Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

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J.M. Vargas

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby J.M. Vargas » May 24th, 2007, 12:56 pm

Oh brother!

The PS3 has come under an awful lot of criticism both in the run up to and after its launch, but Sony says that the negative perceptions of the PS3 are unjustified and are mostly thanks to "the proliferation of the internet."

Director of SCEA's corporate communications, Dave Karraker, remains confidently positive about the PS3's reputation, speculating: "I am pretty sure if you asked just about any real gamer out there if they would like to have a PS3, their answer would be a resounding 'Yes.'"

He goes on to tell GamePro, "I think a lot of this [criticism] goes back to the proliferation of the internet, where a very vocal minority can make a lot of noise and potentially alter perceptions of the masses, whether they are accurate or not."

"I remember people bagging on the original PlayStation when it first came out, and look where it ended up," recollects Karraker.

"A lot of this, naturally, is driven by the media who seem focused on taking swipes at us lately, without taking in the full picture," he adds, testifying that that much of these perceptions are "not justified and seem fuelled by people who don't have all the facts or have some kind of axe to grind."

He justifies the price of the PS3, the most criticized aspect of the console, by saying: "Yeah, the price of PS3 is higher than other system[s], but look at what you get - the Cell processor, Blu-ray Disc, built-in hard drive, HDMI 1080p, Wi-Fi, the SixAxis. That is a lot of truly cutting-edge technology in one box."


Source: [url]http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/news/article.jsp?sectionId=1006&articleId=20070523162941551090&releaseId=20060314115917309058[/url]

Iain

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Iain » May 24th, 2007, 1:46 pm

I always think it is a very bad idea for these companies to get into arguments with internet posters. Firstly they aren't going to win, it's like the Christians turning to the lions and saying "wait, don't eat us!" and expecting to have an effect. And secondly these internet posters really are a vocal minority, they criticise everything and generally speaking don't have a great deal of relevance. The fact that Sony is actually trying to engage with them and blaming them for anything indicates that they are worried about something more serious and are trying to shift attention.

They would be better off ignoring them and trying to get some good publicity for their machine instead. Comparing it to the first Playstation isn't going to hold water, because despite the fact a lot of people (myself included) were sceptical of it when it first appeared it rapidly proved itself beyond doubt. The same can be said of the PS2 which had a lot of people wanting it to fail, but again it demonstrated itself to be an incredible system. At first I brushed of criticism of the PS3 as more of the same, but it really does seem to be tumbling from disaster to catastrophe right now and Sony would be far better advised to stand it back on its feet than getting into pointless slagging wars with internet communities.

JustLikeHeaven1
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby JustLikeHeaven1 » May 24th, 2007, 1:55 pm

Seriously what do you want the guy to say?  "Um, we suck and we should just close shop.  Sorry to bother all you people.  Go buy a 360 instead."

He is a PR guy its his job to constantly answer these questions and they constantly have to put retarded "spin" on it.  Who cares. 

He is right, its become trendy to kick Sony while their down...big whoop.  If you don't like the machine don't buy it.  If you don't like Sony don't buy it.  Its not they are putting a gun to your head.  If they lose enough money they will go under and everyone can rejoice at the destruction of Sony's Death Star like machine know as the PS3.  Perhaps there will even be a treetop party with Ewoks. 

Sony knows they screwed up.  At least they are slowly trying to fix their issues.  It won't happen overnight.  Lets be realistic here.

Atarifever1
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Atarifever1 » May 24th, 2007, 3:17 pm

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]

He is right, its become trendy to kick Sony while their down...big whoop. 


[/QUOTE]

It's a big whoop to me.  I was kicking Sony right through the PS and PS2 generations, so I guess my final reward is to be trendy now.  The stuff I criticised them about for 2 long generations of BS is the exact same thing everyone else seems to have finally wised up to.  They were arrogant for a long time and for some reason everyone looked the other way.  They produced 9 parts spin for every 1 part mediocre game for a long time and everyone looked the other way.  They had a poor view of their fans for a long time and everyone looked the other way.  Finally, it seems like everyone wised up and looked in the same direction as me.  I'll enjoy that, thank you very much.  I do hope there are Ewoks. 


JustLikeHeaven1
Posts: 2971
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby JustLikeHeaven1 » May 24th, 2007, 3:46 pm

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

It's a big whoop to me.  I was kicking Sony right through the PS and PS2 generations, so I guess my final reward is to be trendy now.  The stuff I criticised them about for 2 long generations of BS is the exact same thing everyone else seems to have finally wised up to.  They were arrogant for a long time and for some reason everyone looked the other way.  They produced 9 parts spin for every 1 part mediocre game for a long time and everyone looked the other way.  They had a poor view of their fans for a long time and everyone looked the other way.  Finally, it seems like everyone wised up and looked in the same direction as me.  I'll enjoy that, thank you very much.  I do hope there are Ewoks. 

