Sony's Phil Harrison goes crazy on Nintendo DS

by Ross Miller { Aug 26th 2005 at 3:00PM }

Phil Harrison (225) Where is fanboyism bred – in the heart or in the head? I am more and more starting to believe that the nature of that beast is brought about by the company themselves. Sony, already known for their sagacious Ken Kutaragi statements, has taken a few more stabs at the Nintendo DS, its spiritual competition in the portable market. I say spiritual, since VP of studios Phil Harrison seems to think otherwise: "The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance, those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth." Which might sting more if the PSP was not being outsold by almost a million in Japan to the Nintendo DS. Other quotes worthy of mention include:

"With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen, but I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick - so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that."
"Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it's pretty much defined by a boy or girl's ability to admire Pokemon."

I do not know what exactly brought about these harsh words, but they are unusually strong, even for a corporate spokesperson, but I bet fighting words like this will incite fanboys on both sides to speak their mind. Despite that, these are pretty funny quotes.

[via 1up]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)

metal_gear_jello @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Wow. what a nutcase...

chill @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

LOL this should be fun.....

Brian @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Sore loser :) He's just upset because PSP isn't doing as hotly as anticipated, and DS is doing better than anticipated.

Some guy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

PSP is crap. If I want a handheld without any good games, I'll get an N-Gage.

inlogic @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

ROFL! What #3 said ;D

RageOverdose @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Whoa. What an asshole.

Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

All you have to do is look at recent news stories across the board to realize Sony is terrified of the Nintendo DS. This is a classic and transparent smear campaign.

Anyone with half a brain knows that Sony is in serious trouble with the PSP yet few people who actually own one are willing to step up to the plate and admit it.

Be brave. My PSP and I are willing to stand up and shout out that the PSP isn't worth it. I paid way too much and got suckered into a waiting game. The whole time, playing my DS instead.

The PSP is too expensive, too fragile, too slow (loading times) and too battery hungry to be a serious contender, especially when there aren't any games for it. The PSP is neat, but not a good portable game system.

Sorry Sony. I'm not being suckered next time. Next time, I'll wait till your product is in the bargain bin and I'll scoop one up along with the 2-3 decent games.

ErbilT @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

#3

Wow, that was awesome. Best joystiq quote of the month!

Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I'd like to know how having a worthless web browser, desktop wallpaper, playing UMD movies and bare-bones MP3 playback can't be considered gimmicks.

I bet the Gizmondo is a better gadget than the PSP and may even end up having better games too.

Matters @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Wow. Sony can be really pathetic some times. He comes off as being a little juvenile brat in the process of calling Nintendo DS fans Pokemon loving kids. Sad. Seriously this is the kind of thing I'd expect as a last ditch effort from a kid whose already lost the fight.

Kevout @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Ridiculous

tpp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

You journalist types, when you interview an ass like this, could you PLEASE smack the living daylights out of His Assness?

Whether it's Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft execs that are acting assholiously, it don't matter, just smack'em and tell them to stop the fanboy pretend act.

I don't get it. No other industry heads act like total f***ing babies with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Larry Ellison of Oracle).

Rhine @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Wonder what he was on i want some

Chiablo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I guess Sony has a policy that they voluntarily infect their high ranking officials with the dreaded 'foot in mouth' disease.

Does anybody even pay attention to anything they say anymore? Every time I see the words 'Sony' and 'statement', I think 'Attention whore!'

pspgamer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Now that we've got a PSP and DS in the house, I have to say that I'm just blown away by that gimmick of a touch screen and microphone. Seeing Nintendogs has me daydreaming of what other fantastic, entirely new games can be dreamed up on the platform.

Nintendogs changes everything. Look at the sales in Japan. Everyone of my daughter's friends/family now wants a DS. All of that queer and gimickry hardware finally makes sense. When you find yourself blowing bubbles by BLOWING on the thing, it simply blows your mind.

Frankly, for the PSP, everything rides on GTA:LCS. GTA is the killer app on the PS2 and Sony PSP fans will expect the same. If Rockstar Games doesn't deliver, we're all holding the Sega Gamegear or Nomad of the 21st century.

It is a console without a killer app.

Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Sony can't take it. They are having to deal with some pretty hash realities. The early results of the PSP and DS race are proving that they don't know gamers as well as they think. Lets face it, its the third party publishers know gamers, and thats what has propped Sony up all these years. Nintendo understands gamers, and they understand hand-held gamers. I'd take Advance Wars DS over Death Jr. any day.

CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Sony should just shut up, they have no right to attack Nintendo. Nintendo is kicking Sony's butt Big time in the handheld market, If the PSP was at least doing remotely good then they would have the right, but the PSP isn't doing good, and it won't be any time soon. Sony is the one who have "narrowed" their market. Nintendo is open to EVERYONE, Sony on the other hand is marketing the PSP to a small demographic of 18-25 year old Males who have $250 to throw away on a handheld.
And what the hell are they talking about that the DS is a gimmick, you want to talk about gimmick, look at the screen on the PSP, sure its nice but after a month you just don't give a shit. And how about all the extra features the PSP has, UMD Movie, MP3 player, Image Viewer, Web Browser and all the other shit they are putting into it to get peoples minds off the fact there are no games for it and there won't be more then a handful of so-so titles in the next year. The PSP is the one who is full of gimmicks, Not the DS the DS has introduced a whole new way into playing and not trying to sell its self as a handheld with nice graphics. You would think Sony would have learned something from going agenst MS in the Home console market. Pretty Graphics WON'T sell a console.

Also we want SALE figures Sony, Not SHIPPED figures. We don�t give a shit how many PSPs are sitting in the back room of Wal-Mart we want to know how many people actually own the thing.

Ryan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Hey LOOK!!!

http://img273.imageshack.us/img273/605/philharris4jp.gif

He's jealous!

Rawmeatcowboy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Man, I read these comments fearing that Nintendo was going to be bashed by Sony fanboys who aren't willing to look at facts...but instead I see a wealth of support for Nintendo. Brings a tear to my eye I tells ya!

Tony @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Weird quotes. Insults are always the last refuge of the scoundrel, I suppose. I don't really see why such comments are necessary in the scheme of the interview.

Considering I have several DS games (and no interest in Pokemon), I have to wonder what he's referring to. Advance Wars, Nintendogs, Kirby's Canvas Curse, Meteos and upcoming games like Mario Kart, Castlevania, Animal Crossing and whatever else pretty much shatter that ignorance before it should even leave his mouth.

Oh well.

Frank Furter @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Geesh Sony, give us SOME credit for intelligence. Just because you say it, doesn't make it true.

RageOverdose @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Currently, Miyamoto and Iwata are reading these quotes and are laughing. All the while, hot women are bringing them drinks, and they are drinking hard liquor.

Seriously, Sony has lost all my respect. I always thought they weren't as low as M$, but they proved me wrong. This guy is an idiot too. There isn't any Pokemon DS games except for that crap Pokemon Dash. It is outselling because people don't want to pay 250 for a pathetic gaming system and 40-50 on pathetic ports. And GTA doesn't look all that great. With only 1.8 gigs to work with, it might be hard.

Kamalot @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

http://www.iplayalot.com/media/Nintendogs.jpg

Picture of Nintendogs peeing on PSP!

Metalghosts @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I couldn't agree more with most of the posts above. It simply looks bad for a professional person to go out in public and say 'Na-Na-Na-Na-Na....if you own a DS then you only like Pokemon, you baby!'. Impressive Mr. Harrison, very impressive. Beyond that, the man is an outright liar. If he expects halfway intelligent people anywhere to think that "Nintendo is an irrelevance, those formats don�t appear in our planning", then he's fooling himself. He must have been personally schooled by Kuturagi himself.

Sony execs are sitting in a board room somewhere shitting their pants right now. When they're not dreaming up ways to lie about the compitition, they must be reviewing the art department's pre-rendered images of PS3 'screenshots' that MAY depict images that Sony HOPES will someday be possible on the PS3.

I can picture now the print materials that this den of crooks will be sending out next year....'look at the amazing visuals that are capable on the PS3! It puts the compitition to shame!' Next to the completely Photoshopped picture of the supposed PS3 graphic, they show the Xbox 360 playing Pong, with the following fine print below: 'images depicted do not actually represent actual gameplay, and never will'.

Priceless!

AJ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Ahhh Sony,

God I was having such a shitty day, then I checked Google News and saw this. Wow, I can always count some some stupid shit at Sony to brighten my day. It probably wouldn't be half as good without the great comments afterwards. #4 great quote. #19 I know what you mean. This is great. I have been a Nintendo fan since I got a NES for Christmas on release year. I haven't missed a system yet. And won't, screw you Sony, screw you M$. I want a game system that plays game.....that's it!!! Only Nintendo innovates. If it weren't for Nintendo we'd be playing 128-bit systems with nothing but baseball, football, and racing using a square NES/SEGA Master System style controller. Great graphics but the game blows......

YoYo-Pete @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Well this is a bit biased because it's Japan. Remember the x-box was a flop there. Did great here though.

Plus the PSP is in it's infancy. Yeah, it's crap right now. But this is all new. It's not the 4 generation handheld like it is for Nintendo. Developers know it will sell.

