An Evening With Sony Computer Entertainment

Thursday evening, senior Sony representatives such as Phil Harrison (President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios) and David Karraker (Head of SCEA's PR division) sat down with the posters from a bunch of websites, looking to ease relations between the company and their customers. Along with folks from The San Jose Mercury News, Joystiq, Kotaku, and MTV, we discussed a number of the issues raised in the comments here on Slashdot the day before yesterday. My goal in going to the event was to make sure that your concerns were heard. Over the last several months, I've heard many complaints leveled against Sony and their products, and I was hoping to bring back some answers. To be honest, I walked away not fully satisfied. Read on for answers to some of the criticisms you, the readers, have leveled against Sony in the last several months.

I took notes, but a lot of ground was covered, and not all of it was probably of interest. To give you a sense of context, we were all gathered around a large table in a hotel just off of Union Square. The event was held in the early evening, and lasted for approximately two hours. While everyone was certainly civil, there were a number of tough questions passed around. Here is what I felt was most important to you folks:

• A goodly amount of the discussion centered around Sony's newly announced Home project. The dangers of allowing uploadable content were raised, and we were assured that PSN parental controls will be fully in place within the game world. There will be a few quick button options to black out the screen (in case of offensive images) and to kill the audio (in case of offensive language). Public spaces will be moderated (and instanced, if you're curious), though they were a bit vague on just how those individuals would work economically. They're still working out the details.
• I was intrigued on Wednesday (as were a number of readers) by the possibility of indie games in the Arcade rooms they showed off. Phil Harrison responded by saying that it is something they're very interested in. Originally, all of the games were going to be done in Java but technical problems arose. The games are now done in C. If they can wrap up the tools in an easy package, they'd be very happy to release them and allow community-created games onto the service.
• Revenue for the service will be handled via object sales, advertising, and b2b elements in vendor areas. Those concerned about the 'amount of free' that you'll get as an intro Home user should know that they're hoping to offer a fair amount off the bat. 'Free' includes a basic apartment, access to the public spaces, a 'reasonable' number of avatar customization options, and a 'starter' set of furniture. Better views out your window will be purchasable, along with new apartments.
• Everyone from Sony in the room heavily resisted comparisons to Second Life, and other services. In Mr. Harrison's words "That would be heavily oversimplifying both Home and Second Life." Along the lines of hacking the service to allow Second Life-style sexual animations, the reps were fairly confident that they'd dodge that bullet. The service itself doesn't allow avatar touching, and doesn't currently have emotes that approximate those actions. They eventually hope to have 100% of online-connected users on the service. Currently, the number of online connected PS3's is somewhere around 500,000 in NA; roughly 50% of the North American consoles.
• Right now the download is around 450 megs, but that's going to probably shrink and grow over the course of development.
• The subject of Sony's arrogant public demeanor was broached, as well as the poor public relations message we've been getting in the last several months. The ThreeSpeech blog was broached, and the folks in the room actually clarified the purpose and reality behind the 'semi-official' blog. ThreeSpeech is actually a European entity, intended to be a public forum in which Sony-related matters can be discussed and information can be brought to the public's attention. The people behind ThreeSpeech are some of the most respected games journalists in the UK; it would be like if a US version of the site were staffed by the likes of CNN's Chris Morris, and man-of-many-talents Geoff Keighley. Because UK gamers know and trust the ThreeSpeech staff, there's an implicit understanding (in that country) that the message coming from the site is not 'tainted.' It was pointed out the lack of attribution to posts across the site is a barrier to acceptance, and they took that under advisement. For the most part, it seems, the bad reputation that ThreeSpeech here in the states seems to be a case of cultural misunderstanding. While I still don't like the term 'semi-official', I did feel as though the concept behind the site made a great deal more sense to me after this chat. Some of the other attendees were not as reassured.
• The element that I want to convey, which I took away from the discussion of Sony's arrogance, was that arrogance is not the feeling I get from them in person. These people are, instead, supremely confident in their products and services. Thanks to the impersonal nature of quotes and the numerous (rightly decried) public relations gaffes they've suffered, their confidence can easily be seen as arrogance by third party information consumers. This is not to say the company on the whole is not arrogant; I just want to make it clear the people I was in the same room with Thursday night did not have the attitude of inherently arrogant individuals.
• This discussion went on to include the question of the PS3's pricetag, which was a subject never fully addressed to my satisfaction. There was some talk of the PS3 as a lifestyle, and the still-important question of why Blu-ray technology is necessary. Peripherals such as the EyeToy were mentioned as 'making the PS3 disappear from the equation', which given the cost of the system seemed to be a poor choice of words. Not much of substance resulted from the Sony 'side of the table' on this subject, and that attitude left me feeling a bit frustrated. The system's cost won't be changing for some time now, and there's apparently not much to talk about on that subject. This was the one element that I went into the session hoping to deal with directly, and unfortunately came away feeling let down.
• As a final note, it was stated directly that "There is no direct evidence that Blu-Ray has been hacked." Their attitude is that the encryption is strong, and that it will be a long time before it's cracked.

