Kaz Hirai, master of all things PlayStation, better known as Special K to his crew, says that the power of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios is "unrivalled". According to a report from MCV, Kaz was not quoted as implying that should Nintendo or Microsoft attempt to step to this, they'd best check themselves before they wreck themselves. He then posed.

"Our first-party product is obviously platform exclusive and is the best out there", Mr. Hirai says, namechecking upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusives like LittleBigPlanet, God of War III and Resistance 2. In addition to those internally developed games, Kaz, not pictured, points once again to the power of the Blu-ray format, saying that bonus content exclusive to the PS3 platform is totally rad.

"Peace!" Kaz then didn't say. I'm out.

Hirai: Rivals can't compete with PS3's exclusives [MCV]

Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is confused. Just look at his Giant Kaz Face, see how tranquilly baffled it is? That's some serious confusion. When Xbox bossman Don Mattrick said Microsoft would sell more consoles than the PS3 this generation, Hirai wasn't quite sure what that meant. How long does Microsoft think the generation is? Is the Xbox 360 going to be around for ten years like Sony claims the PS3 is? Questions, questions, questions. Here's Kaz's take:

Sony President and CEO Kaz Hirai wants 40 GB PS3 users to know that they still own a "very powerful machine", and said that those who need a bigger hard drive can just swap theirs out.

Speaking to MCV, Hirai said the PS3 continues to evolve over time, and that as PlayStation Network content expands, Sony wanted to offer more storage capacity without raising prices.

"We brought in the 80GB because we wanted to make sure we continued offering the value proposition to consumers in the true fashion of PlayStation", Hirai told MCV.

"We heard a lot of response from the consumers basically saying 40GB is nice, but with a lot of additional download products were offering via the PlayStation Network, consumers were looking for a higher capacity hard drive".

"We thought it was a great time to introduce it at E3, but also make sure that we continued to keep the pricing the same."

Hirai reassures 40GB PS3 owners [MCV]

While the PS3 is outselling the PS2 on a monthly basis, it's still well over 100 million units shy of its older brother in the lifetime sales department. But don't let that stop Sony from dreaming about the future! Kaz Hirai is hoping for a day when, all things going according to plan, the PS3 sells more consoles than the PS2 did. FYI, the PS2's sold around 150 million. "It's not fun for me replicating the PS2 numbers. I've seen that movie already", the SCE boss said. "I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?". Because you like the free pens and fancy party foods?

Sony sets 150m sales target for PS3 [FT]

Speaking with a group of game writers earlier this week SCEA head Jack Tretton talked briefly about how Sony Computer Entertainment has benefited under the shift from Ken Kutaragi to Kaz Hirai.

Specifically, he talked about the promise that Sony's regions would be a bit more antonymous under Hirai.

"There is no question that Kutaragi-san ruled with an iron fist, but it was his vision", Tretton said. "In terms of how we went to market in region, that was anonymous".

But Tretton said that Hirai has a better understanding of the company's day-to-day operations and the challenges they face both in Japan and abroad.

Kaz Hirai and the boys at Sony are all about profitability. They don't just throw these slides together for kicks; they mean it. As part of the company's accelerated "cost down efforts", the PlayStation 3 will be getting smaller, cooler, cheaper, more efficient and generally awesomer RSX graphics chips starting this fall. We're talking 65nm manufacturing processes, people. The good stuff.

Kaz noted in his corporate strategy speech earlier today that the Cell processor has been manufactured with 65nm process technology as of "last holiday". Both were originally manufacture at 90nm, which was charming at first, but now seems rather vulgar. We're updating our console power consumption charts in anticipation of the new RSX's release.

During Sony's mid-term strategy meeting, PlayStation president Kaz Hirai pointed to Metal Gear Solid 4 as an example of the PlayStation 3's full abilities - noting that it shipped 3 million units worldwide within two weeks of launch, as Famitsu reported yesterday.

Hirai said MGS 4 is "the first title to fully utilise the capacity of dual layer Blu-ray disc.... Metal Gear Solid 4has created a world of gaming entertainment that can only be realised by PS3".

He also said MGS 4 drove console sales. "In the first week of the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, sales of PS3 in the Japanese market grew significantly, [an] eight times increase as compared to the week before, proving that Metal Gear Solid 4is a platform driver for PS3".

PlayStation business head Kaz Hirai admitted to having a "difficult time" with PlayStation 3's launch, due in part to Sony's initially framing it as a broad media system as opposed to a video game console.

"However, by refocusing the positioning of PS3 first and foremost as a gaming platform, we were able to bring an attractive title lineup and achieve a sufficient number of PS3 sales as expected in the fiscal year 2007 holiday season", Hirai said.

Now that developers are no longer "confused", Hirai said, the console can begin to realise its potential. "As PlayStation 3 approaches the second anniversary of its release, the release of PS3 software titles with the true generation quality only available on PS3 is accelerating", he said, citing Metal Gear Solid 4 as one such title.

During Sony's corporate strategy meeting, at which the company announced Life with PlayStation and showed off its video download service for the first time, PlayStation bossman Kaz Hirai provided some new numbers. Most relevant to this post's interests are the shipment figures for Metal Gear Solid 4, which has been deployed to worldwide retailers three million times over. Not bad for a couple weeks work.

Yes, hairsplitters, that's shipped to retailers, not sold through to customers. Still, we're fairly certain Hideo Kojima can flaunt that number to friends and probably secure a line of credit at his favourite silk shirt retailer because they know he's good for it.

Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting [Famitsu via IGN]