It's a good read on how Kutaragi's gaining influence internally and his ambitions. Some pertinent [3D console] highlights IMHO are:
"Vindicated, Mr. Kutaragi now wants to spread the game-business model to the rest of Sony, building powerful chips for a range of appliances that would handle entertainment piped into homes. That could turn Sony into a company that tries to earn profit the way Intel and Microsoft do -- by building products based on proprietary chips and software"
"Meanwhile, Mr. Kutaragi's success in games has put Sony on a treadmill that it can ill afford to hop off. To keep its lead in games, Sony, along with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp., is developing a powerful new chip for its next game console, which could cost several billion dollars to make."
"At a dinner this year with Toshiba executives, say people who were there, Mr. Kutaragi put the dynamic simply. The games business, he joked, "is taking over Sony."
"Colleagues recall a chart Mr. Kutaragi prepared in the early 1990s that named a big future competitor: Microsoft. The prediction came at least five years before Microsoft conceived its game-machine plans."
"Meanwhile, he was planning the next PlayStation, code-naming it "Godzilla" for its graphics-processing power and ordering up semiconductors that were taking years to develop. With so much invested and no guarantee of success, Sony executives feared Mr. Kutaragi was getting in over his head. They thought he might need a partner.
"So Mr. Idei pushed Mr. Kutaragi to talk to Microsoft. In 1999, teams from Microsoft and Sony Computer discussed jointly developing an online videogame business. Mr. Kutaragi secretly flew in May of that year to Boeing Field in Seattle, where he met Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. They met again in July at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Microsoft and Mr. Kutaragi won't comment, but the companies soon ended talks. Mr. Idei says he later told Mr. Gates: "I don't control Ken Kutaragi."
Also, if you read the aricle, Appearently He was very, very close to being fired after the manufacturing problems, steep investments, and profit shortfalls early in PS2's life
Part 1:
http://www.adr.com/adr?page=adrnews...&mdate=20021117&mseq=283&acc=BT20021117000283
Part 2:
http://www.adr.com/adr?page=adrnews...&mdate=20021117&mseq=285&acc=BT20021117000283
"Vindicated, Mr. Kutaragi now wants to spread the game-business model to the rest of Sony, building powerful chips for a range of appliances that would handle entertainment piped into homes. That could turn Sony into a company that tries to earn profit the way Intel and Microsoft do -- by building products based on proprietary chips and software"
"Meanwhile, Mr. Kutaragi's success in games has put Sony on a treadmill that it can ill afford to hop off. To keep its lead in games, Sony, along with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp., is developing a powerful new chip for its next game console, which could cost several billion dollars to make."
"At a dinner this year with Toshiba executives, say people who were there, Mr. Kutaragi put the dynamic simply. The games business, he joked, "is taking over Sony."
"Colleagues recall a chart Mr. Kutaragi prepared in the early 1990s that named a big future competitor: Microsoft. The prediction came at least five years before Microsoft conceived its game-machine plans."
"Meanwhile, he was planning the next PlayStation, code-naming it "Godzilla" for its graphics-processing power and ordering up semiconductors that were taking years to develop. With so much invested and no guarantee of success, Sony executives feared Mr. Kutaragi was getting in over his head. They thought he might need a partner.
"So Mr. Idei pushed Mr. Kutaragi to talk to Microsoft. In 1999, teams from Microsoft and Sony Computer discussed jointly developing an online videogame business. Mr. Kutaragi secretly flew in May of that year to Boeing Field in Seattle, where he met Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. They met again in July at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Microsoft and Mr. Kutaragi won't comment, but the companies soon ended talks. Mr. Idei says he later told Mr. Gates: "I don't control Ken Kutaragi."
Also, if you read the aricle, Appearently He was very, very close to being fired after the manufacturing problems, steep investments, and profit shortfalls early in PS2's life
Part 1:
http://www.adr.com/adr?page=adrnews...&mdate=20021117&mseq=283&acc=BT20021117000283
Part 2:
http://www.adr.com/adr?page=adrnews...&mdate=20021117&mseq=285&acc=BT20021117000283