Why does Kevin Butler know what my living room looks like?

Kevin Butler, VP of Telling You What Your Living Room Looks Like

Kevin Butler, the fast-talking, snarky faux Sony Vice President from PS3 commercials, came on stage to give an epic, rallying speech to the crowd during Sony's E3 2010 conference. One quote that’s particularly stuck with the Internet (defined as Twitter, game news sites and blogs) is, “Gaming is having a huge TV in a tiny one-room apartment.”

Initially, I thought, wow what a cool, poetic way to describe gaming. And then my brain switched on, and I realized, hold on there, buddy, you just made some gross assumptions about my lifestyle.

I mean, picture it. The tiny one-room apartment and big-screen TV.

It’s dark, cluttered and lonely, right? Don't you get the feeling there aren't any windows? And why do I live in a one-room apartment in this instance? Is it because I spent all of my rent money on Playstation Move? Don’t I have any friends over playing games with me in that apartment? Why are you assuming these things about the way I play games?

All of a suddent that quote wasn’t as chic and awesome as it originally sounded. I don't think KB exactly meant it like that, but what do you think about this quasi-poetic quote?

Meghan Ventura is senior editor/social media coordinator at MyGamer.com, and writes about Japanese video games and culture at her blog, KanjiGames.She forgot to post this article in a timely manner. Please forgive her.

She doesn't hate Sony or anything like that. She likes KB, too (So calm down, fanboyz). He's charismatic, hilarious, and one of the best things that could've happened for Playstation's marketing. In fact, they're friends on Twitter, so it's cool. Follow Meghan at @meghanventura.

TAGS: Kevin Butler, sony, marketing, ps3

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Kevin Williams

July 20, 2010

As stereotypes about gamers go, I guess it's a step up from "the TV set that grandma wasn't using any more in a windowless basement, surrounded by figurines of characters from fighting games." I mean, come on, I keep my figurines upstairs in a display case.

What bothers me most is the placement of the speakers in that picture. Unless there's one off behind the wall that we can't see, it seems like the right side of the stereo picture is going to come straight off the middle. Maybe it's a surround-sound setup, but I've never seen one where the center speaker is the same size as the left and right. On the other hand, I like that the guy has a potted plant; that's showing some good sense by oxygenate the room, which in turn implies that the Move will make you active enough to do what you can to keep your breath. Smart marketing.

Generally, adverts don't catch on unless they've caught the pulse of the audience they're playing to. The fact that the quote has gained so much traction is a measure of proof that gamers do feel this way; that, in spite of the oft-generated statistic claiming the median gamer age is thirty-something, most of us are still of an age where what we really want is a small piece of territory with a big piece of technology in it.

Randy Snow

Haven't really been a fan of KB. He reminds me too much of PSA from the 80's and 90's with parents rapping about not doing drugs.

WHAT THE HECK IS A BITMOB?