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Harrison talks PS3 video downloads, denies price cut

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Dela @ Feb 18, 2007 20:06 | 12 comments

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) executive vice president, Phil Harrison, has hinted that movie downloads may be available soon for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. In an interview with 1UP, Harrison revealed the company will expand the PS3's functionality to include "not just games but movies, music, HD, standard definition TV", all part of a 10 year plan for the console.

"Well we made a very conscious decision in putting a hard drive in every machine and a minimum of 20GB, 60GB and who knows in the future, maybe that will rise -- you know, that tends to be a trend," he said, while speaking about the benefits of the included HDDs. "The ten year plan of allowing people to download all kinds of digital content to their PlayStation 3 -- not just games but movies, music, HD, standard definition TV, you name it. And that was a significant investment, but it was absolutely the right thing to do."

When asked if Sony would reveal a similar service to Microsoft's Xbox Live Video Marketplace, Harrison said, "We have a hard drive, we have a commerce engine, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we will have that on the network very shortly." Microsoft's download service for the Xbox 360 has seen strong sales, especially of high definition downloads.

Harrison also took the opportunity to address some claims that Sony may slash the price of the PS3 as early at this year. "Well, do you know what [Sony Senior VP Takao Yuhara] said was, cost reduction, not price drop, and there's a big difference between cost reduction and price drop. So, that I believe is where the confusion came from," Harrison explained. "Obviously, we are investing our money in making PlayStation 3s cheaper to manufacture -- that's part of our business plan."

Sony loses an estimated $301 on every PlayStation 3 (PS3) sold.

Source:

DailyTech

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Comments

Comment by: chubbyInc (Feb 18, 2007 20:36)

Good old Sony. Always copying other companies ideas, guess it's worked so far.

Comment by: BobbyBlu (Feb 18, 2007 21:31)

Quote:
Harrison also took the opportunity to address some claims that Sony may slash the price of the PS3 as early at this year. "Well, do you know what [Sony Senior VP Takao Yuhara] said was, cost reduction, not price drop, and there's a big difference between cost reduction and price drop. So, that I believe is where the confusion came from," Harrison explained. "Obviously, we are investing our money in making PlayStation 3s cheaper to manufacture -- that's part of our business plan.

I'm sorry Mr.Harrison but i have a problem with that commet.So you saying that every cost reduction you have is alright to save money in your pockets but its not a option to give a price cut...lol

Comment by: sukhvail (Feb 18, 2007 21:43)

@bobby blu-all they are getting out of reduced production costs are smaller loses, so i don't really blame them for that. and the ps3 has been out for 4 months so i wouldn't expect a price cut anytime soon.

Comment by: limelight (Feb 18, 2007 22:38)

WATCH OUT GUYS!!!! He said theyre gonna be "cheaper to manufacture", which means, "-DISC-READ-ERROR-"

Comment by: themind (Feb 18, 2007 23:44)

I wonder if sony can keep hypeing the "10 year plan". Man thats getting old. But its nice to see that sony was the first console maker that was able to say how long it would last and not have to put up with that crapy advances in hardware crap.

Comment by: SProdigy (Feb 19, 2007 09:26)

10 year plan... they are pretty cocky for being in third place. They keep preaching "value". A Microsoft Exec said it best: "For the price of one PS3, why not buy an Xbox 360 and a Wii? Sony, can you say "Sega Saturn"???

Also, if the purpose of purchasing a PS3 is to play Blu-ray discs, then what is the reason of "renting" a movie in HD? Sounds like Sony is trying to milk the system. Are they going to be the only studio to support the downloads? I don't think the HD-DVD backers will jump on the Sony bandwagon. They've already botched UMD with the PSP. So what's next? At least the HD-DVD drive is optional on 360 and you can still get HD content on the console without having the drive.

Comment by: SProdigy (Feb 19, 2007 09:42)

Oh yeah, forgot to mention: did anyone else hear of the PS3 scaler issues? It won't scale a Blu-ray movie to 720p. If your HDTV only supports 720p, the PS3 scales it down to 480p. What's up with that? Does Sony have a fix for it or is it hardware that can't be fixed or updated? If the latter is the case, that would kill the whole movie download idea.

Comment by: jutsu (Feb 19, 2007 09:51)

"10 year plan"
LOL
its imposible for ps3 to stay healty for 10 years.
my PS2 laser lens already dead in 1 year, and now its already hard to read game disc..

Comment by: chubbyInc (Feb 19, 2007 10:28)

The system is expensive and it's funny to hear the mention of 10 years, because in 5 years I'm going to want a better system.

The PS1 came out in 1995 then 5 years later the PS2 came out. In 5 years will people want to play games that will seem equivalent to those old PS1 games.

But with 13 years behind them, you'd think the system would be better.

SProdigy - I heard of that too, even so how long would it take to download a Blu-ray movie if it included the features. I've only been seeing HDDVD movies that are about 17 gigs.

Comment by: neo1000 (Feb 19, 2007 14:43)

Ten year plan? yeah we`ll see what happens 4 or 5 years from now when microsoft and nintendo release their new consoles.

Comment by: trexxus (Feb 19, 2007 19:33)

Yeah I can't see the ps3 having a 10 year shelf life(no I don't want it to follow ways of the dreamcast/saturn)but with console technology speeding up I can only hope that it isn't abandoned after 3-4 years.

Comment by: dorkydork (Feb 23, 2007 10:29)

@SProdigy
ps3 != sega saturn

while i wish the system was cheaper (and it should be) it doesnt take a math genius to figure out that quality costs. i bought a laptop for $1100 a few months ago. my work just bought me a $4000 laptop. there is a huge difference.

fact = advanced technology costs
fact = the ps3 is too expensive for most people

i agree the price is too expensive for nearly everyone i know. if sony was smart they would lower the price even if just for a few months to boost the adoption rate.