E3 2006: Harrison defends lack of features on budget PS3

PS3 News | "There's no difference in what the machine does."

Sony executive Phil Harrison has gone on record to defend Sony's decision to include fewer features on the cheaper of the two PlayStation 3 models. If you recall, we reported yesterday on how the cheaper 20GB version of the console would have no Wi-Fi options, no inputs for memory sticks, SD or compact flash cards, and no HDMI output, all things that the pricier 60GB model would have.

But Harrison insists that this won't make a difference in terms of performance. "What we should be clear about is that the functionality is identical in both machines. There's no difference in what the machine does," he told BBC News. "It's just that the technical method of extracting audio and video from the devices is slightly different." Harrsion went on to clarify that both versions would support HD, despite the lack of a HDMI socket on the budget model.

He also discussed the decision to launch with two versions of the console, stating that, "Some people might be interested in the PS3 primarily and exclusively as a games system, whereas other users might look at it as a multimedia hub in the home, which is games and music and movies and other digital content." Harrison also admitted he'd be getting the 60GB model, and we bet he gets an ace discount.

Of course, there was always time for a dig at the competition as well, with Harrison pooh-poohing the claim of Bill Gates, who said Microsoft would have shifted 10 million Xbox 360s by the time the PS3 launches in November "I doubt they will achieve that. I think the clear advantages of the PS3 will mean that this product is very well accepted in the marketplace. We have a great brand and fantastically loyal consumers." Come November, we'll know just how loyal.

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26 Comments

Nick

3 years ago

I'm sorry, all I hear is "Blah blah blah, I'm a d***o"

[/lapse in professionalism]

Qbert

3 years ago

"Some people might be interested in the PS3 primarily and exclusively as a games system"

You think?

/sarcasm

admeister

3 years ago

Of course. (that would probably include me, though the extra features would be very nice, especially since the HDD is not upgradable.)

EvilHayama

3 years ago

Quote

whereas other users might look at it as a multimedia hub in the home, which is games and music and movies and other digital content.

Are Sony really going to market it like this? They haven't mentioned much in the way of multimedia hub functions other than the blu-ray drive... Is there some media streaming function they didn't mention, or are we meant to buy this magical content from their online store?

Jellyfish

3 years ago

Phil wrote

I think the clear advantages of the PS3 will mean that this product is very well accepted in the marketplace. We have a great brand and fantastically loyal consumers.

I think he means fanatically loyal consumers to Square Enix. As well as, a hatred of Microsoft. If they ever lose that exclusive on the Final Fantasy main? story lines, Sony are in deep trouble.

mqphu1

3 years ago

Sony is a good brand, they're the second to Bose in terms of quality and well-known. Having two SKUs is a good marketing strategy. This is because we're in a transition from SD to HD.
In term of sales for 2006 and 2007:
- Hardcore Gamers will buy the better PS3 with HDMI output
- Casual Gamers will have mix
- Newcomers mostly buy the PS3 without HDMI
For 2008 and beyond:
ALL gamers and GENERAL public will buy the better PS3 because Blu-Ray is the eventual winner and PS3 will be AU$600

PS3 will be the winner console in 2008 (due to 40% price drop), follows by the Wii and then Xbox 360. In 2009, Microsoft will come out with a new console with Bluray drive, Motion Sensor Controller and with 1080p support.

Jellyfish

3 years ago

^ Bold predictions there, price that high is a serious issue. As for Sony and quality I disagree with you there. PSP screens, PSP X? or is it square? buttons, left earbuds/head phones, VAIO laptops and the faulty PS2s.

Personally I'd hate to buy a PS3 at launch because of the unproveness of the BD technology. Due to BDD failures and the media coverage that will follow considering the expence of buying one of the monsters (look how much coverage there was on the Xbox 360 issues), Sony are going to look bad. Which in turn will make BD look bad, sending people to buy HD-DVD players instead.

My prediction would be 40/25/35 Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft towards the end of the generation, with the possibilities of Sony being lower and Nintendo being higher.

mqphu1

3 years ago

nikack, i totally disagree with you. Im owning a PS2, PSP, VAIO Laptops, BRAVIA and Several Cybershot digital cameras, and they ALL have the best quality and very liable. Although they are pretty expensive but you get your money worth.
You have to agree that the PSP and PS3 have the BETTER technology (but expensive). All SONY have to do is lower the price of the PSP and it will outsell the DS for sure. The same goes with PS3.
80% of movie studios are supporting the BD format and the PS3 will drive it further. The Japanese and american markets are very important to SONY and thats why the PS3 is cheaper over there.

