Kaz Hirai video interview! No giant crabs, no massive damage...

by Nick Doerr { Oct 2nd 2006 at 8:00PM }

Kikizo had the rare opportunity to conduct a video interview with Kaz Hirai, one of the biggest of men at Sony. It's a fairly lengthy one, so we'll give you a teaser of what to expect.

Sony after E3 -- what changed?
Showing PS3 off to consumers for the first time, reactions
PlayStation profitability - "making huge contributions"
Losing IP exclusivity on titles like Assassin's Creed
PS3 as a completely different entertainment experience
Why's all the Rum(ble) gone?
If HD-DVD prevails what will become of Sony and Blu-ray?
SCEA not concerned with Blu-Ray, but establishing PS3
Launch supplies and ramping up production for Holidays
Strategic delay of the European launch
Strong platform six or seven years from now

That's really about it. Kikizo covered the main points to check out pretty well. All that's left is to download the interview and watch the spin machine on a heavy cycle!

Tags: Kaz Hirai, KazHirai, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cage @ Oct 2nd 2006 8:23PM

The point of hearing from him again? Please show games or information on the Playstation network. Its launch IS a month and a half away...

B33 @ Oct 2nd 2006 9:14PM

Can't view the video because the latest version of firefox is a piece of crap.

Andir2.0 @ Oct 3rd 2006 8:12AM

You blame Firefox for bad web page design?

Hired.Geek @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:22AM

That was an interesting interview. It is really amazing to see the Sony Execs not pertraying this air of arrogance anymore. They seem to be just realistically promoting the PS3. I liked how he presented his thoughts on the lost of exclusives, and how with the PS3 the game makers will be able to provide an exculsive experince through the use of the PS3 hardware. I also found it funny how the explained away the rumble feature. Saying that they Sony was concerned that if they incorporated Rumble it would be to expensive for consumers to purchase extra controllers, this coming from the company that is charging $600 for a console and not even including attachment cables. The other thing I kind of got a laugh out of, was Kaz saying that promoting Blu-Ray is not his concern, but promoting the PS3 is his concern. But over all I really enjoyed listening to his ideas. I really hope more of the Sony execs take the time to sit down and explain to the masses why everyone should buy a PS3. Listening to this interview has not made me decide to go out and buy a PS3 right away, but I think I will definately buy one eventually.

Mr BoomStick XL @ Oct 3rd 2006 12:38PM

You know what's amazing, Sony has F***ED Up again and no one seems to be pissed about it!! I'm a fan of videogames and REALLY want a PS3 but I really don't want to wait in line for 2 days for a system that I may not get!!! That's the reason I like pre-orders, if you are serious about getting the system then you would pay for the system in full or put down a good portion of the total amount because 9 out of 10 times pre-orders are a lock. I REALLY looks like the Wii360 combo will come true!!!!

Babby foot @ Oct 3rd 2006 12:56PM

"I liked how he presented his thoughts on the lost of exclusives, and how with the PS3 the game makers will be able to provide an exculsive experince through the use of the PS3 hardware."

I'm surprised to hear that because that was the biggest bunch of BS he said in the entire interview. Does he really expect us to believe that GTA4 will be better or more unique on the PS3 because of the PS3's hardware??? even though the 360 version will have 2 major EXCLUSIVE add ons (much like Half Life 2 Episodes). Or another example is Assasins Creed on the 360 is using Rumble so the player can feel footholds when climbing walls...how will Sony hardware provide a better experience there when there is no Rumble support? Also Ubisoft Pres has been reported at saying that AI for Assasins Creed will be better on the 360 due to the specific architecture of the 360 processor.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/29/assassins-creed-360-has-superior-ai-says-ubisoft-producer/

And how is having hardware and software that is difficult to learn and even more difficult to master going to provide a better experience for PS3?

MS is leveraging the XNA tools that allow for developers to create games for Both 360 and Windows platform easily. The combined market share of both the 360 an Windows will mean that more and more developers will choose the XNA platform as the default platform. Which means that even if the PS3 could somehow eak out an edge via hardware...you'd be hard pressed to see the difference as the reference platform will be XNA and 360 and Windows.

alienclay @ Oct 3rd 2006 2:22PM

i like what seemed like intellegent answers to questions most of us have had. how it plays out in the end only time will tell but i get the feeling from kaz is that the ps3 is a system designed to last a long time and provide value to the consumer while at the same time not allow the 360 to pull up based on greator console strength like its predasessor was doing in the later portions of last generation.(overall console power, not nitpicking one feature of data bus throughput or bluetooth data multiplexing etc... what the games OVERALL will be like in quality compared to competetor ports).
the comment on losing exclusives to me is a failing point because it's the exclusives that will really take advantage of pulling out more of what cell can do, it's the exclusives that will use more than the 9GB dvd ceiling to exploit blu-ray and it's the exclusives and unique gaming experiences (including online coheasiveness, where live seemes to have the presumed advantage,) that really pull consumers from one console to the other. in this new world where rising development costs will inhearently create more ports kaz has a point about having the best version. but make no mistake, it's the halos, marios, final fantasys, and rachets that control the destinies of game consoles. far more than any other factor.
i think M$ understands theis and has been doing an excellent job in grabbing hold of that advantage.

ozymandias @ Oct 3rd 2006 7:09PM

I like his no b/s (as much as possible) answers. However, he did dodge the if HD-DVD prevails what will become of Sony and Blu-ray question.

Andir2.0 @ Oct 4th 2006 7:24AM

It doesn't matter if HD-DVD prevails. You'll still have a high density media format for all the game content you will ever need for the future of the PS3. People are too hung up thinking that for some reason, if Blu-Ray doesn't make mainstream movie media that it's the end of the world. How many 8-Bit Nintendo cartridge movies do you own? Did that have any affect on how the games played?

Hired.Geek @ Oct 4th 2006 9:45AM

Baby.Foot

I agree XNA is one of the biggest things to hit the video game industry in a long time, and really there is not a lot of coverage of it. Nintendo has a controller that you wave in the air and call it revolutionizing the video game industry. But Microsoft is really returning to the roots of the video game industry and helping thousands of want to be developers create new and possibly great video games and there is only a small hand full of comments made. Now someone with a computer and $99 could sit in their basement or bedroom and create the next DOOM, or whatever killer app game you want.

alienclay @ Oct 5th 2006 1:36PM

...i recently come to the conclusion that sony is stalling with motion in the sixaxis.

in a gamedaily article ( http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=31m,ndzu,spu,ekza,4h7b,2rjf,8t8n )immersion says that inclusion of rumble could be done with a one time software solution.

the ps1 launched with was was basicly a new shape and a couple of buttons on the snes controller. the analog and rumble came later. i think that sony wants to see if the apeal over the immersion suit will go through or not so they dont end up with an "oh shizle, we didn't have to pay! what a waste of 293million." either way pay or not they could add the roumble sell new controllers and only lose suppport of the feature on first gen titles. maybe they think they have a case. i don't completely blame them. sony had to take out a loan (the first in 10 years) in order to pay for the ps3 launch so they need every penny they can get.
bastards.