PS3 is "more than a toy", says Kutaragi

Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has once again defended the pricing of the PlayStation 3, this time in the pages of leading Japanese games magazine Weekly Famitsu.

Kutaragi pointed out that both the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 launched at price points 10,000 Yen (around GBP 70) higher than their competitors, but yet "both sold to shortages."

He went on to claim that "if you consider the PlayStation 3 a toy, then yes, it is an expensive toy. However, it is more than a toy. It is a PlayStation 3. And it is the only PlayStation 3. I hope that those who understand this will gladly purchase it."

So that's about as clear as mud, then - although it does illustrate the huge value Sony places on the PlayStation brand, which was also illustrated this week by the launch in Japan of a new range of expensive designer accessories sporting the brand.

It's worth pointing out, however, that the price differential cited by Kutaragi is not being repeated this time around - with the actual difference in price between the PS3 and its competitors likely to be more than twice as much as it was between the firm's previous platforms and their respective competitors.

Kutaragi's comments, which were republished by games news site Next-Gen, came as Famitsu published a survey revealing that 88 per cent of readers polled believed the PlayStation 3 to be too expensive.