David Jaffe calls out media bias against PS3!

[Maximus]

Here is the email in question:

+++++++++

David,

I'm working on a story for MSNBC examining the life-to-date chronology of the PS3. As a respected PlayStation developer, would you be willing to answer a few questions? In the interest you are, here goes:

In hindsight, noting the PS3's lukewarm reception and relatively high cost, a lot of people wonder what Sony was thinking when developing the PS3. So... what were they thinking?

It's been said that Ken Kutaragi and Howard Stinger dictated what technology the PS3 should include instead of doing proper research to what the consumer wanted while paying little mind to price. As a development partner, did you feel that was the case? Why/why not?

It seems that releasing a feature-rich console for $600, now $400, was a crippling move for Sony, especially given the recent economic downturn. Would you agree? Why/why not?

Did you ever perceive low morale within the company once the $600 price was announced in 2006? Can you elaborate?
Consumers appear indifferent to Blu-ray technology. Do you feel Sony overvalued Blu-ray, after DVD helped the PS2 become such a huge success?

It seems the PS3 has been cobbled together since its release: feature-cutting to help cut costs, patched with controller rumble, patched with Home, patched with trophy achievements -- like the console never had a specific plan. During your tenure, did you feel the powers that be at Sony had a grip on what exactly would make the PS3 a success? Why/why not?
What has been your biggest concern as a PS3 developer?

Was the Wall Street Journal right: has hope faded for PS3 as the "comeback player"?

Kindly,

Mystery Journalist

So you tell me...am I just being ultra sensitive? If so, I apologize to the journalist in question. To be fair to him, he says he's looking at the PS life to date (and not focusing on upcoming things that could swing the console's fortunes ((ala KILLZONE 2, GOW 3, UNCHARTED 2, MLB 09, potential price drop,etc)) )....BUT even so, he seems to ignore ANY of the success it has had up till this point or any of the missteps the 360 has made...but again, I could be wrong...

Take it easy ya'll-

David
Posted by da criminal at 9:33 AM

http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.co...s-it-just.html

UPDATE:

Let me rephrase, based on some of the comments:

Sure all journalism is biased. Let me rephrase:

is this obnoxiously biased to the point that most rational folks would be offended to get such an email?

Or is this just biz as usual (altho I've never gotten such slanted questions before)...

END UPDATE

Proves once again he is the ****ing man!

[Goodintentions]

im betting its a gamestop employee !!!!!

[Hedchekr]

Journalism is biased, to the journalists point of interest, but some are way more skewed than others. As Jaffe said he just focused on PS3, and its negatives. So he shows his bias right there, and that can be done for any medium. When journalists do this I tend to ignore what they have to say cause its not the whole story, or picture or whatever you want to call it. They deserve no credit in my mind, cause to me they have failed to do thier jobs.

[AikonEnt]

After reading that I would personally like to punch the so-called 'journalist' on the end of the nose.

Personally speaking I fail to see why people think the PS3 is so expensive. I think it's one of the best value pieces of equipment I've ever bought (and I paid a lot more for it than it costs now).

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by Goodintentions

im betting its a gamestop employee !!!!!

frikin Moonphase....yeah you...punk...

[sega_smasher]

great post max! jaffe is the man.

[Clark Kent]

Whining in the press really almost never does anyone good. The PS3 and its fans have to accept the biased and skewed representation of it in the media much as political conservatives have to live with it. Themes have already developed in the media's treatment of this console hardware generation and it will likely never be changed no matter how the facts develop. This is partly a backlash of the established champ of the last two generations, Sony, taking a step back and the massive wave of publicity and hype that accompanied the launch of the PS3.

[Rike255]

MSNBC... Owned by Microsoft and Universal. Honestly, would you expect anything else?

[jono_0101]

wow, sonys just terrible! i cant believe that they would take all that money and actually invest it into developing the system rather than use it to pay off the media pundits to promote the system, how dare they!

good post jaffe! the more people bring attention to and point out the bias, the less effective it is

[SkantDragon]

Let me paraphrase the original message...

Hello. I'm a reporter from a news agency owned by your rival.

Is it true that your product sucks and your company is completely staffed by idiots? I'd like to have your comment on these facts.

