Kaz Hirai: on PS3 launch and the unnamed online service

With the PS3 launch just a month away, there are still a lot of console issues and scuttlebutts left unsettled or unanswered by Sony. Does the PS3’s online service have a name? Exactly how many titles will be available from day one? What are their plans for the console’s online service? How different is it gonna be from Xbox Live?

Kaz Hirai answers all these questions and hints on some more in the interview that Next-Gen was able to score with SCEA‘s President and CEO. Let’s have a run down on the topics discussed, shall we?

PS3 unit numbers at launch: This one we already know: for the launch period, 400,000 for North America alone and around one million by the end of the year.

On launch titles: Hirai says that there’ll be less than 20 titles available on day one but they’re still consulting with third party publishers as to how many titles they can release for the first, second, third week, and so on. But unless they finish this publisher portfolio-managing process, they won’t be able to get a final list of the titles for the US launch. Hirai says that this should get done around a few weeks before the launch and THEN they’d announce the final list.

On the PS3’s unnamed online plans: Kaz says that the PS3 was designed from the ground up to go online and be a network console, and the reason why they don’t have a name for the online service (like “PlayStation online” or “PlayStation live”) is simply because they can’t imagine a “PlayStation offline.” Hirai also says, “…it doesn’t matter if you are enjoying content from a Blu-ray disc or you are enjoying content you just downloaded from the network, at the end of the day itÂ’s all PlayStation 3 so we donÂ’t differentiate between content…”

So basically, that’s what differentiates Sony from their competitors (according to Hirai at least): they don’t make a big deal out of where you got the content, as long as you’re playing it on their console. Here’s another interesting part of the interview where Hirai talks about online support for Resistance: Fall of Man: 40-player online support, video, text, and voice chat, game rankings, downloadable weapons, levels, and characters. Woohoo!

And, AND, they’ll be expanding this even further with downloadable video and music content, which, in Sony’s terms means not only motion pictures, but also promotional trailers, interviews with artists, and different kinds of video materials. Hirai further boasts that they’re currently working on this service and will be made available the moment you take your PS3s out of the box. Whoa, those sure are big words and promises from Sony, and we’ll definitely be keeping our fingers crossed (until they hurt) that all of these push through.

Via NextGen

With the PS3 launch just a month away, there are still a lot of console issues and scuttlebutts left unsettled or unanswered by Sony. Does the PS3’s online service have a name? Exactly how many titles will be available from day one? What are their plans for the console’s online service? How different is it gonna be from Xbox Live?

Kaz Hirai answers all these questions and hints on some more in the interview that Next-Gen was able to score with SCEA‘s President and CEO. Let’s have a run down on the topics discussed, shall we?

PS3 unit numbers at launch: This one we already know: for the launch period, 400,000 for North America alone and around one million by the end of the year.

On launch titles: Hirai says that there’ll be less than 20 titles available on day one but they’re still consulting with third party publishers as to how many titles they can release for the first, second, third week, and so on. But unless they finish this publisher portfolio-managing process, they won’t be able to get a final list of the titles for the US launch. Hirai says that this should get done around a few weeks before the launch and THEN they’d announce the final list.

On the PS3’s unnamed online plans: Kaz says that the PS3 was designed from the ground up to go online and be a network console, and the reason why they don’t have a name for the online service (like “PlayStation online” or “PlayStation live”) is simply because they can’t imagine a “PlayStation offline.” Hirai also says, “…it doesn’t matter if you are enjoying content from a Blu-ray disc or you are enjoying content you just downloaded from the network, at the end of the day itÂ’s all PlayStation 3 so we donÂ’t differentiate between content…”

So basically, that’s what differentiates Sony from their competitors (according to Hirai at least): they don’t make a big deal out of where you got the content, as long as you’re playing it on their console. Here’s another interesting part of the interview where Hirai talks about online support for Resistance: Fall of Man: 40-player online support, video, text, and voice chat, game rankings, downloadable weapons, levels, and characters. Woohoo!

And, AND, they’ll be expanding this even further with downloadable video and music content, which, in Sony’s terms means not only motion pictures, but also promotional trailers, interviews with artists, and different kinds of video materials. Hirai further boasts that they’re currently working on this service and will be made available the moment you take your PS3s out of the box. Whoa, those sure are big words and promises from Sony, and we’ll definitely be keeping our fingers crossed (until they hurt) that all of these push through.

Via NextGen