British gaming legend accuses Sony of arrogance

British games industry veteran Jeff Minter has accused Sony of adopting an "incredibly arrogant" attitude with regard to the PlayStation 3's high price point, warning: "Nobody likes smug."

Writing in the new issue of Edge magazine, Minter said that Sony seems "absolutely certain that even when they say that it's going to be considerably more expensive than existing consoles, and that maybe there won't be that many titles actually available at launch, nonetheless us eager customers will rush out in droves to buy it because, hey, it's a new PlayStation."

But this approach is misguided, according to Minter: "Just making the shiniest, most expensive harware doesn't cut it these days."

"Sure the PSP was beautiful, shining, pretty and posh, whereas the DS was definitely the ugly sister. But hey, the ugly sister is better in the sack."

The answer to Sony's problems, Minter believes, lies in the software that will be available for the PS3. "We need games, not smugness, games that will make me want to get hold of the PS3 rather than a bunch of stuff either identical or broadly similar to what I'll be playing on my 360," he wrote.

"I want sweet Feisar temptation, not a bit of snotty attitude."

Minter concluded by warning Sony: "Yeah, you've got the lion's share of the current market, but don't get smug... Nobody likes smug, and it's not an attitude that has served companies well in the videogames industry."

Minter has developed games for more than two decades, and his most famous titles include Llamatron and Gridrunner. He established his own company, Llamasoft, in 1982, and recent projects include Neon, a light synthesiser that comes installed on the Xbox 360 hard drive.