The Kraziness of Ken Kutaragi

Wow there is an awful lot of Alec-hate in here :(

HURF DURF SOMEONE DOESNT SPEAK ENGLISH LETS MAKE FUN OF THEM

seriously... is shack now like engrish.com for games? this is retarded

I don't see how he is any different than J. Allard. When you take Ken Kutaragi's comments out of Japanese and translate them and they lose some contextual integrity, it probably looks a bit balls out. Stuff he says about his console isn't really any different than something you might hear a CEO like Phil Knight say about his Nike Brand. It's the world of PR. You talk your own stuff up as much as you can and talk your competitors down as much as you can.

At least he goes after the competing product and doesn't wax art of war about J. Allard's resignation letter. And most importantly it makes for good copy. Ten of Fifteen thousand hardcore gamers knowing he is talking a lot of BS about "not a gaming machine" or whatever isn't really that important. Those sales don't amount to much lost or won. Bringing all of the attention on himself the PS3 to the mass audience who don't really care about hearing things like "It's the most beautiful thing ever made" still gets him the good PR where it counts.

Another thing, I don't know why people bag on that comment about the PSP design. It was his team at Sony who worked on that and designed it. There isn't anything wrong with being proud of what your team came up with. If I worked on something like that and my boss was out in the public calling it the most beautiful thing ever made, I would be kind of stoked. Even though it is complete hyperbole, the enthusiasm is still cool.

It kind of reminds me of Steve Ballmer from Microsoft. Most people see videos of him jumping around and screaming like an Ape, and they think he is nuts, but they all listen when he talks and no one discounts anything he says. More important everyone who works at Microsoft appreciates him and his enthusiasm. I don't think Ken Kutaragi is embarrassing anyone at Sony, anyway.

I would rather see a huge fluff piece on Itagaki from Tecmo. Ken Kutaragi is just some exec who comes up with good copy. Predictable stuff, but at least good copy. Itagaki on the other hand probably eats cigars for breakfast and stands in busy intersections driving golf balls through car windshields.

I guess I don't get what the point of the article was. Is shacknews the gaming national enquirer now? Ken is a total loon, no shit sherlock -- why did you waste my time compiling that article? Ken being batshit crazy has nothing to do with the ps3 hardware, the xbox360 hardware, or the revolution hardware. I'm not defending Sony or Ken, I just am curious what would bother Alec so much as to make him write a snuff article.

Anyway, just in the name of accurate journalism, the time and attribution of the crazy people will pay any price quote seems off since I remembered reading it from a link on Yahoo last week. The great Google says:

http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=8864

Seems to be the oldest and several other links go back to this Merrill Lynch report. Not sure how a quote ends up there, but whatever, I ain't getting paid. :P

Alec do you have a spell checker? Maybe you could use it once in a while! Also if you want you can email me everytime you feel like posting something and I'll proof read it for you and take out all the cheesey cliches you get wrong and mixed up.

:P

Alec I don't appreciate you sneaking in your racism. The KKK will not be tolarated!!

I kid, I kid :P

Its obvious, he is just mad that he lost.

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=J+Allard&word2=Ken+Kutaragi

I love all these "anti-alec" posts - you just show your fanboyism......


I want the PS3 to beat the Xbox 360 - I don't trust Microsoft - but seriously, anyone denying Ken's comments are anything less than fucking lunacy are just living with blinders on.......

Keep it coming Alec.

Hey Alec, I appreciate all the "rare" (whatever the fuck that means) stories you've been doing lately. All I seem to hear around here is whiny ass punks bitching at your for grammar mistakes and other inane things. There are people who appreciate it.

Also, thank you for working the fanboys into a tizzy, its fun watching the veins in their heads burst in this thread:) When do the MS and Nintendo pieces come out?

LOL I just cant believe how many people are sticking up for Krazy Ken. Anyone implying that his customers should work overtime to buy his overpriced product is an absolute lunatic. Also he said something like: 120GB of HD space isn't gonna be enough so we decided to ship with 0 GB instead. He makes no sense. I'm not sure if you guys are Sony fanboi's or what but sticking up for Ken is almost like sticking up for Steve Ballmer's monkey boy dances.

Also everyone is ripping on Alec for ripping on Ken...lol got hypocrit? Do you guys know this is an editorial piece? If you want to write a rebuttal then write a rubuttal. But I guess its easier for you to write a couple sentences trashing Alec?

Enough of the word "THE" in your retarded headlines, already.

