Read what this MS guy had to say about Sony and the PS3. It's good for a laugh.
LOS ANGELES (CP) - The critics may have given Sony the edge in opening reviews of the next-generation consoles, but Microsoft says that's more about timing than anything else.
Microsoft unveiled its Xbox 360 machine on MTV last week, opting not to use its traditional meeting with the media ahead of the annual E3 trade show. In contrast, Sony kept its PS3 under wraps until its news conference Monday just ahead of Xbox's media gathering.
That meant Microsoft had little left to announce, while Sony turned heads when it rolled out mind-numbing details of the major technical muscle under the PS3 hood. Sony also scored points with some eye-popping samples from next-generation games like the sequel to the first-person shooter Killzone.
"It's a moment in time," Microsoft vice-president J Allard said of the early pro-PlayStation 3 reaction.
And he reminded reporters that the smash hit game Halo was "an unmitigated disaster" if it was judged in terms of its unveiling at the 2001 E3 news conference, an event plagued by technical problems. "We knew we had the right game plan and we just stayed focused on it," he said.
If Sony had an edge in the "who won the press conference" point of view this week, it was only because Xbox had already trumpeted the 360 to 80 million TV viewers so it had already made its news.
Judging what lies ahead on a pair of news conferences makes no sense, Allard added. And he said the response to the 360 had been overwhelmingly positive.
"It's actually been great. Again it's a moment of time. You're asking me about something that we haven't shipped, that people haven't had the hands-on time with the final product. But people love it."
And Allard, Xbox's guru, says he feels good about the 360 having seen what the PS3 has to offer.
"Absolutely. Absolutely. Even more comfortable," Allard told Canadian reporters at E3, before taking a stab at Sony. "I'm astounded by their lack of focus on software and services. They very very much are focused on hardware.
"And I'm fascinated honestly by all of the connection points. It take this, it takes that, it takes the other things. It's got all these USB things, it's got gigabit, ethernet. I just looked at it and said 'Boy. Every decision I was trying to make was make the product simpler.' And the complexity of that product is just off the charts.
"The other thing I was trying to do was make it cheaper. And they added a lot of cost. It's an interesting strategy, because this last generation they definitely had us both on cost and simplicity in their design."
Despite such surprise, Allard said Sony "did exactly what we thought they were going to do."
"In a way I guess it's good as a competitor, that they really haven't paid attention to the things that we've done so well in. The two things that I would say we've provided the most leadership in the industry is great developer support through great software and tools and great support in online and great leadership with (Xbox) Live. And they didn't respond to either of those.
Ah, man! These MS boys are a riot!
...laughs continue.
"Which is just really surprising to me that they spent so much time on the hardware specs. Because at the end of the day that's not what it's about. It's about all of those things in concert."
"It's also interesting that they didn't talk about the Walkman of the 21st century much," Allard added, referring to the handheld PSP which hardly rated a mention at the Sony event.
Both Sony and Microsoft boasted they have the most powerful console. Sony seems to have a clear edge in specs, but Allard says it's more about looking at the platform as a whole than comparing numbers.
"Part of it is the hardware, but the hardware is no good if you don't have the software to unlock it . . . And then you need the online service as well. It's those three things that are going to add up."
And he cautioned against making instant evaluations on graphics shown at one news conference.
"The broader point is it's not about visual fidelity. It can't be because we're reaching the point now where the bottleneck is not the hardware. Xbox is capable of creating better-looking games. Publishers aren't funding the art required to create better-looking games."
Allard also clarified reports on the 360 backward compatibility. The 360 will be backward compatible but only for certain top titles. Allard said the software could be changed later to embrace other older titles.
I really don't think that's possible. It seems like Microsoft is willing to try anything to take down Sony, but I just don't see it happening.
But even with the N64, I viewed it as a system geared more towards younger gamers.
