Sony: PS3 is "stepping over current next-gen"

Sony UK boss Ray Maguire has told GamesIndustry.biz that the PlayStation 3 is stepping over the competition from rival Microsoft and Nintendo consoles.

For Maguire, the PlayStation 3 isn't joining the party late, but leaving behind the Wii and Xbox 360 as it bounds into the true hi-definition entertainment world.

"Many people are saying we're now joining the next-generation console era, but I believe we've stepped over the current next-gen to create the real next-generation," said Maguire, in an exclusive interview published today.

Maguire believes the stand out features of the PlayStation 3 — the Blu-ray player, the HDMI and 1080p support, and the Cell chip — are all crucial to distinguishing the console from the competition.

"All of those things are part of moving from the PlayStation 2 era to the PlayStation 3 and leaving behind all of the middle products that are in the market place right now, which clearly don't compare in terms of technical prowess," he said.

"We're into a hi-def existence, we're into the next part of the entertainment world."

He took the opportunity to take a swing at Microsoft's Xbox 360, and would not be drawn on comparisons between the two machines.

"We're not hooked into a world which was technologically average two years ago. You can't compare the two. If you're comparing the two we would have had the same technology and we'd be at the same price — we're not," he said.