Sony's Jack Tretton and the $1200 quote

Someone knof if Legally can put something like a demand to Sony, claiming the $1200 for every PS3 that we found???



Any lawyer here?

Someone knows if Legally can put something like a demand to Sony, claiming the $1200 for every PS3 that we found???



Any lawyer here?

He said five minutes. You're going to have to get a videocamera. :D

"In any other journalism, a journalism is meant to bust their asses trying to find a scoop, a story, a tidbit about their subject. They use questions to expose a truth rather than expose a moron. They tend to try and uncover new tidbits." by Sheppy

What 'other' Journalism exactly?

I'm curious as to why you desire to portray "video game journalism" in such a negative light while simultaneously praising 'other' journalism for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

I would estimate *at least* %90 of ALL Journalism is, by your definition, "spoon-fed". 'Other' journalism is little more than video game journalism. Journalists interview people and write articles that turn into little more than "Random Expert A says BlahBlahBlah, while Random Expert B says BlahBlahBlah."

What you're thinking of is "investigative journalism" in which the journalist/reporter will dig deep into every story to try and uncover the real truth, instead of just doing the typical "he-said, she-said" nonsense that only serves to feed the illusion of "news."

The problem with investigative journalism is that it is ludicrously expensive. So instead, Big Media serves us little more than "he-said, she-said"s, sensationalist BS stories (I lost count how many times Fox News covered the "Rosie/Trump Feud"), and other pointless crap like weather and sports reports.

And, when the news finally does break out something important, it is usually from a Washington insider that came to THEM, not the other way around.

Read "Our Media, Not Theirs" and I think your opinions of journalism and the media in general will change significantly:

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Media-Not-Theirs-Open/dp/1583225498/sr=8-1/qid=1171156389/ref=sr_1_1/002-0444960-6960868?ie=UTF8&s=books

The Wal-Mart I work at currently has 16 60GB models, and 8 20GB. I know atleast 12 of the 60GB have been there since December, and 2 of the 20GB since January. I sometimes relieve the associate in electronics for his lunch, and have yet to sell a PS3 when I take over for him. That may be because I work 3rd shift, but the fact that we've never had less than 12 PS3s in stock since December is a little sad.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Sony had delivered on their claims, would Jack Tretton be faced with these questions? Sony is lying in the bed they made. How about the quotes from developers, mainstream media, marketing firms, and retailers that are sidebars to the piece? Are they just marketers too (the marketing firms obviously being so)? When a producer says "we'll jump through hoops do develop for the PS3, but we don't have to pretend to be happy about it", is he just on Microsofts payroll too?
Any businessman who has reached to position of Jack Tretton in that kind of trade is most likely going to have some experience in marketing, but Shep you make it sound like the guy was an E3 booth babe who hung around long enough to be the CEO. There wasn't a single unfair question in that interview, and instead of taking the time to acknowledge mistakes and reassure the public that the product is heading in the direction they claim, Jack T tried to spin every negative and wound up sounding like an ass.
By the way EGM asked Cliffy B some pretty pointed questions about Gears of War(http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3157032)
and did sound like they were "sliding up his meatpole"
Shep, take a page out of Sony's book and shut up; you'll look a lot smarter.

Fine, I'll try to keep this post small.

NintendoFanbot. Arrogance is arrogance. Even if Nintendo was talking up their own product (and, incidently, Nintendo can.. Sony can't?!?), it's still a matter of fact that Nintendo talks a whole lot of pie in the sky shit as well. Or perhaps this will jog your memory. Taken from the Nintendo Gamecube box...

"What if everything you see is more than what you see-the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it is really a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things."

Take that how you will but be certain of this. Gamecube never once delivered anything even remotely close to that.

And, incidently, Nintendo is swimming in fortunes. There is no reason, in the world, that Nintendo can't diversify their lineups. You talk about all the great new IPs from Gamecube on... name em. I can think of only a select few. Nintendo knows where their bread and butter lies and innovates only when they truly feel threatened (see the huge difference in NDS efforts before and after PSP started beating DS in weekly sales). But then again, it's just my opinion.

Correction to the last part of that post - I meant "did NOT sound like they were "sliding up his meatpole"

Honestly, Sheppy, you're seriously deluding yourself if you think other types of journalism are superior to video game journalism.

Granted, it's not too hard to get much lower than video game journalism, where they don't seem to care about mixing news and editorial, but "mainstream" journalism is just as big a joke.

For Christ's sake- Washington DC is like a god damn cocktail party. Where do you think most of those half wits you see reporting on CNN or FOX get their "scoops" from?

The goal of journalism is to be objective. NOT neutral. There's a huge difference that even most journalists don't get.
A lot of journalists also utterly fail to ask (substantive) follow up questions. This process basically just turns the interview into a soap box for the interviewee.
A GOOD journalist can tilt as far to the left or the right as they want and STILL do their job damn well, so long as they're being objective. A lot of lunatics who vote Republican and believe in the "liberal media" myth don't get this.