I came away from the meeting with a sense of cautious optimism. To be sure, any time you put a personality to a face and media quotations you'll be more inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt. I think it's human nature to empathize with people that we've met with in person; I hope that you'll view the above with that in mind. Just the same, the folks that spoke for Sony yesterday honestly seemed like passionate businessmen with an interest in making a good product. I certainly don't think that one good press conference and a well-attended meeting can undo the public relations nightmare of the last six months, but (as I said on Wednesday) it does give me cause for hope. Assuming that the company keeps its nose clean through the European launch, it's possible the games arm of this particular megacorporation may have put its launch troubles in the rear-view mirror.

Asked why did they fuck up Star Wars Galaxies ?

critisizms in the past months ? They are fucking up customers for over 3 years in star wars galaxies. Not only that, but they are fucking up entire star wars fan community as well. Ask them why.

Re:Asked why did they fuck up Star Wars Galaxies ?

Unfortunately, this is not SOE, this is SCE. Sony Online Entertainment is the company currently fucking up the following games:

Everquest
Everquest 2
Everquest in space (SWG)
Everquest in computer (Matrix)
Everquest in space with less content (Planetside)
Everquest alpha .5 (Vanguard)
Non EQ related filler (Stationpass)

Supremely Confident?

This is not to say the company on the whole is not arrogant; I just want to make it clear the people I was in the same room with Thursday night did not have the attitude of inherently arrogant individuals.

Is there actually a difference between arrogance, and being supremely confident when you have no reason to be?

Arrogant: "making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud"

Why yes, yes that does sound like practically everything we've heard from anyone influential at sony regarding, well, anything that's come out since the Playstation. Playstation 2 was supposed to be the god box, the supercomputer. It fell DRAMATICALLY short of the announced specifications. Playstation 3 is too cheap. PSP is a fantastic value and UMDs are highly desirable. Blah blah blah.

Confidence, not arrogance?

I don't care how confident those people are, PR folks have got to put at least a LITTLE thought into what they are saying and how it will be interpreted. Quotes like "$600 is too cheap!" don't sound remotely like a statement of confidence on paper.

Sony is still in trouble if no price reduction

If Sony does Not reduce their price within the next year they will be i nall sorts of trouble. All it takes is one $360 price drop and there is serious trouble. Most games are for both systems. So if the 350 reduces its price you can buy a 360 and a wii (with wii sports)and possibly a 360 game for the price of just the ps3. They really need to try to reduce the price. otheriwse they can be in a lot of trouble. Especially with the stellar line up of the 360 and the ps3 towards the second half of this year

Home Is Amazing

Yes, at it is essentially built upon existing Sony MMORPG technology, but that is really just an implementation detail.

http://www.scedev.net/home/ [scedev.net]

Home is a platform for third party developers to build custom spaces to market and sell their games directly to gamers. Sony is providing all the tools you need to build your company's space out in the theme of whatever game or games you want. Just take existing art and use the Maya tools Sony provides. Existing game artwork should be easily used to deck out a space with streaming videos on the walls showing the game and things like being able to jump right into the demo from the game's space. Get custom stuff for you avatar or personal space. Pretty much anything you can think of you should be able to implement and are willing to use to the tools to generate.

When you compare Home to the online disaster that Nintendo has on their hands with the Wii, it should be clear why Sony has the largest amount of support from third party developers and why game developers view the Wii as a place to dump PS2 ports onto. Wii developers are struggling to get the information they need to put their games online and things like Wii integration in games is mostly a Nintendo title only thing right now.

If you are a third party developers Sony is sending you a message that your game or games are important and will get the full support on the Playstation/Home platform on the same level as first party titles. Whereas Nintendo...why risk a big budget title when the company makes it clear that third parties are second class citizens just like they have been on previous Nintendo consoles.

