Ken Kutaragi is vindicated, the man is a visionaire

[Petra]

He saw it with PS, then again with PS2 and now PS3. Gaming industry made fun of him, whne PS3 first launched, now because of the PS3, Sony will reap reward profit that is bigger than console licensing fee. Sony got the next gen disc in the bag.

Hope Sony will pay tribute to him now

[gvortex7]

They could definitely pay him the ultimate tribute by rehiring him to his old post, and another suggestion would be never to question the man with his decisions again.

[Blu-Generation]

What happen to him anyways?

After the launch of PS3 he's gone.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by Blu-Generation

What happen to him anyways?

After the launch of PS3 he's gone.

First he was promoted, then he retired. He's still an honorary chairman though, if ya want to get into that nitty gritty.

[doctorD]

Originally Posted by Petra

He saw it with PS, then again with PS2 and now PS3. Gaming industry made fun of him, whne PS3 first launched, now because of the PS3, Sony will reap reward profit that is bigger than console licensing fee. Sony got the next gen disc in the back.

Hope Sony will pay tribute to him now

I totally agree...this shows that he was way ahead of the curve.

[ezcobar411]

He obviously had a vision and it is coming to pass. We will see what type of recognition he receives. I know he received an award at DICE, I'm sure that more awards aren't out of the question.

[w_tanoto]

I was shocked and disappointed when he is "promoted" (in a sense - given nothing to do anymore), until he left the company.

I can't imagine PS4 without him

[stockstar1138]

No kidding he's vindicated. Putting blu-ray inside the PS3 may just be the single greatest feature ever put into a game console.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by w_tanoto

I was shocked and disappointed when he is "promoted" (in a sense - given nothing to do anymore), until he left the company.

I can't imagine PS4 without him

its been confirmed that he is working on the project, but is not the head of it.

[saprano]

who's laughing now.

[FFObsessed]

Ken Kuturagi is still an adviser to Sony, he still goes into the SCEI offices in Japan and gives advice to the new CEO Kaz Hirai. And he will be an adviser on the next PlayStation systems. I don't think they need to re-hire him, Im sure he's very happy to "pursue other interests" as he said, it was a mutual agreement that he was to leave.

But yeh, he is a true genius and visionary, and was one of the key reasons why Blu-Ray won the format war, thanx to its inclusion in the PS3. Sony owe him a lot and I'm very sure they realise that. Phil Harrison and other members of SCE always talked about him in the highest regard. They respect him greatly over there.

Ken Kuturagi

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

its been confirmed that he is working on the project, but is not the head of it.

good news..... i rarely keep up with gaming news after I became blu-addicted

[saprano]

so will he be working on the ps4?

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

No kidding he's vindicated. Putting blu-ray inside the PS3 may just be the single greatest feature ever put into a game console.

It's the sole reason I bought a PS3 over a 360. I actually prefer the game lineup on the 360.

[FFObsessed]

Originally Posted by saprano

so will he be working on the ps4?

He wont be personally working on it like with the other systems no, but he will be advising SCEI on what direction to take the next system(s).

[Li'l Nicky]

some people think he's mad, but they're all idiots. It's not uncommon that the traits of madness and genius coincide. Plenty of examples in history.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by bajor27

It's the sole reason I bought a PS3 over a 360. I actually prefer the game lineup on the 360.

It was a warranted step up.

Just like the CD drive [well that was a cascade failure on Nintendo's part really] and the DVD drive.

The importance with the PS2 of the 'One-Disc' game was huge imo.

[Teazle]

Apart from the inclusion of Blu-ray in PS3, the Cell is Kutargi's baby. He is a true visionary.

[FFObsessed]

Originally Posted by Li'l Nicky

some people think he's mad, but they're all idiots. It's not uncommon that the traits of madness and genius coincide. Plenty of examples in history.

I think this quote sums it up perfectly:

“Innovators and men of genius have almost always been regarded as fools at the beginning (and very often at the end) of their careers.”

[Neo65]

Early prior to the PS3 launch, many industry pundit pointed out that BD was Sony's "Shooting for the Moon". I sat back and thought about that a long time.

I agree with the premise that adding a higher density media like BD instead of sticking with DVD increased the PS3's launch costs likely by $250+. Initially for 1st million boxes at least.

When you let the bean counters figure this one out, shooting for the moon never makes sense as a business strategy, but only from the vantage point of bean counters.

Fundamentally though, PS1=CDrom, PS2=DVDrom, PS3=BDrom is not that hard to imagine, but this time, PS3 had competition - X360 that launched earlier using DVDrom technology, which meant faster time to market, and lower costs - paradoxically, faster time to market and lower costs did not translate to increased reliability for x360.

At the back of my mind, while I already had an x360 (which did not do a RRoD unlike a few people I know who are big FPS fans -- key here : to avoid RRoD, don't play longer than 60 minutes, keep room cool), that was the point when I hoped Sony pulls it off.

I may not have any opinions about Sony as a company or their products, but a gutsy move like that, the engineer in me immediately recognized that things like this deserves a chance for success. It's also the engineer in me that dislike the bean counter mentality when it becomes too pervasive, making it more interesting to follow this development as a participant. I knew I'd buy a PS3 at that point instead of waiting 6 months post-launch like my original intent.

The original "shot to the moon" came from JFK's speech, and that's one of the most inspiring speech that engineers can identify with. Because JFK said "we choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it's hard".

So, hats off to Kutaragi-san.

-- From another engineer who spent his earlier years in the trenches before currently being able to tell many other engineers to work in the tenches.