Jellyfish

3 years ago

mqphu1 wrote

Im owning a PS2, PSP, VAIO Laptops, BRAVIA and Several Cybershot digital cameras, and they ALL have the best quality and very liable.

I think that might qualify you for a fanboy award

But anyway, all of my friend's Sony earbuds left side stop working completely after short periods of time, all the PSPs bar the one Ceramic White one I've seen have had dead pixels. My Sony VAIO laptop has pretty much failed and refuses to let me enter the BIOS to fix it. However I do agree with you about the BRAVIA TVs, however I wish they had audio out so I didn't have to switch my surround sound to different devices everytime I switch channels.

As for the PS3, I don't believe it's better technology for gaming consoles. The Cell proccessor itself was designed to be used in multi proccessor enviroments and Sony was going to have three of them in the PS3 (not 100% sure on this one) but the cost was too high, I see Blu-Ray as a rip-off to consumers and Bluetooth as easily hackable (mobile phone viruses, Paris Hilton's phonebooks, etc). Now doubt the PS3 will still sell as there are lots and lots of people who must have Final Fantasy games.

As for the movie studios? I think their wallets will get the better of them and they'll start releasing on HD-DVD because people are buying them and the studios are greedy bastards

Gtpod

3 years ago

All this educated talk is great and true, but in the end it doesn't matter; the average FIFA loving football-hooligan will still be buying one and the sales will be marginally affected. 'Tis the sad truth of consumer fanbases.

mqphu1

3 years ago

"Bluetooth as easily hackable (mobile phone viruses, Paris Hilton's phonebooks, etc)"

Nikack, i can see where you're coming from. I agree that ALL companies are greedy, but that is their survival tactic. Executives want to keep their jobs and get promotions, otherwise demotions. Sadly but true.

Sony made great products but in order to keep the investors happy, they have to make profits.

Making two SKUs for the PS3 is one tactic to suck in the newcomers and casual gamers, especialy younger gamers. Sony have no choice but to use this tactic for promotion purposes. This is the corporate world. Sadly but true.

~DESTROY~

3 years ago

Loyal My ass. I left sony last year when they started making games that Superceeded the Big Box PS2.
After that I thought shame on you sony for changing your consoles (internally) and making it so you need a Slimline to play any of the"newer" games using Progessive scanning.
Sony Sucks!!! sucks!! sucks!!! sucks!!!! thats Sony.
Im all for a PS3 Boycott as they will probably change the design of it after a few million units are sold and they realise they got issues with their systems and leave all the people who bought the "early model PS3" out in the dark with no help.
I see this as being Likely.

Unlike MS and Xbox "IT NEVER CHANGED!!!!"
MS have had the Best products in the past And the only new system I'll be buying now is a Wii and a HD-DVD drive for the 360 and still have change from a $1000.

MS could have bought out a different and new 360 with HD but they didn't. They made it so everyone could have one IF they wanted it and didnt leave their customers out in the dark once more.
So thanx MS for the years of games with less hassles.

And PS2 if I had a dollar for every "Disc read error" you gave me Id be a Richer man!!!!!

Viva la Smoke it Proud.

~DESTROY~

3 years ago

even so far as the 2 different SKU model 360s from MS the core can be upgraded to all that the PREMIUM model is and Further.

However on the other hand the 2 model SKU PS3s are different and can never be the same as each other, Leaving as I said in previous post, Dedicated gamers in the Dark when it comes to Sony saying that you NEED the HDMI as a game requirement etc.
And all the people who bought the cheaper PS3 shaking their fists in disgust that their forked out cash has become void and their gaming experiences cut shorter.
I just think we only need to look at the past of sony to see that Its gonna be a while before they work the PS3 out and decide "hey this aint right bob. Lets make one better now"
PSone was reliable and heck mine still works, But PS2 set it in stone for me that Sony arent Ahead of the game but MS are And Who owns most all Internet and Windows Rights?????
Thats Righht MS.

Soo Sonys online service is where exactly????
They really shouldnt have rushed for E3, I think if they had have revised all their technologies and decided on a more original competant idea, I think a 2007 reveal of the PS3 would have been better.

