Someone should make a motivational poster of him that reads:
Engrish

When nobody believes, uh, understands you
Blame it on translation

And no, I'm not racist. It would just be hilarious

That guy is just asking for a punch in the face.

Seriously, you may be insane enough to believe the competition will fail, but don't just completely ignore their existance, especially when they seem to be favoured over the PS3.

Gamers to Sony: "We do not care."

The title says "We don't care"

But his eyes say "Fear"

Could someone clarifiy for me what exactly is the probelm with the production of the blu-ray diodes? Is it that each one takes a very very long time to make? Or is it that, in each batch, a large number of them are faulty (a low yeild, or whatever?)?

Ken looks so smug in that photo... oh wait he looks smug in every photo. Oh Kenny!

I believe it is low yield at the moment. Not to mention the increasing demand for them, since both next gent video formats make use of blue laser diodes.

AlteredBeast im not 100% sure but as far as i know the problem is that Sony dont make the diodes for bluray themselves so have to depend on a another manufacture to make them. They other company probably cant just ramp up production quick enough to keep up with the demand for the diodes the the PS3 will be adding (sony are going to making more PS3 than there is already is standalone bluray players)

I remember when Nintendo didn't care either and look where it got them.

the process the make the diodes is not a normal manufactoring process and is highly complicated. they have never mass produced them befor and are having some real problems getting the yields up. they expect to have the problem fixed by early next year but we will see

The Blue-Laser Diodes are in shortage because there aren't enough parts, I believe. It's a simple "We ain't got 'em, you'll need to wait" kind of thing.

as for Mr. Kutaragi, he's taking quite an arrogant attitued for the position he's in. He's not coming off as "Everything's alright! Nothing is wrong!" , but rather as a jerk.

*attitude, even

I reall agree with Robotron. That kind of attitude, and confidence was what got Nintendo (and mostly Hiroshi Yamauchi) to the bottom spot. I really can see a lot of similarities with the PS3 and the N64. Sony, as Nintendo are realying on new technology and a propietary form for the games, and most of all, the cocky attitude.

However Sony has some great games behind the PS3 and developers are really excited about the console. Nevertheless the 360 is a force to be reckoned and the Wii will gather some new users.

It will get really interesting.

Kuturagi has the right attitude. "Caring" about the competition is a sign of weakness.

Also, at least Kuturagi can speak English, unlike Peter Moore who disrespects the Japanese by speaking English at the Tokyo Game Show

Kuturagi has the right attitude. "Caring" would be a sign of weakness.

Also, at least Kuturagi can speak English, unlike Peter Moore who disrespects the Japanese by speaking English at TGS.

And Sony's stock continues to drop... and drop...

" We do not care "
A similar attitude to what a lot of gamers have to the PS3.

test

Sony Fanboy: "BUT, BD WILL REVOLUTIONALIZE TEH INDURSTY!1!1! MGS3+FF13 > J00!"

they will care soon enough when they announce a price drop on the system

Only a fool doesn't care about, or respect, the competition. If they are competition then it is viable they could kick your ass at the next turn. Sony, take care, you're heading for dangerous territory.

Any company that ignore competition will always lose in its market time and time again. But at the same time, Sony shouldn't focus on competition if they can't even get their internal product manufacturing straighten up.

It's a catch 22.

Obviously, Sony doesn't care about the PS3's competition because they hardly care about the PS3. They've proven that time and time again.
What happened to you Sony? Did you get fat and complacent like Nintendo did two generations ago? Are you counting on the masses of brainwashed fanboys? How long do you think that will last? For your sake Sony, I hope you fail miserably so you can reflect on why you failed.

Oh boy ... here we go ... interwed-ANALysts.

@ Scourge

I'm with you on that. I want the PS3 to be a collossal flop for the exact same reason. Let Sony come back with a PS4 that's not a multimedia/optical format trojan horse and keep the focus on gaming.

As far as not worrying about the competition, that's ridiculous. Ken needs to be muzzled. There should be a clause in his contract that says he is not permitted to speak to the public about Sony. After the stellar showing that MS had at X06, E3 and TGS, how can Sony not be worried?

