6-1 Play Station

Vocabulary

1. conservative (adj) - not new, but cautious, careful and traditional
2. visionary (adj) - new and looking to the future for ideas
3. approach (n) - the way something is done
4. achieve (v) - to get sth or do sth; usually to reach a goal
5. notice (v) - to observe sth; to realize sth
6. hardware (n) - the physical parts of a computer or operating system
7. high-end (adj) - high quality
8. specifications (n) - the requirements or guidelines of sth
9. capability (n) - the ability to do sth
10. focus (n) - the thing that is most closely observed, or the thing that is most important
    • focus (v) - to observe carefully
    • refocus (v) - again + focus
11. software (n) - computer programs; the instructions for a computer to do sth
12. firmware (n) - software that usually has instructions for a computer program so that it runs properly
13. updates (n) - changes made to sth to make it work better
14. implementation (n) - beginning to use sth
15. phase (n) - one part of sequence of things or events
16. background (n) - the history of sth, or the place where things are hidden and not seen
17. download (v) - to add sth to the operating system on a computer or other electronic device
18. install (v) - to add sth, or to turn on a program on a computer or other electronic device

• Do you like gaming? Do you use PlayStation, Nintendo or Xbox?
• What do you like about gaming, and what don’t you like? For example, if you have PS3, do you find that there is a lot of firmware that often needs to be updated? Is that frustrating to you?

Eurogamer: Do you think that what you showed today was conservative? Visionary? What?

Shuhei Yoshida: Well that's my question! What do you think?

Eurogamer: No no, I'm asking you the question!

Shuhei Yoshida: [Laughs] So Mark [Cerny] and David [Perry] spent lots of time talking about our approach, philosophy and principles behind PS4 design, so I hope it was not boring to you. We really wanted to explain what are the things we wanted to achieve with PS4. You may notice that we - Sony and PlayStation - love hardware so we tend to choose high-end specifications, and this time around as your Digital Foundry guy, Richard, who is amazing --

Eurogamer: -- Yeah he kind of already told everyone what you're doing. Sorry about that.

Shuhei Yoshida: Haha! So we are proud of the hardware capability of PS4. However, the focus was more about what Mark talked about - the five principles. The Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated, Personalised. And none of this is hardware, right? It's all system software capabilities and services - like the Gaikai cloud gaming. So that was the biggest focus, because we are game developers but we are game users as well. Like every time we talk about PS3 we talk about the next firmware update or all those things - and we don't like them either.

Eurogamer: So you want to clear a lot of that out of the way.

Shuhei Yoshida: Yeah, yeah. It's a huge focus. Number one: it has to be very simple to use. And number two: it has to be immediate. It's not easy to do. If it was easy we would have done it already. So unless we refocus our effort to these things, the system will never be easy to use or immediate.

Eurogamer: So does that mean we're not going to see firmware updates in the way that we've seen them in the past?

Shuhei Yoshida: I hope not. So the work is still going on...

Eurogamer: So it's not 100 per cent decided, but it might change.

Shuhei Yoshida: It's about the implementation phase. It's all about how it gets implemented. So we have to wait for the final product, but our goal is always like that. So there will always be firmware updates, but what we want to achieve is --

Eurogamer: -- Put them in the background?

Shuhei Yoshida: Yes! So it's already been done. Like the PS Plus service actually does it, where it's downloaded but it doesn't install. So it's kind of half-baked. We wanted to make it so people don't have to wait for anything. If you have one hour of your time, you want to spend one hour playing games, and that's our goal.

Questions:

1. What are the five principles that Mr. Yoshida mentions? What does each of the words mean? What do you think is the benefit for you, the PS4 customer, that each of these words represents?
2. We all know what a cloud is. But what is the cloud? And what is cloud gaming?
3. Usually when we say that something is half-baked we are unhappy because it has been started but is unfinished. Here Mr. Yoshida and the interviewer are talking about something that will be started but not finished, but that will be a good thing. Why? What are they talking about, and why is it good that it will be readied but unfinished?

Vocabulary

1. console (n) - the electronic unit used to play video games
2. low-power mode (n) - the state (mode) of using very little energy--and probably not visibly functioning
3. official term (n) - the approved language for sth
4. optional (adj) - having a choice; not required
5. broadband (adj) - high-speed Internet access
6. customize (v) - to make sth individualized for each customer; not the same for all users
7. anti-social (adj) - unfriendly or not interested in meeting new people
8. second-hand (adj) - used by a former owner
9. used (adj) - not new, but owned by another person before
10. moral (adj) - obligated to do what is right and good to another person
11. contract (n) - a formal agreement
12. retain (v) - to keep
13. pass sth on (v) - to give sth (physical or information) to another person
14. expectation (n) - what is expected or hoped for
15. reselling (n) - selling sth again
16. past generations (n)- prior versions
17. third-party (adj)- not one of the original people involved in sth
18. exclusives (n)- things that are only available to a certain group of people
19. unique (adj) - special and uncommon
20. functionality (n) - usefulness
21. devices (n) - sth made for a specific purpose, such as an electronic device
22. loads of [sth] (n) - a lot of [sth]

• What is your favourite game?
• What do you like about it?

