Hirai becomes SCEI chairman, House takes over as president

[patsu]

http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/29/scee-head-andew-house-becomes-scei-president/

Previous CEO and president Kaz Hirai has stepped aside from House’s new roles to become chairman. Current chairman Akira Sato will retire from the role effective as of August 31.

PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi has stood down as honorary chairman from SCEI as of yesterday, but will maintain a senior technology advisory role within Sony.

SCEE executive vice-president and co-COO Jim Ryan will take over House’s role.

These roles are affective as of September 1.

...

Essentially, I read it as:

* Andrew House will lead SCE from now on, and potentially appearing in E3.

* Besides taking a pay cut for the PSN debacle, Kaz now focuses on corporate integration and the new network business. i.e., Playstation Suite, Playstation Network infrastructure, SOE, Crackle, Qriocity, Vaio, TV, etc. The goal is to accelerate the "integration" and cross pollination of Sony divisions.

 

[patsu]

PlayStation nabs another exclusive developer. Augmented reality specialist sides with Sony:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/309431/news/playstation-nabs-another-exclusive-developer/

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has confirmed the acquisition of Novarama Technology as a PlayStation exclusive developer. Its first order of business is PlayStation Vita launch title 'Reality Fighters'.

The Barcelona based developer's previous game, Invizimals for the PSP, used augmented reality to allow players to track and capture monsters in the real world using a camera attachment for the PSP.

Although Sony has publicly confirmed the studio is working on Reality Fighters for the PSVIta, it has also said Novarama Technology "will also begin the development of new titles for Sony platforms".

Novarama developed invizimals and Reality Fighters.

May be with Andrew House, SCE will be more aggressive pursuing the casual market ?