We had not even send out email out for a while or VG247 already has an answer back.
It seems we don’t have to worry about ‘doing a Xbox Live’. Through SCEE, Kaz Hirai let the following know
SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network. Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services
So under premium we can say Qore? MMO based subscriptions? Well as long as standard online play is free we don’t mind.
Source: VG247
January 21
Sony designed PS3 to be hard to develop forIn an interview with the Official Playstation Magazine, Kaz Hirai has basically said that Sony designed the Playstation 3 so that developers would have a hard time getting their head around the system.
Heres what Kaz said.
We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that [developers] want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?
Why on earth would you make something hard to develop on? Maybe the machine offers something we haven’t seen yet. I mean Killzone 2 is the next game that will show us the true power of PS3.
Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai says that first party titles and Blu-Ray capacity set the Playstation 3 apart from the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Mr. Hirai believes that PS3’s unrivalled first party line up and Blu-Ray capabilities mean the console enjoys better exlusive content than it’s rival machines.
Hirai said the following:
“On the exclusivity front – whether it’s downloadable or not – one of the unrivalled strengths we have, and we’ve proven this time and time again, is the power of our internal worldwide studios. Our first-party product is obviously platform exclusive and is the best out there.”
“We’ve talked about a raft of great titles, whether that’s Little Big Planet, Resistance 2, Socom, God Of War 3, Killzone 2, MaG, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.
“Secondly, if we talk about Blu-Ray, there’s a lot of capacity there. Our discussion with a lot of the publishers is about how the PS3 version of a game has the capacity to exclusive things consumers will be interested in – interviews with the makers of the game, documentary on the franchise or ‘making of…’ footage.”
“That’s as well as additional weapons, levels, tools and characters. Those things very much differentiate our offerings over and above other versions of the same game.”
Looks like Kaz has every confidence in his future proof machine.
July 21
Sony wants to sell 150m PS3’sKaz Hirai, chief executive of the Playstation Business has set a massive target of achieving sales of 150m for the Playstation 3. The Playstation, Launched in 1994 reached 102m units and the Playstation 2 has now passed the 140m mark in its 9th year on sale.
Hirai told the Financial Times in an interview that this is what he wants to achieve with the Playstation 3.
“It’s not fun for me replicating the PS2 numbers. I’ve seen that movie already,”
“I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?”
Price cuts are going to have to happen if Mr Hirai wants to achieve this ambitious goal.
June 27
True Generation titles to comeSony president Kaz Hirai has reassured us Playstation 3 owners that true generation titles are to hit the PS3. Kaz has already admitted that it was a difficult start for the PS3, initially focusing the PS3 as a media system as opposed to a games system.
Hirai said:
“However, by refocusing the positioning of PS3 first and foremost as a gaming platform, we were able to bring an attractive title lineup and achieve a sufficient number of PS3 sales as expected in the fiscal year 2007 holiday season,”
The PS3 can now start to realize what its potential is.
“As PlayStation 3 approaches the second anniversary of its release, the release of PS3 software titles with the true generation quality only available on PS3 is accelerating,”
Kaz Hirai, the Playstation president, during Sony’s mid-term strategy meeting looked at Metal Gear Solid 4 as an example of what the Playstation 3 can offer. Hirai mentioned that MGS4 shipped 3 million units worldwide in the first two weeks of going on sale.
Kaz Hirai said:
“the first title to fully utilize the capacity of dual layer Blu-ray disc…. Metal Gear Solid 4has created a world of gaming entertainment that can only be realized by PS3.”
Hirai said that MGS4 helped shift 8 times more units:
“In the first week of the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, sales of PS3 in the Japanese market grew significantly, [an] eight times increase as compared to the week before, proving that Metal Gear Solid 4 is a platform driver for PS3.”
Not bad. Metal Gear Solid 4 is the biggest exclusive game to make big impact and there are more to come towards the end of the year.
Sony is said to be pushing harder to gain more exclusive games for Playstation fans. Afterall we have suffered a number of titles go multiplatform and not really received anything from it. Things are about to change now.
