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BBC wrote:PlayStation 3 will help Sony reclaim its position as the leading games console maker, the head of the firm's console division has said.

Speaking to BBC News, Kaz Hirai said the machine would overhaul rivals Nintendo and Microsoft within its 10-year lifecycle.

PlayStation 3 sales have outstripped those of Microsoft Xbox 360 in Europe but it lags behind in North America.

Nintendo's Wii console is the number one next-generation machine globally.

Mr Hirai said Sony was engaged in a "marathon" race with Nintendo and Microsoft.

More than 10.5 million PlayStation 3s were sold worldwide by the end of 2007. To date, in Europe more than five million PS3s have been sold.

Nintendo had shipped more than 25 million Wiis worldwide by April this year, while Microsoft reported 19 million 360s shipped by the same period.

Both firms have reported production supply problems in the past year.

Mr Hirai said: "We've only really begun to scratch the surface with PlayStation 3 but I am confident that given the long life-cycle we have planned for the machine we are going to have a very good install base in all of the major territories.

"I am very confident that after the 10-year lifecycle we will have the install base that we are looking for and that is obviously to be in the leadership position."

'Fuel growth'

Mr Hirai said Sony continued to look into the future development of consoles beyond the PlayStation 3.

He said that while new PlayStation hardware had been introduced five years into the lifecycle of the last two generations of machines, it was difficult to predict when a new PlayStation platform would emerge.

"It's very difficult to say at this point in time.

"We need to take a look at advances in technology in various areas, such as semiconductors, graphics chips, output devices, mainly TV and monitors, to see where we would like to benchmark our next generation product."

He said that Sony's investment in future console hardware technology remained important.

"And you can make the investments, for example, to the tune of the investments we made with previous consoles, because we look at this business as a 10-year lifecycle. We don't let our consoles go by the wayside after five years.

Network gaming

"By managing a portfolio of consoles that we have - PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 - we are able to look at the business in totality."

Mr Hirai said the company had begun investigation of pure network gaming, without the need for a dedicated console.

"It's something we would look at. We have had a lot of discussion internally about where the road map will take us.

"[With network gaming] we're also dependent on the network infrastructure available in all the territories we do business in.

"Some have faster broadband access than others. When you consider that content that plays on PlayStation 3 can go as high as 50GB it's going to be very difficult to deliver 50GB to consumers in some parts of the world in a timely fashion."

Because of the limitations, he said Blu-ray discs remained the "best and most efficient way to deliver content".

He said sales of PlayStation 3 would continue to be driven by games and by the line-up of titles this year.

"If you look at line-up coming out this year - Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift , Little Big Planet, there is a whole raft of titles between now and the end of the year which will really help fuel growth of the install base."

Mr Hirai described the launch of PlayStation 3 as "difficult" and affected by "teething problems".

'Some challenges'

"We had some challenges when we launched the PlayStation 3 in major territories. We were not able to supply North America and Japan with enough units.

"There was also some concern in the media and from customers about the lack of titles available at launch."

He added: "That situation has been remedied to the satisfaction of consumers. The software line-up is looking good for this year and certainly for the holiday period."

He said the technology inside the PlayStation 3 had been a steep learning curve for developers.

"I think they are beginning to embrace the technology and are able to express their creativity on the platform certainly more than they were able to at launch."

Masami von Weizegger wrote:Probably. The Wii is going to flounder more and more if it doesn't stop being the breeding ground of the most boring, trivial games known to man. The 360's doing fine too. We've seen it with the PS2, slow, ploundering start maligned by all but it'll pick up steam. Hell, it was the same with the PS1 and all of its Genesis ports, with all new loading screens!

Whatever, anyway. The market at the moment seems to be able to support all three so I don't give a fuck about this chapter of the console war. Even third place will mean big profits in the end and another next-gen console from all three, most likely.

Master of Ossus wrote: I really hope that Microsoft or Sony has to exit the market after this round, but I doubt that that'll happen.

Masami von Weizegger wrote:Probably. The Wii is going to flounder more and more if it doesn't stop being the breeding ground of the most boring, trivial games known to man.

Hotfoot wrote: Now, as far as the Wii, frankly, I'm massively disappointed by the selection of games for it so far. So very few of them seem to take advantage of the gigantic defining difference it has over the 360 or PS3. In fact, most of the games that have come out for it seem to be shit, with a few shining stars that almost make it worthwhile by my (admittedly odd) standards.

