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Kaz Hirai says PS3-exclusive content adds extra flavor
One of the big heads of the hydra known as Sony, Kaz Hirai, sat down with an interview recently with Japanese site ITMedia to discuss what makes the PS3 so special and why multiplatform developers should add a little spice to the recipe when utilizing Sony's new console. He said that developers should focus their activity around the PS3 and move the games to everything else afterwards -- asking developers, essentially, to make the PS3 their leading platform.He doesn't deny the importance of many devs moving to the multiplatform arena, saying, "When you consider the cost of developing on today's platforms, I think it's a logical progression that they're all thinking of making their games cross-platform ... But I think it's important that third parties use the unique characteristics of the platform to add a little bit of extra flavour to their games. For example, with the PS3, you've got the Sixaxis controller, or you could utilise the extra capacity provided by Blu-ray to add more levels, put on interviews with the developers or have your videos able to play in 1080p."These ideas are a positive step if they catch on, but they're starting to pop up already. For the fans of Heavenly Sword, extra content has spread like a virus throughout the PlayStation Store over the past months. The Blu-ray edition of Warhawk has a ton of extra stuff packed into it. Stranglehold has a full HD movie packaged on the same disc as the game. Folklore has downloadable content planned for months to come after its release. The only thing missing are for multiplatform companies to jump on board and see how much stuff those Blu-ray discs can handle. Do you guys think this scenario will ever unfold, or would the entire industry have to support Blu-ray before it became the norm?[via ThreeSpeech]
Celebrating ten years of FFVII
Kaz Hirai attended Square Enix's 10 year anniversary party for Final Fantasy VII, leaving a note saying "the best is yet to come." Is he alluding to Crisis Core? Or the oft-rumored Final Fantasy VII remake? Regardless, it looks like Square is far from milking this milestone RPG.You must check out Kotaku's gallery from the event, which shows some memorabilia on display, such as the Final Fantasy VII limited edition PSP. Our heart yearns for it ... even if our wallets shy away.
Kaz Hirai hints at future SIXAXIS iterations
Don't look now, but here we have yet another crop of details on Sony's (still) forthcoming rumbling SIXAXIS. In a recent interview with Kaz Hirai, he mentioned that Sony is currently looking at "a variety of other things [besides rumble] that it can incorporate with the controller," and while he wasn't giving out specifics, he did say that we could look forward to any enticing announcements in due time. He also declared that the controller itself was an "evolving peripheral," and piqued our interest even more by suggesting that the existing model would not be "the final model for a PS3 controller." If nothing else, we're utterly relieved to know that conjuring up a controller for the PlayStation 4 will be a piece of cake -- getting a first-party rumbling version for the PS3, however, still seems to be an issue.[Via Joystiq]
Hirai says more Sixaxis iterations on the way
In an interview with Kikizo, Sony global president Kaz Hirai alludes to future iterations of the Sixaxis controller. Hirai says that they're "obviously looking" at what do do with the Sixaxis now that they've come to an agreement with Immersion. He says they're actually looking at a variety of things they can put into the controller and they'll say something when they're ready to. Hirai points out about the controller, "I mean, as you know, that's also an evolving peripheral, if you will, in that we started out with the original PS1 controller with no analogue, and it's come all the way to this point, so obviously, as we go forward, it's not the final model for a PS3 controller, so we'll see what comes down the road." It is impressive to think that the same controller, with minor tweaks every few years, has been a staple of the PlayStation going on 15 years. So, when will we finally hear about what's going into the next Sixaxis? There's still plenty of conventions left this year.
TGS07: Kaz Hirai to headline Tokyo Game Show
Now that all that pesky E3 business is behind us we can start talking Tokyo Game Show! The newly lengthened TGS has just announced the keynote speaker ... none other than Ken Kutaragi's successor, Kaz Hirai. Of course, Kutaragi delivered last year's (baffling) TGS keynote, so it's only fitting that Kaz take the baton this year.Let's just hope he doesn't go all E3 '06 on us, with dry charts and boring numbers; we'd love to see some sex appeal from the new Pres of SCEI. Now, what's the name of his speech? "The Expanding PlayStation World, Business Strategy For New Growth." Well, charts are cool we suppose ...
