Nearly half a million people purchased Playstation 3s in September, according to NPD figures.

“We are in the midst of one of the most exciting times for PlayStation as we continue to redefine entertainment experiences for consumers, both at home and on the go,” Sony’s Jack Tretton said, pointing to the price drop for the Playstation 3 and the release of the PSPgo. “We’ve made unprecedented strides in digital and mobile entertainment with the availability of PSPgo.”

“The best part is that we’ve only just begun an onslaught of relentless, rich content hitting throughout the fiscal year, including Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, God of War III, MAG, and ModNation Racers,” he said.

Tretton said that Sony is “continuing to stack the chips this holiday with great game content” mentioning the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the PSP and Assassin’s Creed 2.

He also pointed out the rave reviews that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been getting from review publications, including this one.

“There simply has never been a better time to be part of the PlayStation family and we look forward to providing you with the best entertainment content and experience for many, many years to come,” he said.

“[Nintendo] know what they do well and they stick to it,” said the exec. “They deliver a casual, youth-oriented entertainment experience, it’s very enjoyable after 20 years, and they make money. They print money. Their profitability is their key focus… I think that’s enviable.”

When asked what he likes about Microsoft, Tretton answered, “I love their money. I mean, they’ve got more money than God.” And God’s rich! Tretton went on to say that Microsoft can “afford to be more patient”.

Tretton put Sony somewhere in the middle, stating that the company is “very profit-driven” and “willing to take a little bit more risk than a competitor like Nintendo”.

Audience-wise, Tretton also put the PS3 in the middle and noted how the consoles appeals to the global mass market, young and old, male and female — something that competitors don’t.

“We like to say the environment where PlayStation wins is best for this industry, because we have a brand that can play on a worldwide basis — young and old, male and female — where our competition tends to be relegated to either select regions or select consumer audiences.”

We like to say the environment where PlayStation wins is best for PlayStation. But that’s just us! Tretton also mentions that the sales of the PS3 since the price-cut are “skyrocketing”.

Sony: Front And Center [Forbes via Eurogamer] [Pic]

To use a sports metaphor, we hear the same thing every time the Lakers, the Yankees, and the University of North Carolina suffer a couple years of disappointment and then come back to contention, as if their rising tide really lifts all boats. But in this case, while Sony might be an overdog brand, the PS3 Slim has definitely provoked a price drop on the other two consoles, and that is objectively a good thing for the video game consumer.

Tretton then gets a little punchy and positions Sony as out-monied by Nintendo – but only because it’s the people’s choice. “We don’t have unlimited money, we cater to a more mass market audience,” he says. “I think we’re willing to take a little bit more risk than a competitor like Nintendo is and ultimately we deliver to the masses on a worldwide basis and that’s what we’ve done for the last 15 years.”

We’ll go with Tretton as far as the PS3 Slim – or at least its price – driving competition to the benefit of the gamer. Portraying Nintendo as a risk-averse console without a mass market, no.

Watch the entire video here.

Sony Winning is Best for the Industry [Destructoid]

“If things continue at this pace, it is conceivable that there will be product shortages,” Tretton said, after noting the console’s sales are up 300% over last year since its price was cut by $US100. “We are up significantly versus last year,” he said.

Reuters added that Sony’s back on target to hit its goal of 13 million units sold this fiscal year.

Sony PS3 Sales Jump After Price Cut; Shortage Looms [Reuters via IGN]

“We could’ve come out with a PlayStation 2.5 for $US299 or less, and in the first two or three years it would sell extremely well,” he explains. “But there would be a point where people would be going, ‘I am not really seeing the incremental leap.’”

For Tretton and Sony, they’re “sacrificing the short term to pay dividends in the long term.” Not sure how that works for Sony’s bottom line, but hey, their company!

“People are having short-term thinking—the platform is not even three years old,” Tretton adds. “It was $US599; it’s now $US399.” He goes on to say that Sony isn’t planning to snare all customers in day one, but over a ten year period.

We’re just glad that Sony didn’t put out a PS2.5 so we have to buy another console. We’re not made of money, you know.

Sony’s Jack Tretton Talks PlayStation 3 and the 10-Year Console Cycle [Fast Company via Eurogamer] [Pic]

Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton has told CNBC “I think our [motion] controller can be used with every game that’s on the system now – and every game we’re working on.”

