Tag Archives: David Reeves

Speaking to VG247 at Games Convention last week, SCEE president David Reeves pressed the point that the European PS3 music video download service won’t necessarily be a Vidzone feature.

“It might be totally different, but with Vidzone, I think they already offer a streaming service on PC,” he said.

“So we’re very comfortable working with them on a streaming service… It doesn’t mean to say that the download service in the future would be Vidzone. It might be a Sony service, I don’t know.”

The PS3 Vidzone partnership was announced in the PS3 conference at the German show, and will allow all PS3 users to stream music videos to their machines for free as of early next year.

SCEE president David Reeves has shrugged off Microsoft’s intended E3 coup de grace FFXIII announcement by predicting a hardware boost from the game’s release and pointing out that it’s still a Japanese PS3 exclusive.

“I think that just as we got a massive blip up with GTA IV – which was not exclusive – we’ll get exactly the same blip up with Final Fantasy,” he told VG247 on whether or not the 360 version will effect PS3 hardware sales.

“I know it will look great on PS3 and – it’s up to Microsoft to clarify this – it’s still exclusive in Japan.”

Reeves was speaking at Games Convention in Leipzig last week.

FFXIII is slated for PS3 Japanese release next year, with a simultaneous 360 and PS3 release in the west to follow.

Despite a complete no-show for Home in the Sony press conference at Games Convention last week, SCEE president David Reeves has moved to assure punters that the social app’s development is completely on track, and that its open beta will begin this autumn as planned.

“The reason is that was nothing new to say,” Reeves’ said when asked why Home had made no appearance in the conference. “Everything is absolutely on track. I can look you in the eyes and tell you everything is on track.

“The closed beta has been expanding, the open beta will come in autumn. It will be announced by the Home Group, either in London or Tokyo. I don’t know when exactly, but they are in control of it. We’ve got more third parties on board, and as far as I know it’s all on track.

The point was laboured. It’s out this year.

“There’s nothing sinister at all. All I’ve heard about it is good news, and I’m very close to it as it’s being developed in the next building.”

Home producer Martijn Van Der Meulen backed up Reeves at the show by saying he believed “100 percent” in a 2008 launch for Home.

Speaking to VG247 at Games Convention last week, SCEE president David Reeves said that Sony’s announcement-heavy presentation at the show on Wednesday was thanks to only moving on service and product confirmations in Europe when “everything’s ironed out” on a global level.

“Well, I think that was the point,” said the exec when asked of the significance of making global product announcements in Europe.

“People say, ‘Well, why do we always get things last? Why can’t we say things?’ Well, I’ve said this many times before: sometimes it’s an advantage to be last in Europe, you know, when everything’s ironed out.

“This time, we do have things to say in the European [market]. We have the music service, and we’re doing great things on SingStar and there’s more to come. These are global announcements.

“They recognize that the show’s in Europe, whether it’s in Leipzig, Cologne or London: we can do the announcements wherever. So they said to us in Tokyo, ‘Do you want to do it here?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we’d love to do it here.’”

Reeves led a sparkling presentation at Games Convention, during which Sony announced a 160Gb PS3 SKU, the PSP-3000, made the first showing of playable footage of Quantic’s Heavy Rain, announced the next SingStar and more.

For our live blog of the conference, hit this.

You might want to reconsider snatching up a sleek new PSP 3000 on day one – at least, if you like your money. SCEE President David Reeves told UK.Playstation.com:

“We’re going to introduce PSP-3000 in October, and this will be sold initially as part of a bundle, with a piece of software. During this period, PSP-2000 will remain as the base PSP model.”

Well, that’s that.

By Nathan Grayson

SCEE president David Reeves has told VG247 that PlayStation 3 hardware will see no price cut in 2008, and that he believes price is less of a contributing factor to success than good software.

“There is no price cut,” he said.

When press on specifically on whether or not there would be a PS3 price cut in 2008, Reeves replied simply, “No,” adding, “We’re not going to drop the price this year.”

The Sony exec was speaking at Games Convention in Germany yesterday, following a spectacular press conference heavy with announcements for both Europe and the rest of the world.

Games were still the driving factor behind hardware sales for SCEE, more so than pricing, he told us.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said if he believed software was the deciding element to PS3′s success in Europe.

“And I think it’s the games for Nintendo; I think whatever price they’re at, I think it’s the games that have really, really driven it.

