E3: Sony's Harrison Queries Xbox 360 Sales Goals

As part of an interview with the BBC News website, Sony's president of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison, one of the key figures behind Sony's PS3 price unveiling earlier this week, has revealed his skepticism over Microsoft's claims that the Xbox 360 will have a 10 million unit head start on the PS3 by the launch date. Harrison commented critically: "I doubt they will achieve that", continuing by praising the PlayStation 3: "I think the clear advantages of the PS3 will mean that this product is very well accepted in the marketplace. We have a great brand and fantastically loyal consumers." The Sony exec also went on to justify the different hardware configurations, comparing the $499 20gb version and the $599 60gb version of the PS3, and explaining: "Some people might be interested in the PS3 primarily and exclusively as a games system, whereas other users might look at it as a multimedia hub in the home, which is games and music and movies and other digital content." He also attempted to allay fears that the lack of an HDMI output on the lower-end machine would in some way be a longer-term issue, commenting: "What we should be clear about is that the functionality is identical in both machines."