KAZ HIRAI SLAMS MICROSOFT

QJ.Net is reporting that in a recent interview with Playstation Magazine, Sony’s Kaz Hirai slammed Microsoft for “copying” everything Sony does – which is kind of surprising given the direction Sony has taken with the Playstation 3 and the features it incorporates;

“Every time we go down a path, we look behind and they’re right there – we just can’t shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do. If you look at their strategy in other business areas as well, they tend to do that.” -Kaz Hirai

I don’t know about you, but that quote kind of cracks me up given how Sony is aping Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, Nintendo‘s controller designs and the like and more. To be fair though, as PSM showed us all recently, the technology being used by the Playstation 3 controller is nothing new for Sony.

Hirai apparently followed those comments with a dig about the external Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive and the confusion it could generate for consumers;

“And the other thing is, you take a look at, for example, the fact that we incorporate the Blu-ray drive from day one. You’re not going to be asking me, ‘So, talk to me about this Blu-ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?’ That’s exactly the kind of pitfall you fall into if you launch something that’s too early, too premature…” -Kaz Hirai

At least on that end, depending on how you look at it, Hirai has a valid point. While I and many people I know prefer the idea of deciding if we want to pay the added expense of a HD-DVD drive with the 360, there are very few questions regarding how Sony can use the Blu-ray player. I’m sure there are people out there who prefer the idea of having everything built in from day one… I’m just saying I haven’t met many of them yet.

You can check out the QJ.Net story here for more details and the “current” issue of PSM for the full story.

SHOULD THE PS3 BLU-RAY DRIVE HAVE BEEN OPTIONAL?

ArsTechinca has an interesting article up that explores the question of whether or not Sony should have made the Playstation 3‘s Blu-Ray drive an optional feature, much the same way Microsoft is handling the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. While the article basically doesn’t cover anything that we haven’t heard before, it brings together all the arguments regarding the decision to market the Playstation 3 with a Blu-Ray player in one cohesive article. The most interesting point in the article comes towards the end when disc space issues are discussed, and the following data is given;

“There’s no doubt that BD-ROM has more space than DVD9. There’s also no doubt that several games that were once thought to be impossible to fit on DVD9 nonetheless fit (Oblivion being a good example). To get a sense of the real situation, consider existing game sizes. Original Xbox 360 titles, for example, used an average of 3.2GB per disc in 2005, up some 77 percent from 2001. Meanwhile, existing games on the Xbox 360 use slightly more space, with NBA Live 06 taking up 4.5GB, and Condemned: Criminal Origins taking 3.9GB. That is, they’re roughly at half capacity. Furthermore, the argument that x times the resolution equals x times the data is without merit as an objective rule. There’s an excellent article at GamesFirst dealing with this very topic.” -ArsTechnica article

The author also makes the interesting point that with games being developed for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously, developers may limit game size to the lowest common denominator – the 360’s DVD9 format.

Check out the full ArsTechnica article here and the referenced GamesFirst article here

THE WHOLE HDMI MESS EXPLAINED

IGN has a pretty good article up regarding why the lack of HDMI support on the 20gig Playstation 3 is such a problem. As we’ve pointed out before, the issue lies in the fact that the upcoming digital copy protection schemes movie distributors are going to use will downgrade Blu-Ray video to 540p (as opposed to Blu-Ray’s high end 1080p or the standard HDTV 720p/1080i) if played through an output that does not support the protection.

Before you start asking why Sony would implement this technology, this would also go for HD-DVD formats and is something being pushed by hollywood, not the electronics manufacturers. The point here is, only two output formats that currently support said protection – HDMI and DVI. As the lower end Playstation 3 has neither, once those discs start coming out, much of the benefit of owning a Blu-Ray player vanishes.

Since Sony is pushing the fact that the Playstation 3 pricing is fantastic because you get a Blu-Ray player, this causes a bit of a quandary. Sure, you’re getting a Blu-Ray player, but it’s a Blu-Ray player that can’t play Blu-Ray movies the way they were meant to be played. It would be like selling someone a CD player that could only play things back with quality a little better than a tape. Not a good thing.

Check out the IGN article here for all the technical details and the reason why if you’re planning on purchasing a Playstation 3, you really need to spend the extra $100 and get the higher end model.