BIZ: The PS2 continues to do amazingly well considering that it's in its eighth year. There's been some talk out there that it's Sony's answer to the Wii because it's very cheap, it's very popular. So, with that in mind, would you want to try and create some sort of motion sensing controller to create the types of games that are possible on Wii but for PS2? Because you don't have the mass market for the PS3 yet but you do for the PS2, so you might be able to reach a similar consumer with a similar control method.

SS: I can say that the PS2 continues to break records. 41 million+ in the back pocket. I would say that the kind of games that we're building out and the peripherals for PS2 are in line with where the eighth year of a 10-year life cycle is. I think the price point alone and the causal games like Guitar Hero, Singstar and Buzz! are enough to get that casual consumer over. I think a Wii Remote style would feel a bit less innovative on the PS2, so I don't think we have any plans to go there. I think it's interesting to think of what different controller configurations could do for the PS3 and possibly for the PS2, but as a Wii Remote knock off, I don't think we're in the business of creating knock offs. I don't think we need too; we're over 41 million installed base. I think those folks and households who still do not have a PS2 are pretty small, and I think those folks are buying a PS2 because it's a DVD player as well as a game machine, so they get the utility. They don't want to have two machines. They're new into the game business, so it's really about a $129 price point, not the $250 that the Wii offers and it's a catalog of games. We've got thousands of products to choose from. Those are the tipping point forces that are getting the new PS2s sold through and I think adding some gimmicks aren't in the near future plans.

BIZ: So what I was talking about before with the PS3 not quite being mass market yet, what is the approach to get to that point? How is the PS3 going to that mass market?

SS: Well, define the mass market for me because we're selling quite a bit through Target and Circuit City. Our top ten accounts include the mass merchants...

BIZ: I guess what I'm aiming at is in addition to pricing, I'd also look at accessibility because that's something that the Wii and the Wii controller are very accessible. I was just at a panel with a group of industry luminaries, and one of them was Peter Molyneux, and he was talking about one of the things he's done in Fable 2 is try and limit the number of buttons required to play; he's not even using all of the buttons on the Xbox 360 controller, so he's trying to make things more accessible. So I'm wondering... when you look at the PS3 and some of the complex controls on the PS3 controller do you ever wonder about accessibility issues?

SS: I think any product that has the potential for such strong affinity as the PS3 has a layering effect and for me, the mass market potential lies in the fact that the PS2 is a mass market device that broke all rules of what a mass market device sells like in the U.S. from a video game platform standpoint. It did it on the back of being a DVD player as well as a game player. As people are looking to upgrade into high-def, we know there's one doorway, [and] it's called Blu-ray. The controller on the PS3 is very analogous to the controller on the PS2, so that comfort zone of "I don't want to learn a whole new button configuration" is right there with the PS3. I think there's a "memory map" that's already been created that will not have to be relearned so I think from a qualitative perspective that enables easy upgrade for the 41+ million.

The Blu-ray message alone is going to be championed by so many different stakeholders and constituencies from the movie studios to retail that we'll not be the only one burdened with carrying that message, so that mass market message of buying a Blu-ray machine and being able to get I Am Legend or all the movies that you want to play in high-def is going to shove us into mass market potential. So I think the complexity is there if you want to go there but the interface is only as complex as you need it. You can put your game or movie in and it's a couple of button pushes before you're into it. You don't have to "wrestle" with the XMB media bar and dive into all of the system upgrades. That's like TiVo for me; TiVo is really easy to record with its base functionality one or two button presses. I can do the same thing for the PS3 playing Blu-ray movies or playing Blu-ray games. Now if I want to open the hood, add a bigger hard drive or do some other things with it like connect my PSP to it... that to me cements the relationship that I have with my machine because its such a deep set of features that I can play with, but if you want the basic functionality, I don't really think it's not ready for prime time. It's built with that elegance and that quiet sophistication.

BIZ: You don't feel that controller complexity is a barrier?

SS: From a games standpoint or a hardware standpoint?

BIZ: Well in terms of accessibility, if you look at what Nintendo's done; they've reached out to people who aren't traditionally gamers, so those people might pick up a DualShock controller and be very intimidated. So do you feel the industry needs to go in a simpler direction?

SS: [pause] I think yes in some ways, but I think also history will show that a lot of those grandmas and grandpas who don't want to learn button configurations aren't buying software. Simplicity is always good. I remember back in the day, the three button controller on the Genesis was supposedly complex. We are, with the exception of doing this with the wrist [makes motion movement for Sixaxis], our button configuration is relatively simple, is very analogous to the PS2, which 41 million households don't think is too complicated. So I think adding functionality on top of that for the hardcore, sophisticated gamer who's really buying a $400 machine today is in line with what their expectations are for value and value propositions. Will we ever come up with a controller like this? I'm old enough to recognize that you never say never, but I also don't think that in this first wave, we're talking about grandmas and grandpas buying PS3s; it's 18 – 34-year-old males who are looking to punctuate their HD living room with a high-def player and get a game machine as well as a movie player in one box.