We got a rare chance to sit down and talk shop with recently-named Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. President Kaz Hirai, and his US successor, Jack Tretton. These two had a lot to say, and we were more than happy to let them talk about where the PS3's going in terms of hardware, software, and services, why Sony's E3 presence this year is so radically different than last year, even a little bit about how things have been at PlayStation HQ post-Kutaragi -- check it out!

So out of all the three press conferences we've been writing up, we're giving each one a grade based on a new highly scientific Mega Man ranking system. Sony is our last one, but chronologically so we haven't gotten there yet. But this press conference had a much different tone then let's say last year's E3 press conference. How much did you guys look at last year's, how should we say, performance, and decide that you needed to do something different? What kind of decision making process was that?

Jack: Well obviously I was not as intimately involved in planning last year's press conference as I was in this one, but it's funny now that you look at that perspective and you see some of the other press conferences and how people are conducting themselves. I think companies are very proud of their success and they want to tell everybody how successful you are. But what you realize is that everybody already knows that and no one really cares. They want to know how you are going to be successful going forward. And so we've certainly taken our fair share of heat about, you know, the performance of PlayStation 3 in the first six to eight months, and I guess we wanted to focus our message on really telling you why PlayStation 3 is going to be successful going forward.

And its all about content, its about games, and I think going through that experience, you know, the light bulb goes off, and you go oh, wait a minute, its really all about the content and what we're going to do going forward to keep our platforms relevant. Its not about what we did 10 years ago, its not about how many units we've sold here or there. So clearly I think for points of reference and perspective we wanted to point some things out that we really wanted that press conference geared towards why people are going to want to buy games and buy our platforms and that was kind of the theme and the central message. I give Dave [Karraker, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, SCEA] a lot of credit for building off of that theme and coordinating tremendous amounts of presentations and content through the whole thing. But hopefully we've stayed on message and we've gotten the point across.

So why no word about rumble?

Jack: Well, I guess at this point the SIXAXIS controller is something that we're comfortable with and we've certainly settled our differences with Immersion. Is it something that can happen down the road? Absolutely. But the bottom line is we haven't made that decision and we didn't have anything to announce or introduce. Will we down the road? Possibly, but it's unbeknownst to me if we have a rumble controller coming out.

Oh I think you'd know before anyone!

[laughter] Well, you'd be surprised! It's a big company...

Gran Turismo HD on the PlayStation 3 is no more. The game, which was due for release in Japan this month, has officially been cancelled, leaving developer Polyphony Digital to focus its energy on the completion of Gran Turismo 5. All is not lost, however, as what was Gran Turismo HD will now be offered through the PlayStation Store as Gran Turismo HD Concept -- essentially a playable preview of Gran Turismo 5.

GTHD Concept will be free to download and becomes available in Japan on December 24. There is currently no confirmation of a worldwide release date (what a nice holiday treat though!). This free business has us wondering what happened to that dubious rumor about Gran Turismo's excessive microtransactioning?

It appears that there will be no online elements in GTHD Concept (apart from the very act of downloading it), with SCEI's new Mr. Big, Kaz Hirai, explaining in an open letter released this morning: "For the genuine implementation of 'Online Car Life Simulation', please wait for Gran Turismo 5."

That we will do.

File this one in the delicious irony department: the same day Kotaku's Brian Crecente posts a video of his son playing a brand new demo unit of the PS3, SCEA boss Kaz Hirai tells the Associated Press that his 12-year-old son doesn't yet have a system. Despite the younger Hirai's begging, Kaz said that his son "hasn't touched one and he hasn't seen one ... that's only fair for everybody."

Can this possibly true? Do members of the press now rank higher in the battle for new Sony hardware than the president of the company? Or was Hirai's quote a Steve-Ballmer-style "I feel your pain" PR feint designed to mollify gamers hurt by expected shortages? We report ... you decide.

[AP story via VideoGamesBlogger]

I set my alarm yesterday morning. I had a date with Sony Gamer's Day, 2006. And yes, Grammar Rodeo champions, that apostrophe means that it was just for me. Also, about 100 to 200 other journalists and analysts showed up, but I let them stay.

