We are in the midst of one of the most exciting times for PlayStation as we continue to redefine entertainment experiences for consumers, both at home and on the go. Over the past few weeks we’ve launched several game-changers such as the sleek 120GB PS3 at a new price point of $299. We’ve also introduced more storage capacity with the 250GB PS3, debuting November 3 at $349. We’ve made unprecedented strides in digital and mobile entertainment with the availability of PSPgo. Last week we launched the critically acclaimed UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves which is receiving rave reviews. The best part is that we’ve only just begun an onslaught of relentless, rich content hitting throughout the fiscal year, including Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, God of War III, MAG, and ModNation Racers.

We’re also seeing tremendous response to the great value of the newer, slimmer, lighter 120GB PS3 system, which surpassed its one million unit mark worldwide just after three weeks on shelves. In NPD Group’s September 2009 video game sales data, released today, the PS3 ranked as the top console sold for the month, beating out all our competitors. It was also the only hardware platform to realize an increase of 112% when compared to the same period last year.

The PSPgo is driving additional momentum for the entire PSP platform. In its first three days on store shelves, top retail partners experienced a 300 percent lift in overall PSP hardware sales compared to the previous week. During this time, the PlayStation Network also experienced the largest number of downloads ever for a single week period. In addition, the new 250GB PS3 will provide the ample storage needed for what is expected to be a big Blu-ray holiday with blockbuster releases like Transformers 2, Star Trek and Hangover. And we’re continuing to stack the chips this holiday with great game content including God of War Collection, LittleBigPlanet – Game of the Year Edition as well as popular third party titles like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2.

If you haven’t already experienced UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves for yourself, this is a must-have this season. The Naughty Dog team has delivered a truly visually stunning and immersive game that is clearly only possible on the PS3. It has garnered an average review score of 96 with over 64 perfect scores by game reviewers. This game promises to be a system seller for PlayStation and we couldn’t be more pleased.

There simply has never been a better time to be part of the PlayStation family and we look forward to providing you with the best entertainment content and experience for many, many years to come.

Jack Tretton

With all the speculation and buzz out there regarding the 40GB PS3 announcements in Japan and Europe, I am very excited to confirm that the new $399 PS3 model will be coming to North America on November 2nd, making that particular configuration available worldwide. In North America, the 40GB PS3 comes bundled with the block-buster movie Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray. Also, effective today, we’ve lowered the purchase price of our 80GB model by $100 to $499.

This move has been part of our longer term business strategy for PS3 since early on and we believe this lower priced model, combined with our broad line-up of content will appeal to a great many of you who want a lower entry price without sacrificing any of the core components of PS3. With today’s news, we’re strengthening our position approaching this holiday season and beyond with the intent to provide you with a choice and an excellent entry point into HD games and movies.

Adding to the appeal of the new retail pricing is the great PS3 lineup that will help further drive our momentum this holiday, including Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Heavenly Sword, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed, Haze and Rock Band. And that’s just the beginning: This holiday lineup will be followed in 2008 by highly-anticipated Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Grand Theft Auto IV, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet and, of course, PlayStation Home.

Our goal this holiday season is to make PS3 even more affordable and to offer you greater choice to suit your gaming and entertainment needs. Again, I want to thank all of you for your continued support throughout this past year and I look forward to the months and years ahead.

This holiday and fiscal year more than 400 games are coming to PlayStation fans in North America. There will be over 120 PS3 titles including what we’re showing here at E3: Warhawk, Lair, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, The Eye of Judgment, PAIN, Echochrome, SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation, SingStar and many more. All of those are exclusive to the PS3, and those are the ones just from us. We also showed at our press conference today other exclusives from our third party partners, like Haze, Unreal Tournament 3 and the one you have been commenting so much about on this very blog, Metal Gear Solid 4.

In addition, the PSP will score more than 140 games and PS2 over 160 this year. And, if you didn’t get a chance to see the new Star Wars Battlefront PSP Entertainment Pack, be sure to check out the pictures I’ve included here with this post. The Darth Vader image on the back of the new white PSP is pretty cool, in my opinion.

