Kaz Hirai Talks PS3 Slim, Price Drop Timing, Motion Control
See Full ImageIt has been a big year for Sony and Kaz Hirai. The SCE boss introduced us all to the PSP Go at E3 and last week, he proudly unveiled the PS3 Slim, which also represented the long-awaited and much-appreciated price cut.
Not long after, he had a chat with the TimesOnline, and the interview includes plenty of important topics, as you can see. As for the Slim, Hirai said Sony "felt it was the right time;" the combination of cheaper components and the increasingly impressive exclusive software lineup contributed to this decision. As for the current sales, Hirai said it's not a good idea to try to make an examination on the third anniversary of a system that has a 10-year lifespan. "The fifth anniversary and beyond is when we really start to say, 'how's our trajectory looking?'" Hirai also wanted to clear the air regarding critics who said Sony tried to pack too much into the console; he reminds us all that when he first came back to Japan to promote the PS3, he wanted to reinforce the fact that the PS3 is a games machine first. They go on to talk about bringing new gamers to the PS3; Hirai says the best way to do this is simple: "compelling video game titles." We gotta agree with that..don't you?
As for the motion control that wowed us all at E3, he says we can expect to see this new technology by "spring of next year." While the technology is great, though, Hirai still wants to have "great software that supports" that special controller. Lastly, Hirai answered a common question concerning the fate of physical media; here's his response to the query, "Do you think physical media such as DVDs and even Blu-Ray have a limited time left?"-
"No. Perhaps we can sit down three years from now and have a beer, or two or ten, while we wait to download 40 gigabytes of data for a full ps3 game. That's still going to take a lot of time. We're in over 100 countries and there are areas where consumers still don't have access to the type of broadband that we have. The death of physical media is a very nice conclusion, that seems to be nice to say, but it’s not something we're going to see soon. We are committed to the PSP 3000 and the UMD business. A lot of people like to speculate that we're getting out of that business, but nothing could be further from the truth. We're not going to deprive consumers in all those other countries."
We've always liked this guy. Hirai and Tretton have also appeared to be competent, highly skilled executives who are also straight-shooters. And as far as we can tell, based on the events of the past year or so, Hirai and Co. have done one hell of a job in bringing the PS3 into the limelight and keeping it there.
8/24/2009 John Shepard
Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Follow PSX Extreme on Twitter
Comments (95 posts)
Jed
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:06:23 AM
Did the 6 hours include the cagney, bikes, and trophies updates?
1 up, 0 down
faraga
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:58:19 AM
About 3.5 gigs (excluding the patches).
I just let the game download overnight.
2 up, 0 down
www
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 7:11:52 AM
1 up, 0 down
Orvisman
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:56:10 AM
When asked if Sony plans to get into the Games On Demand business, Sony executives say no. So, it looks like M$ft is innovating again.
Right?
No!
Sony has had full games up for download now for a while: Socom Confrontation, Siren, Warhawk, and Burnout Paradise anyone? If these aren't "Games On Demand," then what is?
Sony's mistake is not branding everything like M$ft because Sony hasn't realized yet that the youth of today, and some older folk, really like their branding. If it has a cool name, it must be cool and innovative and the best thing since sliced bread.
Sony has yet to realize how gullible and lemming like most people are today.
Sony's other mistake, like the EyeToy and PS3Eye (although Sony is sort of addressing the PS3Eye situation now), is that it has not put up enough full PS3 games for download. R, R2, the R&Cs, iNfamous, Killzone 2, and select third-party games should be available.
But without the proper branding Sony doesn't have an equivalent to M$ft's Games On Demand service, just like it has an inferior network compared with Xbox Live... and it always will.
Because, let's be honest, Xbox Live is such a cooler name than Playstation Network; therefore, it must be better than PSN and worth paying $50 to use.
7 up, 0 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 10:50:23 AM
You're right. With Microsoft it's all about presentation and not substance. All talk, no trousers.
This year's E3 was like a retelling of the Emperor's New Clothes with MS talking up Natal as if it were new (obviously it's not) and talking up a game expansion as if it were the greatest exclusive of the year...
I don't honestly think Sony should play the MS game. When Sony responds to MS, Sony looks like a follower. When MS responds to Sony, MS looks like a follower.
MS brings Natal, Sony needs to subtly point to the Eyetoy and PSEye and sixaxis controllers and smile. Microsoft touts 'Games on Demand', Sony needs to subtly talk up PSN games, PSP minis, PSP digital distribution and of course full PS3 games for download. Rather than answering directly Sony needs to simply talk up it's own products in ways that leave people noticing that Microsoft is essentially copying what Sony has already done.
