There’s an article on the internet that gives a quick interview with Sony Computer Entertainment America’s (what a mouthful… try saying this out loud compared to Nintendo of America) Kaz Hirai talking about Playstation 3 software prices… Can you see where this is headed? Putting games on brand new, untested-in-the-field Blu Ray discs will cost you a lot. Maybe a whole lot. He starts off saying that, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that games are maybe $59 on the high end to $39 on the low end. I can agree with that. He then says that “it would be a bit of a stretch” to suddenly sell PS3 games for $100.

He then goes on to say that customers won’t be expecting or wanting a sudden double in the price of games, and drops a quick line that they want to make this as cheap and affordable as possible. (Too late for that.) He closes by saying, “if the price is over $59, don’t ding me, but I don’t expect it to be $100.” (Emphasis mine.)

What he’s said here basically says that PS3 games WILL be more expensive than any other console game out there, but it’ll still be less than double the price, so you don’t need to worry. At least, that’s what I get out of it. Anyone else thinking 89.99 dollar PS3 games? Right in the foot, Sony… right in the foot. Do you have much of one left by now?

Then, of course, we have a hilarious article (Sony, naturally) with good ol’ Kaz Hirai, once again. In this article, he takes to slamming Microsoft, and accusing them of copying everything that Sony does. Just listen:

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.

…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.

(Quick note, the last paragraph? He’s talking about Microsoft’s optional HD-DVD add-on and how it’s a pitfall if you launch something like that too early. (Apparently, he thinks people will start asking if it’s for games or just movies, as if people aren’t asking that about the PS3, hahaha!) He’s NOT saying the Blu-Ray drive they built into the PS3 is premature. Oh, no, not Sony.)

I think he’s trying to make a point here, but, as you can see, I’ve highlighted the points of interest. Namely, the things that Sony themselves are guilty of doing. Everyone (who’s not a fanboy) knows that Sony copies everything in the console department. “Revolutionary” motion-senstive controller that’s actually over 5 years old, Sony’s version of Xbox Live (complete with similar looking “Dashboard”), just to name the recent, pivotal ones. I think Hirai was trying to chew out Microsoft for including HD-DVD, saying it was premature… that’s arrogance beyond the console area, my friend. Blu-Ray isn’t exactly widely accepted, yet, either… and you made it REQUIRED to play games.

Oh, but there’s more! (There always is!) Joystiq is reporting about an article that says a small company named Track7Games has cancelled production for a PS3 game due to the high costs of producing on the PS3 platform. After which, Track7Games posted on their site that the article was inaccurate:

PS3land.com wrote an erroneous article on June 29, 2006 regarding track7games and our upcoming game, “Theseis”. track7games would like to clarify that we never cancelled something that did not exist in the first place. We plan to develop “Theseis” for PC and Xbox360 in the near future. As for the PS3, we simply made a strategic decision to not move ahead because we deemed it not probable at this time.

So, I don’t know about you, but they didn’t deny that the PS3 was too expensive to develop for, but that the game was never even started for the PS3. So it wasn’t cancelled, it just never started. Sounds like the same principal to me. There are some comments blabbing about how Track7Games is a small company with barely any games in their portfolio, and are probably a group of 4 people, and to pretty much just ignore the fact that they can’t make things for Sony since they’re so small. I’m sure of those comments are overreactions, but they’re still just sealing the deal.

If small companies can’t develop for the PS3, then third party games are going to plummet. Just think about if Cyan had to develop Myst the first time for the PS3? That’s what the point of the article is… Sony seems to be locking out the little guys in preference for the big developers, who, I might add, have also complained about how difficult it is to code for the PS3. Of course, Sony has said they don’t need third party games, so what do we know, huh?

In closing, might I direct you to a site that tells of a hardware coded Easter Egg for the Nintendo Gamecube. As the page suggests, it seems that Nintendo “laughed in the face of all who call it a kiddie system before it was even released”. I love Nintendo. This reminded me of an article that talked about the DS Lite press box. Be sure to click the video link at the end, it’s so cool!