Sony's annual all-day press event held few surprises. Instead, it was the last big event before the PS3 retail launch, and we reporters got to play more games, eat fancy hors d'oeuvres, and talk to Sony executives.

In the late morning, I attended a lunch that was supposed to be with developers but occurred without them; a roundtable discussion had been canceled. Instead, I got to listen to analysts at my table spout lots of semi-confidential numbers off-the-record. Numbers like "40%," and "5,000,000." (Yes, commenters, those are completely out of context; don't start any rumors.) After eating fancy food that may have been prepared entirely by a team of Cell processors -- it was that good -- I headed to San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood for the presentations.

Our colleagues at GameDaily BIZ spoke with Victor Viegas, CEO of force feedback patent holder Immersion, about Sony VP Kaz Hirai's recent comments on the PS3 controller's lack of rumble. Hirai told Kikizo in a taped interview, "If we have to come up with technology ... to isolate the vibration from the sensing, but if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we're doing the consumer a huge disservice by coming up with a controller that is not very affordable."

Viegas responded that his company "knew how to technically solve their problems" and they now "know how to do it without adding any incremental cost." He even cited a third party PS2 controller, the G-Pad Pro, that "incorporates both motion sensing and vibration and goes for the retail price of just $29.95." That's only $5 more than a Dual Shock.

We can't help but be shaken, rumbled even, by the irony of proclaiming cost sensitivity as the purported rationale for excising the controller's force feedback functionality when the console it will wirelessly communicate with has been criticized, by most everyone below the 35% tax bracket, for being extravagantly expensive. Note to Sony: We're pretty sure anyone ponying up $500-$600 for a PS3 would be more than willing to shell out an extra $5 for force feedback.

With Nintendo's rumbling, motion-sensing controller combo going for a princely $60, and Microsoft's rumbling, motion-free 360 gamepad going for a steep $50, how should Sony price their lightweight, rumble-free Sixaxis? They've already said it's got to be affordable.

Other peripheral pricing:
PS3: Dual Shake is dead, long live Sixaxis

Read - Hirai: No Rumble in PS3 Controller Due to Cost
Read - Immersion CEO: Rumble + Motion Not Cost Prohibitive

In a rather bland interview with Cnet, Sony's Kaz Hirai proclaims that the Blu-ray format is the best choice for gamers when compared to the capacity in its fiercest competitor, the Xbox 360. He told Cnet:

Our decision to include the Blu-ray player ... in all of our PlayStation 3s was the right decision. Look at the massive amounts of data that's required to provide a truly immersive gaming experience in true HD. If you only have a DVD ROM drive, which can only go up to about 9GB or so, you're going to end up with a game that's going to have two or possibly even three discs. And then you're going to have to ask consumers to swap discs out or cache all the game onto the hard drive which I think is an inconvenience -- not to mention the fact that you're going to fill up a 20GB hard drive very quickly with some of these games. So trying to go without a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 really is a nonstarter.

Pretty much a diss to the 360 and its capabilities, Hirai believes that the Blu-ray is key to the PS3's ultimate success. Considering how massive a game like Oblivion is on one disc, does the extra storage capability of the Blu-ray disc even matter?

On a another note, Kaz still says that production of the PS3 has yet to start.

[Thanks, KingOfGods]

GameSpot recently had a chat with Sony Computer Entertainment American President Kaz Hirai and the status of the PlayStation 3 as it nears launch three months from now. While Kaz didn't necessarily come out and say anything that wasn't already known, there were a few interesting notes to be taken away from the piece. Here are the golden nuggets, so to speak, of the long-winded interview:

• My plan basically is to make sure that we keep at least as much market share as we have had with the PS1 and the PS2.
  
• ... I'd like to think that our market share will be as good -- if not better -- than what we've accomplished with the PS2 in the same kind of time frame since launch.
• ... we're internally really getting geared up to go to market with this beautiful console in three months' time, and at this point in time all signs are good to go.
• ... we've always talked about shipping 2 million units worldwide within the calendar year. Since we're going with three territories, we haven't really come up with an allocation just yet.
  
