http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/985/

David Reeves, SCEE Chief: Leaving it all behind (PS2, PSP, PS3)

Pro-G catches up with SCEE chief David Reeves and finds him defiantly 
uninterested in playing games in next-generation battlefields.



Mr Reeves had a lot to say at the ELSPA International Games Summit


Next-generation battles, handheld grudge matches and verbal mud-slinging 
isn't all it's cracked up to be. As the hype and madness of E3 disappears 
over the gaming horizon, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo can finally breathe a 
sigh of relief and get back to the business of paying the bills, i.e. 
selling consoles and games.

But it seems the media and the gaming hardcore aren't playing ball. The 
insatiable appetite for next-generation news, be it scandalous speculation, 
well founded rumour or otherwise, continues to populate online blogs, 
message boards and tech sites. For David Reeves, president and COO of Sony 
Computer Entertainment Europe, we're doing gamers a disservice by hanging on 
every next-generation thread. Speaking to Pro-G during ELSPA's International 
Games Summit in London last week, David's thoughts are very much with the 
here and now, the PS3 and the next-generation a spec in the distance.

"I feel proud that E3 went well from the presentations that they did", said 
Reeves only minutes after delivering his (somewhat controversial) keynote at 
the industry conference. "I feel very happy about that, but I told the 
troops: OK now we go underground. The PS3 goes underground until it comes 
out next year."

Reeves' comments make sound business sense. The PS3 isn't planned for 
release until Spring 2006, and all the hype overload in the world won't ring 
a single till this Christmas. Reeves believes, as many at ELSPA's conference 
did, that the current generation of hardware still has a great deal to 
offer.

"Ray Maguire, who looks after the UK, his number one priority is PS2 this 
Christmas, and PSP is clearly number two. In the UK there is still 50% of 
the software to be sold. Konami will come out with PES5 in September or 
October and they're already developing six for PS2 for next year because 
they are confident that as the installed base goes up they will make money 
from it. Not everyone dives in and buys the PS3 because the price is still 
relatively high. Not everyone has the money to be able to go out and buy 
it."

And as head of Sony's European wing, David isn't simply concerned with the 
UK, which is "probably 70 maybe 80% of the way through the life cycle of 
PS2". There are many countries to contend with, each with differing 
demographics and evolving console lifecycles.

"In Iran we're 10% of the way through. We're shipping maybe 10,000 PS2s a 
week into Iran legally. Sony has an office there. We ship them into North 
Africa; we ship them into West Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, 
Croatia. There are many, many places."



This is still Sony's main focus

So as the media continually bothers David about the PS3 and the war of words 
with Microsoft, you might expect it to start grating when he knows that the 
PS2 is still very much where it's at for a lot of gamers. "Yeah I know we 
have the hype and we have to live with it, but it's easier in Europe than in 
Japan and the US" he says. With Reeves you get the impression of a man who's 
seen one or two hardware races in his time, and is riding this one like a 
veteran surfer out on some familiar coastline.

But one small piece of upcoming hardware is very much relevant to Sony's 
European success this Christmas, and that's the much talked about PSP. With 
the DS enjoying a very healthy head start on its handheld rival (the PSP is 
due for release in Europe on September 1st) as well as Sony clearly against 
Euro gamers importing the console, some critics have questioned the 
potential commercial success of the hardware. But what are Reeves' hopes for 
the best portable games screen in town?

"I think we're looking to match what happened in Japan and the US. I think 
in the US they sold about a million. We hope to match that within the same 
time scale. I think we have a big advantage in coming straight into 
Christmas. In the US they had to launch in March, then they had to go 
through the summer blues, now they'll come into the holiday period."

Ambitious plans indeed. But this year's ELSPA conference was full of 
ambitious hardware projections. Indeed, Microsoft's Corporate VP Worldwide 
Marketing and Publishing kicked off the event proclaiming he expected 10 
million Xbox 360 units sold within 12 to 16 months of its release to provide 
them with a great "first mover advantage."

One problem patient consumers of the official European release might 
encounter is a short supply of the console. As David made clear in his 
presentation, he made no apologies for the delay European gamers face 
waiting to get their hands on the PSP, and it's a deliberate policy of 
Sony's to have too little stock than too much.

So assuming you pick up your brand new Sony PSP, the luscious screen 
reflecting your beaming smile in glowing pre-order glory, what games does 
David reckon will keep you entertained while the relatives get drunk over 
Christmas Turkey?

"We think Pursuit Force will be very big", said Reeves. "Ridge Racer, which 
is a launch title, Wipeout definitely, Fired Up and I think World Rally 
Championship. From what I've seen that is looking really, really good."



