The Next Generation Is Here
At the annual Sony Expo of the company’s new products this weekend, the biggest buzz will be for the PlayStation 3. Sony’s head of computer gaming talks about it, and MidWeek’s Click Chick is the first to try it out
By Chad Pata
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Kazuo Hirai enjoys few things as much as talking about
Sony products
In the video gaming world, smack talk has always been part of the fun. But now it would seem the CEOs are taking a page from their consumers.
At the recent E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Exposition), CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Kazuo Hirai fired off this salvo to Microsoft who uses the catch phrase, “The next generation is now,” for its Xbox 360.
“The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does,” said Hirai, who explained the remarks to MidWeek in an exclusive interview.
“I think over the past 12 years or so since we have been in the video game business we have always held the lead starting with the PlayStation and then the PS2, with two consecutive platforms we have held the leadership position.
“With the leadership position also comes the responsibility to try to move the bar forward in the video game business. We honestly feel that any reference to next generation or upcoming generation of consoles, the business does-n’t really start until we launch a product and we are able to present to the consumers what a true next generation platform gaming experience is going to look like. That’s why I thought it was appropriate to reiterate that we are in that leadership position.”
Strong words from the brash new CEO, but as the St. Louis Cardinals’ ace Dizzy Dean once said, “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” Hirai will get his chance at this weekend’s Sony Expo being held in the Hibiscus Room at the Ala Moana Hotel.
The expo is open to the public all day Friday and Saturday, providing hands-on demonstrations of all of Sony’s new products. They are providing giveaways ranging from Sony Open tickets to 40-inch Bravia HD televisions.
Alison Stewart puts the PS3 through its paces
(see Click Chick)
“It’s something that is unique to Hawaii,” says Hirai, who will be on hand for a news conference and to press a little flesh. “There are smaller events here and there in the U.S., but something like an expo, where they also display products, is unique to Hawaii.”
The expo features items like the new HD camcorder, and the newest incarnation of the Walkman that Sony hopes will make a run at the iPod. But the lines for all of those will be lost in the wake of the first shot for Island gamers to try out the PS3 and its six-axis controller.
While Sony is touting its Bluray technology for improved quality of picture, the main item of anticipation, and occasional contention, is the controller. It is the first wireless controller of the PS series, and it enlists gyroscope technology to allow it to become an extension of the player’s hand.
“We put in sensors so that it senses the motion of the player in 3-D space,” says Hirai. “So if you are playing a game flying a plane, rather than use the buttons or analog sticks you can fly the plane by moving the controller in any direction you want to go to. It gives you more intuitive control and makes it really a part of your body.”
Online game bloggers have called the controller “gimmicky and too sensitive,” but to anyone who has seen a gamer jerking his controller around trying to encourage movement on screen, it does seem a natural extension of the device.
The other innovation with the PS3 is its interaction with other Sony products. It is backward compatible, allowing games from the first two systems to be played on it, but even more interesting is its interaction with the PSP.
Out of the box the PS3 can be accessed within your house on a wireless network, but starting next year the access is going worldwide.
“Next year, you will be able to
Kazuo Hirai enjoys few things as much as talking about Sony products
access your PS3 wireless through your PSP at any hot spot around the world,” says Hirai. “Some of the games require two joysticks and PSP only has one analog control; it is up to the content creators to decide if they want to allow that kind of game play or not.
“But we already have the technology in place for the game creators to take advantage of that, and also if you have some streaming video on the hard drive of your PS3 you can access that on your PSP.”
Demand for the game is high, says Jay Inatsuka, electronics buyer and manager for Shirokiya, which sells more Sony products that any other store in Hawaii.
“We’re getting calls on a daily basis, asking how many we’ll have and if they can get on a waiting list. We don’t know how many we’ll get, so we cannot guarantee anyone for sure they’ll get one. We’re just hoping we’ll have a good quantity. With the first shipment it’s first come, first served, but after that we’ll have a waiting list.”
The PS3 was originally slated to be on shelves in spring of this year, but had setbacks with the Blu-ray technology and now is being released to the U.S. Nov. 17. Sony will be shipping only 400,000 units for the release date in North America, less than 2 percent of its current market, but hopes to have 2 million on the shelves by the end of the year.
Carrying a price tag ranging from $499 to $599, and releasing it six months behind Microsoft’s Xbox 360, it would appear the PS3 would have an uphill battle to regain dominance.
Hirai, however, is confident - and with good reason.
He has been at the helm through the launching of all three PlayStations, with staggering results. There are now 23 million Americans who own PS2s, with more than 2 million using their online capabilities. Last November this kind of dedication led to $500 million in sales in North America alone.
Hirai’s road to the top of Japan’s pre-eminent name company is an unusual one. Rather than the MBA you might expect of a CEO of his status, he has a liberal arts degree from the
American-style International Christian University in Tokyo.
At age 20 he was hired by Sony/CBS Inc. to help with the marketing of international music in Japan. His qualifications came as much from his upbringing as his degree.
His father worked for Mitsui Bank, and Hirai traveled with him extensively in the U.S., where he learned English (his accent is flawless) and the ways of
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