Sony: Nintendo Handhelds Aren't for Self-Respecting Adults

[KeyMaster45]

"Our view of the 'Game Boy experience' is that it's a great babysitting tool, something young kids do on airplanes, but no self-respecting twenty-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those," Tretton said. "He's too old for that."

Really Mr. Tretton, I'm to old for that am I? This actually infuriates me at a certain level because my gameboys have all been staple traveling companions for me since I was very little. I still bring them with me on long trips to this day, hell on the 9hr flight to London I took last summer that's pretty much what I did when I wasn't watching the movies on that that screen they've plastered to the back of the seat in front of me.

I may not like Nintendo right now (haven't bought anything Nintendo since the pre-Wii days) but I am certainly not to old to enjoy my DS. This guy can f'ing shove it because he obviously has no idea who his target audience is.

 

[Vault Citizen]

this is almost as bad as the sega game gear adds which stated that game boy owners were retarded. I understand he wants to challenge his rival's product but this is taking it too far and only reflects badly on him.

 

[chif-ii]

Well, it's a good thing I have no self respect, then.

 

[Plinglebob]

As a 26yr old self-confessed Nintendo fanboy, I have to admit he has got a point.

Nintendo has always set its sight on the young gamer (7-12) with older gamers playing the games due to either nostalgia or the fact they they are often very good games. However, this is not a bad thing. At the moment Nintendo have a lock on this age range and by getting gamers to play Nintendo games early, it means as they grow older they are more likely to buy Nintendo games out of loyalty or realising that yes, they are fun games. Personally, I have no problem with other people knowing I play games like Mario or Pokemon on the DS because even though its primarily aimed for kids, doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it as well. Just look at the number of TV programs and Films that have strong fanbases across all ages.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

Y'know, Extra Credits did their Open Letter to EA a couple weeks back, I think it's high time we send one to Sony. Ignoring the out-there nature of their PS3 advertising, their PSP advertising hasn't exactly been award-winning. This dude tries to claim the DS series is a "babysitting" tool, yet they "hire" a "gangsta" gradeschooler to be the "voice" of the PSP, and their latest commercial IIRC just shows a bunch of kids playing the PSP, some of them even going so far as to assume these games are encouraging certain acts (There was a girl who thanked the PSP for letting her drive without a license, and a boy saying it makes detention worth it). Now, these aren't quite so bad as "Sin to Win" but it's going to great lengths to try to win over the very same demographic that, from this article at least, they seem to claim they don't care about.

For the record, I'll be 24 in a month, and the DS is the only "current-gen console" that I own. As to why that is, check the title, it's not just for show. But I enjoy every game I've played on the DS, and submit that if I had the choice to buy and play games on an iPhone or tote my DS around, I'd happily tote my DS around any day.

 

[WiMoTj]

Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I'm doing true accurate motion gaming?"

*Flameshield*

He probably shouldn't talk crap about motion controllers when PS Move is basically a Wii controller with a colored ball on the top of it. And before all the Sony fanboys go nuts, yes, I have tried it. Back to back to the Wii, in fact. I didn't notice anything different, other than the fact that the Wii had more appealing games.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/6/16/

 

[dkyros]

So having a removable hard-drive is a dumb idea? I love that my 360 can do that, and sad my ps3 cant. Also I hope your reading this Tretton, since Saturday morning I shall own a 3ds. And I will love it. Go ahead and keep your NGP, I dont want it anymore. *Sticks tongue out*

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/127068/how-to-swap-out-and-upgrade-a-ps3-hard-drive-page-2-of-2/

Your ps3 can do that and you don't need a patented sony harddrive to upgrade with (ulike xbox). Also the point was more for the Wii not coming with a built in harddrive.

OT: In store the 3ds was soo bolted down that I felt no matter how much I fumbled with the 3D button i wasn't getting the desired effect. 3D is a gimmick like motion controls were, sure it will sell like crazy but doesn't really do it for me. In the same turn probably wont get NGP.

 

[Varanfan9]

Keep telling yourself that sony. Frankly is an adult is playing video games hes not self respecting hes fun which is a concept you forget is not won with better technology but better games.

 

[Defense]

Congratulations everyone. You're just as immature as Tretton when you decide to badmouth the PSP line for stupid reasons.

wow he really said that?! quite the facepalm there..
expply contitering how the DS is king of the handheld kingdom and quite frankly the PSP is utter crap. I have never owned one but the few ppl i have known would often grumble about its lack of games and fragility. also

they need to make their own handheld better before they can even consiter talking smack about other handhelds

lol psp r ghey even tho i dun have 1.

