PS3: the bottomless well and the urge to not flame

HarrisonI’ve been reading through the news, and I came across this yet another amazing bit of info about the PS3 from the ever-lovable Phil Harrison. MTV reports this amusing bit:

And what did he make of recent reports that Electronic Arts claimed their launch titles for PS3 only used 20 percent of the system? He said “Gran Turismo 2” maxed out the first PlayStation, and that “God of War II,” coming in March 2007, will “be about as good as it gets” on PS2. But for PS3, the system’s capabilities will keep changing as its firmware gets constantly updated via the Internet, and developers will continue to learn new ways to best use the machine’s multiple processors and SIXAXIS controller. Sony‘s games on PS3 right now use “less than half” of the PS3, he said. “Nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability.”

Yeah, Ryan A. reported on this before, and he has very fair take Harrison’s words. The thing is, while I do understand that Harrison was trying to say that the PS3 can do so much more than it already is doing at the moment, and that the CELL is like a bottomless well, choice of words just struck me as wrong. Lets get the line “Nobody will ever use 100% of PS3’s capability” and then let’s run it through several bad fan-boy translations:

Line: “Nobody will ever use 100% of PS3’s capability.”
Fan-boy Translations collected from all over the intertubes (because the internet is made of tubes):
“Our developer kits suck ass.”
“Developers are too stupid to program for the PS3.”
“You will never, in a long time, see a real PS3 game.”
“We don’t know how to work this thing, and no one else will”
“we give you a six cylinder car, but we promise you that nobody will ever be able to figure out how to run it with all six cylinders.”
“I’m selling you this package for $600, but you’ll never ever be able to utilize everything in this package.”
“You can use 100% of the PS2 but you’re PS3 will never be worth it”

Read the rest of this by clicking Full article.

HarrisonI’ve been reading through the news, and I came across this yet another amazing bit of info about the PS3 from the ever-lovable Phil Harrison. MTV reports this amusing bit:

And what did he make of recent reports that Electronic Arts claimed their launch titles for PS3 only used 20 percent of the system? He said “Gran Turismo 2” maxed out the first PlayStation, and that “God of War II,” coming in March 2007, will “be about as good as it gets” on PS2. But for PS3, the system’s capabilities will keep changing as its firmware gets constantly updated via the Internet, and developers will continue to learn new ways to best use the machine’s multiple processors and SIXAXIS controller. Sony‘s games on PS3 right now use “less than half” of the PS3, he said. “Nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability.”

Yeah, Ryan A. reported on this before, and he has very fair take Harrison’s words. The thing is, while I do understand that Harrison was trying to say that the PS3 can do so much more than it already is doing at the moment, and that the CELL is like a bottomless well, choice of words just struck me as wrong. Lets get the line “Nobody will ever use 100% of PS3’s capability” and then let’s run it through several bad fan-boy translations:

Line: “Nobody will ever use 100% of PS3’s capability.”
Fan-boy Translations collected from all over the intertubes (because the internet is made of tubes):
“Our developer kits suck ass.”
“Developers are too stupid to program for the PS3.”
“You will never, in a long time, see a real PS3 game.”
“We don’t know how to work this thing, and no one else will”
“we give you a six cylinder car, but we promise you that nobody will ever be able to figure out how to run it with all six cylinders.”
“I’m selling you this package for $600, but you’ll never ever be able to utilize everything in this package.”
“You can use 100% of the PS2 but you’re PS3 will never be worth it”

There’s more, but you guys could probably come up with better stuff. I know, I know, I’m just being a tad too harsh here. We know that he didn’t really mean anything negative by what he said, but the words he used are just open to so many negative interpretations.

He also said that thinking that games are about fun is a challenge to be overcome and that games should deal with other themes like fear, uncertainty, and whatever mature, artsy thing you want to extend his list with. Yeah, I know, He meant that games are fun, and that games should also be more than just fun – he just didn’t say it that way.

The sad part about this is that as an exec, it’s Harrison’s job to make the company look good. Sigh. As the bumper stickers say, “shit happens.”

Mmrph...While I am putting Mr Harrison under a spotlight at the moment, I’m not trying to bash just him, or Sony’s PR practices. I’m just using him as an example because he’s, er… recent. And you guys like recent, right? Phil isn’t alone. So many other execs from so many other companies say things that make your brain do back-flips.

I’m trying to point out that we like the PR boo-boos. Yeah we do. Admit it, the fan-boy translations above made you at least chuckle. We like PR faux-pas and we’re hoping they say something “dumb” again so we can attack their statement like starved wolves. It’s entertainment. And we like it. I like it.

This is what keeps me surfing through gaming news. So many people in authority keep saying things they probably shouldn’t have, and many more say things they probably don’t mean. The entertainment just doesn’t end with the quotes either. The damage control that follows is even more hilarious.

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