It's handbags at dawn again between Microsoft and Sony at CES in Las Vegas. It seems that the Consumer Electronics show is providing the ideal platform for both companies to take a pop at each other. Following on from Sony President Kaz Hirai's comments yesterday, when he said"no other next generation entertainment system pushes the envelope on advanced technology like PS3", Microsoft's Peter Moore and Chris Satchell have hit back with a scathing attack on Sony.

Talking to Games Industry.biz and referring to the PS3 launch problems, Moore said "It's going to take [Sony] a couple of years to get up to speed on this, and I'm not sure that they necessarily have the talent, or it's built into who they are as a company."

"They're struggling with some of their hardware issues, and apparently they're going to deliver another five million in the next 90 days. But this business is about hardware, software and services now. And the consumer expects that."

"It's taken a company like Microsoft four solid years to get where we are today - the richness of the experience, the consistency of the experience, constantly updating features and making it feel fresh - and we're a software company and this is a software plane," he said. "It is not in Sony's DNA to be able to get that up and running from zero."

Chris Sathell, the general manager of Microsoft's game development group, teamed up with Moore to deliver a second round of comments that are sure to inflame the war on words between the two giants when he said, "If I wanted to make my online service better, and I wanted to give [Sony] a little piece of advice, it would be to copy Xbox Live a little more closely."

"My honest opinion is that it's pretty much a disaster. They keep saying that they have a free service. Well, if they don't have anything, of course it's free. And you know what: what's free about $600?"

Personally we'd rather hear about all the great games that are planned for 2007, but at every industry event Microsoft and Sony just can't resist 'bitching'. Last year, the verbal war between the two companies was well documented and at times bordered on ridiculous and childish. Although Microsoft have made some relevant points in their latest criticisms, these latest comments probably mean that we'll be subjected to another year of frivolous bickering.

Seconds away, round three!

Source: Games Industry