Though pointing out the success of PlayStation 3 launch titles such as Resistance and Motorstorm, Sony executive Phil Harrison told Game Informer magazine (via GI.biz) that "it's always dangerous to judge any system by its launch lineup," while adding, "you only have to go back to the games that launched PlayStation 1 and Playstation 2."

Excellent observation! Indeed, if we remember when 1UP compared launch lineup review scores, there is a curious (albeit not stringent) trend: the two consoles on the list with the worst-reviewed launch lineups belong to consoles (Wii and PlayStation One) who have shown great success, whereas the opposite has also proven true (GameCube and Dreamcast had well-received launch titles).

Given the trend, then, we say Sony should embrace the notion of a lackluster PS3 launch. They've got a good statistical probability of pulling out this generation (especially if calls for a price drop don't go unheeded).

Several members of the official PlayStation forums are claiming that the option to download and launch the North American version of the Home beta has appeared in the PlayStation Store. Invites to the closed beta of Sony's Game 3.0 get-together were sent out last week to a seemingly select few. The majority of posters within the relevant PlayStation forum thread have expressed disappointment at not making the cut, though they may just be temporary victims of a stuttered roll-out. The few chosen ones are in higher spirits, though seem confused by Home's appearance in the store's Blu-ray section.

When asked to comment on the Beta's status, SCEA had naught to offer but a quote from a popular anime series, ".........." (Which is to say, more formally, that SCEA did not respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.)



[Via PS3 Fanboy]

We still can't make heads or tails of the anonymous writers at the "semi-official" Sony blog Three Speech. In an interview with Phil Harrison, which took place at GDC, they laid on the porn questions with the Sony bigwig pretty thick. It appears the "semi-official" blog was trying to semi-irritate Harrison.

The interviewer asks if Home will allow for "adult content" between the avatars? Harrison dismisses that. Then the interviewer presses by asking if players will be allowed to upload porn and invite people into their private space to watch. Harrison tries to end the line of questioning, "I'm disappointed that you would use those as the first questions. I think Home should be used for a much wider and more beneficial scope than that, but I think that people can express their creativity inside Home in a wide variety of ways and it's not necessarily for us to dictate what that should be. However, if somebody feels uncomfortable about an encounter on Home, it's very easy for them to ban that person from their friends list"

Well, the semi-official blog certainly got away with asking some very off-message questions. Although, for all we know, it's some strange twist in Sony's European PS3 marketing to plant the idea of porn in people's minds. We do know that a majority of Three Speech's information is Euro based, but our requests for the name of their editor and a list of their writers have been ignored. We still have no idea who Three Speech is and what they represent. These porn questions would certainly not be the most bizarre tactic we've seen implemented in the European campaign.

MTV News' Stephen Totilo has managed to glean new details from Sony's Phil Harrison on their megaton PlayStation 3 announcement, Home, in a video interview (after the break) and accompanying Multiplayer post (scroll down to yesterday's entry).

The initial plan with Home is to start with apartments for users, then go on to outdoors, houses, gardens, neighborhoods. Currently, 16 people will be allowed in one apartment at any given time, although that limit is being tweaked. As for lobbies, which will be "infinitely spawned by the number of users online," 64 will be the limit. A search function will be included to help users find their friends online.

As to concerns whether the social aspect of Home will take away from time spent gaming, Harrison sees that as a non-issue. "I think that you shouldn't lose sight that home is all about games and creating social interaction between gamers ... [Home is] a springboard to a deeper gaming experience," he said.

Also mentioned was that no collision detection would be implemented, so users will likely just walk through one another. While that should eliminate problems associated with crowds, it also reduces the options for those who wish to use their avatars for naughtier means.

The pressure of keeping up with all the spin might finally be getting to Sony and their executives. Yesterday's spectacular lapse in judgment by Dave Karakker against Kotaku, which was condemned across the internet, came as Sony's Phil Harrison has been on an awkward press poking bender of his own.

Simon Carless of Gamasutra was the first to experience the Harrison press attack, he was called out for quoting improperly. Carless puts up a strong defense and un-spins Harrison's allegations. Next on the chopping block was MTV News' Stephen Totilo, who also went on to defend his work. This all comes after last week's Game Head where Harrison made comments toward Geoff Keighley about negative things said in the press. Timing wise, the Harrison incidents all happened at the exact same time. The Carless and Totilo quotes both come from an N'Gai Croal piece, which was conducted at the D.I.C.E. Summit. The Keighley interview also occurred at the same convention. So, although these incidents are playing out over time, maybe Harrison was just having a bad time at the slots in Vegas. Well, we'll certainly get a better sense of Sony and their views on the press next week at the Game Developers Conference.