According to Kaz Hirai Sony has started to re-evaluate the idea of buying exclusive properties for the Playstation 3. In a recent interview with ThreeSpeech Kaz Hirai said:
“That’s something that we can re-evaluate, but it’s also something that the publishers need to make a business decision on. Ultimately, it becomes a dialogue – if it makes sense for them to go exclusive, that’s a business decision that they need to make. But generally speaking, because of the investments that publishers need to make in this round of hardware, it’s going to be more difficult for publishers to make that decision. Where we come into the picture is to have that dialogue with the third-party publishers, to say: “OK, what can we do together if it’s not exclusive that makes the PS3 version of the game more compelling for the consumers than any other version?” Let’s face it – all the games are coming out on a Blu-ray disk which has 50Gb capacity, so let’s put in some making-of content, or maybe additional levels. Also, it really becomes important for the first-party studios to really come up with some envelope-pushing, genre-defining content.”
We will have to wait and see what this brings us.
The president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Kaz Hirai has spoken about the lack of third party support for the Playstation 3. Kaz said that the difficult Playstation 3 launch to a lack of understanding across third party support was the reason behind lack of third party games.
Hirai spoke to MCV and said:
“I think there was some confusion as to what PS3 was initially – some of the third parties didn’t understand and they wanted to scale back a little and see how things went before they really put in their resources.”
Hirai did say at Playstation Day last week during his notes that he plans to build a stronger relationship between third parties.
Hirai went on to say:
“But when I re-positioned the PS3 as a video games console at Tokyo Game Show I think everybody got that message loud and clear,”
My opinion is that i think third parties are waiting for a stronger install base before deciding whether to go exlusive to PS3. Recent numbers show that it’s looking good for the future ad i’m sure we will see more exclusives to PS3.
Confirmed by Sony’s Ron Festejo, Home’s creative director, Home will be open beta this November.
Speaking last week at the Playstation Day event in London, Festejo said that home is currently in a closed beta stage and that Home has around 10,000 users. from July they will allow more players to gradually into Home and then in November the open beta will commence.
Kaz Hirai has mentioned previously that he doesn’t want to launch Home until it is fully complete and he feels happy about releasing it to the public.
Kaz Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment President believes that the Playstation 3 will help Sony reclaim being the leader of games console maker.
Hirai mentions that the PS3 will overtake the Wii and 360 in the 10 year lifecycle it has. The PS3 has outstripped sales in Europe and Japan vs Xbox 360, but is behind in America.
Speaking to the BBC, Hirai says:
“We’ve only really begun to scratch the surface with PlayStation 3 but I am confident that given the long life-cycle we have planned for the machine we are going to have a very good install base in all of the major territories.
“I am very confident that after the 10-year lifecycle we will have the install base that we are looking for and that is obviously to be in the leadership position.”
Read the full report over on the BBC’s website.
So you didn’t attend Playstation Day? Don’t worry we have all the details here. It’s been a day since the conference and below is the best parts of Playstation Day.
We found out new release dates, news on games such as Motorstorm 2, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2 and more. This is going to be a big post, click through to find more.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss, David Reeves thinks the Playstation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV will get downloadable content.
David thinks that it’s Microsoft’s last shot at trying to gain the market share…
“Well I think you probably will see it, it’s just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take 2 to do that, and if that’s what they want to do, I think that’s the last shot they have.”
Many Playstation 3 fans are wondering if they will ever see downloadable content and here’s what David has to say…
“I would say to them then, you know, email Rockstar (laughs), and ask them what’s coming. I think they already are, probably!”
”I’m honestly not going to make any comment on that because it’s too big a thing to… we can make an announcement when we make an announcement.”
Read the full interview with David Reeves over at VideoGamer.
In the future Echochrome will feature user created content that you will be able to download and play as well as upload your own created puzzles. Looking at the official Playstation Blog you can look at what the producer of Echochrome has to say about this subject.
“When you boot up the PS3 version of the game and sign in online, you may be prompted to download new content. These new, free updates contain the top user-created levels, hand-selected by the developers themselves. There will be new levels available on a regular basis, but they will only be available to play until the next group of levels is up. So be sure to check in regularly for more content – or you may miss out!”
There is no information as of yet regarding the European release of Echochrome but i’m sure we will hear something later on today at when the Playstation event starts.
It is confirmed that Sony boss Kaz Hirai will attend the Playstation event that is held in London in the evening of May the 6th.
“Yes he is,” a SCEE spokesperson told videogaming247 this morning when asked if the Sony super-boss was going to be at the event. “He’s going to be doing a talk.”
David Reeves will also be attending the event next week. If the big bosses are attending there must be some important stuff going on. Maybe a few more exclusives?
Source: videogamer247.