Well, you know what they say about what to do when you have nothing nice to say ... erm, say that the competing gaming platform (in this case, the 360) is an "obsession"?That's exactly what Sony CEO Howard Stringer had to offer in an interview with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal recently. While sharing how The Da Vinci Code from Sony beat up on "X-Men 3" (aka The Last Stand) over in Europe, he seemed to mistakenly throw in "Xbox 3" in the stead of Fox's great summer blockbuster hope. Following Mossberg's correction, Stringer is reported to have retorted, laughing, "There's an obsession!"
We don't know if he's referring to the media's obsession with the corporate gaming rivalry, his own obsession with the console that would dethrone the PlayStation, or some combination of the two (irony really doesn't help here), but he does seem to at least outwardly admire Bill Gates' salesmanship (as well as his hypocrisy in delaying Windows Vista while lambasting the PS3 delay). Of course, a lot of supposed compliments could go both ways, so we've provided a few handy links below to check out what other "nice" things hardware execs have had to say about their competitors lately. We're sure it's all in good fun.
[Thanks, JC & SickNic; also via GameDaily BIZ]
See also:
- Nice words -- "Thanks," "flattered," and "flattering."
- Not-so-nice words -- "Plagiarism," "no need for PC," "not mainstream for most games," and "same old experiences with new graphics."
(Page 1) Reader Comments
I think it's "...his own obsession with the console that would dethrone the PlayStation..."
That's what I think. Even in the picture he looks worried...
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Stringer's Mouth: Yea Da vinci code totally beat out xbox 3.
Stringer's head: holy shit i just fucking said not to say xbox, damn damn damn, freudian slip of the year. crap the guy is looking at you all funny...say anything.
stringer's mouth: yea there's an obsession! ha ha ha
stringer's head: oh man im a dumbass, oh well....
seriously you know the guy is thinking about his competition 24/7 theres no way he isnt thinking about it. freudian slip.
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Sony makes more than video game consoles, you see.
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I know the news is slim since it's the summer, but there must be something better to write about.
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Hilarious reenactment, jon. If you go all the way back to the original WSJ article (which is only available to subscribers apparently), Stringer is described as the following in the second paragraph:
"During the spirited session, in which he delivered a constant stream of wisecracks and jibes, Mr. Stringer discussed Sony's strengths and weaknesses, its competitors, and his efforts to shake up the giant company, which combines a major electronics business with a movie studio and a record label."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114955974505772215.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
"Lively"! =)
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bl13,
"...Sony makes more than video game consoles, you see."
They might make more than video game consoles, but the future/fate of the company lies primarily on the hands of the PS3. At least that's the main hoopla about Sony these days.
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Nice try passing yourselves off as non-biased journalists.
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1. I'm not sure Joystiq's ever claimed to be unbiased. It's a blog after all.
2. They have often been biased in favor of the PS3 in the past. Always been Rev/Wii fans and had a stick up their butts about the 360 until they got their hands on them. So now they're more pro-360. Ah well. Maybe when they get their hands on the PS3 that'll change again.
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The only console that 'truly' cares about it's fanbase and 'blog base' is MS, surprisingly. Sony is to arrogant to acknowledge their fans and treats its fanbase like a bunch of silly b*tches (and Sony Fanboys absolutely LOVE this!), and Nintendo (regardless how much I like them) has even publicly stated that they don't care about their 'rabid' fanbase for the most part either.
I think Sony Fanboys will be [going a little far there, don't you think?] and the Nintendo Fanboys might want to think of [uh, maybe a bit too explicit... yeah; please keep things civil. --The Management].
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I didn't see the Wii mentioned anywhere in the article.
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The "obsession" is you being obsessive over a singular word spoken by Sony. What's the point of this again?
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I believe the point of this post, Andir (and I'm sure that this is open to debate), is that executives -- especially of big console manufacturers -- sure can say interesting stuff. Whether this "obsessive" subject is relevant or not is also a matter of subjective evaluation. Of course, why do pubs/sites even interview execs in the first place? With smaller companies, it's possible that a new announcement might be made during the course of conversation; with the corporate conglomerates we're dealing with here, usually it's to color and fill in the details of the console wars we know and love. Watching personalities/celebrities can be fun, but, then again, reading People Magazine probably isn't for everyone, either. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. /end cliche-ridden speech...
In the end, this kind of "news" makes the competition between industry titans more enjoyable and "personable" (if you will) for me. If this kind of post isn't "hard news" enough for you, I sympathize, but there's not much I can do to change that for you. (And, yes, there are quite a few people who'd like to read what Sir Howard said about Bill Gates and the 360, however brief or passed off with a laugh.) The WSJ article might have a different slant as a whole... care to share what they thought was so important?
