Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

re: Does Sony need a Major Neslon?

Tom — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:44:08 GMT

LOl of course they do! Just think; Sony's Major Nelson would be like your Rival. Maybe the two of you can talk trash every now and then

re: Does Sony need a Major Neslon?

Astronaut Bread — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:44:08 GMT

What would I do my first day as Sony's "Major Nelson?" I'd probably play some Xbox 360 games, blog about how the PS3 will be better because of Blu-ray, say "the next generation starts when we (Sony) say so," then play more cool 360 games!

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

sho220 — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:33:25 GMT

Unfortunately, for Sony, it would look very bad if they tried to copy what you do Major. Although, there are also PS3 fans who have no clue what they are doing. I was talking with a friend the other day about the PS3 and he was excited about it. I asked him why is he so excited? He said, "the games are going to be good". I proceeded and asked him, "which games are you excited about?" He said, "they're just going to be good". So I said, "ok fine, what else about the console is good?" He said, "BluRay", i said, "what about it?" He told me, "it is going to be good quality." Basically, he had no concrete evidence, had no clue what is coming out for it, the difference between bluray and hddvd, etc. He just knew the name PS3. So because of this, Sony may not need a Major Nelson because the people that might buy PS3 may not even care about what you do (no offense Major). I think it is true that more of the "core/hardcore" gamers played xbox and now have a 360. The online features, achievements, current & future games are seriously things to be excited about as a gamer. To me, both consoles will be fairly equal hardware wise (both the 360 & ps3 have pros and cons hardware wise) so I think it will really be about the games. Also, you said it in your blogcast and it was something I was thinking before I heard you say it. "Major Nelsons" just can't be manufactured. Another MS employee who dropped off the radar because of other projects is J. Allard. He was quite the icon up till the 360 launch and when I saw him at Zero Hour it was really cool to meet him and see him interacting with everyone. And this is kind of a far off comparison, but for Sony, they lose here again, there's already one bald guy who's cooler than the other: J. Allard is way more in tune than Phil Harrison. Anyways, I could go on forever, so I'm not, but my basic point is that Sony needs something different than a Major Nelson and a copy of XBOX Live. If they wish to keep their spot as king, I think they really need to surprise people and so far, I, and many others, have not been impressed. Maybe that's their plan though, under promise and over deliver? I guess we'll see.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Joyful Assassin — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 02:55:36 GMT

Um not really, no company really needs this type of thing because of the nature of nda's anything discussed pretty much can be found out if you look around for yourself either on the internet or the marketplace. But by doing this it gives the said company a more user friendly look, now if only xbox support was more user friendly and they had more than two brain cells to rub together lol.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

cow moolester — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:14:44 GMT

if i had that sorta power in micrsoft i'd keep on pushin to stop them releasing everything in america first...us here in europe always get the short end of the stick.the vision camera came out 2 weeks in america before it came out in europe and most games do too...this hardly ever gives us a chance to get to the top of some leaderboards because americans have already gotten a headstart :(

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Jazzy NUPE — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 15:24:07 GMT

If I were PS3's Major Nelson... I'd shoot myself for not being the XBox 360's Major Nelson. :) Then I would go to my boring dreary job and plead for information on the PS3's Games, Online Component, and the Matching system. If we needed to copy those features, I need to make it sound awesome. I also would need to explain why we decided to go for tilt, but no rumble. Then I would need to sit down and cry a bit more. Then change my "gamertag" to Foreman cause the darned thing looks like a grill. Then respone to all the hate mail for lagging so far behind and not having a global launch like promised. That's what I would do.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

SilverSlide — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 12:48:31 GMT

About this matchmaking arguement thats going round at the moment (it's probably worth a post). Basically Epic have looked at the TCR on matchmaking and read the points on ranked games preventing collaborative cheating and got the wrong end of the stick. Yes "Join via presence" and "Private invites" are disabled during ranked sessions but in a game like Halo 2 you join a party before submitting to matchmaking (hence why you get a warning trying to enter ranked matchmaking with a party of a disallowed size). From what I can understand MS is more after stopping people inviting their friends to play on the opposite team - obviously a bad idea. Unfortunately Epic has read it as MS doesn't allow you to have any friends in online ranked matchmaking - clearly not the case as Saints Row proves using Trueskill matchmking to allow teams of friends (with randoms to make up numbers ) take on random opponents. I think it's a shame that Epic, who've worked so closly with MS on this one, got it wrong. Still I'm betting Rainbow Six Vegas will be the bigger online game anyway - GOW thrust is old school single player.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

MthdDirector — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 04:01:47 GMT

Juganawt, that's an excellent point. Sony's problems start at the top. Gamers like to complain about Peter Moore, but he is a GENIUS at focusing the PR where it counts, and defining the message. I think the difference with Sony is that their "talking points" are ill-conceived. Supercomputer??! That's supposed to be their *ammunition*, and Ken, Phil and Kaz can't seem to fire in the same direction, let alone at the same target.