Kaz Hirai headlining Tokyo Game Show
The successor to Ken Kutaragi, the man behind the curtain, the Phantom of the Opera, Sony Computer Entertainment Kaz Hirai will be leading the keynote speech at Tokyo Game Show this September. His topic of choice? Flavorful dessert dishes for every season and occasion. Just kidding -- the future of PlayStation, naturally. To be more specific, Hirai has titled the speech "The expanding PlayStation world, business strategy for new growth." We think that's a comma splice, but it's a title so conventional rules don't exactly apply. What do you guys think he'll discuss? Will he reveal any important bits of PS3 news, or will he lull the audience into a nap with statistics and a business market analysis?
SingStar: providing unique PlayStation media
Why is there no video download service yet for PSP and PS3? In a recent interview with Joystiq, Engadget and PS Fanboy, Kaz Hirai noted that they need to provide a unique experience for PlayStation fans to interact with media. "I want to make sure that we are able to put a unique, PlayStation-esque way of presenting the music content, for example, to the PlayStation 3 users. Otherwise, we're just one of them," he commented."But its a part of the overall SingStar experience that you're downloading the music that so that is a kind of different experience than you would have for downloading music that's specific to the PS3 experience that you can't get anywhere else. That's the kind of thing i'm talking about, and therefore, in conjunction with Singstar, there is going to be music download obviously because we find something that's very PlayStation-esque. So I want to try to come up with something that has the same kind of different PlayStation experience for music downloads, if we're going to expand it to the PlayStation Network Store and also for video downloads as well."Sony is waiting for a "unique" way of providing video downloads, but we adamantly believe that consumers will love to have standard video service, akin to the one available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Isn't providing downloadable 1080p video differentiating enough? We think so. Read our complete interview at Joystiq.%Gallery-3205%
Engadget & Joystiq interview: Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton, Presidents, Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., and America
We got a rare chance to sit down and talk shop with recently-named Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. President Kaz Hirai, and his US successor, Jack Tretton. These two had a lot to say, and we were more than happy to let them talk about where the PS3's going in terms of hardware, software, and services, why Sony's E3 presence this year is so radically different than last year, even a little bit about how things have been at PlayStation HQ post-Kutaragi -- check it out!So out of all the three press conferences we've been writing up, we're giving each one a grade based on a new highly scientific Mega Man ranking system. Sony is our last one, but chronologically so we haven't gotten there yet. But this press conference had a much different tone then let's say last year's E3 press conference. How much did you guys look at last year's, how should we say, performance, and decide that you needed to do something different? What kind of decision making process was that?Jack: Well obviously I was not as intimately involved in planning last year's press conference as I was in this one, but it's funny now that you look at that perspective and you see some of the other press conferences and how people are conducting themselves. I think companies are very proud of their success and they want to tell everybody how successful you are. But what you realize is that everybody already knows that and no one really cares. They want to know how you are going to be successful going forward. And so we've certainly taken our fair share of heat about, you know, the performance of PlayStation 3 in the first six to eight months, and I guess we wanted to focus our message on really telling you why PlayStation 3 is going to be successful going forward.And its all about content, its about games, and I think going through that experience, you know, the light bulb goes off, and you go oh, wait a minute, its really all about the content and what we're going to do going forward to keep our platforms relevant. Its not about what we did 10 years ago, its not about how many units we've sold here or there. So clearly I think for points of reference and perspective we wanted to point some things out that we really wanted that press conference geared towards why people are going to want to buy games and buy our platforms and that was kind of the theme and the central message. I give Dave [Karraker, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, SCEA] a lot of credit for building off of that theme and coordinating tremendous amounts of presentations and content through the whole thing. But hopefully we've stayed on message and we've gotten the point across.So why no word about rumble?Jack: Well, I guess at this point the SIXAXIS controller is something that we're comfortable with and we've certainly settled our differences with Immersion. Is it something that can happen down the road? Absolutely. But the bottom line is we haven't made that decision and we didn't have anything to announce or introduce. Will we down the road? Possibly, but it's unbeknownst to me if we have a rumble controller coming out.Oh I think you'd know before anyone![laughter] Well, you'd be surprised! It's a big company...
