Missing Kaz Hirai interview

[Loc]

Umm is it me or is the interview with the SCEA president missing. The one where he said the battery life was 2.5-3 hours.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Sto...1354.39666.htm

I tried this link and tried looking on the site itself but it was missing. Hmm maybe the interview was a hoax.

[vulcan4d]

Yeah what's up?

[neptunez]

you would love that wouldn't you?

[Loc]

Well why would an interview suddenly disspear from the site, and the front page.

[Danji]

Maybe they fixed it and wanted to pretend that it never happened...?

[Makaveli_786]

LOL, in that interview Kaz said something which when you closely read it was obviously false information so they probably found out and deleted it.

[nobody]

what do you mean ?
has anyone got the interview to post it here ?

[games_ fan]

If it's gone then no :roll:

[nobody]

maybe someone has it on his harddrive.
i collect many PSP media but mostly videos and pics. i didn't thought the interview would disappear.

[karateboy95]

good news everybGame Informer: The PSP has caused quite the stir, and I think obviously there's a lot of interest out on the show floor. I think one of the big questions left for everyone is price point. And I don't know if you'd like to tell us a price point, which would be nice.
1. Kaz Hirai: We’re not ready to make an announcement on the pricing. What I can say is, I think that when we launched the original PlayStation back in 1995 and also the PS2 in 2000, true to basically one of Sony's DNA of providing value to the customers. I think we hit the pricing pretty much dead on where it needed to be. And we certainly will make sure that when the PSP, or PlayStation Portable, comes out that we will have good pricing. That the consumers will look at the features to say, "Yep, that makes a lot of sense."
Game Informer: Do you think that the PSP is worth as much as a home system or do you think a handheld has to be priced less than a home console?
Kaz: I think that with the PlayStation Portable and what we've been able to pack into the hardware, I don't see the PlayStation Portable, despite its name, as being something of a subset, if you will, of the PS2, and they are on equal footing as far as I'm concerned. The environments in which they operate in are completely different obviously. But as a device that offers compelling entertainment content to the consumers, one in home, one on the go, they are pretty much on parity...this is not to say it's going to be priced the same as PS2, but I don't see a...
Game Informer: Disparity?
Kaz: Yeah, or a...
Game Informer: Hierarchy?
Kaz: That's the word I was looking for.
Game Informer: One of the things you obviously also showcased in addition to the games was using it for other media. Be it music or movies. You talked about Advent Children - the Final Fantasy 70 minute long feature. One of my questions is for movies, Advent Children is 70 minutes long, is UMD going to be able to accommodate a two hour movie? Have you guys had movies up on UMD and tested that out?
Kaz: Yeah, we have 1.8 gigabytes of capacity on the UMD. And with the compression technology that we'll be using we can fit a two hour motion picture, a full length motion picture, into one UMD disk.
Game Informer: So is two hours about the head room of...
Kaz: It really depends on the authoring, and how much time you spend and also what kind of scenery you have. If it's static scenery for two hours I'm sure you can put in more. If it's just, you know, birds flying by once in a while and it's basically a static lake that would be, probably you can compress more. But if it's something that's got a lot of motion in it...
Game Informer: Like a Spider-Man or something.
Kaz: Then that would probably be two hours, and maybe two hours and change.
Game Informer: Okay. Have you announced or do you have any deals signed with either movie studios or record companies to be partners for prepackaged UMD music and movies?
Kaz: Right now we are focused on making sure that we have a successful PlayStation Portable launch with the game software because that where our core competency is. And as I said yesterday, first and foremost, the PlayStation Portable is a portable handheld gaming device that really simulates the experience of a PlayStation 2 in the home. Now, having said that, the other entertainment content is also important, and once we have a successful launch with the video games then I think, once you have the installed base you are certainly going to get a lot more interest and support from the other content providers like movies and motion pictures. Having said all that, talks are already underway with a lot of the different content companies to, first of all, to explain to them what the specs are, because we just talked about the specs yesterday. We'll be sharing with the other content providers and talking about some the copyright protection schemes that we have in place, and discussions will start from literally as we end E3 to have them come on board as quickly as possible.
But as I said before, first and foremost, it's a handheld video game console, which means if we have a line-up of motion picture and music content from day one, great. But that's not going to make or break the console by any means. It's going to be fantastic games that will actually make or break the launch of the console.
Game Informer: How many games do anticipate having for PSP at launch?
