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Speaking to GI, SCEA marketing boss Scott Steinberg has claimed that consoles opposing PS3 are starting to show their age.

“I think that we’re seeing, graphically, PS3 games starting to create some distance and some of the other competitors are going to feel that they’re getting long in the tooth, looking quite dated, because they haven’t created that ten-year vision from a horsepower standpoint,” he said.

“So we’re all about looking at ways to keep that bar high, and from a peripheral standpoint the Blu-ray remote helps people get in and out of their digital media, but we’d never consider iterating off of existing competitive technology – because we think that’s a fad and that’s not the way we approach product development. It’s not the way we approach the marketing or the branding of PlayStation.”

Loads more through there. Thanks, EG.

Speaking to MCV at E3, Sony boss Kaz Hirai’s questioned Xbox head Don Mattrick’s claim that Xbox 360 will outsell PS3 this generation, saying the American exec needs to clarify the statement.

“The key word there is this ‘lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’,” said Hirai. “As you probably know, we’re working on a ten-year lifecycle, we’ve said that since day one and we’ve proven it with PSone and PS2. I guess Don is saying they’re also going to be embarking on a ten-year lifecycle, then?

“If they are then that’s terrific, but I’ve never seen them manage it before. Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch.

“On the other hand, if he’s saying that Microsoft will outsell us after five years, if he calls that this generation, then he’s saying he’s going to exit the 360 business within five years. I’m not exactly sure when he says ‘this lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’ what standard he’s using – five years, 10 years, I don’t know.”

More through the link.

ELSPA put out a press release this morning dripping with quotes from “senior leaders of the UK and European video games industry” that supports PEGI as the sole rater of UK games.

“The Government’s proposed changes will create extra administration and cause delays in getting hit games into the hands of British consumers,” said EA UK boss Keith Ramsdale. “Only PEGI is built to address the fast changing nature of the games industry and is best placed to deliver the needed protection for minors.”

There’s tons more after the break. As you’ll recall, the Byron report recommended a two-tier system of ratings in the UK, with the BBFC handling censor duties for older games.

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Oh dear. In an interview with Eurogamer TV, Activision senior producer Noah Heller – currently working on Call of Duty: World at War with Treyarch – has found time to call Gearbox’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway a “crappy war game”.

“I watched the trailer and I’m was like ‘These guys aren’t even in the same league.’,” he said of the Ubisoft shooter’s developer.

“We don’t even think about them… They’re not a game we even think about when we’re playing, we think about the best shooters, we play [Call of Duty 4] Modern Warfare, we play… Gears of War, we play Halo, you know, that’s the competition. We want to look at the games that do great storytelling.

“We don’t want to look at someone who’s just making a crappy war game.”

Charming. Treyarch immediately distanced itself from the comments, saying it found them “offensive”.

Posting on the Xbox forums, the developer’s community manager said, “Over the weekend, we learned that some disparaging comments were made by an Activision rep at a recent Call of Duty: World at War press event. We want to let everyone know that we found those remarks offensive, and they do not in any way represent the feelings of any developer at this studio or at Activision. We hold all of our peers in the development community in the highest regard. We have nothing but respect for the guys and gals at Gearbox.

“We offer our sincerest apologies to anybody who was offended.”

We bet today’s a good day in Noahworld. Thanks, Kotaku (one, two).