“We started off at the beginning of the year with GT5 Prologue, then we went to GTA IV, then Metal Gear Solid. There’ll be LittleBigPlanet, and then we move onto PES and FIFA and all those.

“We’re on rails, and I think that those games are going to drive it.”

Reeves said that focus testing had shown console pricing was not as important to youth consumers as games and features.

“When you do focus groups with people, whether it’s in the UK or not, it’s amazing that – not necessarily children, but an 11 or 12 year-old boy – has in his mind… that he wants a PS3 because of this game or because of this particular feature.

“He doesn’t really think of the price because he doesn’t really have any perception of it. But, he’ll say to his parents, ‘I want a PS3.’

“If he wants a new bike, and he gets an old back, he’s not going to be very happy. Children don’t think about the price so much. The press think about the price: it’s got to come down.”

Despite the lack of a cost drop at Leipzig, said Reeves, the firm had announced plenty to pump up the value of the PS3 proposition this year.

“We have not announced a price drop, but we have got an 80Gb [SKU] instead of a 40Gb [SKU] – now that’s interesting – and there’s going to be twice as many games, and there is a 160Gb [SKU] with 70 euros of downloadable content,” he said.

“So we think that we’re keeping that value there. The former boss of Sony Computer Entertainment was Terry Tokunaka and he’d answer the question of, ‘Will there be a price cut?’ with, ‘I’m not saying in the long term future we’re not going to drop the price.’

“What I’m saying is that we’re not going to drop the price this year.”

For our live coverage of the announcements made during the Sony conference on Wednesday, hit this.

SCEE president David Reeves has said that Sony will make some some blockbuster announcements at this year’s Game Convention in Leipzig.

“There will be some global announcements,” he said, speaking at E3. “The announcements we make will be more important for the local markets that come to Leipzig.

“And it’s not just Leipzig, it’s Game Convention – if we had one in London we’d do it in London. We have a number of things which is real blockbuster stuff for Europe.”

Thanks, MCV.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking to MCV at E3 last week, SCEE boss David Reeves said today that he believes PS3 has the best line-up based on the platform holder showings at E3 last week.

“I think from what Jack Tretton said, the reaction has been well summarised by Yahoo, who said that in terms of games, the competition have probably got a slightly weaker line–up than PS3,” he said.

“And we obviously agree with that – we think we’ve got title after title after title, not only first party but third party and I think in America they have the advantage of the video downloads service, which came at exactly the right time.

“We’re confident, but not only that we’re confident about the games industry more than anything else. What we should be celebrating is how well the games industry is doing compared to other industries in the last nine months with the current recession worldwide. More and more people are coming in – it’s astounding.”

CVG’s reporting that WipEout HD’s been pushed back towards the end of the year for failing epilepsy tests.

Apparently the game “fails the epilepsy tests so much that it has to be re-engineered.”

SCEE boss David Reeves confirmed that game was to be delayed after it failed to turn up at E3.

More through the link.

Speaking to Eurogamer at E3 last week, SCEE head David Reeves said that his announcement at London’s PlayStation Day in May that PS3 had overtaken 360 in Europe was correct.

Microsoft’s David Gosen rubbished the figures after the event: the company was wrong, said the Sony exec.

“I think we’ve only made one – I would say – controversial announcement and that was to say that we have a higher installed base than Xbox 360 [in Europe] and we stand by that. We know what the figures are,” he said.

“But I think – and I keep repeating this – that the more important thing is the growth in the marketplace is just absolutely phenomenal.”

It’s David versus David. Who will win? More through the link. The full Reeves interview’s here.

Ever wanted to make money while playing games? Not a gold famer? According to PS3 Fanboy, LittleBigPlanet is likely your best chance.

The PS3-centric site points to a comment made by SCEE president David Reeves.

“What we’re trying to do with LittleBigPlanet is almost iTunes meets eBay in the sense that once an individual or a developer has qualified by producing certain levels or certain add-ons, they will then be able in the future to exchange these and make money out of them,” Reeves said. “Eventually, it’s feasible that you might well see the first LittleBigPlanet millionaire!”

Big words, but if LBP really takes off, Reeves will probably be joining a few enterprising gamers in laughing all the way to the bank. We just hope the levels that send LBP-ers flocking are actually creative, and not merely variations on World 1-1 or outlines of Rick Astley’s face.

