Sony talking smack?

Christmas is looming on the snow-covered horizon like a massive overstuffed turkey, but instead of exchanging gifts the big players in the video game hardware arena are talking trash about one another. At one end of the "Burn" scale there's Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime, who has recently stated that the Wii U offers better value for money than the PS4 and Xbox One. Fighting talk without a doubt, but delivered with a degree of decorum.

Sony's top staffers on the other hand are taking a rather more personal approach, publicly pouring scorn over the both the commercial and critical achievements of Nintendo's consoles during 2014. First up is Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Shawn Layden, who clearly seems to have mislaid his copy of the worldwide sales figures for the Nintendo 3DS range before speaking to IGN:

I believe that Vita is the best handheld gaming experience, full stop, period. Nothing comes close to that. You can talk about your mobile, you can talk about your tablet, you can talk about, you know, Nintendo platforms or what have you in the handheld space. I think, pound-for-pound, buck-for-buck, Vita is the best gaming experience you can have.

Across the pond, Layden's Sony UK counterpart Fergal Gara waded in with even more Nintendo negativity when discussing the PS4's assault on the casual market — a market which he feels has been abandoned by the Wii U — with Red Bull:

I'd like it to continue with the innovation stream I just talked about, but also what we want to see in the next year or two is a bigger mass market play, shall we say. So in order to broaden and perhaps fill the void that's being left latent by, say, the Wii - which is a shadow of its former self. We need to have the kind of product that will engage that more casual consumer. I think that's a big opportunity for us, and that's not yet clear on the horizon, but something we should and I'm sure will be focused on as we look forward into year two, three and four.

Top executives talking up their own product is of course nothing new, but we can't help but feel that both Gara and Layden are being somewhat unfair to Nintendo's consoles here. Certainly, ignoring the incredible commercial performance of the 3DS and its library of solid-gold games strikes us as laughably blinkered — which is a shame, because not so long ago, Sony couldn't say enough good words about its rival. Goodwill to all men? Nope, this is what the Holiday season brings out in people.

[source redbull.com, via ign.com]