PS3 for all

Friday 6 October 2006
Reach beyond the core gamer. Broaden the appeal of gaming. Involve the whole family. Welcome, welcome, welcome lovely new people - please come inside and play videogames with us. We don't bite.

It's never been more apparent that console makers want to give more people more reasons to be interested in - and want to get involved with - gaming. After all, more gamers = more moolah. It's a simple enough equation.

Nintendo might be looking to lead the charge with its 'GAMES FOR ALL!' Wii war cry, but Sony has a definite knack for knowing how to really deliver gaming to the masses - the success of SingStar, Buzz! and EyeToy speaks for itself.

To find out how Sony is planning to keep that momentum of mass appeal interest going with PlayStation 3, we spoke to Sony's head of UK PR, David Wilson.

First of all, could you tell us who you think PS3 will appeal to most? Who are you targeting on day one of the console's release?
Our goal is for PS3 to appeal to a broader spectrum of gamers than we did at the launch of PS2.

I suppose if you look at where PS2 is now in terms of growing the market and bringing in more mainstream and female gamers, etc, with franchises like SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz!, but also getting the hardcore excited about titles like God of War - we are aiming at being there from the start with PS3. There is, for example, a PS3 SingStar lined up for an early launch on the system.

Above: Sony promises that PS3 will cater for all types of gamer early in its life

Is attracting a new generation of gamers to PS3 a high priority for you?
Anything that grows the market is a priority. It's good for everyone - gamers, developers, platform holders. The more people enjoying the pursuit of videogames, the more lucrative the market becomes, attracting new development teams, titles and budgets.

Of course, PS3 isn't just about games. I imagine a lot of technophiles who want to be first on board with the HD/Blu-ray revolution will find PS3 a very attractive proposition - and these may be people who primarily want to watch movies and use the BD Live functionality, for example.

PS3 will be one of the first Blu-ray players on the market with full BD Live capability, which is the ability to access the internet from within the disc and download additional content to the player's internal memory. As well as the ability to enjoy unique, 'web-enabled' interactive features, such as bringing up web sites, actor information and bios and related topics in windows (picture-in-picture) whilst continuing to play the main movie.