Nvidia CEO says Sony makes master strokes [Update 1]
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jul 25th 2006 at 2:30PM }
Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of graphics processor company Nvidia, sat down for an interview recently and talked a bit about Sony, who has hired Nvidia's services for graphics processors and such exclusively for the PS3. About the PS3, he is "excited that they made Blu-ray high-definition storage as a standard part of the PlayStation 3 platform ... to postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke." A master stroke. That just sounds so artistic.Another worthwhile snippit for debate is Huang's response about the PS3's price point. He said: "the important thing is you cannot announce a game console for the next ten years and not have Blu-Ray. It's an impossible scenario. The moment we put those consoles together it's going to be very clear. If I'm going to buy a next-generation game console, I'm going to buy a console with next-generation media. It's going to last 10 years."
He also responded to the lack of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray in the Microsoft machine. He said they'd probably modify the system by year end, which is probably true. But as to the modification, Huang said "I don't know how they will do it. But I just can't imagine going to a store and saying that this console has a Blu-Ray and this one has DVD. Remember Dreamcast?" Some of us do remember Dreamcast. It was a great system that was crushed in majority by the PS2 and the jumping of third-party makers. Great system. Skies of Arcadia, anyone? It was ported for a reason.
While the interview is long and most of it is about Nvidia and ATI, it's still worth a look. Feel free to toss up any quotes in a comment, and discussion will ensue.
[Update: included the fact Sony has Nvidia's help exclusively -- thanks, Cage, for bringing it up!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cage @ Jul 25th 2006 2:58PM
"The important thing is you cannot announce a game console for the next ten years and not have Blu-Ray. It's an impossible scenario. The moment we put those consoles together it's going to be very clear. If I'm going to buy a next-generation game console, I'm going to buy a console with next-generation media. It's going to last 10 years."
I hope Sony doesnt believe in the same thing. A console lasting for 10 yrs? Fanboys would be waaaaaay behind the times by then.
In your brief description Nick you may want to include that this chip maker is EXCLUSIVE to the PS3 and that MS chose not to use them.
Sonn @ Jul 25th 2006 3:20PM
Skies of Arcadia was ported to GameCube.
I'm sorry, not a microsoft camp, but Dreamcast>PS2 any day (I own both).
Madikai @ Jul 25th 2006 3:30PM
To #1
*coughs*
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2006/06/28/the-future-proof-risk-takers-talk-total-potential/
DrJack @ Jul 25th 2006 4:56PM
What is it with this 10 year crap. Of all Sony's insane statments everytime this one comes up it drives me nuts. Do they honestly believe that the PS3 will keep a gamer (gamer as in people who bother to read sites called ___fanboy.com, not gamer as in the guy who is still happy with his PS1) entertained for the next 10 years?
I have to believe that Sony is not so incompetent that they believe that this will be the top Sony console they offer for the next 10 years. So in that case knowing that 4-5 years from now PS4 will hit the shelves why do they try to explain away their price with this lie?
I have owned every console from PS1 on, but I have to say the PS3 is the going to break my trend. At this point I can't see supporting this company ever again.
How do you guys deal with it? I wouldn't hang out with a person who straight faced lied to me as much as this company has lied to the world.
Sony is forcing me into a state of fanboyism for all other contenders.
Madikai @ Jul 25th 2006 5:04PM
How do I deal with it? Easy. After Sony bragged it up about the inferiority of the DC, and how EA said that they would personally kill it (the DC), I swore that I would not give Sony any of my money first hand. So, I wait for pawn shops to get a reasonably priced one, and pick it up then. At least then you're not shocked if it dies (Or, like me, who's had the PS2 for the last 3 years from a pawn shop, you're shocked if it continues to live.)
ndoerr @ Jul 25th 2006 5:20PM
@ Cage -- thanks, I forgot about that. One of those implied things because in my mind it was so obvious, but my fingers forgot to educate everyone else. Good call, thanks.
@ Sonn -- I thought it was also ported to XBox, but I confused it with Phantasy Star (also a fantastic game). Dreamcast was fantastic, I agree. Now, if only mine wasn't on the verge of death...
