1up did a great
interview with Sony's John Koller.
Actually finding Sony's booth within the monstrosity that is CES 2008 is a task in and of itself, but after some desperate twists, turns and semi-politely asking a few friendly fellow attendees, 1UP tracked down Sony's expansive presence at the technological expo. There wasn't much of a gaming display at their booth (though Metal Gear Solid 4 garnered its fair share of attention), but PSP senior product manager John Koller was on-hand to answer some of our questions about the future of their handheld, and we think you'll be surprised at some his answers (read: it doesn't sound like Remote Play for Lair was exactly "Sony authorized").
For more CES 2008 coverage, make sure to check out 1UP's CES 2008 page for the latest CES gaming news and PC Magazine's CES 2008 hub for everything else at CES.
1UP: The big thing you guys announced was Skype support. It leaked a little early...
John Koller: Yes, yes it did. [laughs]
1UP: But it makes my day more interesting, your day more interesting!
Koller: [laughs]
1UP: What brought about Skype? Why do you think it's a good fit for PSP?
Koller: You know, we looked at a number of different opportunities on a wide variety of levels, and Skype came about because consumers were saying 'we want VOIP or a phone, one of the two.' They've been knocking on our door for a long time for that. So, we went to Japan and Japan started negotiations with Skype/eBay and we were able to come to an agreement. For us, it really adds to the social communication aspect of the PSP. It's obviously a gaming device, but it's so much more. It has a lot of good multimedia features and functions, so this is a way for consumers to call others, and I really think it answers the call for that VOIP that they were asking for.
1UP: When do you expect it to roll out?
Koller: Probably in three to four weeks, probably end of January. It'll come in a firmware update.
1UP: Looking at 2008, what is something you've wanted to see happen with the PSP but hasn't happened yet? What do you want to do with 2008?
Koller: With 2008, we're looking at ways to expand the social communication area and navigation area, which kind of goes in the same bubble. We're looking to expand that area. In terms of challenges, we're looking at ways on the gaming side to truly hit certain demographics correctly. Whether it's snack-size or bite-size content that we put on the PSN store or larger, broader content like a Final Fantasy: Crisis Core that you put on UMD, we want to make sure we target against those demographics appropriately. I think in the past we've had a whole lot of games and a different variety of different demographics and different genres, but for us, we want to hone in from a marketing perspective on who these people are that we're talking to. I think we're getting to a good place with that; the teen demographic's been a big thing for us this last holiday.
1UP: You guys actually outsold the PS3.
Koller: We did, we did.
1UP: That's very impressive.
Koller: Handhelds in general did very well, PSP did excellent. For us, we looked at it being even a supply situation where our demand was so strong, our Entertainment Packs would hit the shelves and bounce out; they'd sell out so quickly. Great situation for us, but I think this year, following last year where we had a price cut and the PSP 2000 launch, I think it's going to be a big one, because we're going to expand the Entertainment Pack line, which obviously is a bundle opportunity. We have a lot of different things we can do with that, and we're going to look into a lot of opportunities on the feature and function side, so whether that's accessories or firmware updates, it'll really add a lot of cool things to the PSP. I think you'll see a lot of that.
1UP: Do you think it's going to be a lot on that end -- accessories and firmware updates -- as opposed to a revision of the hardware anytime soon?
Koller: Yeah, it'll be the Slim for now. In the near future, it's going to be all firmware update additions. If we add anything, it'll be through firmware updates. We've made our hardware revision for now, we did that last September. I think for us, the more features and functions we add through firmware updates, the more palatable a lot of those firmware updates become. More and more people want to grab those and download them. They're really easy to do and they're free, so why not?
1UP: One of the recent firmware updates added Remote Play to PS One titles, but it was more or less secretly discovered by gamers. Here, you have a really cool, new feature that no other handheld or console can do, so why didn't Sony make a big deal about it?
Koller: At the time of that launch, we were still testing a few things. Since it became public, you guys did all the work for us, but it's a great feature and we want to expand Remote Play. You asked the question about what things we want to do this year and Remote Play is a big part of that. Just from a PlayStation brand perspective, you look at the PS3 installed base and the growth is very healthy there now, PSP is extremely healthy -- we marry those and have them communicate and talk. How do we bring those two consumers together?
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