Re:Home Is Amazing

It's ok though, Wii is worth it if only for the first party titles.

Just like with N64 and Gamecube, there were plenty more shelves at EB stocking PSX, and then PS2 titles - but most of those are just filler crap. We're talking about dogshit like American Chopper: The Video Game.

I read an interesting article a while back about Nintendo's position and strategy as an innovative force. They continually try to invent new genre's, and capitilize as they grow, then leave them once mature. Sony and MSFT are focused solely on those mature genres. They'll deliver a very highly polished FPS, or racing game, etc, but wont risk something new.

Nintendo has to do this to stay in business, they focus on cheaper to develop games, and building new genres - the games usually have simplistic graphics, cutting down dev time, for example.

Consider the platformer - a genre nintendo largely defined with Super Mario Bros (and arguably invented with Donkey Kong), and redefined for 3D with Super Mario 64 - yet they currently have nothing in this market, it's too mature and full of competition. How many games would you consider a "Mario Kart" clone?

Sort of a tangent, but basically Nintendo doesn't need to be #1, and nintendo can survive some lack of support from third parties as long as they keep coming up with new stuff. Look at how the DS is taking off, against the PSP which I'm willing to admit is technically advanced. The "gimmick" of the touchscreen has opened whole new genre's of gaming - and this is the whole point of the wiimote.

If the wiimote spawns some successful new genres of videogaming, as it likely will, you'll see similar devices and plenty of clones of those games on Xbox and PS3. The genre will mature, get its rigid fanbase unopposed to change (there is no room for innovation in the FPS genre, the fans are too hardcore and will reject anything that isnt by-the-numbers), and Nintendo will move on.

They surely fail sometimes (Virtual Boy), but the fact that they are a company based on invention means they can keep going and succeed, where Sega failed miserably (Sega being merely another manufacturer, like Sony and MSFT).

Basically, they don't really compete with Sony and Microsoft at all. Sony and MSFT manufacture, Nintendo invents.

Blu-Ray comments

As a final note, it was stated directly that "There is no direct evidence that Blu-Ray has been hacked.

I wouldn't expect them to say otherwise. If they admitted that Blu-Ray was in any way flawed, the non-Sony content providers would be much slower to adopt the standard (if at all).

Re:Blu-Ray comments

They're probably referring to the keys being discovered. [engadget.com]

Sony just doesn't seem to "get" it...

Peripherals such as the EyeToy were mentioned as 'making the PS3 disappear from the equation'

Ummm... How does an overpriced and underutilized webcam accessory accomplish that? And what does that have to do with the price of the base system?



The system's cost won't be changing for some time now

Then neither will the sales figures.



They eventually hope to have 100% of online-connected users on the service

Sony, Microsoft, and even Nintendo need to understand something...

A lot, probably even the majority, of casual gamers, don't want the whole live/home/online "experience". We want to pop in a game and waste a few hours to unwind between getting home from work/school and having dinner.

I don't care if the world knows how much I rock (or suck) at the newest games. I don't want trinkets and scenery and furniture for a virtual apartment. I don't want to spend time doing anything beyond slaying dragons, drag-racing through densely populated urban areas, slappin' hos, and getting the little colored blocks lines up just right so they go "bleep" and vanish.

My style of gaming doesn't fit Sony's ideal revenue model. Too bad - Give me what I want, or you don't get any revenue from me.



arrogance is not the feeling I get from them in person. These people are, instead, supremely confident in their products and services.

Trying to tell people what they want to buy doesn't count as confident. It counts as arrogance.

People generally have some sense of shame and humility, and in live meeting, few people will come off as truly arrogant. That doesn't make the company itself any less so.

I'll repeat myself - Give me what I want, or you don't get any revenue from me. If Sony responds to that by trying to explain to me why I really want what they have, you have arrogance, not confidence.

Re:Sony just doesn't seem to "get" it...

"Then neither will the sales figures."

FYI: The PS3 has sold slightly more units then the XBOX 360 sold in its first three months [vgcharts.org].

I find the rest of your comment confusing...you are mad because they're giving you a casual gaming environment in addition to the more traditional big blockbuster game model. I didn't see anything about a requirement that you use "PS3 Home" to play all games. Seems to me that you can just not download "PS3 Home" and "pop in a game and waste a few hours to unwind". Seems to me that if all you want to do is "slap hos", you can just buy GTA4 when it comes out and ignore the whole "online experience"

Does it occur to you that perhaps they want to appeal to a variety of different markets? Does it occur to you that perhaps they want to give different consumers different things, and that perhaps they are attempting to use multiple revenue models to support different sorts of costumers?