The people you know are idiots, the PSP has plenty of great games. Maybe you should own the console before you decide to talk shit about it.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

This man has clearly never played a Pokemon game in his life. Ignore the idiot, people.

 

[mew4ever23]

This is really not what the industry needs: calling the competition's product for children.

Stop playing the toy card, Sony - Not only does it not appear to be working on any audience, given how successful the Wii, the GameBoy line (I'm lumping all it's iterations together, from the original big brick to the GameBoy Micro) and the DS and DS Lite have been, but it's damaging the public opinion of gaming. The industry is trying to convince non-gamers that these video game are not just children's toys and it makes it very difficult to advance this goal when the public sees you slamming Nintendo's games with the "Childish" label. Besides, there are mature titles in the DS library, too numerous to type out here/

/rant

 

[BanthaFodder]

and Sony handhelds aren't for self-respecting gamers.
look Sony, I love the PS3, I love Kevin Butler, I love all that... but stop the rich, pompous asshole act. you have no right to diss the DS and motion controls, especially when your handhelds and motion controls are absolute shit. yeah, Move isn't as bad as Kinect, but still, knock it off.

 

[Treblaine]

It's time for a good old fashioned jerk off.

Spoiler: FIGHT!

[HEADING=2]VS[/HEADING]

OT: Yeah...

*continues playing Pokemon and Starfox*

Reggie wins

just check out his response to Tretton's trash talk:

Spoiler

...

[HEADING=1]Oh it's oooown now![/HEADING]

I have to say Reggie is - in an unusual way - extremely photogenic. Every picture of him has some intensity or exuberance, life... a kind of animation even in stills.

Tretton is just unpleasant looking, too much like a sleazy car salesman.

Reggie looks like a mad inventor you'd travel through time with.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

So, Sony is trying to sell its product, and make it seem more desirable than its competition by insulting people?

 

[danhere]

Now if only Sony could stop those 20-somethings from cracking their devices and pirating all their games.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

Considering that Sony is not only trying to copy Nintendo's business model with the Move, this seems hypocritical. The only difference between the two is that Sony throws in a few shots of boobs-and-blood to court "self-respecting adults" (translation: insecure teenage dickweeds who can't ever admit that they liked anything as children unless that something now is mostly dressed in black, has stubble, broods, smokes, and is covered in blood...because, you know, that's exactly what being an adult is like).

Just another cynical attempt at courting the wannabe-mature crowd by a monkey in a suit (see also Heavy Rain and EA's marketing tactics). Nothing to see here.

Funny thing is, I actually have little interest in handhelds altogether, let alone Nintendo's (Mega Man Legends 3 might sway me, though...), and own both a PS3 and a Wii, with the former getting more use. Now, part of me just wants to get a 3DS, and play the hell out of it in public, as a polite gesture of "fuck you" to Sony and their handheld (which I had forgotten the name of by the time I finished reading this article).

 

[bushwhacker2k]

He's obviously never experienced the pure greatness of Proffesor Layton, Phoenix Wright, or the Elite Beat Agents.

And for that, I pity him.

As do I, Professor Layton is the manliest thing ever, don't ever diss my Layton >:|

It's kind of an odd thing to say... is he saying all handhelds are childish (and thus the Sony PSP) or is he just saying all Nintendo handheld games are childish?

(Mega Man Legends 3 might sway me, though...)

Say WHAT!? One of my favorite game series EVER is getting another sequel after like 10 years!?

 

[Grunt_Man11]

I think it's time for Extra Credits to make an "Open Letter to Sony" episode because their PR campaign seems to center around pointless mud-slinging.

I think the gaming community, for the most part, is past the whole "Sega does what Nintendon't" phase.

 

[RandallJohn]

The PSP was the most powerful system in the last generation of handhelds. That didn't work out too well for it, did it?

My stance on video games in public: Let's say I'm in a waiting room with ten other people. none of them know each other, none of them are interested in getting to know each other. Everyone else in the room is bored. I have my DS. You can make fun of me all you want, but at the end of the day, you've had an hour of skull-crushing boredom, and I just enjoyed myself quite thoroughly. How is this a bad thing again?

Besides, outside of marketing, you can't just say "Only X group of people play this," and magically make it so.

 

[Alphakirby]

Tretton: "Nintendo Systems Are For Kids!!!"
Me:*AHEM*

Your argument is now invalid.