Sony Sure of more Playstation domination

Wow an exciting day for news no matter how you look at it! Here is another interesting bit of news for you. EGM In issue 205 page 20-22 Held an interview with Kazou Hirai, President and CEO of sony computer entertainment America.
Answering many questions people may still have about there upcomeing powerhouse. Here is that very interview.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS
Sony sure of more PlayStation domination

Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, is all
smiles about the Novemer launch of the Playstation 3. why so happy? This guy firmly believes the PlayStation brand will dominate for another generation. Find out why Hirai thinks the PlayStationis here to stay....


EGM: The PlayStation 3 is a powerful system, but graphics aren't everything. Are you worried Nintendo might be strikinga chord with the casual gamers?

Kazuo Hirai: It seems to me they are going after a completely differentdemographic, perhaps a limited (younger) demographic...which has kind of been their niche since the N64-- certainly with the GameCube. But the fact that they're not pushing technology...they seem to be going in a different direction, certainly, from where we're going and what we are trying to accomplish.


EGM: But they are actually going for a largerdemographic with their simple-to-use controller.

KH: I think it depends on what kind of software you have as well. what we've done over the past 12 years is pretty much just add two joysticks to the controller. And I think we can get into the history or the concept behind the motion sensor controller as well, but that certainly adds another dimension of play for PlayStation3 users. so, the proof is in the pudding, ultimately, I think that (Nintendo has) always wanted to break out of their nichemarket, and it's been tryingto do since N64, so again, proof is in the pudding. Only time will tell. but it didn't seem to work with the GameCube.


EGM: Hardly any PS3 games use the motion sensor. Is this some tacked on feature?

KH: Completely the other way around. We wanted to keeo it under wraps as long as possible. we limited it to one internalstudio, the guys over at developer Incognito, and incorporate into Warhawk.
I Talked about the original PlayStation controller--that's where history began. We then added the two joysticks, then we added the vibration functionality. Then we launched the DualShock 2 with pressure sensitive buttons, so everything we've done over the past few years was to make (the controller) more intuitive, make it more a part of your body, to more accurately convey what you're doing in the game itself. And now it's the motion sensor. So if you look at how the controller's evolved for the PlayStation, this motion-sensing technology is really something that's a natural evolution in terms of the next steps for the user to be able to take his movements and have it accurately track and respond on the screen.
a lot of people have asked me, "Is this something that you guys thought of last week?" The answer is absolutely not--it's been in (parent company Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken) Kutaragi's mind for the longest time. and it just follows and natural progression of what you cna bring to controller technology.


EGM: Let's talk price, The PS3 may be pretty, but it's going to cost a whole lot of pennies. Is $599 a viable price in the long run?

KH: If you look at what we've paced into the box. I think it actually is a good value proposition. Now, in absolute dollar terms, is it higher than $300? Yes, it is. But I also think thatwe have a history of making sure our consoles have a 10 year life cycle. We've done it with PS1; you've seen how vibrant the PS2 displays are out there, both in terms of first-and-third party software support, so we're well on our way to making sure that the PS2 has a 10 year life cycle. So, to me, even if you buy it at the initial $599-dollar price point, that's a viable console that you're going to keep the next 10 years.


EGM: But can the PS3 reach the mass market at a $599 price point? Especially looking at the competitions lower prices?

KH: I'm not saying that we are suddnely going to do a price change tomorrow, but if you look at the history of how we've priced our products from 12 years ago, you'll see our trends. I got the same question back in the day; PS2 $299? That's not a mass market product, because at the time PS1 was $170, $149 bucks, what ever it was . I mean, how are you going to break into the mass market? well, the PS2 is $129 now , and it's an absolute mass market product. So I think you can look at the trending line, and two years out, three years out-I'm not even going to make a prediction- but there's no guarantee that it's still going to be at $599 and $499. we may have a less expensive configuration. But it doesn't stay the same forever.

EGM: What about the penny penchers who want a next - gen system now but don't want to fork out $599, especially when they can get either a Nintendo Wii or Xbox360 for cheaper?

KH: What kind of consomer are we looking at here?