In the fourth and final part of N'Gai Croal's epic and quite informative interview with Phil Harrison, the Sony head of worldwide studios discusses his company's cultural approach to marketing in Japan. Mr. Harrison explains that in order to engender trust in Japanese consumers, Sony should start divulging more information and features earlier, even if they aren't quite "perfect" yet. His example? "You know, we're not sure when it's coming, but we're going to have DVD upscaling on Playstation 3." He follows up with, "There you go. There's a scoop for you."

Though it's up in the air as to when a PS3 firmware update will enable a feature found in standalone Blu-ray players, it should work as a sufficient stop-gap to those still waiting for Blu-ray versions of Bloodrayne and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation. DVD upscaling might not boast the "wow" factor of pure HD content, but the Algebra of Wows dictates that it should be worth several thousand anti-mehs. At least!

In an "exclusive interview" with "semiofficial" Playstation blog, Threespeech, Sony's Phil Harrison provides some clarity regarding the PAL PS3's range of backwards compatibility, not to mention the opportunity to place even more quotation marks into this paragraph. "The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles." Sony's head of worldwide studios is referring to the list of PS2 games that are expected to be supported by the software emulation found in European PS3s.

This announcement certainly defuses some of the controversy that resulted from Sony announcing the removal of PS2 hardware from European PS3 systems. After promising software support for a "limited" number of titles, many European gamers were feeling rightly cheated for having to pay a higher price for a PS3 with fewer features. Though the specific titles that comprise the list have yet to be announced (Harrison notes that Sony's policy is to focus on popular titles), it seems Sony is already far better equipped than Microsoft when it comes to fighting the inevitable onslaught of gamers complaining about their favorite title not being supported.

Mr. Harrison also promises that an online list of backwards compatible games will be available on March 23, and that it will grow with every PS3 firmware update.

Hop on the merry-go-round and hold on for dear life -- here's a Phil Harrison interview. In speaking to GameDaily BIZ, the Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president touches on several interesting topics, including "so called negativity" in the press, potential PS3 price drops and the omission of rumble technology in the Sixaxis controller.

• On negative press: Mr. Harrison isn't fazed at all, pointing out that those who have purchased a PS3 have been naught but satisfied thus far. He goes on to say that negativity originates from "a fairly narrow section of the media" (Time Magazine and New York Times BURN) and that if there "were genuine criticisms, then of course we'll address them, but there's nothing that bothers me." Nothing at all?
• On PS3 price drops: Sony feels under no pressure to drop the price of the PS3 this year, expressing comfort with their current strategy and the level of software currently available.
• On the lack of rumble: Phil Harrison says motion controls offer far more opportunities to innovate than rumble ever did, adding that rumble is like, totally last-gen. "Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is." Analog stick, your days are numbered, my friend.

What say you, Joystiq readers?

Like the Saint's Row musical, talent, no matter how biased it may be, deserves to be recognized. Using The Fray's How to Save a Life as a template, GamerCastNetwork's How to Kill a Brand stands as one top notch piece of PlayStation smearing. It's time for Sony to start showing some Killzone footage and make people go, "ZOMG!" And at this stage of the game, that had better be the reaction.

Unless he's got a parade of man-servants lugging around a PlayStation 3, 1080p display, and generator to power the two, then Phil Harrison's been spending his time traveling from session to session at D.I.C.E. with a LocoRoco sequel on a decidedly smaller platform. PSP? Nope, mobile. According to IGN, Harrison said he'd been playing "LocoRoco's next version on the way" over to a Q&A with the gaming site.

Sure, it could be that Harrison let slip the near-complete condition of a presupposed PSP sequel, but he's got more business savvy than that. Besides, IGN was asking him what he'd been playing on other platforms, ruling out PSP and PS3; not that more LocoRoco isn't headed to those formats. In December, Harrison confirmed that multiple LocoRoco games were in development, indicating that a PSP sequel is likely underway. That some of those cuddly blobs will be bounding onto the PS3 store seems like a no-brainer too.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

On his Newsweek weblog, N'Gai Croal posts a brief exchange with Sony's Phil Harrison from October. The previously unpublished question asks Harrison's thoughts on why Rare has slid into irrelevance. Croal posted the question and answer because of the recent news about Rare's creators leaving the company.

