Tretton: PS3 has proved our 10-year point

Sony America boss Jack Tretton has said that PlayStation 3's position now proves what the company was saying all along about a 10-year console cycle.

"I'd love to flashback to 2006 and bring people forward to 2010 and say, 'Now what do you think about Blu-ray? About the technology?'" Tretton told Fast Company.

"We've just passed the third year of the PlayStation 3 and we're just hitting our stride. And I don't think anyone is saying, 'This is a five-year cycle; what's new on the horizon?'

"I can't even imagine what can be done technically beyond the PlayStation 3 in the near future.

"A question I often get is when we are going to see PlayStation 4. When somebody can craft the technology that exceeds what we're able to do on the PS3, but we are still just starting to harness it."

Speaking of which, Tretton also compared the company's PS3 motion controller plans with those of Microsoft on Project Natal and found the latter wanting.

"We introduced motion gaming with the EyeToy for PlayStation 2. It was an incredible experience," he said.

"But it was somewhat limited in terms of the type of gaming experiences..."

"You have to tip your hat to Nintendo for introducing the motion gaming using their controllers, doing it in a more social fashion. I'm not an expert on Microsoft's technology, but we all know that it was not homegrown. It's certainly technology that we worked with before. We had the experience with the PS2 and EyeToy."

Having a controller in your hand makes the difference, Tretton argued.

"We're able to take advantage of the camera, take advantage of the ability to identity yourself in 3D space, but then have controls in hand to do things like shooting and swinging an object, and much more accurately than ever done before," he said.

"You can have it as an element of a game, you can do it as a dedicated game, you can do it in a social gaming atmosphere. There is no game where you say, 'Our control isn't going to apply there.'"