EGM: Your average gamer who might want a PlayStation 3 based on the brand but doesn't necessarily have the money to spend

KH: But the average gamer who already has a current- generation console? Or onw who is getting into videogaming for the first time? If they're getting into videogaming for the first time, I would point to the PS2 and say it's $129 bucks. and when you decide to upgrade to a PS3 at some point in time, the library is going to be backward compatible, so just get in that way. If you're talking about comparing feature to feature with a Xbox 360, for example, the PS3 has a wireless, motion - sensor controller , higher compatability with a 60-gig hard drive, and it can play Blu-ray movies right out of the box-- and (for the Xbox 360) you can but a HD-DVD adaptor. If you do the math, I think at the end of the day, feature to feature, if you do an apples to apples, I don't know that there's such a price difference.


EGM: Microsoft caught alot of flack for offering two different systems at retail--now yo're doing the same thing. what gives?

KH: Our strategy basically is a strategy where the two have different configurations, but at the end of the day, for what the console is designed to do --play videogames, watch Blu-ray movies, and also download content on the internet--it's the same. so it's not like one configuration doesn't even have a hard drive, for example. So I think the strategy is completely different there.


EGM: But don't you think the different models will confuse the consumers? One having HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface used for high-quality digital signals) output one not, for example?

KH: I think it comes down to making sure that the consumers can make a educated purchase, whether that's through merchandisins catalogs or whatever at storefronts, and also working with the store associates to make sure that they can explain what the differences are.
You talk about HDMI, which is a very good point, but let's also be realistic. How many people who even have an HD monitor today have a
TV with an HDMI input? We want to give the consumers the option to say "This is what I want" or ("That) is what I want." As opposed to (us) saying "We're only going to give you the $599 60-gig option, take it or leave it--maybe the HD monitor you bought the other day doesn't even have (HDMI input), but we're going to give you (HDMI) anyway." So it's just a matter of how you configure your product differently.
Now, we didn't want to say ,"Choose a Cell processor one, two, and three." we didn't want to get into that (situation), but I think the days fo saying, "Here's one console; one size fits all," These days, unfortinately, I think are going to be past us. Some people want 60-gigs, because they want to store alot of stuff; other people may not, because all they want to do is just cache stuff that they're downloading here and there. So that's an option that we want to give consumers.


EGM: Last Year, you guys showed off a ton of pretty target videos for PS3 gameplay. Do you think you may have disappointed some people because the games here today don't look like those videos?

KH: I think you guys know better than any of the other mass - market publications about how you ramp up software development. We are about 6 months away from actual launch, and some of {these games that you see now} will be launch titles others wil not. We're not going to rush software that we don't think is up to snuff to market, just to have a launch line-up. I got the same question with the PS2: "you guys aren't ready? there is no software. What we saw on the show floor is not looking good." But I think we delivered on what we said is the promise, and we don't think that we are going to deviate from the promises that we've made. You take a look at something like Grand Turismo HD- I think alot of people were blown away, despite the fact that thats more...I woouldn't call it a tech demo, but it is very far from being a complete product.


EGM: So what happens if HD- DVD wins the format war? Does Blu-ray go bye-bye?

KH: Once we commit to a format, that is the format that we are going to go with. So we've chosen blu-ray, and blu-ray is the delivery medium for the PlayStation 3- end of story. I can't predict the future, but if I look at, with an objective eye feature for feature or- more importantly- the compasity between the two, blu-ray, given the fact that if you had two layers you can go with 50 gigabytes, is just leaps and bounds beyond what DVD or HD-DVD brings to the table. I think HD-DVD happens to be just a marginal improvement over conventional DVD's.


EGM: Are you worried about Microsoft's one year head start with the 360?

KH: I have bigger fish to fry so I am not too worried about a head start. We've never [lauched a system] first, and we have always managed to overtake those consoles. This is not just rhetoric; we've proven it with PlayStation, and we're doing it with the PlayStation 2. So if they have an X million head start, that's all well and good for them. We're going to make sure that we overtake that very quickly and also make sure that we're in it for the long haul as well. So this is what it is. It's not too much of a concern for me.


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