Just like the Emperor's New Clothes, not everyone will recognize a naked, fat man with a crown for what he is. So although many may realize the situation, many will continue to see MS as an innovator no matter what. And when you show them they are incorrect, they will gloss over it by saying something like, "Oh, well, Microsoft's thing is different and better." When you ask how it's better, they'll answer with something like "It just is." because in truth it's no better, but it's glossy, shiny and new...and expensive...and they have to justify their investment of time and effort in supporting it...
Sad isn't it?
6 up, 0 down
godsman
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:06:56 PM
Reply
It just doesn't make me feel like i own anything unless I have something in my hand. Even when I purchase Marvel vs Capcom, I would buy the retail version and then download it, so I have a case and manual.
6 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:26:44 PM
8 up, 0 down
sticklife
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:30:18 PM
1 up, 1 down
johnld
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:29:49 PM
0 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 10:02:38 AM
6 up, 0 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 11:11:46 AM
"Perhaps we can sit down three years from now and have a beer, or two or ten, while we wait to download 40 gigabytes of data for a full ps3 game. "
As he implies, even in three years it will take time to D/L 40GB of anything. Good grief, right now on my Internetet connection it'd take Something like 38 hours to download 40GB.
40GB is 42,949,672,960 bytes or 343,597,383,680 bits. A 3Mbit/second connection loses about 20% of it's speed due to network overheads and transient errors meaning in practice I get about 2.5Mbits/second of effective bandwidth. At that rate the 40GB download will take 136533 seconds which after a quick bit of math translates to a whopping 37.9 hours. That assumes that nothing else uses my bandwidth and that my ISP doesn't cap me. If my wife and son are using the web, doing some gaming and making a phone call or two, that download time will stretch past 40 hours. A full BluRay at 50GB would take literally two days to download.
Even if I had 10 times the bandwidth (30Mbits/second) I have now it'd still take 4 hours to download a full 40GB game. A full BluRay would be around 5 hours at that rate. I'd need a fiber optic Net hookup to achieve that level of performance consistently.
Imagine if I had 20 times the network bandwidth I have now. We're still looking at 2 hours for the game and 2 and a half hours for the movie. Well, at least the movie will download about as fast as it needs to to play as we download. Even then, I'd still be completely saturating my network connection for one download. Imaging if there were 100 people in my neighborhood doing the same thing. start multiplying the bandwidth up to the level of an ISP with a million or more customers, and say 10% of them are simultaneously hammering the network to download a game or movie. Even if we only have 30Mbit connections that's still 3,000,000 Mbits/ second. Or 3 Tera-bits/second. That's for only 100,000 customers simultaneously downloading something. Imagine that scaled up to the full size of the Internet population in the US alone. The numbers are mind boggling.
Oh, PS, where the heck am I keeping all this stuff? a 1TB hard disk can hold 20 50GB BluRay images, or 25 games at the 40GB size Kaz suggested. How many have 1TB drives? How do you back them up? With a smaller disc, you'd have no choice but to remove older content when something new comes along. Imagine though how long you'd wait to re-download a game that you removed due to space constraints...OOps, hard disc failure. Now you lost everything. Prepare to take a week off while you download all your stuff again.
It's just laughable that people push download as a viable option. Most of the world's Internet users don't even have a reliable 3Mbit link, and many have bandwidth caps that limit their monthly use far below 40GB. It's completely insane to suggest that physical media will give way to downloads any time soon.
5 up, 0 down
Alienange
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:47:27 PM
Last edited by Alienange on 8/25/2009 9:47:58 PM
1 up, 1 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:23:46 PM
Reply
8 up, 1 down
King James
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:30:11 PM
0 up, 0 down
King James
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:41:55 PM
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:11:51 AM
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 8/25/2009 12:13:11 AM
0 up, 0 down
King James
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:19:02 AM
0 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:45:57 AM
Make sure you max the merchant's disposition and haggle for the best rate. Once you get your mercantile skill to journeyman, sell to whomever has the LEAST mercantile skill.
I've got piles of daedric weapons lying around all my houses, waiting to be sold. You'll get there eventually.
Also, finish the main quest a.s.a.p. It's a pain trying to keep allied NPCs alive if you wait too long (like I did), even with the difficulty cranked down to 1.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 8/25/2009 3:53:49 AM
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 4:03:49 AM
1 up, 0 down
Highlander
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:30:11 PM
Reply
It is *very* nice to hear a technically competent senior executive of a company like Sony talking about broadband access in a way that is real. Kaz is utterly on the ball on this one.
I'm so tired of hearing the siren song of broadband from people who think that upscaled DVD is the same as HD and therefore believe that an HD video stream stuffed into a 3MBit link is acceptable. It's just great to know that at least one of the major CE companies understands that the majority of consumers don't have access to true high speed broadband yet, and may not for many years to come.