I love the 360 and all, and dont plan on getting a PS3 anytime soon, but how the hell was MSFT "stellar" at X06 and TGS?

IMO the PS3 was far more impressive at the TGS.

I totally respect his Answer.... Because ok there are other consoles being released, and sony is already putting together a really strong system... Sony's stance is more like... they WILl do what they have to do. Asking questions about whether other systems will "outstrip" sony, doesn't get them anywhere. What kind of answer do you guys expect to get when you get a question like that.

MCV: "Hey mr kutaragi Do you think MS or Nintendo will outstrip Sony?"
Ken: "What kind of question is that, fool? We are a global company worth billions of dollars. Don't you think we have taken in consideration things that you can't even dream of? If we believed that Nintendo or MS would Kill the PS3 then we wouldn't release it. So Frankly we could care less about your silly questions"

I think that is what Ken meant when he said "I dont care"..

Why dont these idiot reporters ask some real questions like How long do you believe it will take for sony to make a profit. Or how do you think the release of the PS3 will affect your company name and worth world wide. Or how long do you think it would take for the PS3 to gain the lions portion of the market share... Something worth while.. Instead of poking and prodding and striving to get Sony riled up.

Looking at this from a fresh perspective, I can almost understand why he said this. They don't care about Microsoft because the 360 isn't very popular in Japan. They look down on Nintendo as it is, and don't see it as a valid threat.
What he said is incredibly dumb, but I think he really is speaking for all of Sony, not just himself.

I used to make fun of Ken Kutaragi.
Then I realized that no matter what I say, I can never match what the man does to himself.
You give him five minutes with the press and a microphone and the man says enough material to have people laughing for weeks.
HOW CAN I POSSIBLY TOP THAT?

"The comedy just writes itself"

"We do not care"? Hey Ken, how's the weather up there in that Fortress of Lies?

Even though I'm not a Sony fan I'll say it again: 18 months from now no one is going to remember the crappy launch of PS3. They'll still sell a gazillion and more than likely win this gens war handily due to the name recognition factor alone.

Personally I'd like to see MS/Nintendo do better sales than Sony but people being the sheep they are its just not going to happen.

Kutaragi was mis-quoted, he said "Wii don't care..."

methane47 has it right ...

These websites and gaming journalists, are just feeding their fanboy and hit causing gaming tabloids. That is all it has come to now.

The questions asked are much dumber than the answers, especially when asked every damn time they "interview" ... how much more can a guy say soemthing before it turns into "I dont care (about your question)".

And I bet that is what he was responding to.

Altered - yes, it's low yields, although I don't know any more detail than that. I guess progress in improving the manufacturing process hit an unexpected snag or something.

Sony are actually one of the largest producers of blue laser diodes (which are needed for both Blu-ray and HD-DVD drives) and some time ago they announced that they weren't selling any of them to other companies, but keeping them all for PS3. But the other manufacturers have also been having difficulty.

I presume it's at least marginally resolved now (or they stockpiled enough) since PS3 is, finally, coming out, and also the HD-DVD drive for X360.

in a way i can see why they don't care, it's not like nintendo or microsoft can make them any worse, between the whole laptop batteries exploding and ken's latest attitude problem they on a level all there own, one with smack talking companys who have a system with a blue ray player that for some reason cost less than just a blue ray player, i know it sounds crazy, sounds like some alternate universe but it's real, all too real....

18 months from now, PS3 will drop the price (efficient production, enough market saturation) that the "opposing" fanboys will be able to afford it, too. Blank Blue-Ray price will drop significantly by then, too that you can buy one to backup your harddrive at affordable price.

PS2 was around $399 when first released in Japan (if I'm not mistaken), but there were still enough harcore markets out there that were willing to spend that much money to be the first dudes to have it prior to US releases.

