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Ask Sony's Phil Harrison About PS3 and Games
During GDC Sony made an effort to answer questions directly from the gaming community, taking steps to put aside the problems of the past several months. Today, we have a chance to take another step in the right direction with the company. Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, has been the face of the PlayStation 3 here in the United States since before the machine launched. He's agreed to answer questions from the Slashdot community about the PlayStation 3, the console since launch, and their recent announcements about LittleBigPlanet and Home. I've linked a trio of other interviews he's done recently below, to give you an idea of topics that he's already covered. I'm sure there are plenty of questions we might ask that have yet to be put forward in a public forum. So - feel free to ask away. One question per comment, please, and keep in mind that Mr. Harrison is here to answer questions about the PS3 and games only; any other Sony-related questions are outside the scope of this interview. The highest-rated comments will be passed on, and we'll post his answers as soon as we get them.
With a number of previously-PS3-exclusive titles having gone multiplatform, are there any efforts to prevent this from occurring further, or is it of little concern to SCE? That is, should we expect to see more PS3-exclusives go multiplatform?
I like basketball!!1!
The PS3 has three major problems as I see it; lack of software, price, and lack of availability. The latter two of these three issues have been blamed on the fact that the PS3's Blu-Ray drive requires an expensive and scarce blue laser.
Given the problems that seem to have come with Blu-Ray, does it still look like including the drive in the system was worth it? And if so, was it worth it for the PS3, for the Blu-Ray format, or for both? What steps are being taken to remedy the problems in price and availability?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why is Best Buy discontinuing sales of the 20gB PS3?
Why should I shell out over $500.00 USD to purchase the PS3 when I can purchase an XBOX 360 and/or Nintendo Wii for the same price? Perhaps even buying the two of them and still paying the price of just the PS3. This is not meant to be a jab, just a legitimate questions.
I understand the strategy of never announcing price drops until they're imminent, but the PS3 is not even on many people's radar at the moment, because of the staggering price. The Neo Geo consumer hardware followed a similar price model. Are you even considering price drops on the PS3 hardware?
Ryan Fenton
@Mr Phil Harrison
There is this old conviction amongst some that Sony's tried to kill sprite based 2D games and is reluctant to let them be published on Playstation consoles.
Is there any truth to this?
Does Sony have a "stance" against on sprite based 2D games on the PS3? Can a game like Odin Sphere be published on the PS3?
Is there a chance that the policy of restricting access to PS3 graphics hardware (via the hypervisor) could be revised to encourage us homebrew developers?
Now there is a question I have. Why is it that it's the year 2007, the PS3 is a "High Definition" system, and costs $500-$600... yet still only includes the same composite video cables people have been using since the NES 22 years ago?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Sir,
Will Sony be offering up kernel patches and an RSX optimized OpenGL library for PS3/Linux?
I was going to go with something snarky about the price of the PS3, but I've decided to instead make a more direct point.
I don't have an HDTV. As I understand it, the major selling point of the PS3 is its new HD graphics. I currently have no plans on getting an HDTV. So, sell me on why I should get a PS3 given that I have a 13" CRT TV. Would it still be worth it? Will I still be able to play all the same games that HDTV players can? Or will I have to suffer unreadable text or HUD elements that are too small to understand?
Or, can I hook up the PS3 output to my computer monitor using DVI? Right now I'm more willing to upgrade my computer monitor than my TV, so that might work for me, especially given that my TV is smaller than my computer monitor.
Honestly, the lack of an HDTV is the largest reason I'm uninterested in the PS3 right now. There are other reasons, of course, but I'm sure that they'll be brought up plenty of times by other trolls. Uh, I mean, other posters. :)
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
How long till there is a first party controller with "last-gen" rumble?
Is there any possibility of letting an 'OtherOS' have full access to the GPU, allowing accelerated and 3D graphics for homebrew developers?
