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Why Sony Needs a 'Major Nelson'
Microsoft's 'Major Nelson' and executive Peter Moore have been visible representatives of the 360 console for well over a year now. 'Grandfather of Gaming' Shigeru Miyamoto and asskicking Reggie Fils-Aime have have preached the Wii concept through good writeups and bad name jokes. Sony ... well, Sony has Ken Kutaragi, Phil Harrison, and Kaz Hirai. They say helpful things like 'we don't care', and 'disks won't matter', and (my personal favorite) 'the PS3 is a computer'. RPG Site has a compelling argument stating that Sony needs a Major Nelson to cut through this crazy executive talk, and reconnect the company with real gamers. From the article: "While it's not something that appeals to every group of people that play games - the casual market and kids, for example, the existence of these people allows the part of the market that is most opinionated - the core gamers, those who have a very clear opinion on what they want and what is good and bad - to interact with somebody who can actually bring about change. Hell, on a lesser note, it even gives the fanboys someone to worship."
Reality is that Sony could have Jessica Alba give blow jobs to one in every 1,000 PS3 owners and it still won't change the fact that only a small portion of the population can afford a $500 gaming system; all that would happen is that Jessica would get some pretty chapped lips and herpies.
What Sony really needs to do is to drop Blu-Ray (to reduce the cost of the system) and focus on getting compelling content out before June 2007.
Sony does need a human face. Recent Sony press conferences and interviewed have showed so much spin I have felt dizzy after reading them. Although my post may reflect some anti-Sony bias, I sincerely hope the PS3 doesn't flop. The console market could use three players.
Ninjas use italics.
The PS3 has been quoted as saying, "I'm a computer! Stop all the downloadin'!"
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
Major Nelson? Wasn't he the astronaut that uncorked the bottle in I Dream of Jeannie?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Have have you double-checked the article before posting to the front page of Slashdot?
Sony went up against the legions of fanatical Dreamcast FUD spreaders and destroyed all competition with 100 million Playstation consoles sold to console gamers.
Sony went up against the legions of fanatical Microsoft and former Dreamcast FUD spreaders and destroyed all competition with 105 million(and growing) PS2 consoles.
And now Sony is up against the very same group of diehard FUD spreaders in the likes of Zonk and they will most likely end up with 120 million PS3s after five to six years.
All that FUD that people like Major Nelson have been spreading for the past year have done nothing to help sales of the 360. The 360 is selling at some 400k less units worldwide compared to a similar point in the first Xbox's life. The 360 is completely dead in Japan and almost dead in Europe.
Nintendo has almost fallen off the gaming press radar. I'm sure it will still do quite well in Japan and have good holiday sales in the US and Europe this year. But the reality of the console just hasn't lived up to all the E3 hype in the eyes of console gamers.
The daily Zonk FUD barrage on Slashdot, the sad and bitter teamxbox community, the infamous Major Nelson 'technical' comparisons, and the pathetic inquierer.com articles were an amusing sideshow but they are nothing but niche sideshow that will be long forgotten just like they were before the PS2 launch.
Sony is in an even stronger position than they were with the PS2. They have the massive power advantage. The have built up an insane first part development army. They even have PC developers scrambling to get their games on the Sony platform(you know the guys..."Waaa teh PS3 is hard teh program...our directx code doesn't work! And Sony just rocked the console world with their showing at TGS. Gamers are looking to buy PS3 just for Motorstorm alone. And Sony sill has one more show at the end of the month where more details/games of the PS3 will be revealed.
Sorry guys, you had your fun for the past year. But that was all it was, fun. Never fall into the trap of believing your own bullshit and FUD. Late November and on are going to be rough going for those of you, like Zonk, who have fallen into that trap.
Peter Moore is good because he's enthusiastic about what he does and he's a great speaker. That enthusiasm carries to his audience. Major Nelson is great because, whatever else he may be, he feels like a real gamer, and is osmeone we can all relate to, because he's just as fanboyish as we are. Miyamoto is great because, aside from his proven history, he is really dedicated to games beyond all else. He'll comment on other things, but whenever you approach him, it's all games, all the time. Reggie is great because he's an excellent marketer. He knows how to sell things, he knows his target market, and he knows how to talk to them. Nothing else.