Seems to me that they showed a shiny new toy you can have for free, but only if you want and you said "OMFG! YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! I DON'T WANT THAT SO YOU SUCK!" It's like screaming that Toyata sucks because they make SUVs and you want a hatchback hybrid.

Just my $0.02 discounted for inflation

The fact that Sony is aware of their ongoing and continuing PR problems, and is actively and publically trying to address it is a good thing. The impression that I have had recently is of a bunch of ostriches with their heads buried in the sand, waving pom-poms and leading cheers about how great Sony is. However, having read the summary of the article, I don't see anything that would lend itself to the author's sense of "cautious optimism" in what was said in the meeting itself. There wasn't anything that struck me as new or showing that Sony is trying to move in a different and better direction. At this point, I know for myself, that it will take more than just a well packaged, rehashed version of the same message delivered by articulate and likeable messengers to give me any sense of optimism, cautious or otherwise, about where Sony is, and the direction that they are heading in.

Que?

Because UK gamers know and trust the ThreeSpeech staff, there's an implicit understanding (in that country) that the message coming from the site is not 'tainted.'

Being from the UK I must have missed that bit - I'm not entirely sure how "cultural differences" mean that I somehow trust a Sony puppet blog more than someone from the US would.

Price Price Price

Ok, great, everyone say what you could buy for a price of a playstation 3. fallacious argument? Well, I could buy 2 Hondas and 2 Ford cars but that doesn't exactly mean that I got a better deal than buying one Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW. It's great to know that you could buy more with your money, but the quality isn't necessary reflected in your purchase. If you just give the systems an equal chance, you might realize they all are good in their own respect and all have their flaws. Play the games for all the systems and quitting crying, just cause you or your parents can't afford a Playstation 3 doesn't mean you should shun it or it's company.

price FUD

I really don't understand why people go on and on about the PS3's price.

It retails for $499 usd

Not $700, not $800, not whatever other made-up numbers people use (although yes, europe got screwed here as usual).
What do you get for that price?

$800 worth of hardware.

Hardware that no other console has. Hdmi, standard high capacity optical drive, user replaceable hard drive, in a package that has had essentially no manufacturing defects.
Yeah, its expensive, but it's a lot of machine for the money. If you don't want to pay for it, don't buy it, but stop acting like sony owes you a cheaper machine.

Re:price FUD

Hardware that no other console has. Hdmi, standard high capacity optical drive, user replaceable hard drive, in a package that has had essentially no manufacturing defects.

Oh man, where to start, where to start. HDMI? This provides very little advantage over component connections, and as most people on this planet have NO HDTV, let alone one with HDMI, this is pretty irrelevant.

User replacable hard drive, that's a nice touch. But 99% of everyone doesn't give a shit.

No manufacturing defects? tee hee hee. There's been overheating issues and the HDMI timeout issue. That's not strictly sony's fault, but it is their responsibility to test their device with the most common output devices, and this is something they clearly did not do.

Yeah, its expensive, but it's a lot of machine for the money. If you don't want to pay for it, don't buy it, but stop acting like sony owes you a cheaper machine.

Anyway it's not worth anything like $800 to me. For one, I don't want or need blu-ray. Its primary effect is making games more expensive. I don't have an HDTV and probably won't have one any time soon because they are seriously fucking expensive, at least anything worth owning. I'm not going to buy some 720p shit unless it's incredibly cheap. And 1080p definitely isn't cheap.

You can argue that we should all unlimber our wallets if we want what they have. But ultimately, Sony is a corporation, SCE is a company or collection thereof, and if they want people's money, they're going to have to give them what they want. They are not selling what most people want, which is why the Wii is flying off shelves within hours of when it shows up on them, but you can buy a PS3 almost anywhere, in spite of the fact that there's been significantly more Wiis actually produced.

Sony is trying to force us into supporting Blu-Ray, and I'm not interested. Not that I would give those assholes at Sony any money after rootkits and destroying Lik-Sang, among other faux pas.

So who are these "respected uk journalists"..?

..as threespeech doesn't seem to have any details?

There aren't exactly a large number of journos that'd be respected, so I guess the lack of identification is because they're all employed on one of Sony's various "Official" magazines?

Zonk, call a spade a spade.

This will probably come across as trollish, but this is a serious question - Zonk, what is your love for Sony / the PS3?