People on the internet and in the tech media in general have been raking the PS3 and Sony over the coals for probably a good year now, with a noticeable backlash directed towards Sony's PR department. You've taken a lot of fire as one of the main figures in Sony's PR campaign, and I can't count how many times I've seen your name brought up here or on Digg in a negative light. The consensus seems to be that Sony's got a lot of work to do to win over the gaming public.
How, then, is Sony going to go about changing this mindset? There's still plenty of time to go from being viewed as the last place console to being a legitimate contender, if not the forerunner, but there's lots of ground to cover to do that. Are there any plans for this you'd be able to share with us, and any ideas on how long it might take before we see the PS3 in a stronger position than it is now?
On another note entirely, God of War 2 seems to be getting a more favorable reaction than any of the PS3 titles released thus far. Any thoughts on why that might be?
Goo goo g'joob.
What is your personal philosophy regarding the future of videogames as a genre? For example, where do you see games, in terms of social and cultural identification, 20 years from now, and how do you think the nature of the PS3 plays into the culmination of this overall vision?
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Why does Sony consider it a good business move to alienate Europe with a half-year delay and neutered hardware, and why do you still charge more for this inferior product than the US or Japanese consoles?
I spent $170 to play Katamari Damacy on the PS2. One of the strongest points of the Playstation platform has been some of the quirky and innovative games available on the PS1 and PS2. Some of the games I still play on PS1 and PS2 are those that focused on gameplay over story or random shooting (Bust a Groove, Hot Shots Golf, Katamari, Guitar Hero, Okami). Where are the unique, fun, creative games on the new Playstation platforms, and why don't companies take risks by creating low-budget, creative, and fun titles at a new system's launch?
You're only as smart as your brain.
What are you doing to support the people that want a gaming system, not a home hub, something never to be plugged into a network?
I was pleasently surprised at all the different things a PS3 can do. It can play music, show videos, show pictures, play games.
Why is it with 8 processors, it can only do these things one at a time.
I'd like to start it playing music and display a series of pictures and/or videos. It would be useful at parties.
I'd like to start it playing background music, turn off the music in a game and play a game, without listening to "call to battle" or whatever the track is, over and over and over.
One of the big things Sony touted with the SIXAXIS controller is the motion sensing technology (though I haven't seen it mentioned much in commercials). The debate over whether that was reactionary to Nintendo's Wiimote is a long debate, but it makes me curious- what other kinds of alternative gameplay mechanics have Sony toyed with for the PS3 controllers?
Do you envisige a Euro version of the console that includes the EE processor?
From some of the rumours I've been hearing (BBC radio 1) quite a lot of individuals have canceled they're orders in the UK and instead opted for an American imports including the EE processor
to avoid any conflicts with some of the older PS2 game titles
(and yes I am aware that Sony will be punishing those individuals that choose to follow this course of action)
personally I'm holding off for the time being until some form of comparison can be made between the 2 different versions of the console in terms of compatibility for the PS2 (and I'm pretty sure someone on a website - probably linked to from slashdot, will be running with this eventually)
at the very least I would have liked to have seen some form of optional add-in board, even if it had increased the cost
e.g. release the minimal version of the PS3 without the board
and the max version of the PS3 (larger HD) with the board
(although at the moment only the max version of the PS3 will be released in the UK I believe)
(I believe Mr. Harrison first joined Sony's SCEA branch in 1996).
Phil, if you could go back in time and give professional advice to your 1996 self, what would you say?
If you were to give professional advice to people interested in entering the industry today, what would it be?
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Obviously Sony places a great deal of value on the Open Source community at large, I mean, you (You as in Sony) are answering questions from people at Slashdot, and you've also worked closely with the Yellow Dog Linux group to create a stable release that runs natively on PS3 architecture.
;P
I'm just wondering what other sort of OSS initiatives are in the works? Can we see a scaled down graphics library with YellowDog for Homebrew Games? I think there is a huge amount of interest in being able to program your own games - I realize that Sony needs to protect it's interests and the interests of the larger developers out there, but don't you think the innovation with a smaller scaled down system would increase demand?
An answer not combed through with marketing and PR speak would be preferable
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni