Head of Sony PR quits

[GFLPraxis]

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/09/dave-karraker-l.html

Must REALLY suck to be that guy; he joined Sony right after E3 2006 and probably took all the crap for all of Sony's bad PR.

Less than a year after joining Sony Computer Entertainment America, senior director of corporate communications Dave Karraker has announced that he will leave the company. His last day will be this Friday, September 7.

Karraker took over Sony's public relations arm following the company's disastrous E3 showing in 2006, and found himself having to manage a crisis PR situation as more and more bad news about the PlayStation 3 came to light.

"I have enjoyed immensely my tenure at SCEA and think the company and its brands are very well positioned to have an exceptional holiday and a very bright future," said Karraker in a statement today; positive to the end.

Karraker will join Skyy Spirits as head of PR and events on October 1.

 

[fiercetiger224]

Good thing he's leaving. He's the real reason why Sony's PR is crap right now. I think Phil should be taking over Sony's worldwide PR. Phil is a lot more likable, not to mention the fact that he's actually admitted making a mistake. It takes balls to admit something like that.

 

[MRU]

Sony are advertising the new vacancy already....




'Wanted... dead or alive (we don't care)

Due to unforseen circumstances we have a vacancy for a FALLOUT guy. Ideal candidates must have sado masachistic tendancies; as well as the ability to devour a huge amount of crap and regurgitate it at will to 'press folk'.

Should you feel qualified for such a position, and you are not currently seeking medication to cure it - then we look forward to hearing from you.

Salary negotiable and dependant on relevant sh*t shovelling experience.

 

[0098386]

Good thing he's leaving. He's the real reason why Sony's PR is crap right now. I think Phil should be taking over Sony's worldwide PR. Phil is a lot more likable, not to mention the fact that he's actually admitted making a mistake. It takes balls to admit something like that.

So it has nothing to do with the lack of games and the big hitters scoring average or less than? Or the controllers being cack, with the max potential far on the horizon?

This news was always going to happen. He's done a piss poor job.

 

[2nyRiggz]

So it has nothing to do with the lack of games and the big hitters scoring average or less than? Or the controllers being cack, with the max potential far on the horizon?

This news was always going to happen. He's done a piss poor job.

You keep talking about lack of games....what exactly are you talking about...lack of good games, lack of games in total.....this is not the only console with the lack of games.
Controllers being cack.....ummmm what now?

Yes lair got bad reviews....not like it hasn't happen this year to the other big hitters. I won't defend a bad game but what other game are you talking about....couldn't be HS which(I stated in the other thread) is doing very well on the reviews front...which I will confirm on monday

Bless

 

[0098386]

Controllers being cack.....ummmm what now?

Hmm, they mustn't have released the PS3 controller with rumble, comfortable long term hold, non-concave triggers and stiffer analogue sticks here?

 

[fiercetiger224]

So it has nothing to do with the lack of games and the big hitters scoring average or less than? Or the controllers being cack, with the max potential far on the horizon?

This news was always going to happen. He's done a piss poor job.

I think that the games is definitely an issue, but look at the Wii. Same thing, BUT the price and the concept is what's selling the console right now. It's different, and unique, and people like new things.

Anyway, Metroid Prime 3 is the SECOND game worth owning on the Wii I think, alongside with Zelda. Which, by the way, is AWESOME.

As for the 360, it's got an awesome library thanks to the head start, BUT if you think about it, it's not doing as well as it should. The Wii has almost caught up with it, and it doesn't even have as many games! And the PS3 isn't doing so bad, considering the crappy PR and high price tag.

 

[bluebomberman]

Let's be honest. No amount of PR's going to change the fact that there currently are no blockbuster PS3 games (aside from a few ports and maybe Resistance). Lair's an indefensible dud and Heavenly Sword seems to fall a bit short of jaw-dropping-slobbering-drool level. Madden doesn't even play well on the PS3. Warhawk? As good as it has been rating, it's hard to call a multiplayer-only Battlefield clone a killer game.

For now, the PS3's stuck waiting for LittleBigPlanet, MGS4, and Killzone 2, none of which come out until next year.

 

[2nyRiggz]

comfortable long term hold, non-concave triggers and stiffer analogue sticks here?

Stating your opinion and passing it off as facts again huh....figures.

Moving along....

I think warhawk has the potential....as its already being showing and you gotta give props where it due and the guys at incog made a great game that already have people wanting it...I don't understand the logic...whats wrong with a STRONG multiplayer game being a top title...you gotta show some love even if its not on your system of choice.


Bless

 

[0098386]

You're quite right! It's also not like Sony are working on a new PS3 controller to quell the criticisms of it being a bad controller...

 

[2nyRiggz]

And so....they are putting rumble in the controller...so what...people want rumble and they are putting back in with a new and improved rumble system...they are not changing the form factor because its "cack"

Thats your opinion.




Bless

 

[pcypert]

I swear some people here just find articles that mention the word Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft so they can have some loose launching pad to justify their choice of money spent and choice to hate some other system.

Start a different thread if you have such strong opinions about controllers...the PR guy didn't design them I bet...or have jack to do with them (I hate PS controllers too by the way, but almost solely due to my large hands, hated the Japanese Dreamcast controller as well).

I think a good PR person could do a lot with the PS3. It's not the system for me, but it can do a lot of neat things...and good games will eventually come for it. Just because we feel like cutting it absolutely no slack doesn't mean it's not just as strong as the Wii in it's current games options (Wii doesn't have much that's not ports or should have been GC games we bought a 250 dollar system to play). If a quality person takes the helm and puts together some good vision, press releases, etc it could do even better.

I would never buy one, but I'm mature enough to admit that's it's a good system that has something to offer a portion of gamers.
Paul

 

[zero2dash]

I think his job was doomed from the start, the day he took it meanwhile his replacement will probably come up smelling like roses because the system will hit its stride by Christmas or early spring of next year at the latest. (just like the next president of the US and then their follower...have to clean up all of Bush's garbage...Clinton's going to need a miracle to not look incompetent but that's wholly OT altogether )

Good old 1 yr cycle...first year of a console's life is generally the crap span, then it picks up steam and goes on from there. Same thing happened to the majority of the other consoles over the last 10 years as well, just like clockwork.

Like I said yesterday in another thread, Ps3 is unquestionably on the upswing. Sony may be taking a beating right now at the hands of the competition but they're not just going to roll over and take this one in the rear after being on top the last 15+ years, sorry to disappoint the naysayers.

 

[Symtex]

I think his job was doomed from the start, the day he took it meanwhile his replacement will probably come up smelling like roses because the system will hit its stride by Christmas or early spring of next year at the latest. (just like the next president of the US and then their follower...have to clean up all of Bush's garbage...Clinton's going to need a miracle to not look incompetent but that's wholly OT altogether )

Good old 1 yr cycle...first year of a console's life is generally the crap span, then it picks up steam and goes on from there. Same thing happened to the majority of the other consoles over the last 10 years as well, just like clockwork.

Like I said yesterday in another thread, Ps3 is unquestionably on the upswing. Sony may be taking a beating right now at the hands of the competition but they're not just going to roll over and take this one in the rear after being on top the last 15+ years, sorry to disappoint the naysayers.

no console company has ever succeed in making 3 console in row that were a great success. NES and SNES were great, N64 and Gamecube tanked. PS1 and PS2 were great, PS3 will tank. This is how it goes. The future doesn't look so promising with Microsoft for the next console too if we follow the same rule.

 

[0098386]

Wasn't the PS1 released in 1995? That's 12 not 15+...

And yes. All manufacturers get complacent. Everyone in the market has done so, cept for Microsoft who are arguably still new to the market to demonstrate otherwise.

 

[zero2dash]

no console company has ever succeed in making 3 console in row that were a great success. NES and SNES were great, N64 and Gamecube tanked. PS1 and PS2 were great, PS3 will tank. This is how it goes. The future doesn't look so promising with Microsoft for the next console too if we follow the same rule.

N64 tanked because Nintendo decided to stick with a cartridge based format when it was long in the tooth, which then (like a stack of dominos) led to other problems, like Square releasing Final Fantasy on the Playstation.

If the N64 would've been a CD-based system, I'd be willing to bet that Nintendo might be the only home console manufacturer around these days.

As for no one making 3 consoles in a row that were a success...you're incorrect.

Every iteration of Nintendo's handhelds has been a cash cow and they've been chugging along, owning the handheld market for what...7 Nintendo portables by now?