Harrison does his best to remain diplomatic about the Microsoft-owned company and avoid the question. However, he alludes to Microsoft executives and corporate culture possibly disrupting Rare's style, although he also wonders if Rare's already secretive nature and inward focus hid industry trends from the company.

Is there any hope -- or reason to hope -- that Rare rebuilds itself? Or since its founders have left, should we just dust off our GoldenEye carts and reminisce?

User-created content, which has long been a fixture in the world of PC gaming, has never managed to gain any real traction on consoles, be that due to technological constraints or a lack of online connectivity. With both of those issues out of the way in modern systems, the time is ripe for users to interact and share their creations and experiences. Sony's Phil Harrison gets behind the idea in a revealing interview with MTV's Stephen Totilo, opining* that gaming needs to move away from presenting "closed experiences."

If games are to break free (God knows they want to break free), there needs to be a constant flow of communication between Sony and gamers -- more importantly, Harrison insists that said communication flows in both directions (give us money, here's your money). "Next year you're going to see user-created experiences in a number of interesting ways on PlayStation 3," goes the official and spectacularly vague PR line. A Second Life-styled virtual network has oft been rumored, but Harrison fell victim to "line distortion" before Totilo could get any concrete information about it.

So, what entails a "user-created experience?" In the worst case, it's a custom wallpaper and a shared photo between friends. In the best case? Oh, it could be anything, from personalized in-game T-shirts to deadly dungeons designed to foil your friends. Be sure to ask us about it next year.

* Basis for an awful pun later in the sentence.

Read (and be assaulted by Flash) -- Full interview on MTV News

Engadget has posted an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment's SVP of Marketing, Peter Dille. He's only been back with Sony for the past six months, coming aboard right at the start of E3, the equivalent of being dropped behind enemy lines without a map.

They don't pull any punches with the questions, asking him about the declining PS3 launch numbers (Dille fails to nail down a figure), the UMD format, and the never-ending saga of "true HD." While a lot of his answers are standard PR responses (hey, he's a PR guy -- he probably talks like that at home), he's also honest about the things he knows about, and what he's unsure of. Of particular note is that the PS3 will upscale DVDs to 1080p, something that Microsoft had announced the HD-DVD player would do for non-native HD DVDs.

He also addresses the lack of rumble in the SIXAXIS controller, saying "I was talking to Phil Harrison about recently is the weight of the controller is now so much lighter that you almost forget that you have it. And again, it's bringing you one step closer to the game." What, by making you forget you're holding a controller? While the PS3 controller is definitely light, it's not like a feather resting in your hands.

On the issue of not including an HD cable with the PS3, he claims that's to give "flexibility and choice, based on how they want to use the system in their home." Not to make us have to buy one more thing from Sony? Color us suspect. As much as they push 1080p, Blu-Ray, and "true HD," you think they'd be handing the cables out like candy. We want to be able to go HD right out of the box. As far as having a VGA cable with the PS3? "I have to get back with you on that one. Not sure."

We applaud his honest answers (although we would have liked more info about the Lik-Sang litigation) and feel for the guy. They're trying to get this lumbering beast off the ground and not get stuck with a Spruce Goose.

It's on. Sony looks to takeaway Microsoft's edge -- you know, Xbox Live Arcade -- by aggressively pursuing developers who will create downloadable titles that suit PlayStation 3's hardware. Here's Phil Harrison's take on Sony's new strategy:

"[What] we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Plus, the fact that every PS3 has a hard disk drive means that we're not restricted by the size of the download, and that has a huge impact on the kind of game design that you can do."

But is this what our $600 console was built for? Is it too far out to imagine Sony (and Microsoft) slipping into a pattern; buttering us up with little e-Distribution titles all year long, and then releasing a couple big-budget franchise sequels during the holidays? Downloadable games are a nice bonus, but the novelty seems to be attracting a disproportionate amount of our game companies' attentions. How far off is the PS3 Jr., a console with no optical drive, tailored solely for the e-Distribution era?

Speaking with 1UP, Sony's Phil Harrison detailed plans to make most of the PlayStation (PS1) catalogue available for download on PlayStation 3 -- in addition to PSP. Harrison confirmed that a few titles will be available at launch, including Twisted Metal and Syphon Filter. The catch is you'll have to play them on your PSP, since PS3 currently lacks PS1 emulation software.

Once the patch is distributed though -- Harrison hopes by year's end -- each PS1 download will be playable on both PS3 and PSP, allowing us to enjoy treasured classics and rarities on-the-go and on the big screen. Just be warned, PS1 games will not be enhanced for your 1080p display.

Note: Actual PS1 discs will be playable at launch.