That said, the above mentioned interview was pretty decent, actually...at least considering that it's coming from the video game press. Yeah, there are always questions that should've/could've been asked and weren't...but that's life.


Anyhow, I saw a bunch of PS3's at BEst Buy the other day. I figure I've got at least $3600 coming to me as soon as I go back and get some pictures.

Eric,

Wow, that interview suprised me. Okay, I concede to that point.

And, incidently, WHERE THE FUCK DID I DEFEND JACK TRETTON? Hell, I'm bashing the dumbass as much as you people are. He went into an interview completely unprepared and made a jackass of himself. We are on the same page there.

Wait, wait, I'm getting a vision of a future Joystiq post...

"Insomniac Games and SCEA today announced that they are forming a new San Francisco-based subsidiary company, 'Steering For Two Umbrellas', in a bid to develop fresh content for Sony's Cell Broadband Engine. STFU will be in the hands of 'PlayStation's bastard uncle', Jack Tretton, who will be appointed as the new company's Chairman.

Initial investment from Insomniac and SCEA is approximately US$1,200,000; SCEA will have a 49% stake in 'STFU', with Insomniac controlling a 51% share. Although there are no plans for 'STFU' to work directly on PS3 games, the new outfit will be producing 'interactive entertainment' and 'business contents' when its doors open on April 1, 2008. What those terms actually entail, we'll just have to wait and see, but perhaps Jack Tretton will now have a fair opportunity to show us what he was smoking before his interview in the March issue of EGM."

@ Sheppy

Sony can't 'talk themselves up' because they always have to knock MS or Nintendo in the process. That's how it is. Reggie and co. once in good while will knock (but not outright bash) Sony and yes, I would see that as bad. However, their focus on their own strengths is more obvious than their approaching the competitor. Maybe within the next couple years Sony will change their tune but I'm not the only one who sees Sony this way.

As for IPs Nintendo has been working on, here are a few they've been working on for a while:

GameCube:
-Pikmin
-Cubivore
-Animal Crossing
-Geist
-Eternal Darkness
-Chibi-Robo
-Battallion Wars (is an AW off-shoot, but plays VERY differently and has a very different presentation)

GameBoy Advance:
-Golden Sun
-Drill Dozer
-WarioWare

DS:
-Trace Memory
-Nintendogs
-Trace Memory
-Elektroplankton
-Brain Training
-Hotel Dusk
-Polarium
-True Swing Golf
-Club House Games

Ones that haven't come to US:
-Jam with the Band (DS)
-Doshin the Giant (N64/GC)

Franchises introduced to the US after being Japan Only for a long period:
-Advance Wars
-Fire Emblem
-Custom Robo

I'm not even mentioning the majority of their massive 1st-party names that are mixed into genres new to the respective names. Most of these are brand new creations existing with new characters(WarioWare would be an exception). A select couple weren't that good (Geist) or didn't really sell (Eternal Darkness, Battallion Wars, Chibi Robo) but that's what the high-selling A-names make the money for.

Before and after PSP sales doesn't mean a bit, as DS and PSP launched in the same time period. Their best games (many of the above) were being announced when DS was debuted and being worked on well into DS' first year. DS' toughest period was it's launch with 5 average games. Though you could compare DS' American launch vs. DS' European launch with 15 games. Better yet for your case though, you can gauge Nintendo's own offering on the GBA (paltry) facing the PSP vs. what we have now for DS.

With the Wii a lot of Nintendo's are still needing a lot of work (Project Hammer, Disaster) and many not even announced.

Fernando Rocker --

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

No, you can't make the contract stick. Verbal contracts suffer in most circumstances from a lack of whats called "consideration" -- essentialy, "putting blood, sweat, tears or money on the table" as an old professor used to say. The classic example tought in Contract Law classes is the Peppercorn Example: I ask you to pass me the peppercorn at dinner, and promise to pay you a huge sum of cash if you do. Even if you do pass the peppercorn, you can't make me pay up (sadly, an actual case from the 1800s).

There are other problems (your jurisdiction probably has rules that limit the value of enforcable verbal contracts, for example), but bottom line is I wouldn't waste my time suing.

I would, however, be immensely amused if somebody else was driven to waste their time suing Sony. Any takers? Only requirements are too much money (for the lawyers) and and a desire to annoy a huge corporation. C'mon, somebody jump on this!

@nintendofanbot

Actually, good job. Most people couldn't do that. Although Animal Crossing and Cubivore were N64 releases in Japan (last I heard on Cubivore but then I feel rather lazy so I'm not doing the research on that) and Eternal Darkness was one of those N64 games were were promised that just disappeared (kinda like Super Paper Mario) right along with the eventual vaporware of Riqa, which I truly wish would have been continued, oh well... Onwards and upwards.

Anywho, personally, I feel we saw the best of Nintendo when PSP was taking charge. Or maybe Nintendo was just taking a breather this past holiday season.

Regardless, I tend not to worry about the console wars in general. All the systems will have their strengths and weaknesses. That's why I tend to own em all.