Developing for the PSP could be a risk. Plus there is a lot of learning curve to concure on the PSP till games get really good. Even right now the PSP has a bigger library than the DS.

I think by Q1, 2006 there will be a lot of great games out for the PSP and I would really like to see some poles at that time.

In the US, the DS is geared at kids. PSP is teen to adult. They are really two different market audiences.

Personally I looked at a lot of factors when I decided what I wanted to play on the go. I decided on the PSP.

Even though there isnt much fun to be had today, I know that it's worth hanging onto. I've played on both sides of the fence and yeah, some of the 1st gen games for the PSP have issues with quality, but I know that eventually it will have the better library and better quality games.

I'm no fan boy either... I just want to have the best gaming experience. I am confident that the PSP will climb to the top.

Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Are there any solid North America sales figures for the PSP? I'd like to see and up to date comparison of the DS and PSP sales.

RawmeatCowboy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

One of you intelligent people out there must be able to find a way to get Mr. Harrison's email! Its above my lame skills. I would LOVE to send him a nice little email...or send an email to someone at Sony dealing with their games division.

getluv @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

i think some of you need to shut the f*** up. Sony is doing fine in sales, they can't be compared to the DS. The PSP isn't out in Europe or Australia yet. We forget that don't we.

I'm sorry but i am an 19 year old male, and my patience on Polarium is wearing thin, and until November there is nothing i want to buy for the DS. So yes, that Sony prick is right, the DS is a childs toy. Move on, the truth hurts doesn't it.

Trust Joystiq to publish yet another Sony bashing article so the Shitendo sluts really do feel great, because lets face it, it is embarrassing to show DS to friends. The PSP is not.

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I can't wait for GTA:LCS to come out and make everyone that has comented on this page weep

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Dude, I love this stuff. When companies stop being nice, take off the gloves and go right for the sucker punch. F***ing hilarious when they show humanity like this.

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I can't wait for GTA:LCS to come out and make everyone that has comented on this page weep

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I can't wait for GTA:LCS to come out and make everyone that has comented on this page weep

Imp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Getluv, if you are embarassed around your friends then you have more problems than shitty taste in video games and a closed minded view of the world.

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I can't wait for GTA:LCS to come out and make everyone that has comented on this page weep

djSyndrome @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Getluv, Nintendogs will get you laid, regardless of how ugly you may be. You may want to look into it ;)

funkonaut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

getluv, You need to get rid of Polarium and get Meteos, then Advance Wars.

And when you make posts like that your age drops from 19 to 13 in no time flat. Try to be a little more intelligent when posting on a public forum.

tpp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Dear getluv,

Joystiq will publish as many Sony "bashing" articles as Sony execs give them free of charge. It's juvenile what the Sony execs are doing, and one can't help but wonder what is it that got them riled up that much. You honestly think they'd be ragging on everyone else almost every day, if they were the top dog?

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

sorry it posted 4 times I guess I'll call myself a noob before everyone else gets all pissy

Metalghosts @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Wow getluv....have you been trained in the fine arts of Harrison and Kuturagi as well? When backed into a corner by facts and logic, pull out lots of bashing of the 'compeition'. Nice man! If you're the demographic that Sony is going after, count me out.

Who else do we have speaking up for Sony today in here? Oh yea, slappy up above that either can't figure out how to post his comment only once, or is a total ass and feels the need to post multiple times.

getluv @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I'm sorry but 90% of Nintendo games are rated 'Everyone'

b @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

#28, you must be right, any moron knows that Resident evil DS is targeted for DS, right? Oops, you forgot about that.

Sony is not doing fine in sales. DS has always sold better, and with nintendogs, it sold way better. And all the games that are comming out for DS will deffinitely be successes. At least the upcoming Zelda, and the upcoming Mario Kart that is WiFi enabled. With all that, Sony will be below the earth. Oh and by the way, who cares if the PSP hasn't been out yet in Europe? or Australia, for that matter? I mean, you think the consumer in the states or anywhere CARES about that? Only fanboys do, idiot.

Maybe someone else needs to shut the f*** up until being a little more informed.

squirlstogy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

wow you guys are fast

Todd @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

What's the difference between a Nintendo fanboy and a Sony fanboy????
A Nintendo fanboy defends...a Sony fanboy offends!!!!

Nintendo is based on facts...Sony is based on dreams...

retro @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Well, this might sound a little out there, but I'd really like to smash his ignorant skull in with an enormous hammer. God, look at him! I want to drop a mallet over top his head. That look on his face is craving it!

metal_gear_jello @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

#31"Dude, I love this stuff. When companies stop being nice, take off the gloves and go right for the sucker punch. F***ing hilarious when they show humanity like this."

I know what you mean. I was always the guy in the background at high school that used to yell out "Fight fight!"

:D