PlayStation Network Honcho Susan Panico -- In the Firing Line

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Crispy Gamer: A pretty good deal in these troubled times. Can you give me an idea of what these games cost to make, even a range?

Publicist: We can't really talk about dev. costs.

Panico: I probably can't release actual numbers. But it allows independent game makers who don't have huge budgets to have the opportunity to get into the game space at an affordable price. It's definitely a fraction, a small fraction, of the cost of a PS3 game.

Crispy Gamer: Can someone get in for a couple hundred thousand dollars?

Panico: Yes, definitely they could.

Crispy Gamer: So what do you need to do to make the PlayStation Network better?

Panico: My biggest thing to make it better is something that Jack [Tretton] talked about at the press conference, something that's coming out this fall. It's single sign-on. I think that with kids growing up digitally -- and all of us, for that matter -- one of the things that's really important for people is ID. People will be able to take that wherever they go on the Internet. Your identity can go with you on the PlayStation Network, in Home, on PlayStation.com, on your favorite social networking site. And you'll be able to take your game accomplishments and rankings with you. As we advance more with original programming, we hope to migrate people from the cable set-top box in the living room with compelling content. You look at the Pimp My Rides of the world, things that are socially relevant, socially engaging, and that become part of pop culture --we want to make the PlayStation Network a destination.

Crispy Gamer:So "Qore" isn't the only show you'll do?

Panico: [smiles knowingly] No. We have some pretty cool things coming down the pipeline that probably take more of a pop culture slant than "Qore" does. We want to do things that the kids are going to eat up and love.