"The PS3 is 50x more powerful the The Sun(TM) and will teach your AIBO to use online banking to send your money to sony."

I'm just waiting for something over the top like this when the Xbox360 launches

Here is the original interview that Alec uses in the his "piece"

http://nikkeibp.jp/wcs/leaf/CID/onair/nbe/features/355307

Alec writes:
It was later discovered that an error during production was the true source of the problem. The molding of the case wasn't properly cut and it was later fixed. Still, the damage had been done. Gamers found it comical that Kutaragi would make such a claim about an electronic gaming device.

And just to make it clear (like i did here 22 feb: http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=9591826)

The problem originated in some of the metal molds that produced the front covers with holes for the operating buttons swerving from where they should have been. SCE is repairing the defective portions. About 0.6% of all the PSPs sold already have been repaired for glitches in the buttons.

Another quote from the same Interview:

"I think I made the most beautiful game machine in the world. When a prominent architect comes up with a plan, nobody is going to pick holes in it and say, for instance, the position of the gates isn't right. The same is true with our PSP."

YES IT'S THE SAME INTERVIEW

It was NOT later discovered, it was just that several big sites choose to ignore the original interview (you for example Alec?) and just read the gamespot cut out instead of checking the actual source. If anything the mold issue was known before the interview.

Just another classic example of internet amplifying of nothingness.

And Alec should know?
http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=9592007

Not entierly sure I agree with your statement:

Well, none of that stuff ever happened and the PS2 was woefully underpowered compared to its rivals

Because when it came out it really didn't have any rivals to speak of. It wasn't untill much later that GC and Xbox came out. But what do I know....

Good article though.

I remember the E3 when the last generation of consoles launched. There was a 3 way discussion between Kutagari, a Nintendo rep and Robbie Bach (Representing MS obviously). Ken K started subtly pushing Bachs buttons by dismissing the Xbox capability etc and worked him into a fine lather to the point where when the discussion was over and the other two console makers were shaking hands, Robbie Bach refused Ken K's outstrecthed hand and walked offstage in a snit. Funny stuff.

"none of that stuff never happened "

tsk tsk tsk - double negatives! (Plus I don't think you actually wanted them both - proofread that again)


Anyways, I still don't think the "not a gaming machine" is too off-the-wall. It's just them trying to upplay the 'Media Center'-ness of the machine to offset it's rather humbling price.

He's the primary reason that for me the PS3 went from a "must-have when it comes out" to a "I'll buy it if it has TONS of exclusives I want".

The guy just has this personality that makes me not wanna support him with my money(not that it matters, millions of others will I'm sure).

I like the first photo best... the one where he's apparently auditioning for a position on a star ship.

finally! some original content and not something linked to another site.

yay for alec

I'll wait to read this tomorrow on GameSpy.

I find his comments refreshing. In a world of online news that is so flush with PR and guarded comments his honest, if zealous, comments are fantastic.

this is getting out of hand. people acting like he's turned into some crazy lunatic because they keep pulling shit out of context in his interviews. remember when bill gates said 640k was enough and people continue to quote him on that? *exact* same idea. quit hyping stuff that isn't important or meaningful, it doesn't matter what he really says until the system is out, so these little comments on ken being crazy is ridiculous. and now a full segment/report on JUST him is absolutely pathetic.

Aliteration is fun!!

NextGen console drama is very entertaining.

Not to bad, not really much of an article. More like fluff and material to read for fun than anything else. I guess its something to read on slow news days. The man does not seem as werid as you made him out to be, don't believe he is part of the marketing campaign for Sony.

It's K-K-K-Ken c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me!

Excellent read! However, I did miss the lovely PS3 3.5 vs. XBox 1.5 quote. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't any famous journalist at all! :D

Finally, Kutaragi commented that a “certain famous journalist” said: "Xbox is 1.5, the PS is more than what I was expecting, so it's 3.5."

I bet Alec will post an article about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie next. We love to make fun of celebrity peoples!!! Haha! Who cares about news about videogames when you can make fun of KRAZY KEN!

Howard Stringer is not an American. A simple google search for reporting, please.

"A native of Cardiff, Wales, Sir Howard received the title of Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours list of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on December 31, 1999."

Nice article bro! Next time though, do a search for the word "it" and change some of those idioms to actual words... (just a peeve of mine)

Give this man a raise!! Great job Alec.

Those crazy Japanese. What will they think of next?

I really think the PS3 may be the next NEOGEO

Just look at that photo, he sure looks Krazy!