Our goal right now is simple: to provide you with the most compelling gaming experience possible, and as we are showing here this week, we are well on the way to achieving that goal.

Right now is a good time to reflect and say thank you. Thank you for being passionate members of the video game community and part of the PlayStation family. The best is yet to come.

From where I sit, this industry has the most passionate consumers of any I’ve ever encountered. For some, gaming is a way to kill some time, for others it’s a favorite hobby, but for many it’s a way of life. As a gamer myself, I fall somewhere between a low to mid level enthusiast mainly because of free time. My day job is ironically eating away at my gaming time, although lately I’m finding the PSP has helped me reclaim some of this lost time on long plane trips.

For twenty one years I’ve worked exclusively in the industry. The last twelve have been with Sony Computer Entertainment. It’s been just over six months since I became President and CEO here and I can assure you that gaming is clearly my life. Now that we’ve got the hardware to drive the business, we’re putting all our efforts into insuring that we help create the best games possible for you to enjoy. My pledge is that we will continue to put you first and foremost, to understand what you really want from us. In fact, this blog is one way that I’m hoping this happens.

In 1995, when we launched the PlayStation, the majority of the gamers were twelve to seventeen year old boys. 2D platform, fighting, racing, and sports games were the norm. Platforms were born and died within five years maximum. There was minimal difference between hardware platforms. We here at Sony championed 3D graphics, CD based technology and a more mature diverse library of games. We believed that our platform had a lifecycle that should survive well beyond the traditional five years. Some of the initial criticism we received was that the hardware was a bit pricey, the system was hard to develop for and the early software line-up needed some work. When we introduced PlayStation 2 in 2000 we received much of the same criticism. When we introduced DVD based storage we were told that CD had more than enough capacity to store game data. In a few short years DVD had all but replaced CD and that storage capacity was being squeezed by the development community. In 2006 the song remained much the same. Most of you know what transpired: 100 million PlayStations and thousands of great games later, the PlayStation had a ten year run and could still be selling today. PlayStation 2 left our original success in the dust and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

We fully realize that past success is no guarantee of future success, but it does give you some perspective. We have to bring the games to market that will showcase what the PS3 can do and ultimately entertain you like no other games have. We need to provide proof of what the PS3 can do for you and work tirelessly to improve the value and justify your investment. At the end of the day, it’s always been about the games. To push the boundaries of gaming beyond where they currently lie takes a great deal of risk. I think all the hardware manufacturers are doing that in some way. We could have easily produced PlayStation 2.5 at a slightly increased price over the older model, and driven some nice profits and marginal innovation for a few years but that’s not how we got where we are today. You have to gamble and make major investments in the present that will pay dividends in the future.

We’re working hard to put the best tools in the hands of the development community so they can take you places you never imagined possible. We have more than 15 games coming from our own internal studios alone this year for PS3. Our third party partners will weigh in with a host of great games giving us more than 100 titles by year end on that system alone. At our Gamer’s Day event a few weeks back, we announced 18 exclusive games for PSP. This year, PS2 owners will get a little something for everyone with games like Buzz! and Singstar. Oh, and you certainly can’t forget the PlayStation Network. Right now, we are working on a slew of games and game packs that will be offered through the PlayStation Store in the coming months, including Warhawk, which personally speaking, is the PS3 game I’ve been playing most lately.

We are heading into one of the biggest shows of the year for the videogame industry. E3 is only a month away. Everyone here at SCEA is working very hard and is dedicated to pushing the development envelope to show you not only new stuff for games like Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, but also a few surprises we have up our sleeves that no one has seen. You can check in here for updates as we head into the show, and I will be sure to report back once E3 begins.

So, that’s it for now from me. I really hope you enjoy our new blog. I think it is a great way for us to share information and for you to communicate back with us. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and posting more here in the weeks to come!