Remember, before you get too carried away, he says “I think”. Not “I know“. “I think” isn’t a guarantee.

PlayStation Prez On Leaks [CNBC]

I mean, imagine if we hadn’t known about The Last Guardian! Or hadn’t heard about the PSPgo weeks ago! Or figured Sony were working on a motion controller last year?

It would have been a keynote with punch. Real surprises, real excitement. In the end though, it wasn’t, and those leaks (and educated guesses on the part of the motion controller) have Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton totally bummed.

“People don’t respect confidentiality in this industry,” Tretton told CNBC. “It’s tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties.”

“This is an industry that has trouble focusing on today,” he continues. “We want to constantly talk about tomorrow… You have to prepare for people to know things in advance. The frustrating thing is they only know a part of the story and that opens up a lot of conjecture and misinformation that ultimately waters down the reality when you roll it out”.

We feel your pain, Jack, but don’t Nintendo have to do the same thing? And when was the last time a major Nintendo reveal was leaked?

Damned if I can remember.

PlayStation Prez On Leaks [CNBC]

What good is E3 hype if none of it comes true?
To get you ready for this E3, we’ve subjected ourselves to re-living the major press conferences of last year’s big show. We’ve pulled all of the predictions, promises and other verbal constructions Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony used to get you excited about their console.
And we’ve seen what became of all those thrilling statements.
Sony, you’re promises are being checked today.

Background: The Sony press briefing occurred on July 15, 2008 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. This showcase lasted more than 90 minutes.

To Start With….
Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America: “As many of you have already written, 2008 is the year of the PS3.”

Verdict: Subjective. You sort it out.

Resistance 2 Will Be Fantastic
Ted Price, president and CEO of Insomniac Games describes Resistance 2’s campaign, promises eight-player co-op, competitive modes and community features: “Bottom line, Resistance 2 offers more than any shooter in 2008.”

Verdict: The features were accurate. The rest is also for you to decide.

Gaming Will Be Huge In 2008

Tretton: “NPD has been estimating that the gaming industry revenue will soar as high as $US23 billion in 2008.”

Verdict: Not Jack’s fault nor research group NPD’s that the figure NPD wound up calculating for the year was $US21 billion.

PS3 Gaming Discounts Coming

Tretton announced that Resistance, MotorStorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night Round 3, Need For Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six Vegas, Assassin’s Creed, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden would all be sold as greatest hits games at discount for the holida.

Verdict: True.

Buzz Coming

Tretton announced the impending launches of Buzz on PSP and Buzz PS3 for September, along with downloadable packs.

Verdict: Yep, this happened.

And For The PS2…

Tretton said a Lego Batman PS2 would arrive in the fall for 149 dollars.

Verdict: Yes, he got this too. Impressed yet?

One Log-In For All

Tretton: Starting this fall, all PlayStation users will have a single sign-on so no matter where they sign in. All their PlayStation information will go with them.

Verdict: Yep.

More On Clank, Soon

Brian Allgeier, lead designer on Ratchet & Clank, discussing the surprise announcement of a downloadable summer sequel: “Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty will give more information about Clank’s disappearance.”

Verdict: Well, yeah. But not that much more information.

Booty In The Summer

Tretton says the new Ratchet is coming this summer.

Verdict: Jack doesn’t flub predictions like these.

PSN Has The Following…

A PSN trailer reel shows Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty, Crash Commando, Fat Princess, PixelJunk Eden, Pain Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic.

Verdict: And wouldn’t you know it? All these games except Fat Princess are now out.

GTTV – Not The Keighley Version – Is Coming
Tretton: Polyphony Digital is launching the pay per view distribution of GTTV [Gran Turismo TV] and Gran Turismo Prologue with a wide variety of content .. this content will be available starting August 1 via Gran Turisom 5 Prologue.

Verdict: On target.

Home Will Be Fantastic

Tretton: I absolutely assure you that when PlayStation Home is publicly available through our expanded beta program your patience will more then be rewarded”… he then mentioned commitments from Ubisoft, EA, Activision, LucasArts, Nike support… and says we can play Warhawk and Uncharted spaces… and a demo reel showed am Uncharted space, a Resistance space with Chimera in tanks, Warhawk.

Verdict: To the outside eye, it may appear that Tretton slipped here. After all, we haven’t yet seen a LucasArts space and the Resistance one is only going live this week. But, hey, that’s pretty good!