Kaz: Hard to tell at this point and time. You know how this industry moves. You ask me how many PS2 titles we're going to have by the end of the year and I'd be taken aghast. But I do think what's most important is that we have one or two killer application titles, whether it be first or third party, that is going to be day and date with the launch of the hardware. And then a steady stream of hit titles or killer content month after month after month after that. That's really going to make or break the launch there. I would assume, and again I could be dead wrong, six to ten titles total, day one. But more important than that are making sure that we have the killer apps.
Game Informer: Are you going to sell blank UMDs to allow people to record, I know it has a microphone jack to use a Sony microphone like what I'm using here (ed: Sony MiniDisc Recorder), to record live audio onto UMDs or music?
Kaz: The microphone jack is really more for headset applications or voice-over-IP applications. The UMD is for now is a playback only medium. And recordable UMDs, or UMD-Rs I guess they would be called, is something that's technically feasible. But that is something that we won't be introducing in the market for some time. That's why we have the memory stick slot, to take care of any downloads or recording of short messages or what have you. And that would be the device that we would want to use because, you know, again that way you can take the memory stick, put it right into a VAIO, or if you don't have a Sony VAIO, you always have those PC card converters or what have you, that you can just put in there. And that's a better application I think for interchanging data between PCs and the PlayStation Portable.
Game Informer: One thing I was a little confused about in the presentation was the battery life. At first you said ten hours and then you seemed to say it could be as short as two and I just wanted to clarify...
Kaz: Battery life is one of these things where if you state a number then everybody's satisfied. The only problem, of course, is it never matches what you state. But if you don't state a number then it's like, "What's the battery life?" So it's a continuous Catch-22. And that's especially prevalent with the PlayStation Portable because it plays various entertainment content. Again, if you're just listening to music with no visuals at all then it should last, as I said yesterday, about eight to ten hours just like an iPod would. If you are playing a game that is consistently cycling through and putting the CPU to good use, yeah, battery life is going to be shorter. Maybe about two and a half, three hours. That's why putting the range in there... because it's more difficult because it's got a wide range of applications to really pinpoint to say, "It's eight hours." Because it could be longer, or it could be shorter, and by dramatic margins up or down.
Game Informer: Okay, that makes sense. Are the GPS and camera additions you talked about going to be available at launch or is that stuff that will come in the future?
Kaz: I believe those will be steps that will come out in the future. But, again, we wanted to kind of make sure that we position the product again as having different kinds of applications because it is a mobile device. You can't put a GPS on a PS2. You can, but it'll just tell you one thing: where you are. You can't move it around. And we wanted to really open up the imagination and also offer up the possibilities of these kinds of peripherals to really stir up the imagination of the content creators as well. To say, okay, when we say GPS, what we imagine is, "Okay, it's going to be a map, and maybe it'll have a deal with Mapquest." That's one application, yes. I talked about this a couple years ago and everybody laughed me out of my room here. But another application with the GPS with my limited creative mind would be something like a pizza delivery game, for example. ... Or, what is it called? Pac-Manhattan that they're doing. Do you know this?
Game Informer: Oh, where they're using the city blocks?
Kaz: They're using the city blocks and they have guys running around doing Pac-Man real time using cell phones. So those are kinds of GPS applications that are...
Game Informer: Like gaming applications.
Kaz: ...PlayStation Portable-esque as opposed to, "Where are you?"
Game Informer: Right. But that's nice to know.
Kaz: That's the kind of thought process or, you know, let the juices flow really in the creative minds. To say, "If I had a GPS what can I do?"
Game Informer: One consideration with the disk drive based system instead of cartridge is durability. What kind of testing are you guys doing internally and how durable is this going to be? Is it going to be prone to breakdowns?
Kaz: How is your MiniDisc?
Game Informer: Works good.
Kaz: Prone to breakdown?
Game Informer: I haven't had it break down yet.
Kaz: I rest my case. (laughs) I'm not saying it's identical, but I mean this is - I'm sure the technologists will kill me for saying this - but you can see the spindle is pretty much similar to that of the MD. I'm sure they'll kill me when they say, "This is an advancement from the MD." But certainly micro-motor technologies and all those good things that we learned from the MD certainly do get transferred over to this disk drive as well. So from that perspective I don't have too much of a concern in terms of durability.
Game Informer: What kind of internal sales goals or projections do you have for PSP in its first year? What kind of a solid base are you looking at through the first year of life?
Kaz: Well, as I said yesterday, we are going to be launching the PlayStation Portable in the December timeframe, before holidays anyway, in the Japanese market this year. And then in North America and in Europe in the first quarter of next year. So with those in mind, and also the fact that our fiscal year ends in March, we expect to ship worldwide three million PlayStation Portables…

