Let Sony's Scott Steinberg Tell You Sony's PS3 Advantages

Sony exec Scott Steinberg has a blog over at game site EDGE which he can use to tell us why the PS3 is so darn great. And he does just that. So far, the Sony exec has written one post at EDGE called "My Belief in the PlayStation 3 Advantage" (wow! he believes in his product), and it reads pretty much like a press release. In his post, Steinberg sings the praises of things like Blu-ray ("The entire industry is supporting Blu-ray"). He goes on to talk about stuff like the PSN — hey, did you hear? services are free! — and even does a short product pitch for the 80GB PLAYSTATION 3. There's more as well, including some grandstanding: More »

PSP Gets A Ten-Year Plan As Well

Know this, industry followers: Sony aren't kidding around when they say the PS3 will have a ten-year shelf life. They mean it. It's hard-wired company policy, that comes straight from the top. What's not so widely known, however, is that it's a policy that is being applied to all PlayStation products. Which, yeah, includes the PS2 (which is nearly there), but also the PSP. Sony's Scott Steinberg: More »

PSN Getting More Than Just A Facelift?

Giving the decidedly average PlayStation Store a new coat of paint may not be the only changes Sony make to their online services this year. Speaking with GameDaily, Sony's Scott Steinberg has said:

On the network side, we've stated that we're in a closed beta now for Home, we'll be rolling out functionality later this year, both for the Network and making Home public to others. So 2008 is going to be the year where both on the service side as well as on a Blu-Ray side, you're going to see everything that we've got.

Rolling out non-Home-related functionality sounds a lot more involved than just giving the PS Store a quick spit-n-polish. Please, let both your imagination and speculation run unchecked. More »

80GB PS3 To Stick Around, At Least For A While

Finding some dusty old tapes marked "GDC08", GameDaily have posted an interview held during the conference with Sony's Scott Steinberg, who in case you're not aware, bleeds Sony. Steinberg eventually gets onto the PS3's somewhat-controversial SKU strategy, where he seems to suggest - while explaining why the 80GB model ran dry at Christmas - that the larger PS3 is here to stay:

Reality is the price wasn't that big of a deal and $499 sold a lot more than we thought, so the 80 GB got dry at retail not due to us artificially compressing it but the demand became greater than we thought. So you'll see us replenish these in the marketplace. We're still committed to our current strategy and there is much to do about nothing, I think is the way to think about it.

Good news for Americans, I guess, but if they're not phasing them out in the US (at least not yet) it just makes the lack of a BC-friendly PS3 in PAL territories all the more difficult to understand. More »

Sony Shrugs Off 360 Exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV Episodic Content In PR Shocker

In a rare move from a product marketing executive, Sony Computer Entertainment America's Scott Steinberg has downplayed the commercial viability of the his competitor's exclusive content for Grand Theft Auto IV. Surprisingly, Steinberg doesn't think it's exactly the bee's knees. He tells GameDaily that "I personally don't think there's going to be a huge percentage of folks who jump into downloadable content for another price when they're still playing through the core product." I guess with a reported 100-hour playtime, he might have an argument. More »

Cut Scott Steinberg And He Bleeds Sony

Scott Steinberg used to be a Sega man. Not anymore, though. He's a Sony man now. And don't you forget it. Yeah, I know, as a corporate exec he's trained - nay, expected - to beat the company drum, but in an interview with Next-Gen Steinberg goes beyond drumming. And the interview's all the better for it!

Third parties have started to move from the de facto 360 SDK. Of course people designed their next-gen games on it because that was the only one there. The PS3 shipped and so they said, 'let's port our 360 games to the PS3.' But now companies are recognizing that 'hey, if I start on the PS3 and then port down to the 360, my 360 game is going to look better than if I had just designed it for the 360.'

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PS3 Is So Right For Small Developers. Got It?

Just because the PS3 is on the pricey side, don't think it doesn't cater to smaller developers. Don't think that at all! says Scott Steinberg, former SEGA but now current Sony Computer Entertainment America's VP of product marketing. Steinberg believes in the power of the PSN. He says: More »

Get Rich Playing Games

Not to be comfused with SCEA's latest employee, the other Scott Steinberg is managing director of Embassy Multimedia Consultants and author of Videogame Marketing and PR and The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual. His latest book is called Get Rich Playing Video Games, and it explains how to succeed in every facet of the gaming industry, from marketing and PR to development to publishing. The volume includes insights from industry legends like Miyamoto, Will Wright, Ted Price, Lord British, and even Atari founder Nolan Bushness, who provides the forward. The book should be available at major retailers now, with a $17.95 price tag, or you can download the eBook free at www.GetRichGaming.com. Pity the title sounds like a late night infomercial. More »

Sega Not Playing Console Favorites

Back in June, Sega's American marketing VP Scott Steinberg had some pretty strong things to say about the state of this generation's consoles - in particular casting doubts on the Wii's longevity - which were retracted almost as soon as the words left his mouth. Next Generation recently sat down with Steinberg to gain further insight into the statements, coming away with a much kinder, gentler, and pussified view of the current console crop.

"Are we placing bets [on one particular platform]? No one can tell right now who'll 'win.' It's still too early. All three consoles have got the right materials for success. That alchemy is there across all three different platforms. I guess that's being defined a bit differently with Nintendo, but they definitely have their own consumer-oriented track, which we think is great. So I think from a third-party publisher's standpoint it's not wise to make bets right now that don't include all three consoles."

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Video Game Style Guide

The Video Game Style Guide is actually a new book of "guidelines" for writing about video games, not the standard for graphics on any given game like you may have thought. Some of the big names in the community have gotten together and written themselves a little bible on how to appropriately talk shop if your shop is gaming. More »

Sega Discusses Iron Man, Hulk Plans

Gamespot sat down with Sega's Scott Steinberg to talk all about the company's recently acquired Marvel licenses, including Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor. While the last two Marvel titles are a bit too far off to have anything concrete to reveal, Hulk fans will be happy to know that the well received Ultimate Destruction won't go ignored by Sega's dev teams. More »