Movie Store Coming Today

Tretton hyped the launch – that day – of the PlayStation Network Video store. “This content is portable after you download it to your ps3 you can transport it to your PSP as well.”

Tretton: True.

And A New PSP…. Bundle

Tretton: Starting in October, we’ll be launching our family friendly Ratchet and Clank Size Matters entertainment pack.

Verdict: Accurate, of course.

Resistance Retribution Coming

A trailer shows Resistance Retribution for Spring 2009.

Verdict: But it came out in mid-March. That’s winter. Liars.

PSP Has The Following Games

PSP reel of highlights “for this and next year” – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Madden NFL 09, Loco Roco 2, NBA09 The Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman The Video Game, Patapon 2, Buzz Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles.

Verdict : Finally! A flub. Sort of. Valkyria Chronicles would be coming to PS3, not PSP. Wrong reel!

PS3 Getting Life

Tretton: “We’re set to deliver an entirely new experience that ill allow fans to see worldwide news in real time through a network-connected PS3 and TV in their living room with live news, weather and live webcam feed. We call it Life with PlayStation, it will be available by the end of the month…”

Verdict: He implied July. It launched in September.

MMOs Coming To PS3

Tretton mentions The Agency, Free Realms and DC Universe Online as coming to PS3

Verdict: Could be true. Just hasn’t happened yet.

New PS3…. SKU

Tretton: “Starting in September we will launch 80GB PS3 that has the same functionality as the 40GB PS3. And we’re giving consumers twice the storage capacity for the same price… $US399.99.”

Verdict: True. Always-true-Tretton, we call him.

PS3’s 2008 Line-Up Has This…

PS3 lineup reel beings playing as Tretton says it “will actualize what I’ve been saying here today, that 2008 is the year of PlayStation 3.” It shows Little Big Planet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Metal Gear Solid , Quantum of Solace, SOCOM Confrontation, Ghostbusters The Video Game, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, Mirror’s Edge, Resident Evil 5, SingStar, Guitar Hero World Tour, NBA 09 The Inside, Buzz Quiz TV, Killzone 2, Fallout 3 and others not named.

Verdict: Mostly on target. But… the Agency? That didn’t come out in 2008.

Kratos Is En Route After The Holidyas

Tretton: “Yes it’s true, God of War III is coming to PlayStation 3.” Says InFamous and MAG are post-holiday as well.

Verdict: We shall see. They certainly didn’t come out early.

Note: Sony did not mention the upcoming screen tweak that would bring us the PSP 3000. They hit all their other big upcoming news.

To Sum Up….Wow. We are humbled by the accuracy of Mr. Jack Tretton. We’d almost give him and Sony an A. Except… almost none of these were big guesses are hard-to-believe, were they? Microsoft reached a little further, got a couple more wrong…. That evens out. Sony, you get a B.

This feature will be back in a year. Please stay tuned.

Sony Computer Entertainment remains confident in their approach and strategy for “another record year of growth and momentum” for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, SCEA CEO and president Jack Tretton said.

Talking to a gathering of retailers and developers at the annual Destination PlayStation event, Tretton called 2009’s line up of games for both platforms unprecedented.

“With a year of record sales ushering us into the new year, we continue to raise the bar on providing consumers the deepest and broadest entertainment content for every member of the family to enjoy,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. “With new content being added every day to the PlayStation Network combined with an unmatched line up of exclusive titles on PSP, and the roll out of truly groundbreaking games such as Killzone 2 for PS3, we remain confident in our approach and strategy for another record year of growth and momentum.”

SCEA previewed an impressive line-up of PlayStation 3 games for attendees including Killzone 2, inFamous, MLB ‘09: The Show, MAG, UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves and God of War III. All of which are set to hit this fiscal year. That’s fiscal, as in not calendar.

They also unveiled an impressive line up of new PSP titles including portable versions of LittleBigPlanet, Assassin’s Creed, MotorStorm and Rock Band.

And they announced two new PSP packs, including one featuring a lilac PSP, coming out later this year.

So what do you think? Year of the PlayStation?

I think people are going to question every dollar that they spend, but they are going to look for value in return. The entertainment value…with PLAYSTATION 3 compares very favourably to other entertainment choices.

Yeah, it just cost more.

Sony says PlayStation 3 sales better than expected [Reuters]