OK, we’d totally play that last one.

By Nathan Grayson

SCEE president David Reeves has said that its PlayTV service will go live in the UK from September 10, with a European rollout continuing through to December, writes Eurogamer.

This is a little later than the July 31 date we were given back in May, but there you go.

“Yep, it’s going to be September 10 that PlayTV comes out,” he told the site.

“It was very difficult for some of the tech guys but we had to include it in the firmware upgrade, 2.41, but it’s done now.”

The device will retail at £60, or €99.

By Mike Bowden

According to this Euogamer report, WipEout HD has been delayed due to a “specific technical problem” but will be out before the end of the year.

“There is a specific technical problem with WipEout that we have to solve. I can’t go into details but it is a really, really tricky technical problem that no region has been able to solve at the moment,” said Sony Europe boss David Reeves.

“I think it will come out before the end of the year but it is something that was just very difficult to get to grips with.”

More through the link.

SCEE boss David Reeves has announced that “the next generation of SingStar” will be at GDC 08 in Leipzig, reports Eurogamer.

“If you come to Leipzig, you will see the next generation of SingStar,” he said. “That’s all I will say.”

That’s all he did say, too. A man of his word, David.

By Mike Bowden

Brilliant. SCEE boss David Reeves confirmed tonight that there will be no PAL PS3 video store in 2008, Eurogamer reports.

“This will not come to the PAL markets this year,” he sad.

“But Sir Howard Stringer has made the commitment that non-game will come to all regions in due course and it will.

“The dates and content for the video download service will be announced later this year.

“For us…local content is key and that is exactly what we’re working on right now.”

More through the link.

SCEE’s confirmed an 80Gb PS3 SKU for Europe, to launch on August 27 for £299, Eurogamer reports.

“We will be doing promotional bundles from the middle of September to the end of December at various prices,” Reeves said at a SCEE event in LA today.

“The 80GB replaces the 40GB. Please do not ask me if we’re going to go down in price for the 40GB because I will give you the answer, the answer is no.”

More through the link.

According to GI, Sony Europe boss David Reeves will announce the 80GB PlayStation 3 for Europe shortly.

“At SCEE’s European press event in Los Angeles this evening, it’s expected that Reeves will confirm the new SKU, with a release period close to September 2008 – the date the 80GB model will become standard in North America,” says the piece.

“As with the pricing of the 80GB model in the US, it’s thought the PlayStation 3 will retail for the same price in Europe as the 40GB model, and the current SKU will be phased out when stock has been diminished.”

We’ve just been told this is “definite”. Until tonight, then.

By Mike Bowden

Sony President David Reeves has said at the DevStation developer conference in London that the “PS3 install base is growing faster than PS2′s was at this point in its lifecycle.”

Obviously buoyed by this fact, Reeves began to outline Sony’s vision of the future for games and gaming.

“The key to the future is the PlayStation Network. Games put straight onto PSN are the big opportunity,” he said.

“We do believe that the disc-based delivery system will fall as the power of the network base rises. At the same time the overall industry growth will continue to go upwards as we push out into emerging markets.”

“What we don’t see is an overall decline in the market. This is a golden era of video games.”

Thanks MCV.

By Mike Bowden

SCEE just put out some new Home screens that show a lounge area and a media stage, which looks straight ou of Second Life. After the link.

More »

Following last night’s post from Ron Eagle claiming Killzone 2 was delayed by SCEA for purely scheduling reasons, we remembered that SCEE president David Reeves gave us a different story when we spoke to him at the recent PlayStation Day in London.

Reeves told us that while scheduling had been a factor, the game’s development period also needed to be extended. Word for word:

VG247: One of the big bits of news in that conference was the Killzone 2 push into next year. A lot of people were expecting it this year, so is it a structural decision to spread it out with Resistance? Is that essentially it? It does it simply need more time?

David Reeves: Both.

Eagle said in his post, “To be clear, there is nothing wrong or causing a delay to the development of [Killzone 2]. We (SCEA) had to look at the fall calendar with SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2, plus some PSN titles and make a decision where each game should come out. Killzone 2 was moved to Feb 2009 to make sure we didn’t have three shooters in the marketplace competing for retail dollars during the same holiday season.”

That looks like something of a “mixed message” to us.

Reeves announced at the conference that the Guerrilla shooter was to release in February 2009, not 2008 as many had hoped.