• ... I think it's going to be very much of a challenge to be able to meet every single unit demand that's out there in the market.
• We haven't started manufacturing yet.
• I think it's too early to say at this point in time which games definitively are going to be launch titles, and I certainly can't speak for the third parties.
• We definitely plan, and will leverage a lot -- if not most -- of the entertainment content that Sony brings. Having said that though, we want to make sure that we're not just suddenly becoming a vehicle for delivering Sony entertainment content only.
• Between PlayStation, PS2 and PSP, the PSP happens to be the fastest-growing product we've ever launched. I think we cleared 20 million units worldwide within the first what, about 18 months or so. And in the US, we've already cleared 5.2 million.
• Again, [there are] no adjustments on the horizon as far as PSP [pricing] goes. We're happy with the pricing, we're happy with the value proposition ...

Even after all the bad press and poor E3 showing, Kaz and Sony still feel very comfortable with what direction the PS3 will be going. What is your ultimate (non-fanboy) prediction now that we're three months away from launch?

[Update: SCEA contacted us to let us know that Kaz's statements were "misunderstood." They issued the following statement:

"Unfortunately Kaz Hirai's comments in the recent GameSpot interview regarding PLAYSTATION 3 production were misunderstood. We are still on schedule to ship 2 million units for our mid-November 2006 launch and additional 2 million units by the end of the year for a total of 4 million units."

Damage control? Perhaps (we're still having trouble rectifying how his statements regarding "2 million units worldwide within the calendar year" could be misunderstood). We don't think anyone (at Sony, Joystiq, or elsewhere) is under the impression there won't be any PS3 shortages, but Sony appears confidant they'll have 4 million of these puppies out the door by end of year.]

Sony's Kaz Hirai has let his inner stroppiness out in an interview with PlayStation Magazine, where he moans at Microsoft for copying Sony's strategies and disses Microsoft's plan for an HD-DVD add-on whilst simultaneously bigging up his own company's Blu-ray plan.

In a response to the interviewer's leading question/statement "Sony and Microsoft seem to be taking the exact same path...", Kaz responds by saying that "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..." It's possible that we'd be more likely to agree with this statement if we knew exactly what he meant, because as it stands this is the PR equivalent of trash talk.

This childish display of "Miss! That kid's copying me!" reminds me of one of my favorite poems as a child called Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg, summmarized thusly: moan all you want, but don't expect sympathy from anyone. Especially when your complaint sits on very shaky ground.

"Riiiiiidge Raaaaacer!" Kaz Hirai's famous declaration at Sony's E3 media breifing might not have garnered much applause, but, according to UK PSP Magazine, there are plenty of other emulated PlayStation titles (for the PSP) that will. These five AAA titles should be available when the emulation service launches:

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Silent Hill
• Tomb Raider

In addition, UK PSP Magazine reports that up to 7,000 PlayStation titles will be available for download by the end of 2007. Say what?! 7,000! Yes folks, it's possible -- Wikipedia: "As of March 2005, there were 7,743 software titles available (this figure counts games released in multiple regions as separate titles)."

Forget PSOne, the PSP has officially become the first, truly portable PlayStation. We knew the thing would find its calling sooner or later...

Can't get enough Phil Harrison in your life? Check out this video from the media Q&A following his GDC keynote for 20 minutes of Phil-y love (and maybe a few furtive glances from Kaz Hirai sitting in the background).

We just love how Phil "swerve[d] a couple of the questions" regarding the hard drive and other hardware-related issues, but we also like how he managed to clarify those questions regarding "content offerings" that will be charged at a "premium," though he did say that there were "no plans to charge for [multiplayer gaming] at the moment."

But, yeah, Mr. Harrison wasn't as combative in his answers as some media outlets portrayed him, which is another great step for platform executives who tend to make rather grandiose statements and fiery claims. If you want to see as well as hear the Phil handle all comers, this is one of your best chances yet. We'd love to hear it all clearly in English at E3, too.

[Thanks, Fan; video courtesy of Jean-Baptiste Su of Citizen Valley]