NEWS - Thursday, June 9, 2005
Horrid Little Troll Scared of Xbox 360
Father of the PlayStation Ken Kutaragi is back on the dissing trail again today, with further snipes at the Xbox 360 plus a few sly digs at Nintendo thrown in for good measure. Speaking to Japanese tech site Watch Impress, Ken was clearly aiming to land further body blows on the Xbox 360, perhaps a sign of how clearly Sony perceive it to be a threat. When asked to compare the two next-gen machines, Kutaragi-san said: "This time, Microsoft has stated clearly that it is going after the PlayStation. However, they’re going not after the PlayStation 3, but the PlayStation 2. They were looking at 2, and that’s why [the Xbox 360] became like that." Hmm, our reaction? Don’t be booking that worldwide comedy tour just yet Kutaragi-san. Mind you, he did manage to slip in the gag about Xbox 1.5 again saying: "One famous reporter let slip, Xbox is 1.5, the PS [3] is more than I was expecting, so it’s 3.5. That’s the difference." Elsewhere in the interview, Kutaragi-san is back on firmer ground when he starts expounding on the vision behind the PS3: "From the start, we intended to make not just a game machine for kids, but a computer for entertainment that adults throughout the world could enjoy." "Other companies may talk of game machines, but we’ve always referred to ’computer entertainment,’ even in our press materials. It’s entertainment and also a computer. That’s what’s important." He couldn’t resist for long, could he? Sony obviously giving Nintendo’s vision for the Revolution a bit of a sideswipe there too. Dismissing Microsoft’s new vision for a High Definition future, Kutaragi-san wasn’t afraid to wield the big stick again: "Other companies may have HD graphics, but the internals are the same. For the most part, they don’t do calculations. For the most part, they don’t do physics - they just add movement through motion capture. Even if you can’t tell the difference with a quick glance at the visuals, this difference is something that can be immediately understood." One further development from Kutaragi-san’s speech is worth noting, apparently we’ll all to refer to the PlayStation 3 in CAPITALS now, as it becomes the PLAYSTATION 3 to clearly delineate it from its predecessors, or something. It’ll just look like everyone’s shouting when we write it on the net though. Still that’s enough Kutaragi-san outpourings for the moment - but we’ll expect fresh offensives as Sony mount an anti-charm offensive to counteract Microsoft’s launch over the next six months. As ever we’ll be there with [virtual] pencils sharpened to bring you the latest.Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com