Vader582 @ Jul 25th 2006 5:22PM
"... to postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke."
The only "strokin'" I see here is Jen-Hsun Huang stroking the Big Ego Ken doll.
boots @ Jul 25th 2006 7:55PM
All of you are taking the 10 years quote the wrong way.
PS1 lasted almost Ten years. It was barely stopped being produced not so long ago (in fact, I think it was stopped being produced *After* the original Xbox). Games kept coming for PS1 even years after PS2 was out. So many exclusive good games came out for it, that with all of them PSOne could have easily lasted you 10 years (if you bought it in 1995), with no worries that your games wouldn't keep working with future hardware.
With Yakuza, Okami, God of War 2, FFXII and so on yet to come out, all the great games that have kept coming out (seriously, I don't think I'll ever be able to play them all), and Capcom among other developers still heavily supporting PS2, PS2 looks to have a life even longer than that of PS1, especially since its installed base has grown a lot faster, and of course, its games being forwards compatible.
Anyway, I bet that's what nVidia's CEO was trying to say about PS3 lasting 10 years. PS3 will have Blu-ray, so with development tools refining over time and creating content faster, there shouldn't be much of a problem to keep making big titles for it just when (and if) PS4 comes out, as it happened for PS1 and it is still happening for PS2.
On the other hand, I don't doubt 360 will not last that much, considering it will keep using DVD when the whole industry is evolving, and who knows if Xbox 720 will be backwards compatible anyway. The only way for 360 to last a lot, if Microsoft didn't want a next-gen DVD player, was to include a much bigger hard drive, and media center functionality (not "extender" functionality). Either that, or as Jen-Hsun Huang stated, Blu-ray.
ymmv @ Jul 26th 2006 8:11AM
That ten years claim _is at least an overstatement. Yes, the PS1 kept selling after the PS2 was released but in only two years mainstream support for it dried up almost completely. In most countries the number of new PS1-releases had become a trickle or had stopped completely. Shops stopped selling the gammes or only offered a handful of titles (usually heavily discounted titles they hadn't been able to get rid). In the last few years of its existence, the PS1 certainly didn't enjoy mainstream popularity anymore in all major markets around the world.
PS3 @ Jul 26th 2006 12:06PM
"I'm sorry, not a microsoft camp, but Dreamcast>PS2 any day (I own both)."
sam here i love my DC
Sonn @ Jul 26th 2006 2:32PM
w00t DC, where's the DCfanboy page?
on another note, a 10 year plan is a little un-realistic (is this from Sony's mouth or nvidias?) As I doubt their hardware is good for that long - what with all the new-fangledness.
I will however concede that from the get-go the 'future-proofedness' does seem to atleast be there more-so than on the 360... whether or not this is practical for a gaming system...
boots @ Jul 26th 2006 8:55PM
Ymmv, you do get the idea though. The last great game that I remember for PS1 came out in mid 2003, it was Final Fantasy Origins; that's a huge name, especially for a console that was out in December 1994... did that game mark the dead of the PS1? Hell no, it gave even more life to PSOne, that's why it took till *after* the Xbox to be discontinued... do you not see an even better future for PS2, judging what happened with PS1, considering the even bigger installed base, and the games still being forwards compatible?
The last major title that the Xbox 1 will get will be MK:Armageddon (a cross-platform game), not even 5 years after the Xbox 1 was launched in America.
And by the way, I also forgot to mention God Hand, for PS2...
Scott Krueger. @ Jul 28th 2006 4:23PM
Cage Wrote,
In your brief description Nick you may want to include that this chip maker is EXCLUSIVE to the PS3 and that MS chose not to use them.
Microsoft chose not to use them. However, it does not mean that the Nvidia is not the best graphics chip (It is!).
I know because I have been disappointed in every ATI card I have ever owned when it came to gaming.
Nvidia knows more about making a good gaming chip.
ATI's are usually good for CAD.
I'm not doing CAD on my 360 or my PS3.
But Cage makes a good point about Nvidia kissing some Sony But. Smooch Smooch.