13 up, 0 down
tes37
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:54:58 PM
1 up, 0 down
godsman
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:15:59 PM
3 up, 0 down
King James
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:40:42 PM
Reply
Nintendo execs are getting lazy and are lil' too gay (gay as in happy/friendly), and seem to be on cruise control. And most of Microsoft's execs are just douches. Hence, Peter Moore left and now runs EA Sports, which has improved tremendously since he arrived.
Sony knows how to pick em, and it shows in their products and their developers. Thats why, to me, Phil Harrison will bring Atari back to greatness. Still wish he was with Sony, but he wanted to do his own thing which I can always respect.
15 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:40:43 PM
Reply
Agree with him fully
Physical media is very important
5 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:42:20 PM
7 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:00:00 AM
We need to feel those discs spinning
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:41:53 PM
Reply
7 up, 0 down
King James
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:42:39 PM
8 up, 0 down
Jed
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:10:43 AM
2 up, 0 down
Zemus101
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:43:49 PM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
LegendaryWolfeh
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:58:54 PM
1 up, 0 down
ThePearlJamer
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:45:03 PM
Last edited by ThePearlJamer on 8/24/2009 11:50:22 PM
1 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:59:35 AM
1 up, 0 down
ThePearlJamer
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:49:50 PM
Reply
Last edited by ThePearlJamer on 8/24/2009 10:50:13 PM
9 up, 0 down
tes37
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:22:00 PM
5 up, 0 down
yak4life85
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:27:40 AM
3 up, 2 down
ThePearlJamer
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:06:35 AM
Last edited by ThePearlJamer on 8/25/2009 9:06:52 AM
4 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:17:04 AM
I bet the Kaz likes Ichiban or Saporo.
Last edited by Jawknee on 8/25/2009 9:20:32 AM
3 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:55:25 AM
5 up, 0 down
fluffer nutter
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:43:19 PM
I'd get a slim but already have two perfectly running PS3's. Looking forward to the motion controls and the endless possibilities. Wow. What a year for SCE and it's not going to stop for many, many months. Guess I won't be adding a supercharger to my car so soon.
0 up, 0 down
mustang750r
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:10:21 PM
Reply
accoring to amazon.com right now in the video game section the PS3 Slim is number 1 in Video Games Top Sellers list.
I'm going to have a shot of Bacardi in celebration. Who will join me!? lol
6 up, 0 down
mustang750r
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:40:36 PM
I guess I need to have another shot. lol *hic*
5 up, 0 down
Jed
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:14:22 AM
3 up, 0 down
yak4life85
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:29:04 AM
3 up, 0 down
mustang750r
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:45:06 AM
To make it more awesome Batman AA for the PS3 is in fourth. Assorted drinks for everyone. lol
5 up, 0 down
LividFiction
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:54:24 PM
5 up, 0 down
DarthNemesis
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:21:39 PM
Reply
I find it odd that people would criticize a company for trying to make the best entertainment system possible and yet completely turn a blind eye mediocre technology as well as defective products.
18 up, 1 down
johnld
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:07:09 AM
1 up, 1 down
Kangasfwa
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 11:50:07 PM
Reply
Times Online: So, life kinda sucks right now, huh?
Hirai: Actually, life is pretty good. Ask us again in a couple years when we'll be able to reflect on what's happened.
Anyway, it is a good interview. Hirai was confidant and informative without the holier-than-thou attitude some CEOs give off (like Kotick).
5 up, 1 down
Mista
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:01:01 AM
Reply
4 up, 3 down
VersusAlby
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 8:13:40 AM
Metroid Prime Trilogy comes out because many people wants to buy it
Three excellent games in a package whats wrong with that
Mario Galaxy 2 is a sequel to a succesful game
would you consider GoW3 milking
But I agree in some terms
For one good Wii game you also get a lot of trashy ones
and nintendo shouldn't depend solely on the casuals which would jump to any other console the hardcore are the most important group
4 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:45:09 PM
1 up, 0 down
Alienange
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 10:19:08 PM
Re-releases with new controls has got to be the biggest rip off in gaming history.
0 up, 1 down
te la meti 14
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:41:01 AM
Reply
2 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:59:22 PM
0 up, 0 down
Kiryu
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:04:59 AM
Reply
Nice Comment!
4 up, 0 down
Jed
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:26:05 AM
Reply
It's good to hear their stance on the situation. I understand that people are always speculating about what the next thing will be, but we don't yet have the technology to go fully digital. It wont happen until it is more convenient to download a full retail game than to go down the street and buy one, and unless you live 5 hours from the nearest retailer and have the fastest internet currently possible, it is not convenient.
1 up, 0 down
Charger7302
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:28:24 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 11:53:19 AM
6 up, 0 down
Orvisman
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:43:13 PM
Unfortunately Uncle Ken became the scapegoat for the PS3's slow start.