I believe Brian Griffin (family guy) said it best, while trying to educate Peter on his latest fuck-up:

"...you know, it's just easier to call you stupid."

http://smrekart.com/jacktretton.jpg

RTFA GUYS!

Interview took place in January!

He offered the interviewee $1200, not a bunch of clowns on the internet.

I've a picture of 47 PS3s in a pile.

I'd like $56,400 US Dollars, please, Mr. Tretton.

Hello Jack, I want you to meet my two friends, Frank and Tony. I do believe you have somethin' for me. Like to sound of 20 Gs.

They never stop with the arrogance. Dumbass Sony.
*shovel shovel*
Yes, that's the sound of someone digging Tretton's grave.

Quite frankly, last month I was in Walmart's electronics section for about a half hour. There was a $500 PS3 sitting there the whole time.

Sony PR FTL!

I read the interview and this guy is a complete idiot

Also, going with BlackMagic's story, I sent an email to them as well:

"Dear Sony Representative or Whom it May Concern,

In an interview with a North American publication, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Jack Tretton, Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO, was quoted as saying, "If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1200 bucks for it."

I work at a Best Buy in the Northern Virginia area, and I took a photograph of thirty-five (35) PlayStation 3 units sitting in my store after close. I worked for 5 hours before we closed, and I only counted 4 units sold off of this pile. The photograph's URL in question is located at the end of this email.

Simple math will say that 35 PlayStation 3's coupled with $1,200 USD per unit is the equivalent of $42,000 USD. I was wondering how I could go about collecting this amount.

Sincerely,
Tim Johnson

Image URL: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/pacokorn77/PS3/02-10-07_2258.jpg"

I wonder if I'll get a response.

Sony just sounds like the Nintendo of 10 years ago. If history repeats itself, it'll be another 10 years before Sony finally learns.

I have a pic on my camera phone from the second week of January with 8 PS3's sitting on shelves at a Toys R Us. I've also seen them at Target, but I already had a picture at that point. Where do I send this to get my $9,600.00. I could use that for an HDTV and some other things...

Lawyerly opinion? (don't take the following seriously :)

On the extremely off-chance Mr. Tretton could be deemed to made a valid offer with his statement, it would most likely be considered an offer for unilateral contract acceptable through the rendering of performance. Meaning, you would have to actually buy the PS3 and send relevant proof that it was on a store shelf for more than 5 minutes and send it to him. And depending on the circumstances surrounding the time of his statement, this may mean that only PS3's on store shelves for more than 5 minutes in a reasonable timeframe at the time of his statements would qualify.

And even if this all applies, his failure to pay may not entitle claimants to full expectation damages, the $1,200. So you might only recover a lesser amount... probably the value of the PS3.

This ignores a whole host of other legal considerations (class-action, UCC, etc) that you really don't want to know about.

If this kind of thing actually interests you, then:
http://blog.qiken.org/archives/2003/12/sauron_offer_an.html

Haha, I work at CompUSA and we've had three PS3's in stock for two weeks.

We're supposed to get two more on Tuesday.

"For instance? Can you find me one interview with Cliffy B that doesn't sound like the person interviewing is sliding down the old meat pole?

Posted at 7:11PM on Feb 10th 2007 by sheppy"

Maybe that's because Cliffy doesn't have to back anything up. HE DELIVERED IN SPADES. Unlike Sony, who's now trying to flog POTENTIAL as a selling point because they've got fuck all to show. Killzone should make for a nice fiasco. You know Sheppy, they wouldnt be taking half the shit that they are now if they weren't so full of shit a year ago. The Sooner you come to terms with that, the more rational you'll begin to sound.

So how long before Uncle Jack utterly fails and his job and gets "transfered" like Kaz Hirai?

Hey, samfish, even though it's completely off-topic, you're wrong about someone leaning uber-left or uber-right and still remaining objective. It takes a lot of willpower to maintain, and while some do it admirably, there are many that don't. And if the newsrooms are 80+ percent liberal, what do you think the odds are of some of that bleeding through? It happens all the time, and it's why I can't watch most news programs any more. They THINK they're being right down the middle, but since they're surrounded by so many people that think just like they do, they've been drifting for years. They just haven't realized it yet. Either that, or they don't care.

Sarge out.

wow. i saw at least three piled up together at a sam's club a few weeks ago. plus they were about 50 bucks off. damn.

Hey ummm 1 question anyone know his email... he owes me big. At my best buy in Woodbridge, NJ their was a whole center isle built of ps3's i stopped counting after 20... so how much do I get and who do i send the bill to :OP

Greetings,
Could everyone please read the damn article (too late of course) before pounding the keys?

The interviewer was challenged by the interviewee to locate said item, NOT the entire English speaking webscape.

Everytime I've been in a walmart since their launch I've seen ps3's in stock. The walmarts I go to are in Everett, Lynnwood, and Marsville, WA (between 15 - 45 mins from Redmond, WA).