Sony says PlayStation 3 is a Blu-ray disc player too

Sony Corporation has embarked on a campaign to step up marketing for its latest gaming console PlayStation 3 and emphasized that the console is a
Blu-ray disc player as well.

The move is apparently aimed at boosting both the PlayStation 3 and the Sony-backed DVD format ahead of the Christmas holiday sales season.

Financial Times reported Kaz Hirai, president of Sony’s games unit, as saying that his division was working closely with Sony Pictures and Sony Entertainment to “get the Blu-ray message out” and that it is a “delicate balancing act” for Sony Computer Entertainment.

Kaz Hirai said the PlayStation 3 is first and foremost a video games machine but a great Blu-ray player, too. Marketing efforts in the United States, Europe, and Japan would highlight the PlayStation 3 as a Blu-ray disc player as well.

Hirai did not rule out a price cut for the PlayStation 3 in future. A price cut would have a “real impact” on sales only if there were enough software titles
to support the PlayStation 3, he added.

However, analysts were skeptical about the price cut, and said Sony could miss its shipment targets for 2007.

In his keynote speech at the Tokyo Game Show, Kaz Hirai said on September 21, 2007, that Sony’s games unit would postpone until the spring of 2008 the launch of ‘Home.’ The virtual world ‘Home’, which will run on the PlayStation 3, was originally scheduled for release late in 2007.

Sony Computer Entertainment, Kaz Hirai said, had acquired Evolution Studios, a software developer in the United Kingdom, and its Bigbig Studios
subsidiary, for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its software line-up.

Evolution Studios had created MotorStorm, a million-seller title for the PlayStation 3.

In his presentation at the Tokyo Game Show, Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, also announced a rumble-enhanced Sixaxis controller and some demonstrations of new PSP/PS3 connectivity.

Hirai began by talking about the success of the PlayStation platform since its launch in 1994. From that year up till now, the company went from having no presence in the game-hardware business to amassing over 250 million hardware sales worldwide.

The company, Hirai added, has plans to make even more contributions to the gaming-console industry. At the core of this strategy is a desire to create more interesting games and interesting entertainment, while continuing to innovate.

He stressed on the success of PlayStation 2, which reached the 100-million sales mark in six years, compared to the original PlayStation that took 11 years to hit that number.