Game Informer: …In the launch window from Japan to U.S. markets?
1. Kaz: So that would be ... about three to four months in Japan, and depending on where we pinpoint the month, a couple months maybe in North America and in Europe. And we expect three million units.
Game Informer: Have you seen much of the Nintendo DS, and how much of a direct competitor do you consider that to be to the PSP?
Kaz: The only Nintendo DS that I saw was the pictures that were in yesterday's USA Today, which doesn't really tell me that much. I fundamentally believe that, pricing issues aside because they haven't announced a price and neither have we so let's leave that aside for the time being, looking at the form, the design, and what it's designed to do in terms of functionality tells me that they are two completely different products. It seems to me that the DS is more of a natural progression from the original Game Boy, through Game Boy Color, and then Game Boy Advance, SP, and now DS. If you accept that it's kind of a natural extension, then it's more of a product that leans towards the younger demographic. Whereas the PlayStation Portable is something that I think has mass appeal. And initially I think it'll appeal, as I said yesterday to the 18 to 34-year-olds, and then perhaps move down to the teenagers. And I think that's the correct demographic to start with for the PlayStation Portable because then you have the ability to move the demographic up as well as down, depending on ultimately what kind of pricing model that we adopt in the future.
Game Informer: Nintendo in their press conference contended that graphics aren't becoming as important, and that real revolutionary gameplay experiences are… basically just suggesting that PSP is only just a technological extension of the current ideas about gaming. That DS is offering a true revolutionary alternative, and that that would win the minds of consumers around the world. A: Do you agree with that? And B: Do you think that is there any truth to that statement?
Kaz: I think ultimately no matter who you ask in this business, and I'm sure you would agree, that compelling entertainment content is what makes or breaks any console, any software title, any publisher, any developer, anybody involved in this industry. If the DS is able to really take advantage of the two screens and provide compelling entertainment content, I'm sure the users will support it. But at the same time I think that, between our first party studios and our collaboration with all the third party partners that we have, that have worked with us for the past ten years, we've come up with some real compelling entertainment software offerings over the past ten years. And I am very confident that we're going to be able to expand that consumer experience even to a new level. Especially with the widescreen here. And I don't know if you saw the screen in action?
Game Informer: I haven't got in yet, but I'd like to.
Kaz: This is really going to offer a multitude of opportunities for the users. Now, if there is somebody that really wants to do a two-screen game, then obviously, because it's widescreen you can split the screen in half and you still get a lot of real estate that way as well - if there is a game. And the other thing for me is, and again I am not a creative type, so I could be proven wrong very easily, but, and maybe I'm too old, but two screens to me - I really need to see a killer application that really takes advantage of the two screens before I'm convinced. Mainly because I just can't multitask visually that way. I mean, I have a hard time just reading a speedometer on Gran Turismo when I'm playing single player mode. So, it could just be me.
Game Informer: All right, with the PS2 you talked about some new billing support structures for your online partners. It did sound to me a little similar to what Xbox does with Xbox Live. I'm just wondering how this is going to work because I know you said it was important for you to maintain the open structure and the freedom that you've offered people. How can you reconcile having more structures and billing and universal logins in place while still leaving publishers free to do their own thing? How do you administrate that?
