Sony boss man Kaz Hirai came out with some serious fightin’ talk when he told an interview that the Xbox 360 “lacks longevity” and that the PS3 would rule by the end of this console war. But was Microsoft going to stand by and let that slide? The hell it was. Xbox’s director of product management, Aaron Greenberg, has already struck back, calling Sony “complacent” and “out of touch”.

Greenberg also explained why he thought Sony is chasing a pipe dream: ““I’m confident we will outsell the PS3 throughout the entire generation by providing more innovation and building the best and broadest games library while growing our entertainment experiences on the leading online network.”

Not clear enough for you? Try this: “I can’t imagine any scenario where the PS3 can catch up with us,” Greenberg stated.

This kind of bickering doesn’t do anything to make one console better than the other, of course, but it is certainly entertaining.

Sony’s claims do smack of the old corporate arrogance that was thought to be done away with following Ken Kutaragi’s departure in 2007, but we can kind of understand its motivation. Having just emerged from a difficult few months, Sony is now gearing up to turn its fortunes around for the New Year. At the moment it has a pretty strong line-up of exclusives on the horizon (Killzone 2, God of War III, Uncharted 2, etc) while Xbox 360’s is still somewhat lacking. It’s hardly surprising it’s taking a bullish approach and calling out the competition.

And it’s good to see that Microsoft won’t take it lying down.

(via The BitBag)

  • superdynamite

    [quote][b]Greenberg:[/b]
    “With a U.S. install base lead now of more than 7 million units (according to NPD), I can’t imagine any scenario where the PS3 can catch up with us. In fact, even if you doubled the current PS3 sales and Xbox 360 remained flat, they couldn’t close the gap until 2014.”.
    [/quote]

    [b]I think the Microsoft propaganda machine went a little haywire this time. Greenberg has somehow calculated , in that little wanna-be Harvard business school mind of his, that Sony PS3 will only sell another 7 million units through 2014.

    Since PS3 is only 7 million units behind XBox360, this is a little hard to believe.[/b]
    Sorry Mr. Greenberg, try again.

  • ap

    @superdynamite, I think you misunderstand what ‘flat’ sales means. Aaron Greenberg has said that if Xbox 360 continues selling THE SAME number of Xbox 360s each month as recently (this is commonly known as flat sales) Sony won’t catch up even if they double their sales. It doesn’t mean that Microsoft could stop selling today and Sony would never catch up…

  • gmania

    I think sony is saying the 360 is lacking longevity. because they don’t want microsoft to put out another console before a 10 year cycle because the ps3 is such a failure, Sony cant afford to put out another console earlier.

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