Sony Chief: Nintendo Makes ''Babysitting Tools''

Speaking to Fortune, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Jack Tretton, said he doesn’t view the DS line as competition, as they appeal to a different demographic.

"Our view of the 'Game Boy experience' is that it's a great babysitting tool, something young kids do on airplanes, but no self-respecting twenty-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those," he says. "He's too old for that."

Tretton also said that he feels the Xbox 360 and the Wii are running out of steam and will struggle to be relevant in 2011 and the years ahead.

"They're starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond," he said, before criticizing consoles without hard drives and motion gaming: "I mean, you've gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I'm doing true accurate motion gaming?"

Aside from bitch-slapping competitors, Tretton talked a little about Sony’s plans for the next year, which include 3D gaming and the new PSP2, aka NGP. He admitted that while Sony 3D currently requires glasses, he believes people just need to try it for themselves before they’ll ‘get it.’

"Conceptually, it's hard for people to put their head around," he said. "But when you put them in front of a 3-D TV and you have them play or Killzone or Uncharted or you let them watch the National Championshiop in 3-D, they get it. Just like with HD, people have to experience it, there has to be content that takes advantage of it, and I think this is going to be a pretty nice breakout year for that."

Of the upcoming NGP, Tretton said Sony has tried to give consumers something they feel is lacking with current devices.

“We looked at every technology out there, every [bell and] whistle, and how can we make those flexible as possible for consumers to experience."

NGP will be available in some markets before the end of the year, though Sony has not provided a more detailed release schedule.

_{*Image credit: Spicuzza's Photo A Day.}