"Sony Keynote Offers Hope For PlayStation 3 Fans"
"Today was Sony's day to deliver: and in my opinion they did with flying colours."
"Finally, finally, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for the console."
"Note the first: There may finally be a great reason to buy a PlayStation."
"Your avatar is customizable, and extremely detailed. These is *not* Miis, these are better than Second Life quality digital characters."
"[Little Big Planet] is the reason to buy PlayStation 3." (bolded)

And from this op-ed:
"The element that I want to convey, which I took away from the discussion of Sony's arrogance, was that arrogance is not the feeling I get from them in person. These people are, instead, supremely confident in their products and services."
"I came away from the meeting with a sense of cautious optimism."
"...it's possible the games arm of this particular megacorporation may have put its launch troubles in the rear-view mirror."

Maybe it's just my view of things, but everything *sounds* sugar-coated. Your (Sony) article(s) read more like hype than unbiased reporting.

It's fine if you're personally excited about what goes on, but I think in the interest of full disclosure, you need to say *why* you're so interested. I don't own a PS3; I have seen nothing in these recent articles to indicate, to me, that Sony has taken any steps to change their ways. And yet, you repeatedly say that this is the case.

Why? Because they're implementing a Sony-branded Second Life rip-off? Because of one good game? Because they put their best personal face forward during one meeting?

We've seen this exact pattern before, from a number of companies: nicely worded "promises". Pretty ideas. Friendly faces. The reality of it from Sony has been, consistently, lies and dashed hope. Does meeting these people face-to-face really make you want to forgive and forget so easily?

-lw

Re:Zonk, call a spade a spade.

One of the greatest achievements an editor can make is to be accused of being biased by all sides of an argument.

From what I read on /. Zonk is an xbox, wii and ps3 fanboy and so must be well placed to provide a balanced view...

(and as a Wii owner who would just love to see the ps3 do so badly all those nice looking exclusives come over to Nintendo, I have to admit this is the first thing I've seen from Sony regarding the PS3 which gives me the impression the it might still be a success)

Sounds like Sony won the GDC.

Coming in to GDC Sony is in a hard last place in a lot of ways, yet apparently at this talk it sounds like a huge amount of the time is spent on Home, that's a huge win. Avoiding talking about the Blu-ray, price and games for the most part and talking up their new Home is good. Let's forget that GDC is about developers rather then the press, and the fact that they have taken the first steps to turning GDC into the next E3.

But from the sound of this they really got away with something at GDC this year, and kudos for them, too bad most of us are already too jaded to turn back and most developers still find the system a hassle even with this new item. Overall though it sounds like a huge win for Sony at least this week.

Backwards attitude

Did you ask them why they hate their customers? That's what I really want to understand.

Sony's issues

This seems to broach on the subject of the PS3. However I have a HUGE problem with Sony in general, and by that I mean in every arena, such as music, video, gaming, and computing.

When arrogance is mentioned, it should be applied across the spectrum. For instance someone mentioned Sony MMORPG and those issues. That was a nasty shanking. The absolute deplorable arrogance of the rootkit. The stupid licensing, DRM, and issues that plague Blu Ray, MD Disks, and SACD.

SACD and MD have especially peeved me off with their arrogant licensing issues, and paranoid DRM tactics that remove the ability use the media in ways that you would want. Ever seen a SACD player for your car? Too much for licensing. MD? they had MD players since the early 90s. An absolute incredible technology that they completely squandered and screwed up because of their paranoia.

The licensing side needs to come to grips. Sony comes up with phenomenally good technology. Then the licensing side shanks the hell out of it rendering it pretty close to useless, and frustrating for the consumer. Arrogance. Complete and pure.

Blue ray promises to be that exact same shanking. Im not that excited frankly anymore. I have my DVDs which I can pull and use as I see fit. I buy a lot too...I have several hundred DVDs. If I could watch the Blue ray disks as I wanted, I might buy into that as well. DRM is crap. If the security hurts the legitimate users of your product, then it should not be worth implementing.

now all this talk about 3d Worlds and interactions on the "3.0 games". WHY would I want that? Myspace is already on the web. I dont need or want that from my game console. I want one thing, and one thing only. Games. Good games. In fact for $600 plus another $50 per game they better be SPECTACULAR games. Everything else is chromed plated crap. Where are the good games?

Sony IS arrogant, and I quite frankly dont see why anymore. You can take your ball back now, Sony. There are others I would rather play with.

