Kaz Hirai Talks About Blu-ray

President of Sony Entertainment, Kazuo Hirai takes the hot seat as he answers Daniel Terdiman of Cnet‘s inquiries about the PLAYSTATION 3. Some of the questions have been asked so frequently (There were rumors that the Wii would be priced for less than $250. How did that affect PlayStation 3? Any concern that Nintendo’s Wii pricing will undercut the market as people decide which console they want to buy?  Are you saying that there won’t be a PlayStation 4 within five years?) that probably, you’d now what Hirai’s answer would be.

The interview’s high point is when Hirai was asked about Blu-ray. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation regarding Blu-ray.

Is there a danger that some consumers will buy PlayStation 3 just for the Blu-ray player and not the games?

Hirai: Consumers are going to look at the totality of what we offer in the PlayStation 3. Even if there was a consumer who decided to buy the PlayStation 3 perhaps as a Blu-ray player, I think that they will quickly realize the potential and the entertainment value of the fantastic content in true (high definition). Any consumer would be hard-pressed really not to try that functionality out.

Given the differences in pricing, which is fairly significant between Microsoft‘s Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, are there any chances of a PlayStation 3 down the line that doesn’t have Blu-ray built in?

Hirai: The PlayStation 3 uses the Blu-ray as its storage medium for both games and for movies as well. We wanted to take advantage of the storage capacity that Blu-ray offers in terms of motion pictures and other content, but most importantly, for games as well. Our decision to include the Blu-ray player from day one in all of our PlayStation 3s was the right decision and, quite honestly, the only decision we can make.

Look at the massive amounts of data that’s required to provide a truly immersive gaming experience in true HD. If you only have a DVD ROM drive, which can only go up to about 9GB or so, you’re going to end up with a game that’s going to have two or possibly even three discs. And then you’re going to have to ask consumers to swap discs out or cache all the game onto the hard drive which I think is an inconvenience–not to mention the fact that you’re going to fill up a 20GB hard drive very quickly with some of these games. So trying to go without a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 really is a nonstarter.

Another interesting point raised was that if the PLAYSTATION 3 can ship on time. However, if you’ve read his previous interview, we think his confident, “IÂ’ve been through this three times now. We are tracking to meet our targets. At the end of the day weÂ’ll meet our commitments.” will surely assure any and every fan that everything’s just peachy.

Via Cnet

President of Sony Entertainment, Kazuo Hirai takes the hot seat as he answers Daniel Terdiman of Cnet‘s inquiries about the PLAYSTATION 3. Some of the questions have been asked so frequently (There were rumors that the Wii would be priced for less than $250. How did that affect PlayStation 3? Any concern that Nintendo’s Wii pricing will undercut the market as people decide which console they want to buy?  Are you saying that there won’t be a PlayStation 4 within five years?) that probably, you’d now what Hirai’s answer would be.

The interview’s high point is when Hirai was asked about Blu-ray. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation regarding Blu-ray.

Is there a danger that some consumers will buy PlayStation 3 just for the Blu-ray player and not the games?

Hirai: Consumers are going to look at the totality of what we offer in the PlayStation 3. Even if there was a consumer who decided to buy the PlayStation 3 perhaps as a Blu-ray player, I think that they will quickly realize the potential and the entertainment value of the fantastic content in true (high definition). Any consumer would be hard-pressed really not to try that functionality out.

Given the differences in pricing, which is fairly significant between Microsoft‘s Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, are there any chances of a PlayStation 3 down the line that doesn’t have Blu-ray built in?

Hirai: The PlayStation 3 uses the Blu-ray as its storage medium for both games and for movies as well. We wanted to take advantage of the storage capacity that Blu-ray offers in terms of motion pictures and other content, but most importantly, for games as well. Our decision to include the Blu-ray player from day one in all of our PlayStation 3s was the right decision and, quite honestly, the only decision we can make.

Look at the massive amounts of data that’s required to provide a truly immersive gaming experience in true HD. If you only have a DVD ROM drive, which can only go up to about 9GB or so, you’re going to end up with a game that’s going to have two or possibly even three discs. And then you’re going to have to ask consumers to swap discs out or cache all the game onto the hard drive which I think is an inconvenience–not to mention the fact that you’re going to fill up a 20GB hard drive very quickly with some of these games. So trying to go without a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 really is a nonstarter.

Another interesting point raised was that if the PLAYSTATION 3 can ship on time. However, if you’ve read his previous interview, we think his confident, “IÂ’ve been through this three times now. We are tracking to meet our targets. At the end of the day weÂ’ll meet our commitments.” will surely assure any and every fan that everything’s just peachy.

Via Cnet