Countdown to PS3 - Aussie Sony entertainment chief is upbeat

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 20 March 2007 06:45

Opinion and Analysis

This upcoming Friday, March 23rd is the launch of the Sony PlayStation 3 for the “rest of the world”.  Will the intervening rollercoaster of bad and good press impact this launch?

In a recent interview with myself on the technology radio show Byte Into It (3RRRFM) Michael Ephraim was on top of his game as head of Sony Entertainment Australia/New Zealand.

During the interview, Ephraim was able to break down the cost of the PS3 which has been a much talked about issue with this launch.  At AU$999.95 the PS3 is by far the most expensive entertainment unit in the market today.

Although, if you break it down to its bare components and compare to Sony’s nearest rival, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, a fully spec’ed up 360 with wireless connection, HD-DVD player and 20GB Hard drive is only about $15 cheaper than the PS3 with a 60GB Hard drive.  

Wishing to emphasise this issue Ephriaim says ; “Go into a store and have the unit demonstrated properly,” the implication being that once the consumer sees the power of the console and componentry involved, $1000 won’t seem so much..  Detractors will point out that with the Xbox 360 modular design, these options are just that, options.  If I don’t want to play HD movies in my games console I can choose not to purchase the HD-DVD add on drive or the wireless adapter if it is not required.

Sony are also banking on the success of Blu-Ray as a format, not only as the next generation of high definition disc based entertainment, but also as a selling point for game sophistication.  According to Ephraim Resistance: Fall of Man is using 17GB on a Blu-Ray disc, and developers are looking for more space as time goes on.

“We are very, very confident blu-ray will win” Ephraim says.