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Feature: Sony's Jack Tretton: Wii is a "lollipop", 360 an "unreliable cook" [page 2 of 2]

Feature by Sid Shuman | 07/17/2007 | 17:28:44 PM PST

I think the PS3 is the Surf 'n Turf, the PS2 is your favorite burger restaurant... [Wii] is a lollipop, and I'm too old for lollipops. And the [Xbox 360] I get sick from once in a while because the cook isn't always reliable.

So it's games first and then you end up backing into all of these other features?

JT: It's absolutely games first. That is a challenge because when you talk about an early line-up of products, you've got 30 or 35 games in the first 6-8 months to convert the non-hardcore gamer. The Playstation fan, the person who has studied the technology in the PS3, the person who went out and already bought it, they knew everything, knew why they were going to buy it from the start. But there are 100's of millions of consumers who need to understand what the PS3 does and why it costs what it costs. When we get that message across I think we'll end up with the masses. Clearly that job has just begun.

Do you see KillZone 2 as the Halo of PS3?

JT: I would never say it's our Halo. It's our KillZone. KillZone is a great game and what I'm most excited about is that it's living up to the promise we showed consumers long before the PS3 was ever done and before the first one ever hit the shelf. A lot of times companies are able to go up and make statements that they don't back up and nobody ever calls them on it. Certainly we received more than our fair share of criticism that said these no way you can make a game like that on any videogame system. I think people have seen the live code, and ultimately when consumers get their hands on it their jaws are going to be on the ground.

I've heard the new PS3 with the 80GB drive that comes with Motorstorm will not have the [PS2] Emotion Engine chip in them and it will use software emulation. Is this true and is that a strange situation to charge $100 for 20 more gigs of storage and a great game, but it's crippled in this one way? Or are you going to get software emulation really churning on that thing?

JT: I think the software emulation on it is extremely good. It's the same software emulation they have in Europe, and the backward compatibility on it is quite favorable. I think you have to look at it in terms of what we're asking consumers to pay additionally for, what they're getting for it, and what they would ultimately choose to do with it. They're getting 20GB more in hard drive space, and we all know our competitors sell a 20GB hard drive for $100, and they're getting a $60 game included. They're essentially getting $160 worth of value for $100. If you say yeah, they're losing the emotion engine and that it's really important to people, the emotion engine is in the 60GB version and it's $499. So decide whether you need 60GB or 80GB, whether you need the emotion engine or the software emulation, and make your decision accordingly. For consumers to whom the emotion engine is of paramount importance, the 60GB version is available.

Are you planning on continuing to offer a model that has an Emotion Engine down the road, or are you planning on faze out all hardware emulation?

JT: Right now those are the two models we offer. I can't predict the future, but that's the current plan.

Is Sony still interested in doing top-tier, top-shelf, top-quality games for the PS2 along the caliber of God of War, or are you ushering third parties off to it now?

JT: The honest answer is even though we have the largest development studios in the world, you're limited to the amount of games you can do and the number of platforms you can do it for. That being said, we are absolutely not abandoning PS2, and I think God of War II is a testament to that. The fact that this industry moves in light years, that game is a little over 90 days old, so it's not like, "Yeah, you had God of War II ten years ago." We only introduced it four months ago, and it's still selling well. It sold a million units in the first week. We are still really committed to it. Our two bread and butter franchises have been the God of War franchise, and in this market, the MLB franchise. You'll continue to see support on our sport franchises and you'll continue to see an evolution into the casual gaming audiences. You've got 160 games coming out for the PS2 this year, so PS2 consumers can rest assured that we plan on supporting it for a long time to come. As far as the PS2 is concerned, we're in year seven, and if that's any indication there's nothing to worry about.

How would you describe each current game console if you had to describe it as a meal or food?

JT: I probably couldn't do it objectively.

You don't need to be objective!

I think the PS3 is the Surf 'n Turf. You want the lobster and steak and you're going to give yourself the treat of getting the best thing on the menu. The PS2 is your favorite burger restaurant -- you go there for comfort food and it's just always good and is a good value.

[As for the other two consoles], one [Wii] is a lollipop, and I'm too old for lollipops. The other one [Xbox 360] I get sick from once in a while because the cook isn't always reliable.

LAUGHTER

Concerning Microsoft's hardware failure, does that show that they don't have the experience in the hardware sector that Sony does?

JT: We stand by the product quality in the PS3. We think we built a tremendous device that stands the test of time. I think they way it's holding up in the consumers hands is proof that we built a great machine.