Hirai backs physical media until networks improve

Sony's Kaz Hirai has reiterated his belief that the PlayStation 3 is still only half way through its proposed ten year life cycle, in the process dismissing the idea that the world's network infrastructure is ready for a download only console.

Speaking to press at CES, Hirai said that he believed that the immediate future for AAA home console gaming lay in physical media rather than streaming or downloading.

"It's very important that we continue to have a dedicated home-based console," Hirai told listeners.

"Relying solely on networks to deliver content is unfortunately just not possible. It's still very difficult to have consumers download 50 gigabytes of data or more."

Yesterday, Hirai also directly said that there would be no hardware reveal at E3 itself, repeating the mantra of the ten year cycle and claiming that "we are not making any announcements at E3."