It's a fairly lengthy interview, but as is always the case with Yoshida, it's well worth the read. He tends to be far more upfront and honest than most other executives from Sony and other big publishers. Good read. More here, if you're interested -- http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-24-sonys-shuhei-yoshida-interview
Eurogamer: You mentioned that one of the problems with the PSP was a lack of content. What steps are you taking to ensure that same mistake won't be repeated?
Shuhei Yoshida: As far as we're concerned from a worldwide studios standpoint, right after the launch of PSP we had to shift lots of resources to prepare for the launch of the PS3. That followed closely after the launch of PSP. In retrospect we did it too extreme. We were happy with the launch of PSP. We had lots of games to launch with, but because of the demand of creating games on the new consoles, we shifted resources too much and the coverage for the PSP became weak.
The same thing was happening with third parties as well. The next generation of hardware was launching. Because us and third parties had to shift resources out of the portables, that created the huge issues in terms of the supply of the content.
We learnt the lessons of that experience. We're going to make sure we will have a good, continuous supply of software on PS Vita as we continue to support the PS3 and PS Move.
Eurogamer: When the price was announced it surprised many because it was a bit lower than we were expecting. Now Nintendo has announced a price cut for the 3DS, does that put pressure on Sony to reduce the price of Vita?
Shuhei Yoshida: We are totally happy with the price we put out. Personally, I was expecting Nintendo might move their price, but I wasn't expecting them to move at this time. We didn't price Vita relative to 3DS or those other devices. We plan the value we want to put in to the Vita and the price people would perceive the value would be. Nothing changed since the announcement. We are totally happy.
Eurogamer: You can have a connected experience with games you play on your PS3. Is it feasible to play a game on PS3, leave home and continue it on Vita, and return to it on PS3 when I get back?
Shuhei Yoshida: That's totally feasible and it's going to be happening. One of the games we're making, called Ruin, we are developing both the Vita version and the PS3 version of that title. Both games will be packaged together. You can play the game at home on PS3, save your data on our PSN server on the cloud, and you can continue playing the game on PS Vita by downloading the save from the PSN. And you can do vice versa. It's a continuous experience, playing the same game on PS Vita and PS3.
There is lots of interest from publishers and developers to do that. At Konami, Kojima-san announced the concept of Transfarring. The initial product will be between PSP and PS3, but he is also talking about between PS3 and Vita. Actually, it's easier to create the experience on PS Vita and PS3 because the performance is much similar, and the amount of RAM is pretty similar.
Eurogamer: It's possible to use Vita as a controller for PS3.
Shuhei Yoshida: Technically, yes. PS Vita and PS3 can be connected. Actually, PSP and PS3 can be connected as well. They function when you have video on PS3 you can browse using PSP Remote Play function. Again, because PS Vita and PS3 performance is similar, because the PSN feature set is complete on PS Vita, it's going to be much easier to use PS3 and PS Vita in the connected function.
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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.