Phil Harrison, President of Sony, was recently interviewed by the readers of Slashdot. Readers submit questions to Slashdot, the Slashdot editors pick their 10 favorite questions, send it to Harrison, and Harrison sends back a response which Slashdot publishes. As you'd imagine, most of the questions were about the PS3. In my opinion, the vast majority of the responses were obviously pure bullshit, but there was one response which I felt to be subtle enough that I needed to highlight it.

Basically, console makes want lots of "exclusives" — games which are only available on one specific console. Exclusives are what causes a console to sell, and thus to gain mindshare: Fight Night 3 is an amazing game, and it makes me want to buy an X360; Chrono Trigger is an amazing game, and it makes me keep my SNES emulator installed on my computer (and yes, I do own a legal, physical cartridge based copy of Chrono Trigger). Games are what make people buy consoles. And I have console "Foo", and the game is released for both "Foo" and "Bar", there's no reason for me to buy Bar, as I can already play the game on "Foo". If they release a really amazing game, and it's only available for "Bar", then I'm going to save up some money, and go buy "bar".

Back before the PS3 or X360 was out, Sony was hyping up their console by listing all the great exclusive titles they'd have (Microsoft and Nintendo were doing the same). Presumably they were able to go public with the claim that the next Final Fantasy game would be a PS3-exclusive because they actually sat down with Squaresoft-Enix and signed a contract to have them promise to release the next Final Fantasy game only for the PS3.

Unfortunately, the PS3 launch seemed to have gone pretty bad. Bad enough that the companies are willing to break the contracts (and suffer whatever penalties were agreed upon) to drop the exclusivity. So one of the questions asked was:

With a number of previously-PS3-exclusive titles having gone multiplatform, are there any efforts to prevent this from occurring in the future, or is it of little concern to SCE?

To which Harrison responds:

Phil Harrison: We have the widest selection of meaningful exclusives on PlayStation 3 - by virtue of our own investments in our development studios and strategic support of independent developers and publishers. I really don't believe gamers mind who makes the game, so long as the games they buy on their system are the best games they can get anywhere

Either Harrison is an idiot, or he's lying (or both). First of all, there is no such thing as a "best" game, as this is very subjective, but I'll give Harrison the benefit of the doubt and assume this was glossing to keep the accent succinct. The quality of a game is subjective. Some people love Japanese console-style RPGs which are very plot-centric. Others prefer American PC-style RPGs where game-mechanics are more heavily emphasized. Yet others hate all RPGs and prefer run-and-gun first person shooters. Others prefer squad-based tactical shooters, where running into a room without a well thought out plan will ensure a "Game Over" screen. As a gamer, if you know who made the game, you'll know what kind of game to expect, and thus whether or not you'll like it.

Present this quiz to any gamer, and I'm sure they will earn a perfect score.

Q1: Imagine Squaresoft-Enix is spending millions of dollars on their next hit. Will this game be: (A) A first person shooter. (B) An RPG. (C) A real time strategy game.

Q2: Imagine ID is making a game. Will it be: (A) A first person shooter. (B) An RPG. (C) A real time strategy game.

Q3: Imagine EA is releasing a game. Will it be: (A) An innovative puzzle game using new game mechanics e.g. "Puyo Tilt Deluxe" (B) A sports game with the next year embedded in the title e.g. "NBA 2008", if we are currently in 2007. (C) A casual pick-up-and-drop e.g. "Bejewled 3".

Q4: Imagine Maxis is making a game. True or false: This name of the game will contain "Sim".

Q5: Imagine Bethesda Softworks is making a game. Which statement is most likely true: (A) It'll be a short game I can beat within 24 hours, e.g. like Ore no Ryomi (B) It'll won't require a "save game" feature, as it won't require continuity of storyline, e.g. like Tetris. (C) The game will takes months to complete, and so a save game feature is mandatory.

Q6: There's this game, and it's weird. Really weird. Like a guy falls in love with his right hand, which has a mind of its own and is shaped like a girl. You have to collect pickles. Where did this game get made: (A) North America (B) Europe (C) Japan.

Q7: Tom Clancy is somehow involve with the game. The weapons will be: (A) Realistic, or near-future sci-fi, e.g. the MP5 (B) Goofy or cartoonish, e.g. a pickle gun. (C) Anime-esque, or far future, e.g. psionic beams.

Q8: There's this rhythm game. Who is it probably NOT made by: (A) Konami, (B) Harmonix (C) Ubisoft

The answers are: Q1: B, Q2: A, Q3: B, Q4: True, Q5: C, Q6: C, Q7: A, Q8: C