Sony clarifies 380 PS3 games comment; 145 for US
After yesterday's announcement that 380 new games would be available for the PlayStation 3 this fiscal year, more than a few of us quickly ran out of fingers trying to make the math work out. Lucky for us, the fine folks at Sony stopped GamesIndustry.biz before they got their shoes off (it was too late for us), explaining that Sony's Kaz Hirai was "citing international figures" and that "at least 145 titles are on the way to the US," with 105 of those being retail offerings. That makes a lot more sense ... but we're still left wondering one thing. Does Warhawk count as both a retail and PlayStation Network title?
Sony clarifies "380 games" statement - 145 games for the US
Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Sony have clarified their "380 game released by March '08" statement. It seems Kaz Hirai was citing international figures, whereas the true number of games released to the US market is to be at least 145 during this fiscal year. That doesn't include games which have already been released since last March. The number breaks down further to 105+ boxed games and 40 PSN games. It is unclear whether games such as Warhawk, which will be released in both formats, will count as boxed games or not. 15 first party titles are slated for the pre-March window, including Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Heavenly Sword and Little Big Planet. Most, if not all, of which should be out before the year's end.There is no word on how many games are to be released to European regions. However with the heavy emphasis on worldwide releases this generation, plus the fact that some of the big games are being developed in Europe, it's fairly safe to say that we can expect a similar number as the Americans.
PS3 to have 380 games by March 08 says Kaz Hirai
Reuters is reporting that the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Kaz Hirai, has stated that by March 2008 the PlayStation 3 will have a total catalgue of 380 games. This will be a solution to the current slump in sales the PS3 is currently seeing worldwide. Apparently Kaz only just realised that having actual games to play might persuade more people to pick up a system. The current plan is for the release of 200 titles in shops and 180 downloadable from the PlayStation store. Hirai states that there are currently 60 titles in stores and 50 downloadable. If the software library really does almost quadruple in less than a year, then the PS3 will have no problems selling worldwide. The games drought has been hard on early adopters of the console, but with the release of Rainbow Six: Vegas, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, The Darkness and Super Stardust HD all in the next two weeks, the drought looks to be almost over. So start saving those pennies. Before long there will be so many games vying for your attention, you won't know where to start.[Via Gameindustry.biz]
Ken Kutaragi officially throws in the towel, retires from SCE
The father of the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi, has officially retired from Sony Computer Entertainment. Previously, following a corporate re-shuffle, Mr. Kutaragi stepped down as CEO of SCE, replaced by Kaz Hirai. Now, Ken Kutaragi is relinquishing his Sony duties further, stepping down as SCE's Chairman and Group Chief Executive while remaining on board with SCE in an advisory role. Perhaps Sir Howard Stringer can assist with Ken Kutaragi's early retirement by quickly issuing restraining orders against him on all things Sony PlayStation-related. After all, earlier reports show "Krazy Ken" Kutaragi clearly doesn't know "when to say when" as he proceeded to inflate the PS3's budget until it exploded in everyone's collective faces, causing fallout from a few layoffs to a huge quarterly loss. Except now without Kutaragi in the limelight, how are we going to get such beautiful mock-ups of the PlayStation grill?
Sony's Ken Kutaragi steps down
We knew it was coming, but we can't help but shed a tear at the retirement of the man who took consoles out of the cartridge era and into the extravagant and multi-billion dollar polygon war currently taking place in our living rooms -- for better or worse. Ken Kutaragi, father of the PlayStation, is calling it quits today at the ripe old age of 56. It was pretty clear he was on the outs when he left his post as president of SCE last year, with Kazuo Hirai taking his place in most operational duties. Ken announced he was leaving his positions as CEO and chairman in April, and now he's making good on his promise, with little more clarity if it's of his own accord or due to internal Sony pressures for a changing of the guard. As previously announced, Kutaragi will be sticking around in an advisory role, but from here on out the expectations of a struggling company and a few million fanboys will rest squarely on Kaz to steer the faithful through this console generation and beyond. And yes, this also means we're retiring the 'shopped PS3 pic to the right of this post. It will be missed most of all.