[/QUOTE]


Thats fine if you don't like Sony.  I would much rather listen to people like you that have rational thoughts.  I would never call someone trendy for sticking to the beliefs that they've had all along. 

I just don't find most people to be like you.  Most people don't even give valid reasons for not liking Sony.  In my eyes it has become the "cool" thing to dis Sony.   Every bit of Media possible has taken a shot at Sony.  Do we really need to hear what Time Magazine has to say about videogame consoles?  I don't feel that their opinion is relavant at all. 

I don't feel bad for Sony...they've had it coming, just like Nintendo did.  I feel bad for these execs and PR guys that are constantly in the crosshairs of everyone.  They can't take a dump in private without it showing up on a blog site.  Its not like they came up with all the design choices for the PS3.  They merely have to market it...make it sound like the greatest thing ever made.  If they don't they lose their job.  I give them credit, because I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

Atarifever1
Posts: 3892
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Atarifever1 » May 24th, 2007, 5:20 pm

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]
Thats fine if you don't like Sony.  I would much rather listen to people like you that have rational thoughts.  I would never call someone trendy for sticking to the beliefs that they've had all along. 
[/quote]

That's fair.  Maybe I'll be like those people who love a band, but as soon as everyone claims to love it because of the band's worst, most radio-friendly album, then they start to hate the band.  If people keep giving dumb reasons for hating Sony, and Sony pulls a Sega or Nintendo, and has their least popular sysytem actually be awesome, then I'd have to start to like Sony.

[quote=JLH]I don't feel bad for Sony...they've had it coming, just like Nintendo did. 
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I hear this.  Man Nintendo totally sucked before they got humbled.  I think any hugely successful console makers runs of the risk of earning everyone's hate because of arrogance.

Regarding feeling bad for people who have to spin things, I feel the worst for Jack Tramiel when he did interviews about the Jag.  I seriously think he understood what had been done wrong, and personally believed in the product, but couldn't ever get Atari clear of the hole they dug for themselves. 

Edward M

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Edward M » May 24th, 2007, 6:04 pm

Wow did Sony hire Richard Nixon's PR guy?   Blaming your lack of sales on the "vocal minority."  Well it looks like the "silent majority" isn't buying your system considering all the PS3s staying on the shelves. Looks like video game PR guys are ever bit as big of liars as politicians.  Hey sony here is a bit of advice.   The internet isn't the "vocal minority" hippy scum.   They are the majority.  The majority of the people have computers so the consensus of your machine on the internet will probably turn out to be somewhat accurate.  And here is what they are saying, its too damn expensive and there aren't enough good games out for it.  And surprise, that also happens to be reality.   Get with the times, and quit blaming the customer for your mistakes.  But I guess that is kinda the job of a PR guy though.

Funkmaster V

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Funkmaster V » May 24th, 2007, 6:52 pm

He's a PR guy... guys

BUT

He should address some of the issues, and spin those into positives. The truth is that some people are waiting for awesome games, some are waiting on a price drop. When both of those happen, look out, Sony will be back where it needs to be.

FUNK

Steerforth

Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby Steerforth » May 24th, 2007, 7:15 pm

How can they afford a price drop? They launched with a HUGE price drop, just in the cost of components, not even figuring marketing, advertising, shipping these boxes around the globe etc. I know manufacturing cost will drop over time, but unless they get a big river of game licensing  income pretty durn quick, they are screwed. I know convential wisdom is, "Sony will eventually prevail because they are Sony", I think it is bunk. Playstation  succeeded because it gave developers a cheap, friendly format and eventually a large user base to sell their games in a non-Nintendo environment, which was a hell of a load off, no question. Playstation 2 continues to build on that, and they were able to lock up a lot of exclusive games from the pull of their mass. But the 360 has fractured their "next gen"market, their games have have to look incredible to justify their cost and their hype, and Bluray will take a long time to become what they need it to be right now. My point is PS 1 and 2 succeeded for good reasons and PS3 will fail for good reasons.

I may be wrong, but I say this Christmas will finally prove  that the PS3 will never catch fire. I know it is trendy to bash Sony, and I won't even pretend to be nonpartial, but they have given gamers ample reason to bash them. Why are people sticking up for PR men, lol? The most miserable creatures this side of car salesman. Death to $300 + game consoles. You can't sell Cadilacs for the price of VW bugs.

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Sony: internet's "vocal minority" hurting PS3

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 24th, 2007, 10:56 pm

When you walk into Best Buy and see the three-foot wide PS3 section with nothing but a bunch of ports, I don't think you can blame that on the Internet.


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