In a first of a series of interviews we will be conducting here at PCN we were able to sit down and talk with a very passionate and personable member of the gaming market Josh Robinson.  Josh is a 28-year-old 3D artist with 9 years of professional experience.

He is currently working for Electronic Arts on its upcoming Xbox 360 game Medal of Honor Airbone and previously worked with Climax Entertainment as the lead artist for Silent Hill on the PSP.

His most notable job was for Sony Online Entertainment where he took on many roles for many different games including PlayStation 3 Engine Demo, Field Commander on PSP, Untold Legends 1 and 2 on PSP, Everquest 2 on the PC, War Game on the PC, PlaneSide, NuFX, March Madness 2001 and 2002, and NBA Street.

He was let go by Sony for comments regarding the PlayStation 3 which resulted in an unwarranted termination in the minds of many. 

Without further talking here is this very interesting interview, enjoy!

For people who don’t know, what was your article regarding Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 about ?

I wrote a couple quick paragraphs about my comments on technology they were showing and had made a few remarks regarding Sony’s showcase at E3.    

Do you have feelings of regret about posting your article ?

I wish I would have never written it of course.  Not because I felt like it wronged Sony, but because it cost me my job.  I’ve never been fired from a job in my entire life.

Has your relationship with Sony changed throughout this ordeal?

It was kind of weird because I had a good relationship with Sony at the time I was there.  On the way out John Smedly (president of Sony Online Entertainment) said that I could use him personally as a recommendation if I needed a job and that he could get me a job tomorrow if needed.  They were all accommodating about it even though we were all kind of in bad positions.  So I don’t believe my relationship with them has changed much.  It was something unfortunate. 

What was Sony’s reaction to the article ?

It was mixed, I spoke with producers, friends and co-workers before I had written anything and everyone thought it was ok.  Sony corporate however was very upset and rightfully so.  Much of what I said was taken completely out of context and posted as headers on various boards and gaming sites.  An example of that would be when I commented that the PS3 didn’t look “that good yet.” The sentence that followed said, “This is indicative of ALL first time console releases.  The XBOX 360 for example didn’t look nearly as impressive at launch as it will when Gears of War comes out.” (Give or take just a few words).  Of course my above statement is 100% true.  The problem was that the first sentence was posted on a particular site saying “ps3 artist bashes system and says it doesn’t look that good”.  That is what snow balled everything out of hand.