Sony CEO Hails PS3 Trend As Similar to PS2

The PlayStation 3 saw an impressive pick-up of sales since its price cut, the introduction of a 40 GB version and the scarcity of the Wii - so much so that the company CEO hailed the trend as akin to the one that drove the PlayStation 2.

"The momentum shift and the energy behind PS3 in time for Christmas is extremely fortuitous," Stringer told Hollywood Reporter. "It was planned by the PlayStation group, but I think this momentum now - particularly the number of games coming out, including our own as well as third-party - is the same as it was with PlayStation 2."

Stringer may be overstating his case, though, as the PS3 has only moved half the units as its predecessor in its first year - 5.59 million units compared to 10.04.

Perhaps anticipating this criticism, Stringer explained away the difference by citing what he called the extra difficulty - and extra benefit - of dealing with the Cell processor built into the system.

"The amount of bandwidth and the processing power of Cell give game manufacturers a lot more work to do to use this system to its full benefit, and it's taken awhile to do it," he said. "The same was true of PlayStation 2."

Source: Shacknews.com