November 28th, 2007

Award for the father of everything Playstation

Do you like Playstation? I don’t mean just Playstation 3 and the battle for the next generation console: the whole package, filled with classic Playstation 2 goodness, a touch of PSP to show off to your casual gamer friends, even the first Sony installment, now obsolete. If you do, then Ken Kutaragi should be known to you, in line with other figureheads that changed the gaming paradigm over the last thirty years. While some might argue that he is too young for such an honor, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will present him with a Lifetime Achievement award for his work creating PlayStation. The ceremony is to take place during the D.I.C.E. Summit on February 7th next year.

Last year AIAS awarded the lifetime achievement award for the first time, just like an ORSCAR of the gaming industry. The prestigious winner was actually a duo comprised of Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa from Nintendo US, for their merit in revitalizing the American gaming industry back in the ‘80s. Ken Kutaragi joined Sony back in 1975 and turned out to be the father of PlayStation. Kutaragi retired from his position as director, chairman and group CEO of SCEI on June 19. SCEI president Kaz Hirai replaced him. Kutaragi now serves as honorary chairman and senior technology adviser to Sony CEO Howard Stringer, which basically spells complete retirement starting earlier this year.

Kutaragi’s merits are undisputable yet the mediocre Playstation 3 sales cast a shadow on his credibility. After all, the mind child was his and Kutaragi always advocated for Playstation victory in the great console war. Playstation 3 was to be the savior of all consoles and revolutionize gaming in general, but that didn’t happen, with Xbox holding strong and Wii sweeping the market.