In an interview with Mercury news, NVIDIA CEO,Dean Takahashi talks about their decision to work with Sony on the PS3 GPU, his views on the Xbox 360, and how the delay of the Playstation 3 was a 'master stroke'.
In the comprehensice Q&A session Takahashi was asked if he has any regrets about not winning the graphics chip contract for the Xbox 360, and with a hint of regret in his reply, he tells us that the company was not in a financial position to take on the project at the time.
" We were a lot smaller company than ATI at the time. Maybe ATI could afford it and we couldn't. I know I couldn't afford it. I would love to build it. I just can't afford it."
The subject changes to the delay of the PS3, which was originally slated for the summer and he confidently tells us that "To postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke. When that comes out, it's going to look so much more advanced than last-generation game consoles.."
Quite rightly, the interviewer asks Takahashi his views on the high price point and why the delay of the PS3 was a 'master stroke'. He responds with the following statement:
PlayStation 2 was launched seven years ago in Japan at about $399. If you use inflation, it's the same price, approximately. The important thing is you cannot announce a game console for the next ten years and not have Blu-Ray. It's an impossible scenario. I think they got that perspective right. The moment we put those consoles together it's going to be very clear. If I'm going to buy a next-generation game console, I'm going to buy a console with next-generation media. It's going to last 10 years.Interestingly Takahashi aslo makes a prediction on Microsofts next move and when asked the question, Do you think Microsoft planned for a five-year cycle and that Sony planned for a ten-year cycle? He responds by saying, I'll make a prediction that Xbox 360 can't possibly be a DVD-only device by Christmas of next year.
Earlier this month an analyst report from market research company,DFC Intelligence, predicted that the PS3 delay would in fact have negative consequences. Although they say that the price will be the main downfall, DFC Intelligence had based their findings on ten key factors, including upcoming software releases and extra features. They predict that Sony could easily move from being a market leader to a market loser over the next couple of years.
Right now both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii are still looking like much better alternatives. Read the full interview at : Mercury News