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But you and I have to admit (Joystiq has done it as well) that mistakes will be made. Freudian slip? Stutter at the wrong time? Who really knows. This is one of those stories being thrown on the fire to fuel the war, not the fan to try to clear the smoke so you can see what's on the other side.
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Do not stray off topic.
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That's the problem, Andir: Without a subscription to the Journal, it's a little difficult to read this quote in context, which leads to the ambiguity we have here. If Stringer actually plays PGR3 and Zuma as much as Gates and his family do, then we have some really interesting fuel being added to the fire; if this is a simple mistake, then all we're left with is a post with some entertainment value. We would like to have at least communicated some of that to some of the folks out there. (And hopefully Next-Gen and GameDaily provided the context as it appeared in the original story, but we certainly welcome comments from those who can claim otherwise.) It is an odd (even mysterious?) quote.
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The edits on my previous post only add more humor, I actually like it! Thanks for the improvement Joystiq Management! =D
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*Passes out sensationalist tabloids*
I'ts nice to know you have completely stopped trying to be balanced. "...the console that would dethrone the PlayStation..." nice to know a system not even being produced in final hardware yet is an effort in futility. Why not go ahead and merge the fanboy sites with Joystiq and let the ps3fanboy site go. Its not like that site ever manages more than 3 posts a week.
I'm sure I will get a negative star for this, but at this point, I've stopped caring.
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http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/18/a-guide-to-joystiq-star-whoring/
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Microsoft calls PS3 online strat "plagiarism"
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2006/06/05/microsoft-calls-ps3-online-strat-plagiarism/
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You don't have to quote my post word for word, Chris, but one word can make quite a difference (as you might see from the subject of this very post). As for biased journalism, if we complain about every company and console, are we not even in our whining? Praise goes where praise is due, but I seriously doubt that I'd be able to change your mind about this issue. Sorry, but this is a topic that simply won't be resolved between us.
"Do not stray off topic."
Uh, remarking how replacing a word of mine changes the meaning of a sentence (when it specifically is what you called out in your original comment, all the while keeping everything in quotes) is off-topic? Okay... If this thread is really about what Stringer meant when he said "There's an obsession!" then maybe everything outside of that is actually off-topic, but that would be going on a tangent we needn't explore here. ;) Quoting the actual words you referenced (and misquoted) to make your argument is generally considered on-topic. Let's give this topic a rest. Please.
If I have to delete comments that really go off-topic, I'll do it. Let's just agree to disagree (on the whole biased-journalism thing), okay? This may be a happier world because of it. Oh, and if it helps any, the meaning of my original sentence was that the Xbox 360 is the console that would (like/intend/pretend) to dethrone the PlayStation 3. (The Wii could also fit this description, but Stringer was talking about the Xbox, so that's that.) I'm sorry if my words translated differently to you, but I hope you enjoy the explanation.
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Sorry, didn't post that day, Andir. If the PS3 Fanboy site posted that story and the main Joystiq site didn't, that's simply what happened. No conspiracy theory here; didn't see any e-mails about hushing things up.
As for inflammatory commenters who simply don't care how others respond to their comments, I'll probably just have to go in and delete what they posted. [Reference to almost deleted post by bobeotm. Careful there!]
As for the star-whoring post, that all depends on how you define biased and opinionated. Obviously, our evaluations of Joystiq on this point are gonna differ, so what can I say to convince you otherwise? Sorry, but this is a dead-end topic. Please stick to the actual subject of this post.
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Thanks for the clarification, a console with the "intentions" to dethrone the playstation is way clearer from a console that "would" dethrone the playstation.
Whining about a console isnt biased per se, but when it reaches the line where it seems to be a goal to write off a console not even released or finalized in virtually any way, it becomes something else entirely.
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I am making the point that in order to be impartial, one must be unbiased with all of their writings, not equally biased at different times. This is because when readers absorb all unbiased posts, they are not going to receive a clear reporting of the facts in any case.
I am concerned for many of those who look to sites like this for news and get opinions which so many feeble minded individuals take as fact and subscribe to dogmatic wars about which opinion they think is the "be-all-end-all".
Do not take this to heart, just a professional suggestion. If you (Joystiq staffers) want to avoid flame wars and strays off topic, then you can greatly alleviate this problem by using your brand of unbiased postings and just stick to the unbiased news everytime.
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beating the compitions how you Survive, its an Every 4-5 year ocassion...
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Again, that depends on your definition of unbiased, Chris. Apparently, the people here at Joystiq take it to mean opinionated, as it's hard to poke fun or complain about something on a blog without at least displaying some sort of opinion. Consider the fact that essays are written essentially to present a case for a certain point of view, and you might see where I'm going with this. As offering an opinion is intrinsically a part of the writing style here at Joystiq (and a big part of what makes an independent site valuable), that's probably not gonna change anytime soon. Now does that mean we're biased? I'd hope not, but I believe we're arguing from different definitions, so I doubt this will be resolved anytime soon.
