Gaming Signal: Sony <em>Is</em> On Crack

Sony Is On Crack

Sony's Phil Harrison (whoever the hell he is) gave an interview with German publication Der Spiegel. In it, he said the following:

We believe that the PS3 will be the place where our users play games, watch films, browse the Web, and use other [home] computer functions," Harrison explained. "The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC.

We don't need the PC? WTF? Can the PS3 play Wow? No! That's a true killer app for the PS3. No WoW, no replacing the PC.

Seriously, what the hell are they smoking over at Sony? The PS3's OS is Linux based, so what apps, exactly, will they use to overthrow the PC as the computer of choice (sorry Mac people)? I think they ought to bundle whatever crack they have at Sony HQ with the PS3. That would ensure the PS3 selling out for a long time.

I think every console maker would love for their product to be viewed as the big convergence device. Sony is trying to make it so that most people won't need or be interested in a Media PC in the living room. They aren't really going to succeed, but there might be people out there who feel this is all they need. I can't imaging doing email on a PS3 - but maybe they'll have a wireless keyboard option that makes it workable?

Posted by Scott on Friday June 02, 2006 at 10:06 AM

Yeah I read this today off of Shacknews and I had the same commentary? It's like no one at Sony knows what the other divisions are doing. If I were in the VAIO divisions I would be emailing Phil Harrison and saying "WTF?!?"

Posted by tditto on Friday June 02, 2006 at 1:49 PM

I hadn't thought of that Trent - great point! I'm sure the other parts of Sony are less than thrilled with him .

Posted by Scott on Friday June 02, 2006 at 3:12 PM

I see Phils point though, the PS2 is being used in Japan as a PC quite rampantly. I'm sure Sony wants to acheive the same feat with the PS3 but to paint with as broad a stroke as Phil did in his commentary is a big gaff. He alienated a whole division at Sony, and potentially just hurt PC sales for Sony which from what I read are pretty strong with all the HW value add Sony adds to the VAIO line.

Posted by tditto on Friday June 02, 2006 at 4:09 PM

On a side note Scott love/hate.. love/hate.. "Why can't I quit you Scott Shaffer!" a la brokeback.

Posted by tditto on Friday June 02, 2006 at 4:11 PM

New today, ( http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32171 ) this does not bode well for Sony at all. The hype apparently really is hype.

Posted by tditto on Monday June 05, 2006 at 2:32 PM

We should still let the thing ship before we condemn it but...

I'm afraid none of us know enough about the architecture to state that this memory bandwidth limitation is a good or bad thing. Telling developers to read/write through RSX and not the Cell is OK really - letting them know that this is the architectural limitation and how to do it right is good. If this hurts game devs or not isn't something we know - I'd have to defer to somebody who actually develops for the platform. Does anybody have a link with information from a game dev group?

Posted by Scott on Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 11:11 PM

I was not condeming it with my last post. If it sounded that way, sorry. I tried to identify the post as hype. I just wanted you to see the link.

Should I just post the links without commentary Scott? It seems to be my commentary you dislike?

Posted by tditto on Wednesday June 07, 2006 at 1:14 PM

You wrote:

"...this does not bode well for Sony at all. The hype apparently really is hype."

I thought you were saying that this news from the Inquirer was true (and thus bad for Sony), and that the hype (positive information about the PS3) is just hype with no substance.

I was merely cautioning that we should probably wait for the console to ship before deciding it won't succeed (although I personally now believe that Microsoft has the best chance ever for overtaking them in the console wars.)

Posted by Scott on Wednesday June 07, 2006 at 7:00 PM

In my opinion Kutaragi is really starting to become his own worst PR detractor. I would think Sony would want to shut this guy up.

""Speaking about the PS3, we never said we will release a game console," he said. "It is radically different from the previous PlayStation. It is clearly a computer. Indeed, with a game console, you need to take out any unnecessary elements inside the console in order to decrease its cost. ... This will of course apply to the PS3 as well.""

So in the earlier post he says we no longer need PC's but then now says that PS3 is a PC and not a game console. I think he is alienating his target market which is console buyers.

Linky: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3175&Itemid=2

Posted by tditto on Thursday June 08, 2006 at 11:01 AM

Seems like Sony is still on the pipe.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32343

Posted by tditto on Monday June 12, 2006 at 10:30 AM

I dunno - doesn't the 360 have an extrnal p/s too? Perhaps this is the 'new way' of doing things? I know it certainly helps with the heat problem (something that plagues desktop PCs today.)

Although these things might prove to be true, I think this guy at LaInquirer is a Sony hatah - he keeps pushing bogus rumors that when proven wrong, he just ignores (see earlier article since debunked.)

Posted by Scott on Monday June 12, 2006 at 4:19 PM

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32413

Another Inq article. This one is somewhat in line with why I'm a Sony hatah right now.

Posted by tditto on Wednesday June 14, 2006 at 10:33 AM