Nvidia CEO Talks Next-Gen Consoles 173
kukyfrope writes "Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia recently shared his thoughts with the San Jose Mercury News about next-gen consoles, claiming that developing a chip for the 360 was too expensive and that the inclusion of a Blu-ray player will help the console last for 10 years. Huang also predicts that the 360 cannot afford to be a DVD-only system by Christmas 2007, likening the 360-DVD vs PS3-Blu-ray battle to the Dreamcast-CD vs PS2-DVD battle. 'The first PlayStation had a CD-ROM drive. The PlayStation 2 had DVD. It makes no sense for the PlayStation 3 to use DVDs. To postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-ray was a master stroke. When that comes out, it's going to look so much more advanced than last-generation game consoles,' Huang said."
sigh (Score:3, Interesting)
The ps2 will be a ten year system if they can still sell it for the next 5ish years. Which they probably can due to strong brand name appeal and the expense of the new system. (ps2's still outsell xbox360's week by week now).
Thank you for your comments! (Score:4, Interesting)
He sounds remorseful enough that it indicates he wished Microsoft had picked Nvidia. But then again, he's also a bit glad:
So, here's the president of one of the main suppliers for the PS3 talking about how Microsoft didn't choose him, but even if they did, his company couldn't afford to actually build the GPU for the 360? Excuse me if I don't take his comments with a bucket full of salt.
To top it off, as in any article discussing graphics, we're about ten years away from photorealism, just as we were in 2001 and 1996.
To his credit though, I really liked this exchange which is in the full interview [mercurynews.com]:
His response is, "Screw graphics, let's work on gameplay." I can't knock him for that.
Re:Blue-ray (Score:5, Interesting)
However, new games don't imply new IP! The floundering of Prince of Persia in the marketplace, in spite of what many industry insiders considered a very well executed game, convinced many in the industry that there's only a small window at the beginning of a system's life to launch new IP in. After a certain point it's just not worth it because people don't buy AAA games that aren't sequels in sufficent quantities to recoup development costs. Sad, but apparently true.
Strangly enough, a theory has also developed that says that while you need to rush out new IP at the beginning of the life of a new system, if you're doing a sequel to existing IP on a new system it's not worth it to push it out in that early window. It's better to take your time and "get things right"/wait for the install base to develop before you push out things like GTA 4 or Halo 3.
Re:PS4 Release Date (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, it's more ironic than that, because Sony (well, Ken Kutaragi, head of the division that makes the PS3) has in the past said they're planning on upgrading the PS3 throughout its lifecycle. See, since it's really a computer, apparently he thinks they can get away with announcing "upgraded" versions. So by 2016, the PS4 might finally replace the PS3-OSR2-SP5 or something.
The actual quote is:
From this article [palgn.com.au].
So, yeah, maybe a "10-year lifecycle" isn't out of the question, if they keep on churning out new consoles and call 'em PS3s anyway.
Plus, by continuously upgrading specs, they can ensure that the PS3 will continue to cost $600 for years! ($500 for the previous iteration.)
Re:Blue-ray (Score:1, Interesting)
3dfx already did it... (Score:2, Interesting)
"SLI is probably one of the most important innovations that we have brought in the last several years."
3dfx had a very similar, albeit not identical, system ages ago.
"Nvidia 1.0 was building 3-D graphics. Creating the consumer 3-D market."
No, that was 3dfx again.
Of course, Nvidia bought the remains of 3dfx so perhaps they're counting that.
Revisionist history aside, the full interview here [mercurynews.com] (not the watered down blog post), is really interesting, and exactly the sort of thing that should be on slashdot.