What Stringer supposedly says about the PlayStation 3, etc.

By Ryan Block

Having pored over Hollywood Reporter's mammoth article resulting in their speaking with none other than
Sir Howard Stringer, we can say that some compelling statements were made about what are supposedly Sony's plans moving forward — only to be followed by a few things that leave us a little rattled about the report itself. For example, they Reporter notes that Sony will soon
"unveil a line of compact, portable video devices to fill the time gap before
PlayStation 3 launches in Japan in March and in the U.S. a year from now." So now the PlayStation 3 is officially a year out for the US? And their grand plan to plug the holes the Xbox 360 will be making in their boat will be to release a line of dedicated video devices and perhaps some online video download service to rival the iPod video? And yet these devices will use Memory Sticks as their primary storage medium? Seems a little dubious, but then the Reporter mentions how Sony "has transformed
PSP into a multimedia device with a hard drive that makes it a portable DVR, with built-in WiFi that makes it more like location-free TV." Ok, that's when they lost us —
certainly they're not saying the PSP has a hard drive (even though one
exists as a peripheral); and it's not
like "a location-free TV," it supports LocationFree TV. By the time the reporter talks about the Cell processor they start sounding like Sony marketing cheat sheet, but they do make it very clear that the PS3 will apparently cost between $300 and $400 upon its debut, and that according to "a high-level studio executive," the "PS3 is a subsidized Blu-ray play that will sell 20 million units. The first HD player will be on the market for $1,000. ...
Sony will be selling them at a loss the first six months to a year just to get Blu-ray players out in the market."
That, and that it'll also apparently come "bundled with a selection of preloaded films, TV programs and games." Look,
Stringer, just talk to us from now on, ok? None of this funny business.

[Via Joystiq]

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