The three heads of Sony speak -- region free PS3!

by Nick Doerr { Sep 25th 2006 at 11:00AM }

Phil Harrison... Kaz Hirai... Ken Kutaragi... no, they do not comprise the three heads of the mythical Cerberus, but they do comprise the three heads of a real-life corporation that rivals such mythical beasts: Sony. Game|Life got to interview them all in one night and a couple of interesting tidbits came out. Here they are:

Phil Harrison believes there's no North American price drop because the $599 is a "magic price point". Basically, it's the price people will buy at that gives Sony the greatest marginal profit (or if manufacturing costs are still more than the price, the lowest marginal loss).
The Playstation 3 is region free for games, but not movies. So you can grab a PS3 from Japan if you really, really want, but you'll have trouble playing local movies. This is also good news for import junkies, especially among fighting game fanatics (less translation to deal with). Oh, this also includes downloadable games.
Kaz Hirai and Ken Kutaragi both leaned towards "no" as to the inclusion of component cables in the box.

Alone, each point is kind of "meh", but add them together and you've got a bevy of PS3 common knowledge. It's surprising how these more common points are overlooked, so while many may have heard these, there will be some who were wondering about these and, well, now they know.

[FYI: if the link to Game|Life doesn't work, just hit refresh. That worked for me!]

Tags: Kaz Hirai, KazHirai, Ken Kutaragi, KenKutaragi, Phil Harrison, PhilHarrison, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, TGS, Tokyo Game Show, TokyoGameShow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kiz_ @ Sep 25th 2006 11:23AM

Come on guys no component?

xbox360dsPSP @ Sep 25th 2006 11:41AM

The price point should be no surprise. The price for the Japanese market was done in direct response to Microsoft's 360 price slash. Microsoft will go to great lengths to beat Sony in their home market.

I am surprised that Sony isn't going to throw at least some component cables in the box. Effectively, this thing won't be able to output to HD without accessories. Unlike HDMI where there are third-party options, that multi-AV tap for the PS3 is going to fetch some $$$.

I'm not going to be standing out in the cold to buy one of these this holiday. Maybe next year, maybe not -- it really depends upon the PS3 exclusive titles.

F-Man @ Sep 25th 2006 12:35PM

Will PlayStation 1 and 2 games be region-free as well?

_SPIDEY_ @ Sep 25th 2006 12:32PM

No component cables? That is huge! Considering my HDTV has component inputs and no HDMI :(

the_pwnerer @ Sep 25th 2006 12:58PM

"The Playstation 3 is region free for games, but not movies. So you can grab a PS3 from Japan if you really, really want, but you'll have trouble playing local movies."

tsk, tsk... nick... unless you were talking to non-americans and non-japanese, this isn't true, at least for Blu-ray movies. Blu-ray in all the american continent, and Japan, is the same region.

Silver R. Wolfe @ Sep 25th 2006 12:58PM

Actually, even if the movies aren't region-free, if you get a Japanese PS3, you'll have no problem playing US movies since they're in the same region.

ndoerr @ Sep 25th 2006 1:05PM

@ the_pwnerer -- Oh... well... yeah, that's right. I was definitely referring to Europe. A warning's a warning, right? Heh, heh... yep. That's it... that was my plan. Besides, who says I don't live in Europe? Just kidding. I don't.

Munchie @ Sep 25th 2006 2:13PM

Now if only someone at Sony will start talking about what they are doing for Online plans. Just like Killzone...sony has been very mum on what they are doing Online.

aka Bitter @ Sep 25th 2006 4:58PM

Excuse the ignorance, but if no component cables are with the system included, what will be? The natural conclusion is HDMI, but has that been stated anywhere?

Madikai @ Sep 25th 2006 7:16PM

@aka Bitter

I'll put money down that you just wind up with RCAs packed in with the PS3. If nothing else, they are the most reliable connectors to allow anyone to hook up a system with. Sony _may_ switch things up a little bit, and possibly offer a new connector that has RCAs (video + stereo audio) and S-Video, but, I'd say expect RCAs only.

ozymandias @ Sep 25th 2006 7:36PM

the 360 shipped with component and RCA. I cant see why sony couldnt do something similar.

Madikai @ Sep 26th 2006 2:04AM

@Ozymandias

But, wouldn't that be negated by the "All signs point to no" for component video cables? They probably could do something similar, as the 360 has a hardware switch on their cable, and were Sony to do that, they would still be able to use the same port for video output as on the PS2... (This is going by a rumor that the PS3 and PS2 use the same output ports, I'm too darn lazy to dredge up a picture of the PS3s backside to compare it to my PS2 at this time.)