Eurogamer: Does the console always need to be connected to the internet?

Shuhei Yoshida: You can play offline, but you may want to keep it connected. The system has the low-power mode - I don't know the official term - that the main system is shut down but the subsystem is awake. Downloading or updating or you can wake it up using either the tablet, smartphone or PS Vita.

Eurogamer: Are all of those things optional? For people who have broadband data limits, for example? They can customise everything?

Shuhei Yoshida: Oh yes, yes, you can go offline totally. Social is big for us, but we understand there are some people who are anti-social! So if you don't want to connect to anyone else, you can do that.

Eurogamer: One of the questions my readers really want an answer to is whether you're going to block the use of second-hand or 'used' games, because it's a huge concern for them.

Shuhei Yoshida: Do you want us to do that?

Eurogamer: No. I think if you buy something on a disc you have a kind of moral contract with the person you've bought it from that you retain some of that value and you can pass it on. Do you agree?

Shuhei Yoshida: Yes. That's the general expectation by consumers. They purchase physical form, they want to use it everywhere, right? So that's my expectation.

Eurogamer: So if someone buys a PlayStation 4 game, you're not going to stop them reselling it?

Shuhei Yoshida: Aaaah. [Asks PR adviser.] So what was our official answer to our internal question? [Consults adviser.] So, used games can play on PS4. How is that?

Eurogamer: That's great. So in past generations, you had the PS2 with third-party exclusives, amazing marketing and the DVD player that helped it to be successful. With the PS3 the exclusive games were harder because it cost too much and the marketing was harder because at that point everyone else was making cool-looking electronic devices too, but you still had Blu-ray to give you an advantage. Does PlayStation 4 have a unique selling point?

Shuhei Yoshida: Unique from what?

Eurogamer: Well, look at the PlayStation Vita. It has a lot of functionality you can't find in other devices, but at the same time it's struggled to find an audience so far.

Shuhei Yoshida: Yup.

Eurogamer: So having unique functions alone isn't enough and it needs to have a clear purpose.

Shuhei Yoshida: Yup, that's never enough.

Eurogamer: So what is the unique function in PlayStation 4 and what is going to make loads of people buy one?

Shuhei Yoshida: So if we say that for PS4 you don't have to wait for anything to play, and you can use many different devices to play and communicate with other people, and you can instantly try many of the games on the store, isn't it unique?

Questions:

1. If people resell their PS4 games to their friends, will their friends be able to use them on their PS4 consoles?
2. The interviewer asks whether the PS4 will have any “unique function(s)”. He wants to know what will make the PS4 so special that customers will want to buy one. What is Mr. Yoshida’s answer?

Vocabulary

1. day-one (n) - the first day
2. evolve (v) - to grow and develop
3. ultimate (adj) - the end result, or highest point
4. trials (n) - attempts to do sth, or tests of sth
5. algorithms (n) - mathematical formulas, often used in designing computer programs
6. compute (v) - to determine or find an answer, usually mathematically

• How much time do you spend gaming?
• When do you play?
• Do you play alone, or do you play with your friends?
• Would you like to be able to play with other friends?

Eurogamer: Do you think it will be unique by the time it comes out? Do you think Microsoft will copy you or PC manufacturers will copy you? Or that they have already had these ideas?

Shuhei Yoshida: I have no idea. But that's what we want to achieve. Maybe not day-one for all the things we talked about, but we will continue to evolve our services. It's more about services than the system.

Eurogamer: Which things will definitely be there day-one and which things might take a little longer?

Shuhei Yoshida: Some of the things Dave [Perry] talked about, like cloud gaming, he talked more about visions like "Everything Everywhere", which is the ultimate goal, but we have to start from somewhere.

Eurogamer: So the Gaikai trials on the store and background downloading based on algorithms that compute what you want and what you're doing - those things will definitely be there from day one?

Shuhei Yoshida: Well, we are still in development so we need to wait for the final system to be able to talk about it.

Eurogamer: When will you know the answer? Will you know it at E3?

Shuhei Yoshida: I hope so! I hope by E3 most of the things are already in final form.

Eurogamer: Will you have to announce the date, price and launch games at E3?

Shuhei Yoshida: Yep, that's possible. We don't decide these things until much closer, so we have no plan or no date set for announcing these things.

Questions:

1. What is E3? Look it up on Google Search. Can anyone go to E3?
2. What other event that is like E3 is closest to your home? Would you like to go to it? Why or why not?