Kotaku's balls

As was reported on slashdot a few days ago, Kotaku was "blackballed" by Sony for reporting on rumors about Sony Home. Even though Sony and Kotaku are back on speaking terms now, the following is quite amusing:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/oddities/gdc07-warhawk-de v-hands-me-my-balls-242974.php [kotaku.com]

GDC07: Warhawk Dev Hands Me My Balls

There was this moment, just seconds after I sat down between Phil Harrison and David Karraker, when the entire table of bloggers, PR people and developers at Sony's Blogger Congress were quiet.

Then Dylan Jobe, Warhawk game director for Incognito, spoke up.

"Before we get started, I have something for Brian."

I noticed Jobe had a small box on the table in front of him. He is a big fan of Kotaku and was impressed with what the site did last week over the whole Sony Home dealio.

So he said he wanted to give me a present to thank me. Opening the box he revealed: A set of brass balls.

Sony? Baloney!

After personal experience with one too many Sony CD drives (computer, home stereo, clock radio) that died before their time - but not before the warranty expired, my attitude about Sony started to change. Not better-than-average equipment, just more shoddy Asian electronic crap.

Then - as promised by their leadership ("we'll firewall it at the PC!") they embedded a rootkit on music CDs. This criminal act, followed by their arrogant defense of this action, proved to me that they are nothing more than the lowest level of corporate scum.

So I made a choice - no more money to Sony. Hasn't hurt a bit; I've spent freely on electronics and entertainment and don't miss Sony a bit.

Those who haven't learned yet are doomed to suffer at Sony's hands - Sony hasn't learned their lesson yet. They don't have a public relations problem, they have a corporate ethics problem. I don't see anything that indicates any change in this situation at any time in the forseeable future.

Blu-Ray thing really does baffle me

I don't seem to have noticed any great consumer demand for the console to come bundled with a HiDef drive. The games don't need it (not noticed many 2 disk 360 games anyway) - and as one of the main advantages I see for the PS3 over the 360 is the use of the hard drive to spool in games AND all machines having a hard drive - if they did need more space, they could've just put a data DVD to put on the drive and a Boot DVD to shove in the PS3 in the case and been done with it.
The BluRay drive is in the PS3 as sony wants to own the next big media format. If it takes off and beats HD-DVD, then you've kindly donated to this with your PS3 purchase. If HD-DVD wins, then you've just pissed away a load of money.

Totally wrong in your assumption of business men

"Just the same, the folks that spoke for Sony yesterday honestly seemed like passionate businessmen with an interest in making a good product"

No, Sony could give a crap less about making a good product, just like they could give a crap less about making a good movie, music, game, hardware, software or ANYTHING.

If they make a good anything it's simply a BYPRODUCT of trying to make money, which is all sony has ever cared about.

nothing about psp homebrew?

I'm slightly disappointed to hear that nothing was said or even mentioned about a more lenient stance on psp home brew which i have been trying to get into since the beginning but can't for various reasons.. (namely my idiot friend upgrading my psp firmware)

Even though it would most likely never happen, it would be good to see some backing from Sony on this issue

"blue ray wasn't hacked" *huh?* . . .

sony said Blu-ray wasn't [engadget.com] cracked [boingboing.net]

*puts fingers in ears*
"i dont hear you hackers lalalalalalalala!"

way to sugar coat a story btw..

also.. this q&a session didnt touch the fact that, at least in my region, sony has halted ALL ps2 sales in their vane attempt to push the 5 dusty ps3's off the shelves.

Viral campaign by Microsoft?

Although Sony has made a few mistakes in it's public relations, one can't help but wonder if Microsoft has a hand with all the hate that is going on towards Sony. Microsoft has prior experience in creating FUD towards it's competitors, and in the fanboy culture of gaming, this has never been easier.

Microsoft's fanboy conversion rate is very high. Although there are some valid criticisms regarding the PS3, much of the same criticisms can be applied towards Microsoft.

For instance, the cost of the XBox 360 when WiFi and HD-DVD, and online gaming are added, is far greater than the cost of the high-end PS3. Sure you might like the modular approach, but the fact is, quite a significant portion of gamers use the online service, and use WiFi. If you add those two components, the XBox 360 costs over $100 more than the PS3 over 4 years. Add the HD-DVD player, and it costs $300. If the PS3 is prohibitively expensive, than the XBox 360 is more so, notably for online gamers who don't want to punch holes in their walls or ceilings.

