Author Topic: Ken Kutaragi "Retires" (Read 28986 times)

Djunknown · « **Reply #25 on:** April 27, 2007, 04:47:01 PM »

That was one of the best features I've ever read in a long time. It puts a more human spin to things as well as other names that aren't really mentioned. Not to mention the cloak and dagger mind games that happened in the background.

Norio Ohga was Kutaragi's Godfather so to speak. He was the one with the power to let Ken 'do his thing' and worked.

Nobuyuki Idei was Kutaragi's deadliest enemy. The way he played mind games and shuffled him around was pure, deviant, genius. And Ken took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Quote
His fall from grace has been rapid, shocking, and yet almost entirely of his own making; an engineer at heart, he was ill-equipped to deal with the executive world which he tried to conquer.

Oh so true.

David Jaffe should watch his back. They put the one man who got them to where they are today (good and bad) and has been effectively silenced. They'll do the same thing to him too if he's not careful...[/off topic]

Khushrenada · « **Reply #26 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:00:07 PM »

If Ken Kutaragi left Sony and went to Nintendo, wouldn't that almost be like a deathblow to the PS3? The man most responsible for the machine has left the company and is now working for the competitor? What would that look like for Sony?

Frankly, I don't see Ken leaving because that could ruin his legacy. The Playstation line would most likely die. Although, that may yet still happen in the future yet.

Blue Plant · « **Reply #27 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:12:16 PM »

If the PS3 does flop Ken can always have Sony rename it to the PlayMoviesStation 3 and have Java-based minigames as a side feature.

Shift Key · « **Reply #28 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:23:16 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Khushrenada
Frankly, I don't see Ken leaving because that could ruin his legacy.

His first legacy ended once he became a public face for the PS2 and then his second legacy started: "Crazy Ken".

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #29 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:16:57 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Aretak
Farewell, Father

Great article about the career of Kutaragi there. While he may have been a PR disaster, his overall positive contribution to the games industry as we know it cannot be questioned.

Oh wow, he created purty graphics hardware and turned the industry into a graphics over innovation race, I'm so impressed. His contribution to the gaming industry will be missed, he is easily above Miyamoto in creativity and revolutionizing the industry. I don't know what gaming will do without him? What will we do without all of Ken's innovations?

Kairon · « **Reply #30 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:29:42 PM »

We'll be able to go back to working only one job.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #31 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:32:23 PM »

Ken seems to be a perfect example of a guy that was promoted beyond his expertise or talents. It sounds like he was a good engineer, and probably should have stayed in that position. This promoting of people up to managers when they may not have the passion or the talent is what really hurts companies now days.

Kairon · « **Reply #32 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:40:59 PM »

I can breath a sigh of relief now that he's out. It sounded like the man was going to design SkyNet. SKYNET PEOPLE!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Aretak · « **Reply #33 on:** April 28, 2007, 01:48:35 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Quote
Originally posted by: Aretak
Farewell, Father

Great article about the career of Kutaragi there. While he may have been a PR disaster, his overall positive contribution to the games industry as we know it cannot be questioned.
Oh wow, he created purty graphics hardware and turned the industry into a graphics over innovation race, I'm so impressed. His contribution to the gaming industry will be missed, he is easily above Miyamoto in creativity and revolutionizing the industry. I don't know what gaming will do without him? What will we do without all of Ken's innovations?

Nobody said he was comparable to Miyamoto in any way, apart from you. However, the fact is that it's extremely unlikely Sony would be in the videogames business today if it weren't for Kutaragi. I'm sure you'd probably see that as a good thing, but for anyone who doesn't sleep in Nintendo pajamas the competition Sony have brought to the market can only be seen as good thing. Sony's success has certainly pressed Nintendo into doing more than they likely would have had their only competition been from the incompetent Sega.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #34 on:** April 28, 2007, 03:06:24 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Aretak
Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Quote
Originally posted by: Aretak
Farewell, Father

Great article about the career of Kutaragi there. While he may have been a PR disaster, his overall positive contribution to the games industry as we know it cannot be questioned.
Oh wow, he created purty graphics hardware and turned the industry into a graphics over innovation race, I'm so impressed. His contribution to the gaming industry will be missed, he is easily above Miyamoto in creativity and revolutionizing the industry. I don't know what gaming will do without him? What will we do without all of Ken's innovations?
Nobody said he was comparable to Miyamoto in any way, apart from you. However, the fact is that it's extremely unlikely Sony would be in the videogames business today if it weren't for Kutaragi. I'm sure you'd probably see that as a good thing, but for anyone who doesn't sleep in Nintendo pajamas the competition Sony have brought to the market can only be seen as good thing. Sony's success has certainly pressed Nintendo into doing more than they likely would have had their only competition been from the incompetent Sega.