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Wouldn't you want to be different and just report? Otherwise there is no clear difference between this type of news source and the institutional sources I mentioned earlier.
But you're right, this will not be easily resolved. It comes down to what I (and others) expect from this site and what direction you and others feel the site should take.
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I haven't seen anything (concerning the PS3) that's messed up yet. Maybe you can point me to a story that is true where Sony has failed to deliver on a product that's not on the shelves. Think hard about that. Every story (besides the price) is pure speculation or was proven false. It's not the "Sony fanboys" that are fueling the console war. I for one am trying to put out the fires being started by those who end their comments in "Wii60 Ftw!!" and "Boy this is bad news [even though it's false]".
The facts are simple. We won't know until the end of the year or well into 2007 how the PS3 will perform. Flaming posts by those trying to clear up the obvious confusion on the 'net is only contributing to the problem.
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I'm not holding it against him. Some of us can get beyond a slight misquote. ;)
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Was that addressed to him or me?
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That is just one of the most imbecilic things I’ve read. The failure to recognize basic English structure (“The man who would rule the world”) isn’t a indication of Joystiq’s bias.
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Was that addressed to him or me?"
Posts sometimes take a little explaining, I guess. =) But, yeah... I mistakenly addressed Andir initially in one of my last comments, then noticed my mistake and changed it to Chris about 5-10 minutes later. Sorry you got the cached version!
In a strange way, I feel almost pleased with how this discussion turned out, when I initially feared a flame war of mythic moderating proportions. After this trial by fire, I feel like we've even forged some kind of forum-based bond derived of mutual respect despite disagreement. Sounds kinda cheesy, I know, but I'm kinda glad we exchanged comments back and forth. Just wanted to share.
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**prepares cannon**
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**prepares cannon**"
For now... ;) The funny thing was that it ended up not being needed -- except for that guy spamming different posts for hardware tech support. At any rate, if we can talk through our differences, so much so the better, I say.
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Understanding basic english structure is one thing, but grammatical ambiguity is another. If anything, this article (and the subsequent posts) prove that. Things can be taken a multitude of ways, and to call someone's comment imbecilic for pointing out the structure of a sentence was taking a different way is a bit misguided. I wanted clarification, I got clarification. You apparently live in a black and white world were everything exists solely as only you see them.
Be a little considerate that people can read the same same sentence in a different but equally valid way.
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Gaming news has been full of interesting little soundbytes from Sony recently. "It's too cheap." "It's a computer."
Slips of the tongue happen. What's interesting is his follow up comment: "There's an obsession!" Joystiq jokingly and hypothetically asks if this is in reference to the console that will de-throne Sony. I think, in the minds of some of these Sony execs, Joystiq may not be far from the truth.
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A preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment.
Fanboy definition of "bias"-
any statement that favors a rival console brand in any way, or any statement that demeans a favorite console brand in any way.
I find it ironic that most of these fanboys would just as soon be praising a post that has positive news as they would be calling a post with negative news (if you really take this as negative, I find it to be merely comedic) "bias".
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It is very hard to change peoples opinions on anything long term. If you think that a certain article is going to sink a console, you're crazy, unless the console has been taking Human Growth Hormone or Amphetamines. Someone could say "Ew I hate the PS3 I will never buy it" one day and 6 months later be walking out of the store with a console and 3 games.
And finally, although I agree with keeping journalism to the facts, (as Dan will vouch for from correspondence we have had) I don't think this realm should be questioned for it's objectiveness. Although this site reports news, it still and always will be a blog site. You cannot control the bloggers because they can write whatever the hell they want. If you guys keep coming back to read, they will keep writing. Although I don't find this news interesting whatsoever, it still has some humor in it which I believe is why it was posted. It wasn't bashing Stringer or Sony, it wasn't giving props to MS, it was just something funny that happened involving two very important companies.
There are many more posts on Joystiq that I can find so you can question their objectivity. This isn't one of them.
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please don't offer factual reports. that's so dull. I only read Joystiq because many different people, of many different opinions, post articles on any number of things. if there's recently been a perceived anti-Sony slant, I assume it's because Microsoft is not doing anything to rock the boat (except for the phantom SF2), Nintendo had a good E3, and Sony's making with the turmoil and preposterous press statements. this thing goes in cycles, is what everyone would do well to recall. see 'lucid dream.'
please don't ever change because someone suggests vaguely that "he and others" disagree with you guys having reactions to the things going on in the industry, and drops the word 'professional' like you guys should feel like some tards in sweaty basements making up bylines.
PS seriously, if you know anyone on the XBLA arcade team, could you mention some DC-version Jedi Power Battles with online co-op?
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