[J6P]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Whining in the press really almost never does anyone good. The PS3 and its fans have to accept the biased and skewed representation of it in the media much as political conservatives have to live with it. Themes have already developed in the media's treatment of this console hardware generation and it will likely never be changed no matter how the facts develop. This is partly a backlash of the established champ of the last two generations, Sony, taking a step back and the massive wave of publicity and hype that accompanied the launch of the PS3.

Oh sweet Jebus. Can we not have this pop up in every single thread?

Please and thank you.

[Marine Mike]

I think that this was the only umm 'fair' question.

It seems the PS3 has been cobbled together since its release: feature-cutting to help cut costs, patched with controller rumble, patched with Home, patched with trophy achievements -- like the console never had a specific plan. During your tenure, did you feel the powers that be at Sony had a grip on what exactly would make the PS3 a success? Why/why not?

[Septimus Prime]

I'm curious to see Jaffe's response to this bullshit.

[AranhaHunter]

And that's why, love him or hate him, Jaffe is the ****ing man.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

I think that this was the only umm 'fair' question.

That's not a fair question either. Sony had a plan with the PS3, force Blu-ray adoption and lower production of long-term components. That has always been the plan, everyone knows, the stupid journo is just feigning ignorance (or he/she really is that stupid which is not a defence anyhow) to get an answer they know Sony can't defend to the early adopting consumer. It is a completely loaded (with BS) question.

[chnandler_bong]

I can see the line of questioning being fair if he is doing an article specifically on how the PS3 has struggled over it's lifetime (and not including anything else in the article), but why offer such a narrow view of a wide and complex world?

Also, those questions are horribly loaded...

"Can you tell us why the PS3 is the WORST. CONSOLE. EVER. ?"

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

That's not a fair question either. Sony had a plan with the PS3, force Blu-ray adoption and lower production of long-term components. That has always been the plan, everyone knows, the stupid journo is just feigning ignorance (or he/she really is that stupid which is not a defence anyhow) to get an answer they know Sony can't defend to the early adopting consumer. It is a completely loaded (with BS) question.

Plus, you can tell by just reading the words "cobbled together" in the question. The connotations of that phrase are extremely strong and obvious, and a professional journalist would/should never load up his question with it.

[Darkhawk9587]

I'm not buying this article by the "Mystery Journalist." I am a Jornalism major, and I know that Journalism is biased to a degree, but those questions aren't meant to ascertain an objective result. Those are being asked as a part of an ulterior motive. Jaffe handled them well. Mad props to him. As for the Journalist, SHAME ON YOU SIR!!!

[chnandler_bong]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

That's not a fair question either. Sony had a plan with the PS3, force Blu-ray adoption and lower production of long-term components. That has always been the plan, everyone knows, the stupid journo is just feigning ignorance (or he/she really is that stupid which is not a defence anyhow) to get an answer they know Sony can't defend to the early adopting consumer. It is a completely loaded (with BS) question.

I think it's fair to say that some of the features out there now on the PS3 could be afterthoughts, or possibly fueled by customer demands:

Trophies
DTS HD-MA & Dolby TrueHD support (although most likely not) (where is this on the competition BTW...no where!)
The little tweaks here and there with the music player/video player/photo slide show

I don't know for sure about any of this (or a LOT of things ), but that sounds reasonable. It's like a game of leapfrog that the consumers always benefits from.

[Rike255]

Originally Posted by chnandler_bong

I think it's fair to say that some of the features out there now on the PS3 could be afterthoughts, or possibly fueled by customer demands:

Trophies
DTS HD-MA & Dolby TrueHD support (although most likely not) (where is this on the competition BTW...no where!)
The little tweaks here and there with the music player/video player/photo slide show

I don't know for sure about any of this (or a LOT of things ), but that sounds reasonable. It's like a game of leapfrog that the consumers always benefits from.

The issue with the journalist question isn't the content of that question, it's the use of loaded language to spin the question for example: "cobbled together" and "never had a specific plan".
As a journalist, you can't embed the answer you're looking for in the question. The guy who wrote this couldn't care less what David answered in response to this, be used the question to get his own opinion out there. THAT'S the issue.

As for the features being added to the console, I still fail to see how this is a bad thing. We have an ever evolving system that gets more and more powerful as time progresses (just like most other things. Programs get updates to increase functionality, equipment gets updates for the same reason). Why is it that these updates for the PS3 are considered a "bad thing" (in the opinion of the journalist) yet are a good thing for pretty much everything else in the world?