nVidia chief sticks up for PS3

PS3 News | Inclusion of Blu-ray is a "master stroke".

The queue of critics lining up to take shots at the PlayStation 3 may have been lengthening since E3 in May, but Sony can least rely on the support of nVidia boss Jen-Hsun Huang. Speaking in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Huang raved about the PS3, and defended Sony's decision to delay the console so that Blu-ray technology could be included.

Huang's positive appraisal of the console perhaps isn't too surprising, given that his nVidia are set to supply the GPU that will come in the PS3, but he seemed to have no qualms about the decision to support Sony. "I don't think that working with Sony is wrong. There is no way that is going to be wrong. There are many wonderful things that Sony did. I'm excited that they made Blu-ray high-definition storage as a standard part of the PlayStation 3 platform," he said. "To postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke. When that comes out, it's going to look so much more advanced than last-generation game consoles. I think that was a wonderful call on their part."

The nVidia boss, whose company produced the GPU for the first Xbox, also suggested that Microsoft may be forced into granting the Xbox 360 HD playback capabilities if it wished to effectively compete in the next-gen race. "I'm not sure how Microsoft is going to do in this transition. They are clever and they will figure out a way. I'll make a prediction that Xbox 360 can't possibly be a DVD-only device by Christmas of next year."

Huang even had strong words for the critics of the PS3's hefty price tag, arguing that, "PlayStation 2 was launched seven years ago in Japan at about $399. If you use inflation, it's the same price, approximately."

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16 Comments

döppelgangbang

5 years ago

Technologically the PS3 is indeed ahead of its time. If you ignore evil corporate factors like SONY pushing its proprietary format on the world (dont like the controller/ console design etc etc) there's alot going for the PS3. If I had a HD setup I'd consider getting one.

Is Blu Ray a master stroke? If the answer can be quantified by the market response we'll soon know.

Spanca

5 years ago

Isn't the PS3 the only console Nvidia have their hardware in?

Chris-Leigh

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

Isn't the PS3 the only console Nvidia have their hardware in?

I'm certain the original Xbox had an nVidia GPU, but if you mean from the new consoles, then yes.

admeister

5 years ago

"To postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke."

That's debatable. Postponing a console is always risky, and it's the cause of the PS3 being the last console to be released, which won't help Sony. On the other hand, Blu-Ray is quite impressive, it will be very useful as a storage media in the future, and HD-nuts will love it.

Spanca

5 years ago

Chris-Leigh wrote

Spanca wrote

Isn't the PS3 the only console Nvidia have their hardware in?

I'm certain the original Xbox had an nVidia GPU, but if you mean from the new consoles, then yes.

Yeah I know the original Xbox had nVidia, but out of the current gen, everyone else has gone ATi so of course nVidia are going to stick up for their only candidate!

Echo

5 years ago

yeah, i think the PS3 will be a flop. There bringing it out later than the others, they are not doing anything hugely new and its expensive

Jim Dash

5 years ago

Nothing hugely new? What about the inclusion of Blu-Ray?

At the end of the day, do you really think it's gonna flop? Price aside, people will flock to this.

Sony cannot go wrong. even when it seems like they are. Maybe us gamers, that keep up with every little bit of news, may have a change of heart but the general public doesn't know the difference.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Oh no....next thing you'll have is Ken Kutaragi defending the ps3 and it's price....blah blah...

All it has to do is work and i'm buying one at launch, i just couldn't stand not having something like this at launch. And there is a good chance....that if the ps3 does work as well as it could then no-doubt it will be the next gen king.

Nvidia developed the GPU for the original Xbox and now for the Ps3.

Frozencry

5 years ago

Jim Dash wrote

Agreed.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Man JD nailed it with his last post....the general public don't know jack.....all they know is the name 'Playstation'.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Master stroke of stupidity IMHO. Sony are only releasing it because they desprately need a strangle hold on the movie industry so they can get their money back.

Anyone know if Sony have bought the licencing rights for the RSX of if nVIDIA still keeps them. Cause if they do, the PS3 is going to be another Xbox in terms of profitability.

arbok

5 years ago

in current blu-ray players it takes 40 seconds to load a blu ray disc to get to the movie.

Sol_Bad

5 years ago

And it takes HD DVD owners way over a minute.
And theres no current Blu Ray players, just a single Blu Ray player from Samsung.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

^ I haven't heard that. However I do know that Blu-Ray movies are currently encoded in MPEG2 compared to HD-DVD in MPEG4. Which means you get standard DVD quality on a really expencive disc. Not to mention Blu-Ray uses Java

KickyFunkFresh

5 years ago

You really wouldnt expect nVidia to say, "We have our hardware in the PS3 and it is gonna be ****!" now would you?

realitybites

5 years ago

Don't believe the PS3 will flop.

If blu-ray isn't the default Hi Def home standard than yes blu ray will flop.

Sony lost the beta vs. vhs game and a few others. As for Nvidia well they haven't much choice.

What is laughable of late is Sony trying to get different organisations to endorse their choices. Subtle but noticeable if you are reviewing every piece of news out there.

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