Gamesindustry.biz managed to grab Peter Moore, corporate vice president of, interactive entertainment at Microsoft for an interview this week, asking a range of questions, and delving deep into what Mr Moore really thinks of the PS3.
GI.biz: You've done a great PR job so far in accusing Sony of forcing people down a technology path they don't necessarily want with Blu-ray, while you offer consumers a choice with the HD-DVD add on. But isn't it actually the case the Blu-ray is fundamental to PS3 in terms of games, enabling it to do things in terms of data and streaming that you can't?
Peter Moore: So if you take the model that you still need bits of plastic for data and streaming, using your words, fine. I don't think that's the model going forward. It's our view right now - consumers are telling us more and more as memory is becoming cheaper and HDDs are becoming bigger and the ability to store things... I have what I think is the optimal set-up. I have a Media Centre PC with a 250GB hard drive connected to my Xbox 360. If you think you have to have huge optical disc storage formats, fine. I tell you what, Gears of War looked pretty good on DVD9 last night.
View: Original Interview
GI.biz: So you don't believe there's any advantage for PlayStation 3 with Blu-ray in terms of the games we'll be seeing over the next few years?
Peter Moore: The thing I'd say is that Sony Corporation is almost on the brink of betting the company on Blu-ray. And that's just paraphrasing from analyst reports and as a consumer. And we are not in the business of closed formats. The ability for consumers to make that choice is important to us.
First and foremost it's a games console. I talked about it last night. At the core is your games, the next thing we worry about is your friends, then finally the outside layer is lifestyle. And I would argue that maybe Sony has that reversed. It's as simple as that. If I look at lifestyle and friends - I'm sure there's going to be a PS3 online service - and then games seems to be on the outer core. That's just my opinion.
We're very clear on what we're building here and that's a superior games experience and not a blunt object to win a high-definition movie war. Sony is mired in the past of technical devices.