The point is, there is always a market for each phase of PS3 lifecycle:

1) Launch release: hardcore gamers and rich people

2) 1st-2nd year after releases: regular gamers who have saved enough money to buy PS3 at $600

3) 3rd-4th year (PS3 finally drops the price): budget-conscious gamers and gamers who like to wait for price drops (they did this on the past consoles, too)

4) 5th-6th year (Slim PS3 is released and original PS3 price is further dropped): Cheap-bastard market

Well, those years are not exactly accurate but u get my drift :)

So far, most of Kotaku commentors seem to fall under category #3.

The problem with PS3 and to some extent the current pricing on xbox360 is that both are probably more then what I want to pay for a console system as I have a high end computer and tend to use it more for gaming.

This of course is not true for the average console gamer but then again unless the PS3 is gonna drop price to the 300-400 range fairly soon how many average people are willing to drop 500-600 for a console without buying even 1 game for it? That number of people just seems way to low to consider a PS3 a success until they work in a price drop which looks kinda far off considering Sony is losing so much on each PS3 even at 600.

Amen Ken Amen! He is right the 360 is not competition. Next comes when Sony arrives!

Chalk me up for #2 if we're merely lumping individuals into static categories. I doubt I'd be able to wait 3 years into a console's lifetime to make the plunge. ...Although I did wait until last summer to pick up a GameCube. That console was merely a completist endeavour since it could almost be safely ignored from a software perspective. Thank God for Nintendo's excellent development teams.

More to the point though:

Screw Reggie, Kutaragi is easily my favorite of the console figureheads. He gives me faith that one day, when I too have been relegated to a copious amount of meds and confined to my padded room, I can transcend my mental illnesses and function in the real world. God bless you Mr. Kutaragi, you are an inspiration to the mentally ill everywhere.

I would pay a million dollars to see his face out of the public camera when the Wii destroys them in sales.

Of course they don't care. Sony has some much bigger problems than other console makers. Mainly, how management at SCEJ plans to produce and sell an expensive console which is bathed in bad press (though bad press keeps their name in the limelight), an incoherent marketing campaign and marginally better graphics than a console released a year ago.

That mental illness you mentioned may actually be some form of permanent brain damage resulting from an embolism onset from the stress of trying to steer that shipwreck of a company.

Yea, I think the fact that they're losing around $250-300 million dollars on recalled batteries, the loan they had to take out, low blu-ray diodes being produced, constant bad press, very poor public PR, overheating systems at TGS 2 months before release, and a very slim launch lineup, the last thing they're worrying about are their competitors.

Oh, good. I was worried he might give a shit that I'm not buying one. (my original model PS2 DREs 98% of the time, and my brother's slim stopped reading discs entirely;

If that's the kind of cheap-ass crappy chinese craftsmanship that's going into the $599USD PS3, then Kutaragi-san can stick it where the sun don't shine.

(my apologies, I'm just bitter. :( )

Sony should be required to fill every Blu-ray Disc that they use for PS3 games. If one game doesn't use all of the space, they need to keep adding more games until it's full.

To be honest, it's a very ambiguous question. What does "outstrip" mean?

The question could easily be interpreted as asking what if there were other consoles released that were more powerful than the PS3?

Reggie will say he doesn't care about relative power of consoles, would it be so awful if Kutaragi felt the same way?

Asking an ambiguous question in someone's non-native language is a great way to get a poor/controversial answer. But does the answer really mean anything?

The question was about whether the competitors would sell more consoles then the PS3. I think that's just the site paraphrasing since it's not a direct quote of the question, another site phrased it this way:

"Speaking to Next-Gen's European media partner MCV at Sony's Tokyo headquarters, Kutaragi commented on the possibility of Xbox 360 and Wii overcoming the PS3: "We don't care," he said."

Sony really struggles to do "humble"...seriously based on the recent Wired article and the battery recall issues, Sony NEEDS the PS3 to be a success.

..he still lokks like a whore

That picture of him makes him seem like a 5 year old having a tantrum about being fed spinach. Arms all crossed, a 'what are you doing, eh?' look on his face...oh Ken, you make me laugh so.