And let's look at a rather disturbing statistic: SSBB Sold, what, maybe a combined total of 3m copies for its first week releases worldwide? GTA4 sold 6m copies in its first week, and 3.6 the first DAY. How badly have the 360 and PS3 been trounced in console sales by the Wii? Yet this happens. Sure, Nintendo makes money on every console sold, fantastic. They can sit pretty on someone buying a Wii and one game and never buying from them again. If someone feels happy spending $300 on Wii Sports and nothing else, wonderful. That means shit to me and shit to the gaming industry, other than that some people are damn easy to please. How is it that the biggest selling game on the biggest selling console is so easily overtaken by the consoles that supposedly have been soundly beaten this time around? Is it that GTA4 is THAT good? Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's not the second coming.

Does anyone really think that the Wii 2 (or whatever Nintendo calls its next system) will be able to get by like this? As much as people like to bring up the fact that Nintendo makes money just through console sales, they still make MORE money on game sales, and without the games, people won't buy the next one, because the one they've got works just fine. There's only so much you can refine motion sensitive controllers, after all.

Nintendo needs to get over its phenomenal initial success and start churning out good games. Really good games. Lots of games that take advantage of the Wii-mote. The DS did this right quick and in a hurry with the touch screen, why hasn't the Wii?

PS- I'm watching you, Force Unleashed, Wii Version

Stark wrote:Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd pay for a 'WiiBoxing' game that was just a more polished, flexible, and full-featured version of the boxing in WiiSport.

Hotfoot wrote:Now, as far as the Wii, frankly, I'm massively disappointed by the selection of games for it so far. So very few of them seem to take advantage of the gigantic defining difference it has over the 360 or PS3. In fact, most of the games that have come out for it seem to be shit, with a few shining stars that almost make it worthwhile by my (admittedly odd) standards.

And let's look at a rather disturbing statistic: SSBB Sold, what, maybe a combined total of 3m copies for its first week releases worldwide? GTA4 sold 6m copies in its first week, and 3.6 the first DAY. How badly have the 360 and PS3 been trounced in console sales by the Wii? Yet this happens. Sure, Nintendo makes money on every console sold, fantastic. They can sit pretty on someone buying a Wii and one game and never buying from them again. If someone feels happy spending $300 on Wii Sports and nothing else, wonderful. That means shit to me and shit to the gaming industry, other than that some people are damn easy to please. How is it that the biggest selling game on the biggest selling console is so easily overtaken by the consoles that supposedly have been soundly beaten this time around? Is it that GTA4 is THAT good? Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's not the second coming.

Does anyone really think that the Wii 2 (or whatever Nintendo calls its next system) will be able to get by like this? As much as people like to bring up the fact that Nintendo makes money just through console sales, they still make MORE money on game sales, and without the games, people won't buy the next one, because the one they've got works just fine. There's only so much you can refine motion sensitive controllers, after all.

Stark wrote:As at the moment, I don't see any reason to buy a 360 over a PS3 except social reasons. I've been considering ditching my flaky, noisy 360 for a PS3 for a few weeks; there are no 360 exclusives I care about ever, and all the past 360 exclusives turned out to be shit. At least in AU PS3 is cheaper and more reliable, and has all the same big games. PS3 also seems to have less region-coding on important games, which is a plus for us 'let's get raped by the most mismanaged release of a major title' land.

I know plenty of people with a 360 however, so I probably won't buy a PS3 for some months yet.

Stark wrote:Yeah, the social thing is the only thing holding me back, but it's worth looking at region-free games. PS3 has many more region-free big name games (just to toss one out there, Rock Band) so you are immune to both AU pricing and wait times. Almost everyone I know with a PS3 has had Rock Band for ages, and it won't be out here 'properly' for months, if ever.

Hotfoot wrote:And let's look at a rather disturbing statistic: SSBB Sold, what, maybe a combined total of 3m copies for its first week releases worldwide? GTA4 sold 6m copies in its first week, and 3.6 the first DAY.

atg wrote:

Hotfoot wrote:And let's look at a rather disturbing statistic: SSBB Sold, what, maybe a combined total of 3m copies for its first week releases worldwide? GTA4 sold 6m copies in its first week, and 3.6 the first DAY.

Unless I'm missing something, SSBB hasn't been released yet in Europe/Australia, so it hasn't been a worldwide release.
Needless to say 3.6m first day for GTAIV is impressive.