Kaz Hirai, man of many words
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jun 29th 2006 at 8:00PM }
Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, decided to tell Microsoft what he thought of them in a recent interview with PlayStation Magazine. From an overall business standpoint, he feels "every time we go down a path, we look behind and they're right there -- we just can't shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own..." What does he mean? No matter, it makes us fanboys fist-pump and yell out 'you tell 'em, Kaz!' At least I did.Kaz dipped into the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD format war as well. He questioned Microsoft's optical drive strategy, pointing out that Sony "...incorporates the Blu-Ray drive from day one. You're not going to be asking me, 'So tell me about this Blu-Ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?'" While compared to standalone Blu-Ray players, the PS3 is a steal (and the games ain't hurtin' it either), but it's still a question of necessity. Let's give a few cheers for Kaz, finally stepping up and slinging some of that mud back at the competition!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam @ Jun 29th 2006 8:06PM
HAHA, the author's comments are so biased. You got PS3FANBOY right. OMG Kaz, I can't believe Nintendo stole your idea! And OMFG, Xbox Live?! Holy shit! Sony had that first!!
Mr BoomStick XL @ Jun 29th 2006 9:34PM
I know that this is a SONY FAN site but I have to comment on this. Sony has not had an original idea of their own in years and XBL will be no diffrent, they will steal all the idea's from XBL and LOOK they stole the motion Activated Controller from the Big N!!
Night Elve @ Jun 29th 2006 9:36PM
Come on all the idea behind Xbox Live was developed first by VALVe with Steam, so dont talk about how innovate Xbox Live is.
Mr BoomStick XL @ Jun 29th 2006 9:53PM
And what's your point?? Did I strike a Sony nerve or something?? Listen dude, Sony WILL copy XBL because it works and their own service that made people buy a friggin Hard Drive sucked in the worst way and still does!! No one will be suprised when Sony fails at their copy of the LIVE service!!
sputnik @ Jun 30th 2006 12:10AM
#3 Umm Xbox Live was out years before Steam and Half Life 2. And 4 years after the release of Xbox Live and there still is nothing else quite like it. So you have little ground to stand on in saying that Xbox Live is copying something else.
atsura @ Jun 30th 2006 12:57AM
Um Steam didn't begin with HL2. And XBL and Steam where released about the same time. Both services launched in 2002 if I remember correctly.
But that's how the business works. You copy the best. And I honestly don't care if Sony copies XBL, at least there will be SOME online features this time around, even if they are crappy.
But it's great paying someone else to use your own bandwidth. I mean you, the user, host the games. I guess I'm paying to see my friends playing Halo 2 while I'm playing Call of Duty 2 or Perfect Dark when I look through my friends list.
Furniture @ Jun 30th 2006 3:45AM
And the other thing is, you take a look at, for example, the fact that we incorporate the Blu-ray drive from day one. You're not going to be asking me, 'So, talk to me about this Blu-ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?' That's exactly the kind of pitfall you fall into if you launch something that's too early, too premature...
Lion @ Jun 30th 2006 9:55AM
7: A lot of people are happy that they don't need to pay for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray when they buy an Xbox 360; not everyone wants to pick a side in the next-gen disc war just yet. So where you might be happy to plunk down an extra $200 for a Blu-ray drive, a lot of people are thinking that they'd rather use that $200 for some games.
Lion @ Jun 30th 2006 9:57AM
Sorry ... It's really a $100 difference when you consider HDD sizes.
Andir2.0 @ Jun 30th 2006 10:31AM
...and that $100 is reason enough for me to get an extra 20G Optical Drive for game content.
Alijah Green @ Jun 30th 2006 10:53AM
NOTHING IS EVERY FREE IN LIFE, SO SOMEBODY IS GOING TO PAY FOR THE SERVICE. ADS MIGHT BE THERE TO OUT WAY THE COST OF MILLION OF USERS PLAYING EACH OTHER FOR FREE. OR MAYBE THE COST OF GAME MIGHT TAKE OF SOME OF THE WEIGHT. REMEMBER GAMES WILL COST IN BETWEEN $59.99 - $99.99, LAST YEAR I WAS THINKING ABOUT GET A SONY PLAYSTATION FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER BUT WITH EVERY OTHER PLAYSTATION THAT CAME OUT THEY HAVE ALWAYS PISSED ME OFF. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THEY SAID F THE DEVELOPERS BECAUSE THEY HAVE CONSIDERABLE INCREASED THE COST TO MAKE NEXT-GEN GAMES. THIRD PARTYS ARE ALREADY BACKING OUT. NOW YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT IS WAS THE THIRD PARTY THAT GOT THEM WHERE THEY ARE AT NOW. SO I WILL SHED A TEAR FOR SONY AND IS PSX I MEAN PS3.
Max Howell @ Jun 30th 2006 11:08AM
All the other weblogs.inc fanboy sites are pretty balanced in their reporting, I may have to unsubscribe from this one! Like blimey! I hope this was meant to be toungue in cheek or something.
SuicideNinja @ Jun 30th 2006 11:54AM
I think it's a bit preposterous of him to say this. Yes, the PS2 had an online service, a hard drive, and was supposed to have media functions. The Xbox had the same things, but they were actually functional and useful.
Sony dropped support for their poor online service 1-game-requiring hard drive (that won't work on the slim PS2s), and never brought those media functions to the table. Is he butt-hurt or something, because Sony's failure in these areas is more than obvious?
It's like saying everyone stole the d-pad and the analog stick from Nintendo. No, they were just the first to make it functional for the masses. Motion control is a really old idea (Microsoft did it a while ago, there was even a motion joystick for "old" games), but Nintendo again will likely be the first to make it functional for the masses.
I'm still trying to figure out what Sony is good at besides scamming some of the better exclusives and having reps says some really laughable things. Kaz should stop whining and work on selling us those games. You know, the games that aren't Riiiiidge Raaaacer 27!
Kid Muscle @ Jun 30th 2006 12:24PM
Wow has anyone here ever heard of SARCASM? The author of this thread obviously used it.
God, I hope there aren't any PS3 fans going to Wii and 360 sites and making @$$'s of themselves like many people did here... >_>
As for stealing....it gets no where...you don't see Atari claiming responsiblity for the Analog, and Intellivision claiming the D-Pad is theirs. They have more common sense than that, they know they started it and others improved on it...
boots @ Jul 1st 2006 6:55PM
"...and that $100 is reason enough for me to get an extra 20G Optical Drive for game content."
Uh, why not get the 600 PS3 version instead? Can you really use any Hard Drive on 360 just like on PS3? If that's true then why can't I play any video out of my portable HDD, let alone store my game saves?
Don't kid yourself, Xbox 360 will unfortunately never have those features because they need to push Media Center PCs, let alone protect themselves against piracy.
Some of this will probably apply to PS3 and Wii too.