the PS3 is anything more than vaporware. Beyond that, there are very few questions about the PS3 that wouldn't be answered with either "We already answered that at E3" or "You'll have to wait until $COMPANY_SHOW to find out." The only new things Sony has b

  • General Motors execs used to sound like that (Score:4, Funny)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:33PM (#15721814) Homepage
    He comes across like a General Motors exec from the glory days.

  • Company spokesman says company is doing fine (Score:3)

    by Cryptnotic ( 154382 ) * on Friday July 14, 2006 @05:55PM (#15721957)
    This is news, how? This guy would be fired if he said something like, "Sony is in trouble. We really have to get our act together or we will lose lots of market share to Nintendo and Microsoft. BlueRay really worries me too." Reporters ask the questions they do because they know the answers that they will get, but because they need person A to say it so they can quote them in their article or record it on audio or video for their program.

    • And to be fair, he said "'well those were positive questions', in a vaguely sarcastic tone." He was probably hoping to give a mini-interview to help prop sony up, and found himself defending her against rather agressive negative questioning.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm glad people are finally moving away from softballing everyone. But I'd think that in that situation, an emotionally driven comment like "well those were positive questions" is completely understandable.

      There are valid reasons to be upset with So

  • Here we go again. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stonecypher ( 118140 ) <stonecypher@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Friday July 14, 2006 @07:18PM (#15722387) Homepage Journal
    I'm honestly getting a little tired of these fanboy reporters wasting what could have been productive interviews by instead parroting the rantings of a clone-factory also-ran [tri-bit.com]. There's a reason nobody can name a game of Jeff's that isn't a sequel or a ripoff: they don't exist. Why is Sony arrogant for not tipping their hand? They've cornered what was a thoroughly dominated market in under two years and held it for more than a decade. Yes, the price is high, but Sony knows how to handle markets; their seven year old PS2 is outselling Microsoft's brand new XBox360 in every territory, even though the 360 is the only one of the next-gen consoles available, and probably will be so until at least Christmas.

    News flash: Jeff Minter is Nobody [tri-bit.com]. Film at never.

    (His two famous games are a Robotron ripoff and a sequel to someone else's game which is essentially a graphics upgrade and a speed boost. Most people have to look him up online to even come up with another one of his games. C'mon. Arrogant means to exaggerate your own worth in an overbearing manner, and here's some guy who has released 40 games, the sum total of which don't outsell even one game in the Playstation2 Top 100, talking about Sony's full of it because he doesn't like their new price line? Pots and kettles, man.)
    • Hey, he is a much-loved industry figure from the 1980s. I remember with fondness disassembling GridRunner on the VIC-20 by hand... Your blog does not immediately say what authority you speak from. Which top-selling games have you written?

      Admittedly when I said hi to phil harrison on wednesday night he blanked me, so i guess I won't get any sony party invites soon unless I tag on with someone else.

      • Hey, he is a much-loved industry figure from the 1980s.

        Well, he is from the 1980s. He might also be much loved by the fans. He was not much loved within the industry. Game thieves never are.

        I remember with fondness disassembling GridRunner on the VIC-20 by hand...

        Okay. Go grab the demo from his webpage. You'll be surprised to learn that it's just enemy behavior from Centipede and Galaga, without the mushrooms or enemy formations that made the other two games good, and with a screen saver for a back
    • Honestly, if you think the PS3 is going to be monster hit at that price I'd say you should start looking in the mirror to see who is the fanboy. Sony is arrogant and assumes that it's brand name will sell the PS3 no matter what. Well, the last time I looked at the consumer market I saw a fickle group that is more than willing to jump on whatever the "hot" trend is. So, if Nintendo or MS become the hot property over the next few years Sony will suffer. They will sell out at first because there are enough ear
      • Honestly, if you think the PS3 is going to be monster hit at that price I'd say you should start looking in the mirror to see who is the fanboy.

        Er, I don't, and moreover I never used the word fanboy. I said nothing about the PS3 at all. I just commented on my opinion regarding one man's media tirade. Where is this coming from?

        Well, the last time I looked at the consumer market I saw a fickle group that is more than willing to jump on whatever the "hot" trend is.

        Have another look. The PS2 is outselli

  • If they REALLY want to ask tough questions... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FSWKU ( 551325 ) on Friday July 14, 2006 @08:04PM (#15722600)
    ...then I've got one that should cause him to sweat a bit.

    Quoth Phil Harrison to Spiegel Online:
    On one level I understand why people say that. But it's a little stupid, if you don't mind me saying so. When we launched Playstation in 1994 we introduced the concept of real-time computer-generated 3-D-graphics for the first time.
    This was part of his response to a question relating to the tilt controller, specifically wanting a response to those who thought they stole the idea. My question is two-fold: First, what are you hiding? It should be easy to relate the design process that ended with having a tilt controller (needing a feature now that they can't have dual-shock would have been more than sufficient). However, you simply called the allegations "stupid" and tried to move on as quickly as possible.

    My second question (and the most pressing): Why are you LYING to the public about Sony's achievements? And before you get upset about the question, let me point out my proof:
    • 1980: Atari releases Battlezone. This game featured real-time, computer-generated 3D graphics, and was also (technically) an FPS.
    • 1992: Sega releases Virtua Racing in the arcades. The game was composed almost entirely of real-time 3D graphicsf.
    • February 23, 1993: Nintendo releases Star Fox for the SNES. The major selling point of the game was real-time, computer-generated 3D graphics.
    • November 22, 1994: Sega debuts the Saturn, which is fully capable of providing real-time, computer-generated 3D graphics. Titles such as Daytona USA sell extremely well among owners of the system. This same year, Virtua Racing is ported to the Genesis, and Virtua Racing Deluxe is released for the 32X.
    • December 3, 1994: Sony releases the Playstation, which was originally to become a CD add-on for the SNES to compete with the SegaCD.
    This clearly shows your assertion that "...we introduced the concept of real-time computer-generated 3-D-graphics for the first time..." to be flat-out wrong. This is all commonly available information, which someone authorized to speak on Sony's behalf should know off the top of their head. So I ask again, why the lying? If it was intentional, then you have only proven the arrogant desperation of your company. If it was a mistake, then you are proving yourself unqualified to speak for an entire company. Unfortunately, I am inclined to believe that it was intentional in light of Kaz Hirai's statement of "...With our original PlayStation, we ushered in the era of the CD-ROM and 3-D..."

    So to conclude, you may not think of yourselves as arrogant, but your words and actions say otherwise.

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