*counts*
Game Boy - Game Boy Pocket - Game Boy Color - Game Boy Advance - Game Boy Advance SP - Game Boy Micro - DS

The whole "3 consoles in a row do not sell" is nothing but an urban legend, just like the whole "black consoles don't sell, only white ones do" mentality.

Wasn't the PS1 released in 1995? That's 12 not 15+...

And yes. All manufacturers get complacent. Everyone in the market has done so, cept for Microsoft who are arguably still new to the market to demonstrate otherwise.

Fair enough...12 years (nearly 13). The original PSX released December 3, 1994 in Japan.

 

[Agathon]

no console company has ever succeed in making 3 console in row that were a great success. NES and SNES were great, N64 and Gamecube tanked. PS1 and PS2 were great, PS3 will tank. This is how it goes. The future doesn't look so promising with Microsoft for the next console too if we follow the same rule.

That's a weak inductive argument. The PS3 is fine. The surprise package of the current round is Nintendo, but it's only an oblique competitor for the PS3 and 360.

 

[Symtex]

That's a weak inductive argument. The PS3 is fine. The surprise package of the current round is Nintendo, but it's only an oblique competitor for the PS3 and 360.

Agathon, I know you are a big supported of the PS platform but they have made terrible mistake this time around. I bought the PS3 for blu-ray playback as it's the lowest blu-ray player on the market. I think Sony has lost perspective on their consumer that made their platform a success. I can afford to spend 500$ on a player but J6P can't. PS2 didn't become a great success until it reached the below 200$ price range. This is why Nintendo is doing great this time around. ITS CHEAP.

Of course they can recover but they could put a the final nail on the X360 platform but because of their arrogance, high price range, difficult to develop for and lack of games they miserably failed so far.

 

[zero2dash]

Agathon, I know you are a big supported of the PS platform but they have made terrible mistake this time around. I bought the PS3 for blu-ray playback as it's the lowest blu-ray player on the market. I think Sony has lost perspective on their consumer that made their platform a success. I can afford to spend 500$ on a player but J6P can't. PS2 didn't become a great success until it reached the below 200$ price range. This is why Nintendo is doing great this time around. ITS CHEAP.

Of course they can recover but they could put a the final nail on the X360 platform but because of their arrogance, high price range, difficult to develop for and lack of games they miserably failed so far.

I think you're making a mistake by [essentially] considering Sony as finished with the Ps3 not even being 1 yr old.

Have they made mistakes so far? Absolutely. I wouldn't say Nintendo or Microsoft haven't made their own mistakes (albeit not as severe in either's case). But counting Sony out this early is just foolish IMO. Again, they're not going to take this beating laying down; they will do some things and try to turn everything around.

If it was year 2 1/2 or 3 in the Ps3's life, then I'd say "now or never". But anyone thinking otherwise is pretty short sighted; they have some time to turn things around. Likewise, Nintendo and Microsoft have time to foul things up. No one can be counted out or proclaimed 'the winner' for at least another 2 1/2 - 3 years IMO.

The Ps2 was a success at launch and afterwards; the $200 price drop only further solidified their dominating position.

Sales wise, all three consoles have been a success. The only way they could be conceived as NOT being successes is if they launched and no one bought them. IMO there's two things holding the Ps3 back and they are primarily hand in hand...price and library. The high price scares off people, but even those not frightened by the price are scared off when they see the library and wonder "where is my money going when the library consists of these games and that's it?" and the same thing can be said (library-wise) for every other console within the 1st year of its life. During the 360's first year I would have never considered buying one; it wasn't until Gears came out that I saw a) a game I had to have and b) an upcoming lineup that I was sold on; 1 yr into the 360's life.

In all honesty -
360 I don't forsee any future problems other than RoD/hardware failure; that's the only monkey on their back. Otherwise Microsoft has done nothing wrong IMO; I'm happier with my 360 than I've been with any console in a long time (probably PSX or SNES era days).

Wii I have doubts about long term success/sales as well as how long 3rd parties will stick around. I don't see myself owning my Wii for too much longer; sure, I'm cutting the cord early but I'm overall just not that impressed with what the future holds and I'm folding this hand and sitting out for now. I'm not counting Nintendo out and I'm certainly not saying "they're doomed" or "in trouble" but the Wii just has no appeal to me and my gaming habits/needs/requirements. I am an online+HD gamer, so, yeah...you get the idea.

Ps3 starts off slow but will unquestionably IMO pick up steam. I will own one within the next year.