Kaz: Yeah, first of all there are several common objectives or goals that you ultimately end up aspiring to, in any online environment. That doesn't really matter whether you're Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or anybody else. And those would be things like community, or the building of a communal experience with the online user base. Therefore convenience to the consumers, like a single sign-on or a single billing system, where you're not giving out credit cards to sixteen different game lobbies, for example. Or the ability to move between game lobbies. I think those are fundamentals. Like, I used the analogy the other day, most cars are four wheels. It doesn't matter if it's Lexus or Mercedes or Toyota. It's a fundamental goal or objective that everybody said, "Yeah, that works." What we embarked on is a strategy, is as you know the open ended strategy where the open strategy to online to go under support from our publishing partners as opposed to a closed strategy that Microsoft undertook. I believe fundamentally that that was the right strategy to ensure that we grew the online installed bases as quickly as possible. And I think that strategy proved to be the correct strategy. I mean we're closing in on three million online enabled PS2s today, and like I said yesterday, we're adding 100,000 new users every month to the PlayStation 2 online family. So those are some great numbers. Now that we, based on the open model, and therefore wide participation from a variety of third party publishing companies, we've been able to establish the community. Now it's the time for us to say, "Okay, now we need to start enhancing the community experience, have a single sign on for billing, being able to move across lobbies very quickly, you know, single billing, all those good things." Which we see a step to, and that's what we're embarking on now. Because you can't build something and have all this stuff in place if nobody's playing. And that's what seems to be happening with the other strategy. Now, again, because we believe fundamentally that the open strategy is the correct strategy, if a publisher, for example, publisher A, for whatever reason, their business decision, says, "You know what? I want to just do it on my own. I don't want to be part of the online PlayStation 2 community. I just want to be my own small community of PS2 users that love my game, and I'm going to do my own billing, and I'll have my own infrastructure that I'll farm out to IBM." That's great. We're not going to say. "No, no, no, no, no, you have to share your customer data with the platform holder." No, that's all well and good. That's your thing to do. But we'll welcome your participation. For those companies that require billing because they don't want to be involved in the billing transactional stuff. It's more like, "Just give us the data and give us our revenue." And we're saying, "Great, well we'll be there. We'll do that for you."
Game Informer: So it's a voluntary system.
Kaz: Yes, it's a voluntary system and even if, and on a case by case basis, yes we'd like to have the consumer data, who's doing what in terms of credit card transactions, yes. But again that's not something that we mandate. You have to give us your credit card information otherwise you're not part of the team. Let's discuss what makes sense for you, what makes sense for Sony. If you want to share because we have something to give to you that's great because we'll share the data. If you don't, that's your prerogative.
Game Informer: You mentioned the future lying in mini-transactions online, maybe downloadable levels, extras on a game. Are you beginning to come up with pricing structures and billing structures for these mini- transactions. For example, how would it work if I wanted to buy like a Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal multiplayer map or something like this?
Kaz: Right. When you say structure we are definitely. We've had a lot of internal meetings. We are starting development of these software systems to run the infrastructure for billing and mini-transactions. So if that's what you mean by structure those are already in play. If you're asking me when exactly are we going to be launching all this, I want to make sure we do it right as opposed to rushing something to market. So I would say maybe it would be maybe next year. Maybe another year or so before we're confident to say, "Yes, this is a robust enough system that we're going to be launching it out to everybody." If you want a different map, or weapon, or character, or car, whatever it is, we envision a system that's very similar to the experience to the one we get in iTunes. So you