What we should expect from Kaz Hirai
Already being hailed as the anti-Kutaragi (not against-Kutaragi, but antithesis-Kutaragi), Kaz Hirai has some big shoes to fill as the new CEO later this year -- big shoes to take some big steps towards success with the PlayStation 3. We'll highlight some of what's expected from Hirai from this impressively competent article from Business Week. He's affable and articulate -- he's expected to shift Sony from a Japanese empire to a global organization. He's great at getting ties with distributors, game developers, etc. Hopefully he can score some exclusive titles with his... personality. Kutaragi demanded to be in complete control, wanted to answer everything himself. Hirai is set up to be a better listener and be more pleasurable to work with. Hirai isn't as technologically savvy as Kutaragi and hasn't even dealt with the main Japan office that much. He's a stranger to many at Sony. As Business Week said, "that's both an opportunity and a risk". Hirai recently said "that he had separated strategic planning from daily decision-making and had given regional heads more responsibility over console shipments, inventories, and new game titles." Hopefully this will keep people in-touch and not alienate anyone from the PlayStation 3's progress. Will Kaz be able to bridge the gap between the PS3 and the competition? We'll find out in due time, but as smart and influential as Kutaragi was, it is a different business model nowadays and Hirai seems to more accurately and appropriately reflect that. Let's just hope the world is ready for a new leader behind Sony.
Kaz Hirai speaks about the shaky PS3 launch at CES
For those of you who think that Sony always rolls with the punches, spins negative into positive, or act like they meant to catch laptops on fire, you may be interested in some of the things Kaz Hirai spoke about at CES 2007. Yeah, most of it is just that, but he did admit that the PS3 has had a bumpy start. Before we go more into that, though, here are some of the flowery things he said: "I have heard many people say our competitors' systems are just as powerful as the PS3. That simply is not true. No other next generation entertainment system pushes the envelope on advanced technology like PS3." "I have heard people say that a high-capacity game delivery vehicle like Blu-ray isn't necessary in a next generation computer entertainment system. You just can't expect that 9GBs of storage capacity found on today's DVDs are going to have enough space to hold tomorrow's games." We've actually heard that all before, but words are just words until we see the promises in action -- if a picture is worth a thousand words, think how many words a video game fulfilling a promise is worth! Anyway, Kaz also talked about the launch of the PS3. He admitted it was rough, also saying, "I don't think anyone could have foreseen the difficulties we encountered in the production of the blue laser diode for the PlayStation 3, which ultimately delayed the launch of PlayStation 3." As a final note, he said that if Sony had gone the route of Nintendo, with a mild upgrade in capabilities, the launch would have gone down a lot smoother and a lot sooner. But, he says with his infamous grin, "if we did that every time, we wouldn't be Sony."
Kaz takes stab at Nintendo, we laugh hard
Sony's own Kaz Hirai (Riiiiiiidge Raaaacerrrrr!) recently spoke with IGN during CES 2007 about the PS3 and Blu-ray in general. Of course, most of his time spent with the IGN folk was to talk up his hardware, however he did take a moment to speak his mind on the incredibly popular Wii by saying "a worldwide launch for any console is quite ambitious. In fact, it has never been done before. I suppose if we had simply done a mild upgrade to the PS2 and not pushed the envelope so hard, it would have been easier on ourselves. However, if we did that every time, we wouldn't be Sony." Isn't he hilarious guys? Look Kaz, we're sorry your company decided to manufacture a system that is so expensive as to exclude the common consumer and has no fun launch games. Face it, the only reason anyone is considering buying a PS3 is for Metal Gear Solid 4. Don't be a sore loser, guy!