Sony fails not because of the position of the people who speak for it, but because of their lack of skill in speaking for their company. They just need a spokesman who A) can relate to the customer and B) can keep their foot out of their mouth, even as the ship is sinking. Nintendo had the same problem with Yamauchi, but even then Miyamoto was still a figurehead that anyone could rally around. Ever notice that a bit into the GC lifespan Yamauchi stopped speaking for the company, even before Iwata was promoted to president? There's a reason for that.
just some guy
I think Sony has done such a good job at ruining their image that no single person could help them. But my vote goes towards them needing a Steve Ballmer :-P
Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
...doesn't need Major Nelson. Sony needs Colonel Tibbets.
I'm familiar with purple nurples, indian burns, nipple twisters, swirleys, etc., but just what is a Major Nelson, anyhow?
Uhh, not that I have anything against giving one to Sony. Feel free to give them a few swirleys or whatever until they learn their lesson.
This is definately something Sony needs asap.
0 51389 )
Major Nelson's podcast I quite enjoyed for a while around 6 months ago approximately.
It definately "works" I was thoroughly hyped for the X360 (6 months ago was launch time in Australia, where I am bear in mind)
It's also great to get MS specific news and information, he presents the podcast well and it's slick.
I ended up no longer listening to the podcast because it felt too "markety" too me and my interest in the X360 has waned due to other reasons.
Now on the Sony front, I went looking for substantial information and there just damn well isn't, MS has the web cornered for blogs / netcasts and general forum hype, the Sony fanboy (which apparently there are a heap more than MS fanboys) are very difficult to find or at least they don't congregate together around the web.
I've listened to RadiOPM from 1up, which isn't bad but it seems primarily PS2 focused and well isn't bad does not = good.
I've listened to PS3 news from "gameshout.com" which I'd recommend avoiding at all costs.
I've also listened to PS3 countdown which was half interesting but ultimately not good enough to keep my interest plus the guy who does it made a few mistakes on stuff which I already knew so I just figured these guys aren't big gamers at all (hell I'm not that big of a gamer)
So really, as TFA suggests - there is little for Sony in the way of regular news and hype, we can debate if Sony do or don't need it, based on market share and brand name alone but at least for me, a fairly skeptical gamer who buys quite carefully - I could definately do with something like this just to keep me interested.
One final point on why there isn't a good Sony alternative to MN is perhaps because Sony keep on releasing BAD news and not GOOD news, there's been a tiny bit of good news in the past 2 weeks but before that it was over 12 months of worse and worse news to the extent of "WTF are they thinking" (see this post of mine http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=195886&cid=16
I'm sure in the long run this article will have it's fair share of posts from the "SDF" (Sony defence force) but it doesn't change the fact that Sony really aren't being PR masters this time round.
* Applications for the cell have to be written to a high level language or else a world wide system crash could occur. * The PS3 will take your current movies, work with other PS3s and digitally enhance them. It's not upscaling, it's digital aging, like a fine wine. * Real time weapon switching * Genji 2 is based on actual historical Japanese facts. Hit the giant enemy crab's weak spot for MASSIVE DAMAGE!" * Ridge Racer. RIIIIIIIDGE RACEEEER!! Ridge RACER!!
I think what Sony is going to get instead is a Full Nelson(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_nelson) from Nintendo and Microsoft.
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
That Sony doesn't have such a person but they only speak in Japan? To Japanese gamers?
The Japanese seem to
Who is Xbox's Japanese leading man??? Japan is a market about as big as the U.S. right?
Ha ha
God spoke to me.
What they don't need to do is sell a bloated peice of DRM-infected junk for A$1,000 while the higher-profile members of their organisation effectly say "we could poop in a bag and you'd still buy it".
That is better than Major Nelson and Reggie combined.
So Sony needs a guy to sit around with two robots and make fun of bad movies?
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Why Sony Needs a 'Major ...what?'
"The PS3 isn't designed to lean towards games." A million Sony fanboys cried out in terror and then were silenced. Right here: http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/05/25/1758219.s html?tid=233&tid=212
Hell, I doubt if even Jeannie can help Sony out of the mess they're in now.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Forget that!
Sony needs a Full Nelson... RRRrggh!!