Sony's business practices have been terrible in the past, but Microsoft's has been even worse. At least Sony is starting to embrace open standards, and we need to encourage that sort of thinking by buying their open products. The PS3 includes support for any USB webcam, or headphones, accepts flash cards other than Memory Stick, allows you to install other OS'es.. you can tell much of the machine was made by people who "get it".

Instead of arguing logical points, fanboys have been ranting over just about everything, even though some can be directed towards Microsoft, and some are just trivial in nature. For instance, Zonk ranted against Sony about long lineups at stores, and how people paid homeless people to buy a PS3. It's gotten to that point where logic no longer applies, and it's a mob mentality that's taken control of XBox gamers everywhere.

If you're getting paid by Microsoft, either in the form of advertising, laptops, or cash, then good for you, at least you're doing it for sound reasons. But if you're bashing Sony for everything they do, posting snide remarks under every Sony story, then you should ask yourself if you've been infected by Microsoft's viral campaign.

Empathize?

I think it's human nature to empathize with people that we've met with in person; I hope that you'll view the above with that in mind.

Not a problem as long as they keep in mind the fact that I'm not dealing with them in person, I'm dealing with them through their product, their quotations, their interviews, and my money.

So far they've tried telling me I should be happy to give them $650+ USD for a worthless product (leaving BluRay out of this, they're talking about it in the sense it's a game system) that's only assisted by crappy, arrogant interviews that produce asinine hubris-tainted quotations.

In short, Sony is telling me as a customer that I should reward them for being complete and total dicks to me. It does not matter what they're like in person, that is the image they're sending me as a customer.

Sorry Sony I think I'll stick with Nintendo and MS who at least don't fail too often on these prior points and, at the VERY least, not all at once when they do screw up.

VZWar

http://www.vzwar.com/ [vzwar.com] VZWar - New popular War Game!! If you are bored at work or at home, play VZWar and get some action to your life! It takes only 10 minutes a day! Version 2 of the popular game VZWar! Fight for your place in the world of VZWar! Join hundreds of armies who have already joined! The game was just reset, so join fast! There are 20 kinds of weapons, 8 War Machines, 4 kinds of missiles who can destroy the enemy, ranks and more! You can attack other armies by sea, air, ground or by the entire army! Make alliances with other players and rule the game! Have you succeeded destroying other armies? Take all of their resources, soldiers, weapons, missiles and everything he got! Destroy them all and try to be the strongest army in VZWar World! Good Luck! http://www.vzwar.com/ [vzwar.com]

No Touchie

The avatars can never touch each other. Everyone will have their personal space that is never ever violated.

How sterile. In order to dissuade people from having sex, even shaking hands is forbidden.

I don't think this will help people do business, as if I see a man on my screen that is a representation of my new client, I want my avatar to shake hands with him, not just /wave from a foot away.

Re:No questions about the fake PSP fan site?

What do you mean subjects us to? I've heard of this site, but was never any way forced to see it.

So they tried a really lame advertising campaign, and it backfired. I don't get all the indignation and nerd-rage over it, like they violated your rights or something.

I don't get the anger or hostility in general. I think the PS3 is overpriced and kind of dumb, so I just dont buy one. Maybe one day I will, but I have no strong personal feelings towards it one way or another. It's just a consumer product, and not something I in any way need.

Re:No questions about the fake PSP fan site?

Lik-Sang was sued because they sold PSPs in Europe, not mod-chips. The lawsuits (plural) absolutely were bullshit.

What happened to Lik Sang

I don't have time to find references for the other stuff you ask (and if you can't remember the fake polygon claims which both Sony and Microsoft released, you're not much of a gamer), but this is just plain wrong:

If Lik-Sang failed because they couldn't sell modchips in the UK, then they had more issues than Sony.

Not being able to sell modchips in the UK is not what killed Lik Sang. Lik Sang was not able to defend against multiple lawsuits started by Sony all over Europe [kotaku.com] and was thus forced to go out of business.

They never had a chance to defend themselves because Sony started so many lawsuits that they could not afford fighting them, even if they had a chance of winning. I don't care what you think, that's just plain evil.

Re:What happened to Lik Sang

When the PS2 came out, Sony was bragging about how it can can push 66 million polygons per second (reference [cyberiapc.com]). When the Cube came out, the specs Nintendo released were a fraction of that (12 million polygons per second, reference [iexbeta.com]). So gamers everywhere thought the PS2 would simply own the Cube hardware-wise. Problem was, Sony lied. They implied that games could push that amount polygons, when in reality, the PS2 could only display that many polygons if they were untextured, unshaded, and if the PS2 did nothing else but display them.

