[Article] How the Tech Parade Passed Sony By

[Ridah]

Written by the NY Times, it's a fascinating article that speaks on how Sony got itself in its current predicament. 

[Turtle]

It's all pretty much as expected. Entrenched Japanese style leadership, fresh off a few successes, fail to see trends shifting. Some token efforts are made to change, such as Stringer being put in charge of some parts, but he's not given any real power, and things stay the same.

That said, at least there still funded some great visionaries in game development. So while the corporation itself was floundering, we still got some great games out of it.

[Jumangi]

I don't see Hirai being able to do much to really change Sony. I think they will be continuing to slog along with the likes of RIM and Nokia. Companies that got complacent and let others "eat their lunch".

[Ridah]

I don't see Hirai being able to do much to really change Sony. I think they will be continuing to slog along with the likes of RIM and Nokia. Companies that got complacent and let others "eat their lunch".

I disagree, only because he's already done some major restructuring. He laid off 10,000 employees, and is streamlining the business under the "One Sony" strategy. I'm very optimistic for the future, and for the PS4. 

[Harpua3]

I don't see Hirai being able to do much to really change Sony. I think they will be continuing to slog along with the likes of RIM and Nokia. Companies that got complacent and let others "eat their lunch".

I disagree, only because he's already done some major restructuring. He laid off 10,000 employees, and is streamlining the business under the "One Sony" strategy. I'm very optimistic for the future, and for the PS4. 

I see what you did there! Sarcasm!

[Ridah]

I don't see Hirai being able to do much to really change Sony. I think they will be continuing to slog along with the likes of RIM and Nokia. Companies that got complacent and let others "eat their lunch".

I disagree, only because he's already done some major restructuring. He laid off 10,000 employees, and is streamlining the business under the "One Sony" strategy. I'm very optimistic for the future, and for the PS4. 

I see what you did there! Sarcasm!

Sorry buddy, your sarcasm detector is malfunctioning I was being serious, I think Sony is becoming a leaner company and more focused on their core products.

[TiLT]

Sony can struggle as long as they keep existing. They're one of the few big companies in gaming that still haven't succumbed to the temptation to milk every bit of money from their customers, instead focusing on quality products in both software and hardware. I own every major console, both standard and portable, that has been released since the GBA. Nobody comes closer to solid quality among these than Sony does. Both the PS3 and the Vita feel almost luxurious when you pack them out of their boxes, whereas the 360, the Wii, and the various handhelds feel like cheap plastic in comparison (other qualities notwithstanding).

[Calavera]

They're one of the few big companies in gaming that still haven't succumbed to the temptation to milk every bit of money from their customers, instead focusing on quality products in both software and hardware.

Wait, what? They've done a HD remake every PS exclusive they can, removed BC from the PS3, saddled the Vita with more expensive proprietary memory cards, they also introduced then killed UMD, removed then added rumble (you have to buy 2 controllers). Sony is the company that invented milking every bit of money they can from their customers usually thru proprietary formats. The PS3 has a constant stream of system patches (not title updates), some of which have removed features. On top of all that, the PSN is down an average of 12 hours a month for maintenance.

I've heard a lot of things about Sony lately, praise for not milking customers is definitely not one of them.

[kronovan]

I've heard a lot of things about Sony lately, praise for not milking customers is definitely not one of them.

Yup, it's a different style of milking, but its still pulling on the teet. Still, its probably more preferable to more gamers than the blatant milking M$ has foisted on the masses. I wouldn't argue about Sony's HW design and quality this gen - significantly better than any of the competition. In thinking that's been a constant across multiple gens though, I'm wondering if people have forgotten about the rampant DVD issues with the early PS2's?

[Bullwinkle]

I've heard a lot of things about Sony lately, praise for not milking customers is definitely not one of them.

Yup, it's a different style of milking, but its still pulling on the teet. Still, its probably more preferable to more gamers than the blatant milking M$ has foisted on the masses. I wouldn't argue about Sony's HW design and quality this gen - significantly better than any of the competition. In thinking that's been a constant across multiple gens though, I'm wondering if people have forgotten about the rampant DVD issues with the early PS2's?

Or the overheating and massive turbine fans of the early PS3s.

[USMC Kato]

Sorry, I own all the systems as well but you're fooling yourselves if you believe that a company like Sony or Microsoft doesn't want to get as much money as they can from their customers.

[Harpua3]

I don't see Hirai being able to do much to really change Sony. I think they will be continuing to slog along with the likes of RIM and Nokia. Companies that got complacent and let others "eat their lunch".

I disagree, only because he's already done some major restructuring. He laid off 10,000 employees, and is streamlining the business under the "One Sony" strategy. I'm very optimistic for the future, and for the PS4. 

I see what you did there! Sarcasm!

Sorry buddy, your sarcasm detector is malfunctioning I was being serious, I think Sony is becoming a leaner company and more focused on their core products.

Okay I actually love Sony products but I did think you were being sarcastic;). I had a psone, a ps2, a psp, and currently have a ps3 and vita. While I enjoyed the older systems most of my time at one point was spent on the original Xbox. That being said the vita and the ps3 are amazing. Hands down my favorite systems. The vita is still new and all, but it still blows my mind when I fire it up..

[Pyperkub]

I've heard a lot of things about Sony lately, praise for not milking customers is definitely not one of them.

Yup, it's a different style of milking, but its still pulling on the teet. Still, its probably more preferable to more gamers than the blatant milking M$ has foisted on the masses. I wouldn't argue about Sony's HW design and quality this gen - significantly better than any of the competition. In thinking that's been a constant across multiple gens though, I'm wondering if people have forgotten about the rampant DVD issues with the early PS2's?

Yeah, Sony seems to try to stuff a razor blade methodology into every product they make.  SD Card the standard?  Let's sell a proprietary memory stick that costs 10x as much.