If Microsoft 
was looking to ratchet up the stakes in its ongoing battle with Sony, it sure managed to do so with Tuesday’s hiring of Phil Harrison.
In addition to filling the Redmond-based company’s quota of tall, bald game industry superstars, Harrison brings an insight into how things work at Sony that Microsoft has had to guess at for years. And, after being out of the spotlight for the past few years, he’s likely coming in hungry to make his mark.
Can the latest round of 
executive hires turn Atari around with a focus on the fast-moving social gaming and digital space? Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at execs who’ve come and gone — and he’s skeptical.
With all due respect to the incoming executives at Atari, I really can’t understand why anyone in their right mind would take a high-ranking job with that particular publisher.
Sure, it’s a company that has proven almost Rasputin-like in its will to live, but it has also spent the last four years floundering – desperately searching for a viable business plan and hiring a slew of notable industry executives, only to see them racing for the exit in short order.
Chris Morris: Journalist 