Hirai: PS3 was built with Move in mind

Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai has said that 3D, Move and Blu-ray technologies were among the reasons PlayStation 3 was so expensive and powerful relative to its competition when it came to market.

"Not just 3D, but the Move and Blu-ray too. Those are things we talked about internally before the launch. We knew that the PS3 needed to have a 10-year life cycle - much like the PlayStation and the PS2," Hirai told The Telegraph newspaper.

"Given how fast technology turns over now, we knew going in that we had to pack a lot of horsepower into the PS3. Four years ago - when you look at the console's power and it's retail price - a lot of people were critical with the fact that there was so much packed under the hood.

"Now we're especially pleased to be introducing things like Move and 3D gaming because we're able to show tangibly why we released the PS3 with the power it has, and why it makes so much sense to future-proof a console.

"The proposition we're offering customers is to reward their investment with a long and valuable piece of hardware."

Hirai also said that Sony had taken its time with Move in particular because it does not want to iterate the controller hardware again.

"We don't want to be in a position where we're having to come out with something like PlayStation Move Plus two years from now," he said, presumably in reference to Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus add-on, released last year.

"We may take more time introducing these new technologies but that's because we want to make sure we get it right the first time. We don't want to be first into the market if we're faced with a situation where we have to make too many improvements down the line."

Hirai said the firm wanted Move to be "the second de facto controller for the PS3", and not something you only use with a few games.

"We want to make it an integral part of the PlayStation 3 experience," he said.