152w ago - With a new PS3 Firmware update arriving soon, JoyStiq (linked above) sat down with Sony's John Koller in an E3 2010 interview where he admits PS3 Cross Game Chat is still a work-in-progress despite recent rumors that it may be coming as part of PlayStation Plus.

During the video interview, John Koller discusses PlayStation Network Plus, PS3 Cross Game Chat and Steamworks along with what fans can expect from Sony's new partnership with Valve.

For those curious, the discussion about PlayStation 3 Cross Game Voice Chat begins at timestamp 7:55. Check out the video below!

179w ago - Today TheRegister.co.uk (linked above) reports that Sony Computer Entertainment's John Koller admitted he is amazed by PlayStation Home virtual goods sales and also hinted that reality TV is coming to PSN.

Speaking at iHollywood's Digital Living Room conference in Santa Clara on Tuesday, John Koller - director of marketing PlayStation platforms at SCE America - outlined the company's plans for family hearth domination with the PlayStation 3.

To quote: "Sony Computer Entertainment, the folks in charge of the PlayStation game console, are getting into the reality show business.

As it attempts to transition from a gaming company to a full-blown media company, SCE hopes to expand its PlayStation Network online platform into an "actual" TV network not unlike the American premium cable station HBO."

In regards to PlayStation Home, he stated, "It's amazing to me that someone would by a 50 cent chair for their PlayStation Home apartment with real money, but the revenue that comes from that is significant."

196w ago - GamePro (linked above) has done an interview with SCEA Marketing Boss John Koller covering the new PS3 Slim console.

During the interview, Koller revealed that there is currently no PS3 Slim backwards compatibility, however, the PS3 Slim HDD is upgradeable.

To quote: "GP: This is a question a lot of our readers have had... They're wondering, will the PS3 Slim support Backwards Compatibility?

Koller: No, it won't, actually. Backwards Compatibility plans [are] actually off the table. But, we've noticed [not only] in all of our research, but [also] broadly speaking, we're in our third year now and most of the consumers that purchase the PS3 are purchasing it for PlayStation 3 games.

GP: Will you still be able to swap out the internal hard drive?

Koller: You will. We actually actively encourage that, for consumers that want to. The hard drive bay has moved from the side to the front, so it's a simple two-screw process. You can unscrew it and put the new Terrabyte model or whatever you like in. Absolutely."

243w ago - SCEA's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, has repsonded to an article that said third-party PSP software support has been on a steady decline since 2006.

"I think going into next year we're going to see significant growth. We're counseling retail to be ready for it. We have a number of very strong franchise games on the docket that will be launching next year. We haven't gone public with those, and many third-parties have not yet either because they're concentrating on holiday, but we have a number of very strong titles coming."

To quote: Koller also stated that publishers were not familiar with how demographics were shifting on the PSP, leading to improperly targeted games that did not meet sales expectations.

"When we launched the PSP it launched at a 28-year old, heavily male, New York subway [demographic], and that slowly trended down. Now we're in the mid-teens with a lot of tracking even younger than that. Our research shows that in the next 12 months young moms actually are set to have the highest propensity to purchase the hardware and software for their young children."

As a result, Koller says, "a lot of publishers that were making mature-rated games...

246w ago - Earlier last week, Sony Computer Entertainment America marketing head John Koller revealed during a interview that the battery life of the PSP-3000 would be reduced by around 20-30 minutes due to the larger power draw of the handheld's brighter screen.

Despite this, Koller issued a clarification statement on the official PlayStation Blog today, reassuring consumers that the PSP-3000 model will have "equivalent battery life to the current PSP," which equates to 4 to 6 hours for games and around 4 to 5 hours for UMD videos.

The enhanced screen does consume more battery juice, but according to Koller, Sony's engineers have managed to reduce power consumption of other system parts, making it all even out.

To quote: Hi, everyone, there have been reports about the battery life of the new PSP system (PSP-3000) being shorter than the current model (PSP-2000), following an interview we recently did with Gamespot. I'd like to make a correction and clarify that the new PSP will have equivalent battery life to the current PSP, about 4 to 6 hours for games and about 4 to 5 hours for UMD videos.

While the enhanced...