Kaz Hirai talks about supply and demand issues with the PS3
Sony has an interesting "strategy": low supply creates high demand. Ah, the wonders of basic economics concerning luxury goods. In any case, Kaz Hirai recently sat down to an interview and discussed the whole PS3 supply/demand issue, among other things. Let's highlight the big points, shall we? To compensate for the limited supply, Kaz says that Sony is chartering flights to bring systems to North America faster -- normally, items of PS3 size/weight are sent via boat. Production is ramping up also, but still... chartering flights is way more expensive than boats. Thanks, we guess? Shipments would like to be weekly to keep up with demand, but that's up to consumers. As for grabbing one off of a retail shelf casually, that's also up to the demand of consumers and Kaz has no idea when the surplus will kick in. Kaz says that Sony does not favor one retailer over another, so if your pre-order falls through due to unit allocation, it's the store's fault... not Sony's. No price cut in North America for the 20GB model. Oh well, who wants that one anyway? The bottleneck in production came from the blue laser diodes, but that's been fixed. Even so, says Kaz, "you do have a ramp-up period. You suddenly can't go from zero one day to 100,000 units the next day." Support for the PS2 will continue for some time -- unlike other console companies who drop an old console overnight. Kaz assures us that PS2 and PSOne titles that have compatibility issues will be ironed out with firmware updates. That's the beauty with the PS3! Overall, it was a good interview. Nothing necessarily groundbreaking was revealed, but it's always nice to be reassured that things are okay, even if they're not. If your dog died, you'd want a hug from your mom and not a silent crying session... or something. The point is, being told nice things is nice. How can you possibly disagree?
Gran Turismo HD goes free as focus shifts to GT5
Gran Turismo HD on the PlayStation 3 is no more. The game, which was due for release in Japan this month, has officially been cancelled, leaving developer Polyphony Digital to focus its energy on the completion of Gran Turismo 5. All is not lost, however, as what was Gran Turismo HD will now be offered through the PlayStation Store as Gran Turismo HD Concept -- essentially a playable preview of Gran Turismo 5. GTHD Concept will be free to download and becomes available in Japan on December 24. There is currently no confirmation of a worldwide release date (what a nice holiday treat though!). This free business has us wondering what happened to that dubious rumor about Gran Turismo's excessive microtransactioning?It appears that there will be no online elements in GTHD Concept (apart from the very act of downloading it), with SCEI's new Mr. Big, Kaz Hirai, explaining in an open letter released this morning: "For the genuine implementation of 'Online Car Life Simulation', please wait for Gran Turismo 5."That we will do.
Kutaragi gets shoved in Sony reshuffling
You can expect to see more from SCEA's chief Kaz Hirai (of Riiidge Racer fame), as he's moved on up on the corporate ladder. He'll be replacing "you-can-experience-4D" Ken Kutargai, who's been criticized by his rivals as being too "arrogant." There's been speculation that the slow sales of PSP, the disastrously delayed PS3 launch, and the loss of potential PS3 exclusives, like Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin's Creed, are behind this shuffling.Regardless, Kutaragi will remain in Sony's corporate arms as chairman and group CEO. While this theoretically is a promotion, it will certainly free up Kaz and new SCEA chief Jack Tretton from correcting the mistakes of a potentially senile leader. Hey, it worked for Nintendo when they got rid of even-more-insane Yamauchi.[Via Joystiq]
Sony recreates Management Team -- here comes Krazy Kaz!
Our two favorite people, Ken Kutaragi and Kaz Hirai, Krazy Kaz and Ken if I may, have moved up in the world! Maybe not the world as a whole, but the world of Sony. The two men, who have a tough time not making fools of themselves (a few exceptions, but they elude me), have indeed garnered new seats in Sony. Kutaragi, formerly the President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., is now the Chairman and Group CEO. Kaz Hirai was formerly President and CEO of SCE America is now President and COO of SCE Inc. At least he's not in charge of Sony America anymore? Whatever. You can check out other managerial movements if you'd like, but really, it's interesting how people more or less mocked by the public continue to move up in the world.