The only good thing Sony offered the industry was competition, they failed to innovate whatsoever, and instead relied on rehashing along with copying the competition. So what if Ken got them into the big fight, he still offered little in the way of moving the industry forward when it came to Sony's innovations. He pretty much shifted the industry into a graphics battle instead innovation, and perhaps did more harm in the long run (just look where it got them now losing over 1.2 billion dollars). As so many before him, he comes accross as someone who was at the right place at the right time (not to mention if this tinkering behind Sony's back is in fact true, he is DEFINATELY at the right place), and I don't doubt that someone else would have filled the void if Sony's didn't shove their techno focused hardware into the market.

S-U-P-E-R · « **Reply #35 on:** April 28, 2007, 07:44:41 AM »

Maybe they could give him Ken Lobb's old job

laffo

Mario · « **Reply #36 on:** April 28, 2007, 12:02:56 PM »

Quote
The only good thing Sony offered the industry was competition

and about 5000 games that wouldn't exist otherwise

Kairon · « **Reply #37 on:** April 28, 2007, 12:13:33 PM »

That wasn't Sony. That was third parties glad to have an alternative. Hence... competition. By merely being an alternative they contributed greatly to the industry.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #38 on:** April 28, 2007, 12:57:05 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Mario
Quote
The only good thing Sony offered the industry was competition

and about 5000 games that wouldn't exist otherwise

Like Kairon said, all Sony did was provide 3rd parties with an alternative system to develop for, Nintendo on the other hand had a key hand in making the NES/SNES (and in turn the gaming industry) a success through their creations. Let's face it, the main reason why Sony got anywhere is because Nintendo became cocky and arrogant, not only did they stick with carts, but their treatment of the 3rd parties was still pretty bad.

It is almost like Nintendo and Sony have switched roles, except IF Sony loses this round they will have a bigger uphill battle then Nintendo ever had because they just don't have the 1st party gaming talent or innovation to claw their way to the top and distinguish their brand. In addition, theyno longer have the luxury of being a top bidder all the time for 3rd parties, because MS is in the game as well. I think this generation is showing that brand name is nothing if you don't have the goods to back it up. Sony was riding high with PS1 and PS2 because they managed to take advantage of Nintendo's screw ups, putting the vast majority of their faith in 3rd parties. Now with 3 consoles out there, those 3rd parties can no longer be Sony's primary pull in the gaming market.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #39 on:** April 28, 2007, 01:03:00 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
That wasn't Sony. That was third parties glad to have an alternative. Hence... competition. By merely being an alternative they contributed greatly to the industry.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

There already was an alternative, that was Sega. Even with their screwups it would have been interesting to see, how things would have been without Sony (Dare I say gaming may have been what it started as, which is about creative and innovative games, instead of who has the fancier hardware!).

Kairon · « **Reply #40 on:** April 28, 2007, 01:16:18 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
That wasn't Sony. That was third parties glad to have an alternative. Hence... competition. By merely being an alternative they contributed greatly to the industry.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

There already was an alternative, that was Sega. Even with their screwups it would have been interesting to see, how things would have been without Sony (Dare I say gaming may have been what it started as, which is about creative and innovative games, instead of who has the fancier hardware!).

Sega was worse than Nintendo. If you think IanSane is bad now just imagine all the stuff he'd have to complain about as a Sega fan.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Djunknown · « **Reply #41 on:** April 28, 2007, 01:39:26 PM »

Quote
What will we do without all of Ken's innovations?

The sounds from the SNES wouldn't be as purty. It was so good that even the '32' bit GBA couldn't replicate all the sounds (See Mario Advance 2 and Mario Advance 3). The great scores from the FF Advance games had to gimped cuz that SPC7000 chip was just too good.

Quote
There already was an alternative, that was Sega

I'm not going to play what-if since there are infinite scenarios but without Sony, 3rd parties would have had two choices: Get raped by Nintendo's licensing fees, or raped by the Sega Saturn's programming nature. Either way, get the K-Y ready, its still gonna hurt! And this is coming from a Sega fan...

Quote
I don't doubt that someone else would have filled the void if Sony's didn't shove their techno focused hardware into the market.

