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:



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:



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.}