basically choose what it is you need. You go through a series of clicks or pressing Xs. And then you get billed for whatever the price is. 99 cents, three bucks, ten bucks, whatever it is for that particular item that you're purchasing. We fundamentally believe that that sort of transactional offering to the consumer is a lot more palatable than saying, "You know what? You can have anything you like, but it's going to cost you 19 bucks a month, or 14 bucks a month or whatever it is." Because then the consumers really don't know what they're signing up for that is tangible for the 14 bucks. "I kind of know I can get all this stuff, but I don't know if I really want it or not." And that's been born out I think by the music industry. Where you have a lot of these subscription services like, what is it "all you can download for nine bucks?" People aren't interested because I may not want to download something next month, but I'm still going to see a $9.99 bill on my credit card. I don't like that. And besides, I've got my cable bill, I've got my ISP bill, I've got my AOL bill, and all these other subscription based services that I've already subscribed to, I don't know if I want to add another one. The beauty of iTunes is there is no commitment. You want something specific and tangible? Great, 99 cents. And at the end of the day it seems like a lot of people that are involved with iTunes, for example, seem to download a lot more than ten songs a month. So it actually creates bigger revenue as well.
Game Informer: You talked about people maybe being able to, like a player that's played a lot of Gran Turismo being able to like sell their tricked out car to another player that might not have as much time. How would you manage this sort of user to user commerce? Is that what you were talking about?
Kaz: That's something where again we see a lot of potential. Not only just downloading content and paying for it, that's great. But what can we do that's really different in the online world? And one of the things we came across is like the Gran Turismo example that I cited yesterday. That has value because somebody put a good number of hours in tweaking their Lancer Revolution or Integra or whatever. So the user should be able to modify. And that comes really from what E-Bay has done. And some of the EverQuest characters and stuff that they transact on E-Bay. So that's what we envision when I mentioned the Gran Turismo example. So it's another way of the consumers participating or partaking actively in the online environment, as opposed to just sitting around playing with all my friends, which is great. Or getting downloads. Upload or sell the fruits of you labor as well.
Game Informer: So you're kind of looking at, on one hand an iTunes structure, and on the other, an E-Bay structure?
Kaz: Exactly.
Game Informer: Okay. ... I don't know if you heard about the Microsoft press conference at all?
Kaz: I heard about it. I haven't seen the video.
Game Informer: You haven't seen the Donald Trump thing?
Kaz: No, I haven't. I've heard so much about it. I'm dying to see the video. Because If anything, if the guy that portrayed me doesn't look like me I'm going to take Robbie to task.
Game Informer: So that doesn't bother you at all getting tweaked a little bit in that?
Kaz: I mean it's all about fun at the end of the day. I guess in a certain way I kind of feel sorry that that's what they had to lead with for a press conference because they didn't have tangible stuff to really go out there and say, "This is what we're going to be doing." So to give the other platform holders, ourselves specifically, some play in their press conference, whether it be jokingly or not. But to me that's kind of like, that's filler. I was flattered, but at the same time part of me says, "That's kind of sad." But I've got to see the video before I make a final judgment. And besides, if the guy doesn't look like me or if he's heavier than me, because I've been on the low carb diet now for two years, I will take Robbie aside and say, "Next time you call me. You make an offer and I might even get in your video."
Game Informer: (laughs) Donald Trump in the video fires you guys for failing to create a good online gaming plan. Do you think Mr. Trump is mistaken in this case?
Kaz: Well, Mr. Trump, I don't think has all the facts. Besides, I think it's part of a skit, right?
Game Informer: Right, right.
ody i saved the whole interview and now i will post it!!