Kutaragi was the only one with balls to try and take on Nintendo when they snubbed him/Sony in public. In public! Like I mentioned, I don't play what-if because of infinite outcomes; but the landscape of gaming would be drastically different than it is today if he just bent over and took it.

I don't think anyone here is going to put him on a level of other Japanese greats. It' be silly since they're mostly software guys(Yokoi Yunpei being the exception, and even then, only hard core fans drop his name in conversation). They only do what hardware allows them to do. But for hardware? He and Yunpei stand alone. The irony here is that they had polar opposite philosophies...

AwesomeMan · « **Reply #42 on:** April 28, 2007, 02:08:48 PM »

Its Yokoi Gumpei(Gunpei?) and he wasn't just hardware, his team was responsible for Kid Icarus and Metroid. and he produced a few other games for nintendo also.

and he is responsible for possibly the best puzzle game made.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #43 on:** April 28, 2007, 06:48:06 PM »

I am not going to give Ken much credit for "facing" Nintendo, it seemed to get personal with him and that was a reason for releasing the PS1. Like I said, he was probably a good engineer, but I think praising him for anything beyond that is a stretch, he was a guy that was promoted to a position he wasn't cut out for, but because of certain things aligning during that period he was able to ride on a wave of success. Now if Nintendo would have ditched, and lightened up on 3rd parties things WOULD have been different (Losing Square most likely would have never happened, and they have been key to Sony's sucess). Perhaps I am wrong, but wasn't PS2 considered to be a pain in the butt to program for? Developers get around programming difficulties, and I don't see that as a big issue, at least not on the level of Nintendo screwing publishers or keeping carts.

P.S. Am I the only one that thinks it is sad that Ken's greatest innovation for the gaming industry was a good sound chip?

Kairon · « **Reply #44 on:** April 28, 2007, 07:14:39 PM »

GoldenPhoenix, I think you're just THHIIIIIISS close to labeling all of us Kutaragi-Lovers!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #45 on:** April 28, 2007, 07:20:54 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
GoldenPhoenix, I think you're just THHIIIIIISS close to labeling all of us Kutaragi-Lovers!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

No I am not, you are all KEN KUTARAGI-LOVERs!

Smash_Brother · « **Reply #46 on:** April 28, 2007, 08:08:29 PM »

Ken was still full of crazy quotes during the PS2 era like "The PS2 can render Toy Story in real time!" but Sony was the market leader so no one cared.

The only reason Sony succeeded with the PS1 was because a) optical media but really because of b) 3rd party devs hated Nintendo because Nintendo treated them like indentured servants. They'd go to any other hardware platform with a chance of success, so long as it wasn't Nintendo.

The PS2 succeeded for the same reason: dumb luck (aka GTA3) and Ken's looniness again went unnoticed.

Now that the PS3 is bombing like hell, people are looking for a reason, and Fruitbat Kutaragi's nutty little Kenisms seem like they could be the source of some of the problems so he gets called out for it.

So no, I don't think he deserves the praise, just like MS doesn't deserve their praise because the only reason they became as big as they did was due to the fact that someone reverse-engineered IBM's technology and MS decided to f*ck IBM over by also licensing DOS to all of the PC clones that popped up.

It's just a case of people being in the right place at the right time and they look successful as a result. Ken was shown for the fraud that he is. Now if only Balmer and the rest would follow suit. Then again, the xbox brand is $5 billion in the hole so it's hard to say they look "successful".

that Baby guy · « **Reply #47 on:** April 28, 2007, 08:15:55 PM »

I think what Kutaragi said about the PS2 is the sole reason why the Dreamcast died. Everyone believed that the PS2 would be so much better, they overlooked the DC, IMO. It's Karma in a way, for what Sega advertised about Nintendo.

Anyways, Kutaragi tried the same things this time about the 360, but people as a whole are now techno-savvy enough to realize that these claims were ludicrous. Either that, or money hats. Either way, the 360 has kept a much fiercer appearance than the DC did when Sony dogged on them.

Kairon · « **Reply #48 on:** April 28, 2007, 09:16:22 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
Ken was shown for the fraud that he is. Now if only Balmer and the rest would follow suit.

*cough*
*ahem*
*too late*

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Caliban · « **Reply #49 on:** April 29, 2007, 01:57:42 PM »

Damn: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/29/iwata-invites-kutaragi-to-work-for-nintendo/ (read the update)

News:

Author Topic: Ken Kutaragi "Retires" (Read 28986 times)