Sony Admits That Wii Is ‘More Fun’
Aussie triumphs in foot-in-mouth test
Wii is more fun?
5 Dec 2006
Link to this: http://news.spong.com/article/11278
Nic Foster, Sony's general manager for Sony Australia & New Zealand, must be rueing an interview he gave to The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper yesterday. Speaking about the down-under delays to the PS3 launch (the Aussies are getting theirs in March 2007, too) he compared Nintendo’s Wii to Sony’s next-gen device, he said:
”Wii is a core gaming device. It's a more fun, intuitive sort of product to pick up..”
And that quote is what has been picked up and will be used by Sony HQ to ban him from ever opening his mouth again, even to ask for a schooner of New† down at his local.
"Give the lad a break!" says SPOnG. Here’s the context in which he made his off-message faux pas:
”The Wii-type functionality is more just a sub-element of what the PlayStation 3 offers.
"Wii is a core gaming device. It's a more fun, intuitive sort of product to pick up, where the PS3 is a broader entertainment solution; so you can have your fun, enjoyable gaming ... but then you have a whole suite of other applications ... such as Blu-ray media playback, the ability to access your music, access your photos and the interoperability with the PlayStation Portable.
"Gamers are extremely aware of what they're after and what they want. So gamers will already have a very good understanding of what PlayStation 3 offers versus what Wii offers and many of them will probably have both devices."
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"Wii is a core gaming device. It's a more fun, intuitive sort of product to pick up, where the PS3 is a broader entertainment solution; so you can have your fun, enjoyable gaming ... but then you have a whole suite of other applications ... such as Blu-ray media playback, the ability to access your music, access your photos and the interoperability with the PlayStation Portable.
"Gamers are extremely aware of what they're after and what they want. So gamers will already have a very good understanding of what PlayStation 3 offers versus what Wii offers and many of them will probably have both devices."
OK, maybe his PR minders were simply transfixed by the unbelievable goings-on in the Ashes cricket match - because in the spirit of the famous ‘Stralian “fair go”, it does look as if Nic actually suggests that gamers buy both Sony and Nintendo’s machine.
SPOnG is all for this sort of even-handedness. There is even a chance that by the time the PS3 hits PAL territories, gamers will have become Wii-bored and will been able to save up for PS3. Maybe.
We wonder what Nic will be doing by then?
† Sort of a mini-pint of sort-of-lager beer.
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Comments on this News
6 comments on-line.
I hope and still believe that people who purchase Wii will stck with it and possibly eventually own a PS3 too, I know I intend to do this despite Sony's mega industry mess ups of late.
The price of the Wii encourages you to keep it anyway (I don't see gamers getting much off a PS3 if they traded it in to Game/Gamestation etc anyway) and I don't see many people trading theirs in somehow. The WVC and online elemnts show that there's more to come from Wii in 2007 and the party is just warming up.
Fairplay to the Sony rep, at least he's got the balls to step up and say what he knows is true, and despite the differences I'm sure PS3 will have good games too, possible just not as different as Wii to save it.
The niche for Wii is simple - the PS2's old one. Let's face it, companies won't be churning out PS3 games as fast seeing as it costs so darn much, so they'll look to the simpler and cheaper Wii. In turn, parents will look to it, as it's cheap and cheerful and looks fun even to them.
I imagine that Sony know this, and that's why they keep churning out these soundbites; because they know, deep down, they just lost the casual gamer market by pricing themselves out of it. And it was a big market to them, and quite important, and now they've cast it off and there's no way back.
First comment
Posted by Joji
It's up to Nintendo to get the best games on the shelves to curb boredom before the PS3 wave hits. Having the likes of Trauma Centre put back til March 2007 doesn't help things at all.I hope and still believe that people who purchase Wii will stck with it and possibly eventually own a PS3 too, I know I intend to do this despite Sony's mega industry mess ups of late.
The price of the Wii encourages you to keep it anyway (I don't see gamers getting much off a PS3 if they traded it in to Game/Gamestation etc anyway) and I don't see many people trading theirs in somehow. The WVC and online elemnts show that there's more to come from Wii in 2007 and the party is just warming up.
Fairplay to the Sony rep, at least he's got the balls to step up and say what he knows is true, and despite the differences I'm sure PS3 will have good games too, possible just not as different as Wii to save it.
Latest comment
Posted by fluffstardx
These gamers he credits with so much savvy - is he talking PS2 players? Most of whom, in a survey, didn't even know what Blu Ray was, or the price?The niche for Wii is simple - the PS2's old one. Let's face it, companies won't be churning out PS3 games as fast seeing as it costs so darn much, so they'll look to the simpler and cheaper Wii. In turn, parents will look to it, as it's cheap and cheerful and looks fun even to them.
I imagine that Sony know this, and that's why they keep churning out these soundbites; because they know, deep down, they just lost the casual gamer market by pricing themselves out of it. And it was a big market to them, and quite important, and now they've cast it off and there's no way back.
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