Views expressed in this column don't necessarily reflect those of TeamXbox.com or IGN Entertainment, Inc.
By: Carlo Carrasco
Last May 12, Microsoft and MTV jointly unveiled the magnificent Xbox 360. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith opened big time and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has just concluded. Shortly after the big convention, Sony's Ken Kutaragi finally acknowledged the Xbox 360…and predictably attacked it calling the new console as an “Xbox 1.5â€. As if that was not enough, lately he said that with Xbox 360, MS is only going after the PlayStation2.
I have big respect for Kutaragi-san. His amazing designs not only led Sony to a massive victory in the gaming console wars but also made the name PlayStation synonymous with video games…and video gaming is now a very common hobby worldwide. Truly, Kutaragi represents the elite of gaming much like what Michael Jordan did for professional sports.
But even the biggest and most successful people can fall down.
Because Kutaragi has been so successful for many years, Sony promoted him to its board of executives and even appointed him as head of their consumer electronics division. He even was granted the freedom to design more gaming hardware along with big money to fund them.
Among his projects during his tenure as executive board member was the PSX, an enhanced PlayStation2 with a hard drive and DVD recorder. Unfortunately the PSX flopped big time as the consuming public felt that there was no need for it. Despite big time promotions by Sony, the PSX only went down, down and way down the market causing big losses for the Big S.
Remember back in the year 2000 when Kutaragi promised that the PS2 would become a versatile entertainment machine when combined with the network adapter and the 40Gb hard disk drive? Well, PS2 users managed to get online but a huge majority of them refused to buy the separately-sold PS2 HDD. Oh yeah, the PS2's DVD playability plainly sucks forcing owners to upgrade their DVD software with newer versions released by Sony.
Note that the PlayStation Father himself designed the online, the storage and DVD aspects of the PS2. Oh, did I mention just how sloppy his vision was with the current online setup for PS2 online gaming?
When Kutaragi-san became in-charge of Sony's consumer electronics division, people thought that miracles will surely happen. But instead, disaster struck! Sony televisions sold very poorly worldwide and even lost significant market share to China-made TVs in Asia. Samsung Electronics on the other hand continued to innovate and expand making Sony look stale and boring.
Blockbuster DVD titles of Sony Pictures (example: Spider-Man 2) sold big but still failed to motivate people to buy or use Sony hardware with it. On portable digital music players, Apple's iPod knocked Sony out of the field. As if that was not painful enough, the Kutaragi-led consumer electronics division registered a net loss of around $290 million for Sony in 2004!
Because things went so bad, Sony decided to revamp their leadership with Howard Stringer coming in as the next CEO. But in the process, Kutaragi got kicked out of the executive board and once again was pushed out of the way for Sony's presidency!
What does this mean? Kutaragi-san is no doubt in a state of rage, though he was able to cover that from the public. Deep inside, the PlayStation Father is very upset (he failed to become Sony president again), is most likely jealous of other technology leaders (example: Steve Jobs and his iPod) and is also worried about the next generation war of consoles now that the Xbox 360 has been designed to play all kinds of entertainment content from games to online services.
Am I surprised that Kutaragi attacked the Xbox 360? Is it really new to hear him belittle Microsoft's next-gen strategy? Considering all the disasters on the part of Mr. PlayStation himself…absolutely NOT!
There is no doubt that Kutaragi is still VERY BITTER over his fall at the headquarters of Sony. His speech at Sony's E3 conference lacked enthusiasm and energy. And despite a lively showing of PS3 games and hardware mumbo-jumbo, there was no mention or clue about Sony's online gaming strategy…it only means that he failed to come up with a plan to challenge Xbox Live.
As a very successful man, Kutaragi has the right to speak and has the power to wage attacks or even hatred to Sony's competitors. And even if it is proven that the PlayStation 3 is indeed more powerful than Xbox 360 in terms of hardware performance, it does NOT easily blow Microsoft's console away.
But obviously Kutaragi-san wants REVENGE! A lot of it! He wants to hit back at Apple and devour the portable digital music player market. He wants to crush Nintendo and eat the portable gaming market like corn flakes. He obviously wants to destroy Microsoft not only in console gaming but also in multimedia entertainment. And he wants Sony to topple all other movie studios for Hollywood's crown!
I sense that Kutaragi will unleash all of his attacks just to get all the markets to Sony's side. But the way I look at it, every competitor will set up major defense, counter-attack and offensive strategies. In short, I expect competition to get stronger especially with video games. Things are just about to heat up!
Even with all the E3 reports on the web, I'm still convinced to buy the Xbox 360. Not PS3 (very powerful machine though). Not Revolution. The Xbox 360 suits all my entertainment needs from games to movies to music and electronic content.
Is the PlayStation Father still a credible business leader? Not anymore as far as I'm concerned and I wish him luck at bouncing back.
Funny. When it comes to gaming, Kutaragi said before that Microsoft was “finished even before they started.â€
Look at Microsoft now. Over 20 million Xbox units were sold worldwide, the Xbox outsold PlayStation 2 in America last December and MS now has very strong software support for its upcoming console plus they have the best online gaming service to date.
I guess Kutaragi was too arrogant and too blinded to consider the possibilities of life. And no doubt he wants revenge.