Oh no they don't, like they need some more PR manafactured, trash talking head piece. That marketed image stuff only appeals to the rabid fanboys, and drives people like me crazy.
Or do people here just love people like Steve Ballmer with his ranting, persperating, and yelling stupid junk like "DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEEEEEEEVEROPLERSSSSSSSSS!!!"? I thought Slashdotters really hated Marketing and PR people, and wouldn't fall for the stuff that comes out of their mouths.....
And even if Sony did this, I wonder how much people here would be flaming them over the same crap Reggie, Nelson, and Peter do/say...
Sony doesn't need somebody to make the fanboys happy. Sony needed to (1) get their box into the stores in volume by Xmas (2) at a price comparable to the competition and (3) with some games that were visibly better than anything on the PS2. So far they've blown (1) and (2). We'll have to wait and see about (3).
I thought it was Admiral?
Brocklesby Park Cricket Club
Check out "Contact" on the Nintendo DS (or click here).
Let's let it play out before we begin the vitriol.
Wasn't that a big part of his goddamn point...?
Anyway... Historically, all the stupid bickering and fighting leading up to console releases has meant fuck all.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
The article mentions both Major Nelson and Shigeru Miyamoto... a Sony counterpart to either man wouldn't be a bad thing, but the more valuable of the two is the latter, and the reason has little to do with PR. /I'm getting a Wii60!!!
Jeannie!!!!!
<Larry Hagman voice OFF/>
Self awareness - try it!
Sony does need someone to speak to the gaming community, but not a person like Major Nelson. His background is in communications and broadcasting, not game development or the industry for that matter. On top of that, the guy is so full of himself it's disgusting. I saw him on a panel at PAX in 2005 where members of the audience stood up and pitched their game ideas to this panel. Of the 3 members on the panel, only the Sony representative demonstrated any real class. Major Nelson would make rude comments, insulting these kids on their ideas and so on. What game has Major Nelson ever designed? Oh that's right, none. It was painful to watch these kids stand up in front of their peers, shaking and nervous, just to have their nuts verbally kicked in by Larry Hyrb. How awful. And to mention him along with Miyamoto and Peter Moore? PLEASE!
It is one thing to be edgy, it's quite another to be a jerk. So, yes, Major Nelson talks to the XB360 crowd and that's fine. Dosen't change the fact that he dosen't understand a lick about the games industry. At least he is more believable when he speaks than J Allard.
I suspect that Sony doesn't specifically need a "Major Nelson" but rather that they need an "American Major Nelson". I think much of what Sony's talking heads say makes sense from a Japanese point of view while they just appear dumb from an American point of view. Sony says "It's not a game machine, it's an entertainment machine" and the American audience only hears "It's not a game machine".
Fanatically anti-fanatical
BTW, I find it extremely interesting* that supposed nerds(ie. /.ers) are calling for more marketing... When did it happen that supposed "nerds" needed marketing to base decisions on?
On one hand, we have MS, who has stuffed everything they could, sans a monster of a power brick, inside a case with similar dimensions as the PS3. 3 CPU cores, a monster GPU. Running a port of Windows XP, part of MS's testbed for their DRM efforts, no less. On the other, we have Sony, who stuffed similarly specced crap inside a similarly dimensioned box, INCLUDING the power supply, HD on every system, capable of 1080p(read about the Xbox 1080p support, it's a gross hack), running quieter, running a port of Linux, with Linux-based dev tools, with a 50GB storage medium(also infected with DRM).
I'm not a fan of either of these companies.
It remains to be seen exactly how much the PS3 has to offer. Some devs are complaining about the new architecture, while others are doing amazing things. The ones doing the most complaining are devs used to D3D... The ones that are getting the most out of it are the best developers from the last console generation. We'll see what happens. It's not as if this is just a Sony pipe dream. They jointly developed the Cell with IBM. IBM generally knows what they fuck they're doing.
If the PS3 doesn't cut it, that'll be it. No need for all the FUD. And it is indeed FUD. Every single story that had a technical aspect has been incorrect. All the others are emotionally charged claptrap.
* Interesting probably isn't the right word. Sad. Hilarious. Curious. Some combination thereof.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Sony doesn't need a 'Major Nelson'. What they need is a 'Full Nelson'.
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.