Phil Harrison on the PS3 & PSP

In an "uncensored" interview with Newsweek, Sony executive Phil Harrison spoke a bit about how he feels about the PS3 launch in U.S. and also commented on Sony's future plans for the PlayStation Network. The PS3 Euro-launch is still scheduled for March and Harrison also touched upon the company's attempts at "social gaming" in Europe, using the Eyetoy as a reference. What's most interesting though, is the following bit:

Q: "Late last year, you told MTV News regarding the PSP, 'Our achievement has been to deliver console-quality gaming in the palm of your hand. But that could also be considered a missed opportunity -- that we have yet to really deliver PSP games that speak with their own voice and stand for what the machine can do on its own.' With the PSP’s features, why is it taking developers so long to create unique experiences?"

The Sony exec was direct on this, commenting: "I don’t mean to belittle developers, but we’ve only managed to recreate PS2 in the palm in your hand." He continued, "I think we can go deeper, I think we can explore more features of the machine, connectivity, social aspects, media aspects, and integrate it into game design that is unique to that format. It’s not a missed opportunity so much as a future opportunity."

If you were on IGN yesterday, you would have noticed a poll asking which gamers would buy if both were priced the same; the DS or the PSP. Naturally, the results were in favour of the DS but only by 1%. This blew my mind completely. The PSP isn't really a bad handheld ... it's just spread out a little too thin. The DS is a dedicated gaming device whereas the PlayStation Portable is an all-purpose portable entertainment gadget. Naturally, the former is better at actually playing games.

Then again, if the PSP sees a price drop anytime this year, developers might start considering developing more games for it. Portable Ops has seen a good amount of success, but that was a game that's always been on a PlayStation anyway.