Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, seems to be making his rounds around the press lately; he talked recently with Gamespot, and over the last couple of days he talked to Dean Takahashi at Mercury News and Daniel Terdiman at c|net. The goal of these interviews seems to be reassuring the public that Sony is still making its milestones as it continues the march towards their November launch, and trying to establish what Sony believes is the value proposition behind their expensive new console. Though Hirai has stated that manufacturing of the PS3 has not started, he reiterates that this does not put them behind schedule. When Takahashi used Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as an example, Hirai’s response was that Sony has “tighter control on manufacturing.” Sony’s roots are in electronics manufacturing, so that level of experience will definitely help; however, the Playstation 3 promises to be one of the most complex pieces of electronics that they have made to date with a number of new, untested technologies that may provide challenges that the company did not foresee. Hirai’s responses to c|net took a similar tone; they are still on track, and Microsoft’s past experiences with console shortages can not be paralleled with Sony’s approach.

Hirai also believes that Sony is ahead in the software development phase. He noted that Microsoft had not announced the same number of titles that Sony has at this point, and touted the 27 playable titles that will appear at the Tokyo game show. If rumored leaked memos on the Internet are to be trusted, the US launch promises 19 games, comparable to the launch lineup that hit the Xbox 360. Hirai again touted the supposed advantage that Blu-ray will give Sony in their software titles; Sony really needs consumers to believe that what Sony brings to the table is worth the $100 - $200 premium that the PS3 holds over the Xbox 360.

Finally, the oddest question came from c|net, where they asked if there was a chance of a PS3 version without Blu-Ray; this was basically dismissed by Hirai as a “nonstarter.” It will be interesting to see what happens post-Tokyo Game Show, and what the eventual console allotments for the three territories will be.

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