5 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:07:49 PM
One problem with the way businesses are run is that people are promoted out of the jobs they do well, because they "deserve" to be "in charge". Kutaragi should have been left in charge of making the hardware, instead of promoted to president and then pushed out the door.
1 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:33:47 AM
Reply
i dont see the point in dropping the price now, when theres no PS3 exclusives comming till the middle of october.
they would of been better off dropping it just before infamous came out, and may be it would of sold a hell of allot better.
its a shame for SP they made the best game on PS3 and there not getting rewarded properly for it.
0 up, 1 down
ShadowRunner
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:44:25 AM
Reply
4 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 4:04:37 AM
Reply
0 up, 1 down
Imagi
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 4:54:44 AM
Reply
It is these hypocritical tards that helped pave the way towards the download only model.
2 up, 0 down
newchef
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 8:57:03 AM
1 up, 1 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 11:16:17 AM
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:41:53 PM
1 up, 0 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:05:00 PM
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:25:09 PM
0 up, 0 down
Imagi
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:35:49 PM
---@Jawknee
Cable is usually better, no contention (i.e does not slow down at peak times), more reliable connection, better infrastructure and higher speeds, now and in the future. I can up my connection to 50mb if I wanted with the hint of speeds around 125mb in the next couple of years
----
0 up, 0 down
Orvisman
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:46:08 PM
I have the basic plan, nothing extra, and my service is 20/10.
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 1:47:55 PM
In regards to iTunes? I personally still prefer a physical cd over digital. I rip the songs and put them in my iPod. That way I'll have a hard copy incase the files are lost.
Last edited by Jawknee on 8/25/2009 1:52:25 PM
2 up, 0 down
Imagi
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:31:24 PM
Last edited by Imagi on 8/25/2009 2:32:06 PM
4 up, 0 down
Highlander
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:53:38 PM
DSL functions more like switched ethernet, in that you connect to a hub and the link between you and that hub is dedicated to you - it's a point to point link. So your bandwidth to the hub is dependent only on the distance between you and that hub (the telco CO).
Cable internet (not fiber optics) works more like the old style coax based ethernet where many users shared a single cable and contention becomes an issue as you increase the number of users. Modern cable networks use many, many more channels and multi-plex channels together for higher bandwidth, so contention is not the issue it once was. But because you are sharing the same signal spectrum with many other users, contention is a fact of life on a shared cable network.
Fiber networks are switched, so like DSL your link to the hub is yours, users are not daisy chained together, each one has their own fiber link. Of course fiber links are much, much faster than standard DSL.
2 up, 0 down
Orvisman
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:04:08 PM
1 up, 0 down
Skatejimmy5
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 7:06:04 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
www
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 7:13:58 AM
Reply
Hahahahaa....Well said Kaz! Digital downloading is years off!
1 up, 0 down
Paolo Kutaragi
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 7:29:22 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
newchef
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 8:59:05 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
kevinater321
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 9:31:31 AM
Reply
2 up, 3 down
bOnEs
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 10:10:55 AM
Reply
no need to over-hype products and games for sony... they let the software speak for themselves...
3 up, 0 down
BigBoss4ever
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 10:48:34 AM
Reply
Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 8/25/2009 10:49:24 AM
0 up, 0 down
Mista
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 11:04:22 AM
Reply
Last edited by Mista on 8/25/2009 11:07:34 AM
1 up, 0 down
VersusAlby
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 11:35:59 AM
Metroid Prime Trilogy or Super Mario Galaxy 2
we could argue forever about this^^
you have to know what you want if you buy a new nintendo console these days, there are games which I really want to play
Tales of Graces, Dragonquest 10 the next Metroid game (which is really interesting)
having only a Wii is really bad
you made valid points about the wii
They don't have that kind of spirit they had during the SNES era
currently playing more VC games than any Wii games
after SNES nintendo became like
Nintendo first party is really good
Third Party stays for a while and then disappears and sometimes you find some really good games
The only differnce in the Wii is that 3d party stays a bit longer than usual because they can make money now^^
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 12:51:01 PM
0 up, 1 down
Fane1024
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 3:22:41 PM
And for someone like me, who didn't own a Nintendo system except the GBA, they aren't offering much that makes me want to buy the system. I can live without the Mario or Zelda or Metroid games, because I have no attachment to those characters (and there aren't that many of them in any event). I'm not saying I wouldn't buy them, just that they won't make me buy the system.
And don't get me started on the "casual" games.
My number one reason to get a Wii: Eternal Darkness...which doesn't say much for the Wii's line-up.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 8/25/2009 3:24:10 PM
1 up, 0 down
Titch1794
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 2:10:08 PM
Reply
2 up, 0 down
Morals
Reply
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 10:04:35 PM