Final winner: us, 'the gamer'

 

[0098386]

Yea, we're sure winners when you have to spend £180+250+430 to play all the games because publishers and other folk buy exclusivity.

 

[zero2dash]

Yea, we're sure winners when you have to spend £180+250+430 to play all the games because publishers and other folk buy exclusivity.

And this is news...how again?
Consoles have had exclusives since the 16-bit days; nothing's new.
Most of the 'exclusives' aren't anymore, but still. Nothing's new.

If you want Nintendo games, you have to buy a Nintendo system.
If you want Halo, Gears, Forza, Crackdown - buy an Xbox.
If you want God of War, Gran Turismo, Ratchet & Clank - buy a Playstation.

What's different here? Nothing.
How can you even complain about spending money on something for an exclusive when the majority of the members here on MacRumors paid for a computer just to run Apple's operating system?

Everyone has their choices; at least we do have choices and there's not a console monopoly where it's all or nothing.

 

[Antares]

Yeah. Since when are choices a bad thing?

Also, quick turnaround is not unusual in this industry. Why does this Sony move matter?

 

[0098386]

The way we win as consumers is if there is one single machine (PC?) that gets all the games and doesn't cost a bucket load (unlike a gaming quality PC).

I was going to rephrase it but I'll just say it again - it's not so hot when you're spending the same amount as a PC (including a HDTV the price sky rockets over the PC) to play games that don't look as good as a good PC. Unless it was a 2 console war like pre-MS... not counting the obviously less-than competitor systems, I include my precious Amiga in this. So yea. 2 systems please.

Unless people are counting it as a Wii/360 generation. Which seems to be commonplace on't web.

 

[zero2dash]

The way we win as consumers is if there is one single machine (PC?) that gets all the games and doesn't cost a bucket load (unlike a gaming quality PC).

I disagree with that opinion and here's three split reasons why (in each case, assume that one of the three console manufacturers NOW is the one making the one single system available in a single console only world):

1) If Nintendo makes the console they likely leave out features that aren't important to them but are usually important to gamers (in this case, they were the last company to ditch carts for cds, they were the last online, they have provided measly HD gaming features/support, and they have all but given up on traditional control schemes)

2) If Microsoft makes the console you're more likely to have hardware failures

3) If Sony makes the console you're more likely to buy features that aren't important to you, that you never use, or aren't pertinent to video games (ie built in movie player, slots for digital media cards)

I'll take the choices and deal with higher prices, thank you.

 

[Agathon]

Agathon, I know you are a big supported of the PS platform but they have made terrible mistake this time around. I bought the PS3 for blu-ray playback as it's the lowest blu-ray player on the market. I think Sony has lost perspective on their consumer that made their platform a success. I can afford to spend 500$ on a player but J6P can't. PS2 didn't become a great success until it reached the below 200$ price range. This is why Nintendo is doing great this time around. ITS CHEAP.

Of course they can recover but they could put a the final nail on the X360 platform but because of their arrogance, high price range, difficult to develop for and lack of games they miserably failed so far.

You're right of course.

Neither HD gaming system has exactly set the market alight. I'm guessing that not many potential customers have HD capable TVs or are prepared to pay the price for the new generation of consoles.

Nintendo, on the other hand, has hit one out of the park with the Wii, which is cheap and fun.

If you track shipments of 360s and PS3s by making the launch dates the same, you'll find that the difference in sales is negligible. The 360 just has a year's head start. What neither Sony or Microsoft seems to have considered is that the mass market isn't quite ready for HD gaming yet. That's one of the major reasons that both are getting smoked by the Wii. Nintendo's market research department have probably saved the company, and more than that, they have given Nintendo bragging rights that it hasn't enjoyed for a long time.

HD gaming probably won't be mainstream for another couple of years or so. By that time, the user bases for the 360 and PS3 will easily be in the tens of millions. By that time the price of the drives will be much lower, and the PS3 will be quite reasonably priced. That means that owners of either console are unlikely to miss out on the best games.

The one thing that is in Sony's favour is that the PS3 comes with the HD drive. More space = more content for games. The decision to leave the 360 without an HD drive for games is one that will probably look bad in 2-3 years time. And that is the time, I think, when HD gaming will become mainstream.

But no mind. Nintendo will benefit from a massive mindshare boost among developers, and so we can expect a lot of good games for the Wii in just over a year or so.