Sony will push the PSP hard this Christmas

All of those games, bar Ridge Racer, are Sony developed titles, but Reeves 
acknowledges that EA and Ubisoft have some promising games coming out for 
the machine. However, games aren't the be all and end all of the PSP. In 
fact, according to Reeves, the PSP's connectivity function is the key 
feature Sony will be pushing to prospective buyers of the console.

"We want to position it as multimedia. That's why we will have games, will 
have movies and there will be music videos out during that period."

So does that mean European gamers will be able to browse the web on their 
PSP at some point?

"They will be looking to do it. I can't confirm that it will actually 
happen."

Connecting the PSP to the PS3 through a wireless connection, you would 
imagine, will provide developers with some very promising avenues for unique 
gameplay, a bit like what Nintendo tried to achieve with the GameCube and 
GBA.

"We will want to do it that way where it is possible. On PSP we don't have a 
video out because of the movie industry. Where that is not practical we 
would not do it. We would only do it where it satisfies digital rights 
management. It has to be legal."

Cryptic stuff. What Reeves is more clear on is the already revealed 
connectivity of the PSP with wi-fi hotspots and other PSPs. "If I had a 
Wipeout UMD, and you have a PSP but no Wipeout, I can actually share that 
wirelessly so you can actually try out a couple of levels. And if you had 
Fired Up and I don't have it you can wirelessly give it to me (not the full 
game). We think that's good for sampling."

Which sounds fantastic. But it doesn't stop there. Everything the PSP is 
about screams of technological forward progress. Wireless connectivity, 
downloadable content, multiplayer gaming. It's all there. It's an approach 
that Sony believes will convince gamers they are getting more for their hard 
earned cash.

"You are able with wireless LAN, and the hotspots in Starbucks over the road 
for example, to download a new Wipeout level from a website and put it on 
and play it - we see that as very much extending the life of PSP games."

Although online gaming is very much a buzzword around the industry right 
now, with MMOs on PC selling bucket loads and Xbox Live attracting 
increasing subscribers, Sony were quiet about their plans for the PS3's 
online capabilities. Reeves, too, is coy on the subject: "It was revealed at 
E3 and it was called Playstation Network. It will be introduced as [the] PS3 
is. It's not just online, it's a whole community and it embraces other 
non-game content as well."

Perhaps Sony's reluctance to dive straight onto the online bandwagon 
Microsoft have so vocally proclaimed is because their hearts are simply not 
in it. Reeves is personally cautious about online gaming's commercial 
potential as it stands at the moment and doesn't think it is as important as 
Microsoft says it is.


...if you really think about it, online gaming is to some extent anonymous


"I think that gaming is basically sociable. People want to see who they're 
playing with. And if you really think about it online gaming is to some 
extent anonymous - you're using a handle. When we get to the point when you 
can actually see who you're playing against, and it really comes alive and 
you can hear their voices as if you're in an auditorium, and it gets 
simpler, and there are games that are written specifically for online 
gaming, then we will start to see it, but we have not reached that. We're at 
kind of 0.5. We've got to get to 2 before online gaming really takes off."

Online gaming is of course, still very much a hardcore passion. As everyone 
scrambles for the hearts and minds of the casual gamer, it's all about 
making online gaming compelling for those who don't normally play games in 
the first place. It's this obstacle that Reeves sees as problematic.

"The psyche is I come back from the pub or wherever and you want to play 
with the guys. Some people say I want to go online, but more people actually 
want to see people's faces and feel the enjoyment and that type of thing."

Indeed, Reeves doesn't see the step up from 0.5 to 2 on the next generation 
hardware at all. "It will be the next one after I think."



Details on the PS3 were not forthcoming

Tired as Reeves might be with constant next-generation pokes, hopeful launch 
date punts and misguided pricing queries, we couldn't help but have a go 
ourselves. As we suspected, the gems every gamer that considers themselves 
hardcore wants to know aren't forthcoming.

"We don't say we target them (trade shows) but we say we have plenty of 
opportunity where we can go and show the next demo, give more details, maybe 
give more accurate launch dates and things like that. But that's not my 
responsibility, that's what Tokyo will manage."

Will we learn more about PS3 this year?

"You will do and I think you'll pick most of it up from the net. A lot of 
will be speculation."

As we scour the fan forums, indulge rumours from friends' uncles who work 
for development companies, as we pick apart every mocked console image 
bashed out over lunch in Photoshop and analyse every comment made by some 
over exuberant Japanese executive, we suspect David Reeves has a few PS2s to 
sell to some very excited Iranians.

By Wesley Yin-Poole
Posted 26.06.05, 06:49pm