RF Generation Message Board

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/26/kutaragi/index.php)

Ken Kutaragi, the man who led Sony Corp. into the game console business, will step down as chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), the company said late Thursday.

Kutaragi announced his intention to step down during an SCEI board meeting in Tokyo on Thursday and said he had been considering the move for some time, according to a Sony spokesman.

Until recently Kutaragi served as president and CEO of SCEI but a management shake-up in late November, just weeks after the launch of the PlayStation 3, saw the president's job given to Kaz Hirai and Kutaragi made chairman. Typically the president handles day-to-day operations at a Japanese company and the chairman's position is filled by a former president ahead of their retirement.

That move was viewed by some analysts as a response to several missteps in the launch of the PlayStation 3. The launch date was delayed and the console was widely criticized as being too expensive, a view Sony appeared to accept when it took the unusual step of cutting the price of one of the two PlayStation 3 consoles ahead of its launch in Japan.

Kutaragi's retirement will be effective from June 19, which is when SCEI holds its shareholder meeting. He will stay on as honorary chairman of SCEI and will also become a senior technology advisor to parent company Sony.

Hirai, who is currently president and group chief operating officer, will be promoted to president and group CEO.

“I am happy to graduate from Sony Computer Entertainment after introducing four platforms to the PlayStation family,” Kutaragi said in a written statement. “It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting-edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I'm looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors.”

He didn't provide details of what his next move would be.

Hmm....I wonder if he was asked to "retire".

Aww man! Now 1/4 of the SCE Clan is gone! At least we still have (Krazy) Kaz Hirai, (Muthaduckin) Phil Harrison, and Jack (The Rippa) Tretton  ready to kick ass and take names.

I wish you best of luck Killa Kutaragi. I'm gonna miss you.

Hopefully the new guy can adequately fill in Killa K's boots. As for now, I bestow the name of Killa on Kaz Hirai. Congratulations Killa Kaz.

And come up with all the crazy ass shit like Ken said.

He's got some big, 4D, 120 frames per second, 1080p boots with two HDMI ports and 7 controller inputs to fill.

/salute

 :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

What's so funny?

He's served Sony through four console launches, making the Playstation brand synonymous with gaming.  Maybe Sony Corp. will be kind enough to give him a nice shiny retirement plaque using his favorite Spiderman font as a token of their appreciation.

The one that he so demanded to be on the PS3? That would be a great gift for him.

Here's another great Kutaragi picture for this wonderful memorial of his service to Sony.

[img width=225 height=300]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Tondog/kangaragi.jpg[/img]

My old Maligned Sony-Fan Leon avatar was a good picture of Ken, but I can't seems to find it on teh interwebs.

Wii salute you Ken Kutaragi

I'll admit he did a good job with the releases of the PS1 and PS2. But it seems like a very convenient coincidence that he's retiring after the PS3 launch...and I find that funny.

I agree. I bet Sony got sick of all the stupid shit he was saying that a not so good launch. Look what Nintendo did yo Gunpei Yokoi.

Oh come off it, the dude's old, he did his fair share.

Even if he said a lot of the same things during the PS2 launch?

"You can communicate to a new cybercity. This will be the ideal home server. Did you see the movie 'The Matrix'? Same interface. Same concept. Starting from next year, you can jack into 'The Matrix'!"

Am I the only one that gigles and says "cooter" everytime someone talks about Kutaragi getting fired/resigned/asked to step down/replaced/entombed/sent for repair/replaced with big blue/finding jesus/lost in space/placed in a retirment comunity/finding his inner woman/abducted by aliens?

I'm not the only one am I?

He was also right about PS3 being underpriced.

That's right, he was right.

Chew on that.

Consumers disagree with you.

For what you get,  a blu-ray player, a mini-supercomputer, it's an incredible price. Problem is that while it is cheap for what it is, that what it is may be too much.

The PS3 is like one of those hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. High tech, expensive, maybe even ahead of it's time. But it also has limited use right now and the availability of products it can use is very small, it's just can't justify it's own price regardless of what's under the hood.

Maybe by christmas, definately in the next 2-3 years there will be enough Blu-Ray movies, and PS3 games to say it's worth it. Of course by then it'll probably have dropped in price. Sony may say otherwise but that's to keep people from holding out for a while. Once the Wii drops and the 360 drops as well the PS3 will either have to follow suit or risk being put out into a price range of it's own far above the others.

After all even the hardcore Sony fans and all gamers alike think with their wallets. Most of the staunch supporters of the PS3 on this site and others don't have one yet, go figure.  :P

Exactly!

Since many of the hardcore gamers that HAD to have a PS3 have already purchased one, the more discerning/casual gamer is the next tier that may buy one. However this group of consumers is not going to purchase technology that they're either not going to use or not be able to get the most out of. $600 may be cheap for a Blu-Ray player, but not for a gaming console. And that's why the Wii is selling out EVERYWHERE...even 6 months after launch.

People see a $250 price tag for a next gen system and don't CARE that it can't even play movies. They don't care about the Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD format battle, they care about the fact that they'll have another $350 left in their pockets for games and additional controllers.

$600 is $600! And that's without a pack in game. It's tough to sell a new technology to a general consumer if their logical questions cannot be answered satisfactorily. If a discerning consumer says: "I don't have a high def TV", "I'm not interested in buying a new DVD format", or "I just want to play games, is there a model that doesn't have a Blu-Ray player that's less expensive" they're not likely to buy into the $600 price tag.

We've said all these things several million times. I know why it's not selling out and I know why I don't have one, I know Sony dropped the ball by not having ANY games that ANYBODY wanted on release.

However, this doesn't mean that it's not an incredibly advanced system that has every right to charge "ZOMG" $600.

I really could go on to articulate what it is I'm trying to get across but I don't feel like it right now, maybe later.

Your right they do have the right to charge $600. If it had some games worthy of the system other than ports it would be with it. Much in the same way a Neo Geo AES is worth every penny if you love the games it's got, or a high-end gaming PC if you play PC games allot.

I think most people's problem with Sony is their arrogance that they expect everyone will run out and buy one because it's a Sony Playstation product. Sony tends to be weak in the 1st party games category so they've developed a stance where they sell the system, others make it worthy with their games. Nintendo is the exact opposite where 1st party games support the hardware the most, and Microsoft is in the middle mixing 1st and 3rd party games equally.

Of course this time around allot of developers are choosing differently because they need systems with established fanbases to make money with copies sold, PS3's high price scares a few away to other systems. When the numbers reflect consumer confidence publishers will bring the games back around.

The games all use Blu-Ray. They included it on there for increased storage capacity for the games, not for movie playback.

Halfway through writing a lengthy reply I realized I don't care anymore...

Now I'm going to go play WoW, maybe by tomorrow I'll care again.

 :laugh:  I LOL'd

My guess is only exclusive games will take advantage of that and exclusives are going bye bye. Other then 1st party of course.

If I'm not mistaken, the extra storage capacity isn't to allow for bigger games persay, it's to allow 1080p which needs allot of space for textures.

The difference in this between the PS3 and the X360 is that the 360 has a 1080p scaler chip called "Ana" and doesn't need the extra disc space, while the PS3 can use it's huge storage capacity to put 1080p on disc. Advantages for using both to be sure.