I have no idea why you are even trying to dispute this.

Furthermore, the closing of Lik-Sang had nothing to do with Mod chips, at least directly. Sony didn't sue over Mod chips. They sued because Lik-Sang was importing Sony hardware from Japan. From Lik-Sang themselves: [lik-sang.com]

Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers

Do you have any clue or do you just reply because you like to insult others by implying that things only happened in their heads?

Re:No questions about the fake PSP fan site?

Preface: I have 2x NES, SNES, N64, Cube; GBA, SP x2, DS Lite; Dreamcast; 2x PS2, 1 PS2/Slim (gave my PS1 away); 2x PSP; and a PS3. I will be getting a Wii as soon as Paper Mario hits, maybe sooner. I have a solid selection of the best games for all of the above platforms, and I've played (if not finished) just about every SNES and NES game worth playing. I grew up when Atari and Nintendo were big, and am as happy to play an 8-bit game as an HD next-gen game. If that's not "'core", or whatever you kids are calling it, then you're the one with the weaker definition.

Alright, cards on the table time. For some oddly contrived reason you are faced with a choice as to which company: Sony or Nintendo, is allowed to have ever existed in the gaming market. Which would you choose? I can tell you that as someone with a similar background(although I don't own a PSP or a PS3), I'd choose Nintendo, because Sony just doesn't matter as much.

That said, you have no clue if you think Sony is "evil". Nor is Nintendo "evil" anymore; whether this is by necessity or choice is irrelevant. The only thing that killed the Dreamcast was Sega's business prowess. Substandard manufacturing, terrible marketing, and making lots of bad choices along the way. I would much rather see them as the third competitor in the console race than Microsoft (because Microsoft is ongoingly evil), but that's not going to happen soon.

Order of evilness today: Microsoft > Sony > Nintendo
Order of evilness in the late 80s/early 90s: Nintendo > Microsoft > Sony

Except then Nintendo was never really horrible to their customers. The worst thing they ever did was set up those Nintendo authorized repair centers and charge a bit too much for repairs related to the design decision of making the NES load like a VCR. Sony and Microsoft have been comparitively horrible to their customers, especially in recent memory.

Care to explain how a company that delivered two massively successful consoles each with a huge library of excellent games is a "big turd"?

Gah, I hate statements like that. It's stealing credit from Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, Atlus, Take 2, EA, and every third party who made great games and apportioning it to Sony for some fucked up reason. Sony didn't make the playstation, the third parties did.

Because almost none of those games are in-house games. Had Sony not been around, they would've been made for the Gamecube or N64 or Dreamcast or XBox. One of the things I truly hate Sony for is their idiotic fanbase. Mainly because they gave me shit for the better part of a decade for daring to enjoy games with color in them. And they'll also criticize the fuck out of a Nintendo title, while praising another titles that's exactly as derivative of the original Nintendo title.

And how does Sony/BMG's contractor have anything to do with Sony Computer Entertainment, which is an entirely different---physical and businessological--- subsidiary?

Sony media calls the shots within Sony proper. Plus, *always* hold a corporate entity as a whole responsible for the actions of their subsidiaries. If you hate phillip morris, you shouldn't buy Kraft food products.

If Lik-Sang failed because they couldn't sell modchips in the UK, then they had more issues than Sony.

Lik-Sang got knocked out by Sony suing them in dozens of territories for importing PSPs before the release date.

Your anger and hatred is misplaced, and more related to a $499-599 pricetag than any real, tangible, logical reason.

Maybe his is, mine isn't. My anger is placed at the credit-stealing, attention whoring, and sheer arrogance of the company and it's fanbase. I don't want to be associated with playstation fans. I don't want to be associated with Sony. They're fucking thieving scum, and maybe you're ok with that but I prefer to reward the guys who come up with and push the concepts rather than the guy who comes in later, mocks an idea only to copy it and

Re:Playsation home?

Great math. You were off only 100 dollars when referring to Sony.

Good luck with those tax forms.

The PS3 is not $700!

It's $599, after tax possibly $650. No way has it ever been $700.

Re:I'm a little surprised

Just curious, if your company had a morose outlook on the product, then why spend so much time supporting it?

Re:What?

I read that as: "The download size will become smaller, but the content per mb will be higher."

Which may or may not be what it means at all.