In bold type are the questions I posed to Michael Ephraim, and underneath are his answers with minor editing of my almost word-for-word tying for clarity [marked in square brakets]. Some of the questions I’ve asked may have already been answered or known elsewhere on the Internet, but they’re things that I wanted to know, and Michael was happy to take my questions! So here we go…

Michael, congratulations on the PS3 pre-launch! Will we be seeing (or are we already seeing) a massive advertising campaign (globally and in Australia) in the lead up the ‘rest-of-the-world’ launch on March 23? I watch very little TV, so if such a campaign has been on already, I’ve missed it – but of course a campaign isn’t just TV, but in magazines, newspapers, radio, billboards, online etc etc etc.

At the moment retailers are in the pre-sale mode, if you go into any gaming, IT retailer or consumer electronics dealer, you will see a very big presence of the PS3. That’s the advertising we’re doing at retail so far in Australia. We also do have ‘The Stories’ online – about HD online, real time AI and more that consumer can watch. But above the line, with media etc – it will be the whole shebang, and will happen on launch from March 23. We have a fabulous promotion that you can’t miss with [Austalian National Airline] Qantas – they are giving away 200 PS3s – but the big media spend will happen after launch.

Is there any word on some of the other accessories we’ll see for the PS3, such as a high-res Eyetoy, not just for games, but future videocalling apps? Will there be/is there a plan for a voice/video package like a Sony version of a Skype type app for PS3?

A lot of these things are in the pipeline, some have been detailed – unfortunately we are not in the position to announce these things, they will be announced in the near future. I would add this would be done by the parent company SCEE. But yes, exciting features and accessories are coming out for the PS3.

Can you give us any more hints on whether or not a PS3 movie download service would be available in Australia soon after one might launch in the US, especially after the comments from Phil Harrison?

We are exploring all possible opportunities in Australia because we’re very excited with the PS3. With firmware upgrades, that can be done technically quite easily. But there are issues with DRM, compatibility, business issues and the investment to deliver that but I can tell you that we definitely have that on our radar and are exploring that, but will focus on that more after launch.

[We’ll also take the time to] understand who the consumers we are selling too, hard core gamers will be early, but with HD and the Blu-ray revolution, we’ll be more of a digital device in the home – today’s presentation shows it deserves the right to be that – and those kind of [video download] offerings become more practical, financially viable etc – but it is on our radar.

Has the lack of ‘rumble’ been a major concern with consumers overseas, or has it not really been the issue that some pundits feared it might be?

There was a bit of shock and people going ‘what?’ at the announcement at E3 – but I’ve heard no negative feedback [since] about that not being included.

I remember there was a firware update to the PSP to 3.1 I think so it would work with the PS3 – and also so you could download PS1 games to the PSP. Do any games yet take advantage of any PS3/PSP connection, or is this all still coming?

When we make announcements about the PS online shop that will be announced, there will be interoperability with the PS3 and PSP and those announcements will come – look at the US model, we’ll deliver a similar model [here].

Next up we ask what Sony's response might be to an Xbox 360 price cut on or near March 23 in an attempt to spoil the PS3 launch party - and plenty more questions. Please read onto page 2 for more!