Word: kutaragi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...PlayStation 3's processor make it sound like the Ark of the Covenant wrought in silicon, and it may be much further along than Gates gives it credit for. "We look at delivering a quantum leap in technology, not just Xbox version 1.5," a Sony spokeswoman said recently. ("Kutaragi's good at rhetoric," Gates says of Sony PlayStation czar Ken Kutaragi.) For all the Xbox's underdog pluck, the PlayStation 2 still has an overwhelming hold on the $25 billion global video-game market: 68% at last count, to Microsoft's 17%; Nintendo has 15%, according to DFC Intelligence...
...KUTARAGI by Lev Grossman...
Twenty years ago, the video-game business was a niche hobby, so nerdy that nerds were embarrassed to be associated with it. Now, thanks in large part to Ken Kutaragi, the president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, video games take in more money than movies. An electrical engineer by training, he joined Sony in 1975, but his gut-check moment didn't arrive until 1990, when Nintendo backed out of a partnership with Sony to build a new video-game machine. Most in the company wanted to cede the battlefield, but Kutaragi believed Sony could go it alone...
...Kutaragi did it all over again in 2000, getting Sony to make a $2.5 billion bet on the PlayStation 2. Unlike earlier consoles, which were cobbled together mostly from off-the-shelf components, the PlayStation 2 was engineered from the silicon up to be a dedicated game-playing monster. And Kutaragi courted outside game developers, so there was no lack of new strong software. The PlayStation 2 has bulled its way to a market share of around 70%. Kutaragi's flamboyant management style has raised some eyebrows within the staid halls of Sony. Legend has it he once offered...
...rest of Sony has flagged, particularly the consumer-electronics division. Kutaragi's promotion to executive deputy president last March restoked rumors that he's next in line to succeed chairman and CEO Nobuyuki Idei, 66. Kutaragi won't comment on that, but he does acknowledge that his mandate at the company has expanded. Sony needs to return to its roots as an innovator of leading-edge technologies, he says, and rely less on sexy design and savvy marketing. It won't be easy, but Sony's video-game warrior is ready to do battle. --By Jim Frederick. With reporting...