Sony: The HD era really only starts when we are on the market

[Sean Mota]

GamesIndustry.biz Home <IMG height=9 alt="->" src="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/img/icon/arrow_right.gif" width=9> "The HD era really only starts when we are on the market" - Harrison
"The HD era really only starts when we are on the market" - Harrison

Rob Fahey 14:54 13/12/2005PlayStation development boss plays down Microsoft's high definition claims
Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison has claimed that Microsoft's Xbox 360 "doesn't have true HD functionality," saying that consumers seeking a HD experience will have to wait for the PS3 to arrive.
Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz this week, in an interview to be published tomorrow, Harrison described the Xbox 360 as "a lot better than their [Microsoft's] first introduction to the console business," but questioned the console's claim to being a High Definition device.
"The true definition of HD is the three elements of the HD value chain - the display, the content and the hardware to play back that content," he explained, "and PlayStation and Sony is the only organisation that has all three bits of the value chain together."
"As you well know," he continued, "the Xbox 360 doesn't play high definition movies and doesn't have true HD functionality - PlayStation 3 is the only format that has 1080-progressive, which is the true definition of HD, so it's really premature to be talking about the HD era."
"The HD era really only starts when we are on the market," he concluded.
Harrison's comments refer to the fact that the PlayStation 3 is the only next-gen console which will support the top end of the HD standard, the 1080p resolution, and also the only device which will be able to play high definition movie content, thanks to its support for Blu-Ray discs.
"High definition as far as the consumer is concerned means high definition movies, which means Blu-Ray disc, and that is the reason that people will buy high definition displays coupled with a player that is capable of playing movies and games - which is obviously PlayStation 3," he claimed.
Also in our exclusive interview, Harrison discussed other aspects of Sony's attitude to the next-generation console from its key rival, Microsoft, along with the company's ongoing plans for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable platforms and his belief that the games retail model is set to undergo a major shift in the coming years.

 

[Sean Mota]

"High definition as far as the consumer is concerned means high definition movies, which means Blu-Ray disc, and that is the reason that people will buy high definition displays coupled with a player that is capable of playing movies and games - which is obviously PlayStation 3," he claimed.

Doesn't he sound like he is pissed that he could not get the PS3 out in time to beat XBOX

 

[jbcheshire]

Yep.
But he made me set back and think about the PS3 playing the blue-ray discs... I had forgotten about that fact. If you get the PS3, then you won't need to get that new HD dvd player... Food for thought for those thinking of getting the 360 instead...

 

[Sean Mota]

Also the PS3 is capable of doing 1080p!!!!!!!

 

[dont24]

Also the PS3 is capable of doing 1080p!!!!!!!

Nice! I was going to wait until after the holidays to locate an Xbox 360, but this making me think I should wait until the PS3 release.

 

[korsjs]

pretty confident on their part.

 

[Ilya]

Will PS3 have HDMI/DVI output? XBox 360 doesn't, from what I've heard.

 

[Ilya]

Yep.
But he made me set back and think about the PS3 playing the blue-ray discs... I had forgotten about that fact. If you get the PS3, then you won't need to get that new HD dvd player... Food for thought for those thinking of getting the 360 instead...

That's pretty much the main reason why Blu-Ray format seems to be winning the race. Millions of Blu-Ray players are guaranteed to be sold right away... in the form of PS3!

 

[Paradox-SJ]

First...Does ANYONE today have a set that can take a 1080p input.......

Second...Do you REALLY think the quality the playback will be on par with stand alone DVD HD DVD player...blue-ray or otherwise? A quality DVD player today cost 800-1200 dollars (Denon 2900 and above for example)

Will the DENON XXXX HD player and the PS3 be on the same par...I think not...

 

[Purogamer]

Well, yeah they're confident. They're the market leader and will sell millions of ps3's no matter what price it comes out at or what games it comes out with. They have a right to be cocky...

To say HD means HD movies is just untrue. A lot of the HD talk around here is how sports and tv shows aren't in HD. While most new movies can be in HD, you can't just upconvert "The breakfast club", put it on blu-ray and say it's HD...

I believe 360 has said "High Def Graphics" for quite some time. That's all they claim so sony is really jumping on nothing here. Can't blame them, but c'mon, they shipped with a standard DVD player, they know they're not playing High Def movies...

The ONLY reason blu ray is going to win is because sony is putting it in ps3. I stopped following the war about a year ago but at that point, HD-DVD was as good or better to a lot of people. Blu ray has had nothing but problems it seems...

Oh, and the ps2 got a lot of people into DVD's, but the ps2 was just about the cheapest f**king dvd player made...It's quality was really average at best. It got people in the door, but it's not designed to be your movie player for long. Same with blu ray, i'm going to hate watching movies on it knowing how sony's lasers wear out so damn fast in those consoles...All the shifting on those huge (gb-wise) discs makes me uneasy...

When DVD came along, it was easy to get people to buy them. Digital quality that you can own for your lifetime. People loved throwing away their VHS tapes. Will the same revolution take place with blu-ray? I don't think so. People will buy new movies in blu-ray, but like I said before, what benefits to older movies is there really? People replaced really old tapes with DVD's, John Q. Consumer isn't going to be so quick to part with his lovely new DVD collection for a blu-ray collection in a day when the price of damn near everything is skyrocketing...

So they're right, they're appealing to the very high end consumer, but that's not who's going to be lined up on launch day so I don't know why they're bothering. People who buy on launch want to play good games, maybe they should focus on that for a while, enough videos and enough about how it's going to be pretty. I'm glad sony has caught up to everyone else's graphic capabilities, now give us the gameplay...that's all we want...

...oh, and re-design that controller you f**kheads...How insulting that they're going to make us buy memory cards again AND expect us to play with that batarang controller...FU sony...

 

[Bunkhouse]

1080p. Only the newer HDTV's support it and i dought you'll see more then a few dozen games take advantage of it. Anyone know what the native resolution of the PS3 will be? 720P/1080i? after that they'll just upconvert to 1080p. I like Sony but they are getting too cocky. Do we even need HD games yet? it's not like we have reached a point where current 480i DVD movies and games are near identical in picture quality. They could have used BLU-RAY disks exclusively for PS3 to help combat piracy and kept movies seperate. I just don't like the idea of paying $100+ more for a system then i have to to get basic movie playback. Mind you if you have money for an HDTV and a PS3, i'm sure you'd fork up for a quality BLU-RAY/HD-DVD player.
Sony calling Xbox 360 not true HD . That's good old sony for you and Sony if your reading this, i'm still waiting for my Toy Story like graphics that the PS2 was supposedly able to do, and might as well tell the movie industry to stop filming in 1080i since it's not true HD.

 

[Purogamer]

Yeah well sony always throws a lot of crap at the wall, sometimes it sticks but usually it doesn't. When it comes to what their hardware can do, it usually slides right to the floor and everyone outside the media who eats it up knows that...

Sony currently puts gigabytes of junk data on games to effect pirates. There's a 3.5gb japanese wrestling game that's actual content is only about 800mb. So you've got your ps2 laser sifting through all the junk to get to the content, which wears out the laser. Maybe if sony would understand piracy they'd realize how dumb that is. It just makes people work harder to crack it...