Unfortunately for Sony, I agree, acquiring a "Major Nelson" probably wouldn't help them much in the short term...

btw let's remember that Major doesn't even work in PR. He's a product guy! Myself...I can't wait to see his first impressions of the new Wheel playing Forza 2...don't hold out on us, Maj!

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

ShOtGuNsOuLjA — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 01:26:16 GMT

So the sony spinoff will be called Minor Nelson. What I would do is set up some demo xbox 360 stations in Ken Kutaragi and Phils offices so they can finally play a next gen system. Then I would send the sony employees home so they can play on their xbox 360 ;) and stop trying to create a system that was already done by another company 1 year ago.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Nodicus — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 01:09:31 GMT

Moose: Of course you can't choose your opponents (that would be silly), the problem is that you can't even choose the people who are on your own team in ranked games, apparently it's a MS rule. Some clarity from MN would be awesome.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Juganawt — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:08:07 GMT

BTW, if I had the job, I'd tell people how it is.<Br><br>

"Sure, our machine's expensive. Sure, it's delayed in Europe. Sure, it's no more powerful than an Xbox 360. Sure, it's got overheating problems and you're paying for an obligatory Blu Ray drive whether you want one or not. Hell, it doesn't even have that many half decent exclusive games...but it's made by Sony, therefore millions of idiots worldwide will buy it no matter how useless it is. "<br><br>

Hey it might not be pretty, but it's better then all the pathetic bullcrap, arrogance, and sheer disregard for consumers that every other Sony PR guru speaks.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Juganawt — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:02:42 GMT

They need to get a clue and stop the outflow of garbage that comes out every time a Sony spokesperson opens their mouths.

Having a spokesperson like Major Nelson would make ZERO difference to Sony when their PR Gurus spout such wonderful lines as "European consumers have shown that historically they don't mind [the delays], because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. If we were sitting here in five years' time, I don't think we'd really think about or notice that PlayStation 3 was four or five months later in Europe.".

The best a Sony Major Nelson could do is limit the damage caused by the idiots such as Kaz Hirai, Phil Harrison, and James MacDonald in the company who go on record with such utter garbage like the quote posted above, "Next Gen starts when we say it does" and "It'll be expensive. People will just have to work harder to afford it".

Besides, we all know Sony couldn't care less about what consumers want. They prefer to give us what they want, and try to convince us it's for our own good instead.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

Moose O Death — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 23:03:26 GMT

ph47, the way that reads to me is that you can't choose your enemies. which is common sense in ranked matches. and if this line is tacked onto the end of the last your problem isn't just opera. it's all browsers

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

ph47 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:22:28 GMT

Tip to your tech-guy: It looks like this blog has a problem with Safari. Looks like people posting with Safari (like me, and a couple more above) are having their paragraphs decimated into the dreaded "wall-o-text". I notice the same thing on the Official Xbox forums.

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

ph47 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:10:52 GMT

Interesting. Major, I think there's a discrepancy. The big issue seems to be that there is (supposedly) a Microsoft TCR that states that developers cannot allow ranked games with friends on the same team. The reason being was to stop cheaters. Here's a quote from one of the Epic developers: "Yes, it's a cert requirement. You may not choose who you get to play with in a ranked match and you may not keep the session together. The theory is this prevents collaborative cheating (I kill you ten times, now you me, etc.)" Yes, it may stop collaborative cheating, but you also penalize people who like to form clans and compete in ranked games as a team. Punishing legit players/teams/clans because others cheat isn't a very good solution to the problem. What's the real story?

re: Does Sony need a Major Nelson?

AZRoboto — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:02:26 GMT

So, Major, can developers still do this on 360 with ranking involved? I want a Halo 2 online set up on a 360 game. Is that still something that can be done? I know Saints Row does, but can any game do it like Halo 2's system?