I just think In 2006 Sony are not ready to do all that they claim.

realitybites

3 years ago

Its a dumb idea and makes the name Wii look inspiring.

EvilHayama

3 years ago

I like your comparison to Bose, mqphu1, because I find both Sony and Bose have unjustified reputations for quality. Sony gear is premium priced and usually -looks- quite good, but the actual quality and reliability aren't so hot. Platstations have had reliability issues just like the other consoles, and I see plenty of broken Vaios at work. I'm glad your sony stuff has worked well, but in general I think that Sony priotitise looks over quality.

realitybites

3 years ago

So has anybody worked out how the PS3 without a HDMI is going to do hi def?

Infested Jibbs

3 years ago

mqphu1 wrote

All SONY have to do is lower the price of the PSP and it will outsell the DS for sure.

Disagree.Games console with good games>games console no good games(imo)

And that's some bad marketing, if they have to drop the price of the psp to beat ds, to the point where they make little or no profit(there profit margin would already be paper thin), then what's the point?Just so sony execs can say 'we beat ds', all the while there constantly bleeding themselves financially.

Man there is alot of stuff i disagree with you about, more than i have time for to post.You've already crowned blu-ray the champ before the the race has even begun, you call sony's stuff high quality while many users here have gone through countless consoles and controllers(while almost none have had even the slightest issues with the 'cheap' nintendo gear).Goes on and on......

Quote

realitybites wrote:

So has anybody worked out how the PS3 without a HDMI is going to do hi def?

You can still get 720p/1080i(Hi def) etc etc via component.And don't forget my preaching about how DVI with separate audio cable=HDMI.

ObsoletE

3 years ago

Translation:
we don't want people giving us less profit, so we released a cheap version to appear to be catering for different consumers, but made it useless so people don't buy it.

realitybites

3 years ago

Correct me if Sony's strategy is getting slightly confusing wasn't the whole idea of blu-ray in conjunction with HDMI designed to eliminate piracy of movies?

The whole component bit gave piracy of blu ray movies too much scope to copy the feed.

Or did they finally work out people could still get a picture via HDMI - DVI+, DVI+ to component?

Audax

3 years ago

I'm one of Harrisons so called loyal customers. I own Sony Vaio, Cd player, VCR, TV, Camera, PSP, PS2, Amplifier, DVD player, 2 phones and I pre-ordered PS3, and am happy with them all. But $1000, that's near 40% more than their main competition at this time (probably more by launch) with one of the points of differentiation being a standard Sony don't even support in this country (1080p) I think they are mad.
And no, I'm not a 12 year old fan boy, I'm 35 with 3 kids and a good disposable income. I hate to say it but it currently looks like the kids will get a Wii and I will dance with the devil at M$ and probably for less than the PS3.

macca

3 years ago

<mqphu1> "Sony is a good brand, they're the second to Bose in terms of quality and well-known"

Gah. Obviously you've never been exposed to pro gear, or even high-end consumer gear. Sony has acceptable quality. It's better than Palsonic, for example, and worse than many high-end manufacturers. Bose is equally overrated, if not moreso. I'm consistently shocked at the relative garbage Bose produce and flog-off as 'high-end' or 'professional'. People who buy Bose are generally rich and don't know better - it's just a good brand to them with decent quality.

I suggest to you that Sony is the market leader of the 'mid-range market', but high-end - they don't often compete.

arbok

3 years ago

Sony were quoted at the last E3 to say that they thought the Core and Premium idea from Microsoft was ridiculously and they would never do that for the PS3.

pathetic.

ZNMS

3 years ago

What's annoying is the price for the Sony PlayStation 3 that has less features, it is way too high.

Infested Jibbs

3 years ago

HDMI and DVI are fully compatable as long as your DVI connection has HDCP enabled(high def content{copy?} protection, which prevents hi-def privacy).

Basically any hdmi connected device, dvd player etc running through dvi, first checks if it has this hdcp capability, if so, it plays no worries, if your dvi doesn't, it informs you, and then refuses to play said media.

So yeah, i dunno if sony or others are concerned about piracy thorugh component cause there is still noticeable quality loss but ARE concerned about hdmi and dvi piracy as the quality between those connections and the source material is almost non-existent, hence their implementation of hdcp, present in every hdmi device and inmost dvi devices.

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