GS: And what do you think of the place of, like, you know, like the PlayStation 3 in this market, or, you know, how do you think that that market’s evolving? Do you, I mean, obviously, you know, you still have a great relationship with Sony, and you’re talking about that being your main focus, so it seems clear to me that you believe in it.

DJ: You mean consoles in general, or the PlayStation 3?

GS: Well, you know, I guess… both. Either.

DJ: Huh. Well I love the PlayStation 3. I mean, I have a Wii, I barely play it — not because I don’t like it or appreciate it, I just, you know, it’s not my cup of tea at the moment. Mario Galaxy, I thought was pretty cool. I’ve got to be honest: I didn’t think that it was as good as Ratchet. I didn’t get the huge big deal over it; I thought it was a really good Mario game, but I wasn’t like, “Oh my God, it’s Mario 64!” I’m totally in the minority in that.

Of course, I like my Wii; I love my 360, I think the 360’s awesome; I really do love the PlayStation 3, though, and I was really excited to hear some journalists talking recently about the new Burnout. With Burnout, if you really want to play Burnout the way it’s supposed to be played, play it on the PlayStation 3.

And I think now we’re just starting to see the idea that the PS3 is going to be capable of ultimately being the best system out there, in terms of delivering the best games and the best performance. And, you know, I love the fact that Blu-ray seems to be doing really well, and seems to be winning the format war. So I’m a big fan of the PlayStation 3.

Of course I wish it was a little less costly, I wish it had a bigger market share, but I think all that is just to come. I don’t look at the situation and think that it’s: “Where it is now is where it’s going to be.” I ultimately see it being pretty close to ahead, if not totally ahead, in terms of Xbox, in terms of market share when all the dust settles. I’m a big fan.

GS: (discussing cost of development)Do you think it helps drive the ball into Nintendo’s court, to an extent? Because the DS and the Wii have much lower barrier of entry to some of the smaller, and even not-so-small developers that can’t afford the budgets, or afford the marketing dollars?

DJ: You know, maybe. It’s hard to say. I don’t have enough data — which is not that it’s not out there, I just haven’t looked at it in a while — about selling on the Wii. I mean, you know the first party stuff is selling really well. I saw recently that Carnival Games, which is a third party title, was doing pretty well. And so it’s the same way when you asked me what I thought about PS2. I love the fact that there is an option out there for developers and gamers who are like, “Look, you know, we don’t care about the bleeding edge so much. We just want to have a good time.” So I think it’s nice that that has opened up.

And I was going to use the word “niche,” but I think considering the success of the Wii — at least so far — that would be a disrespectful word to use when describing it, considering how stunningly successful it’s been. So what it may really be saying is that the vast majority who want to play video games could really care less if they’re playing the leading-edge graphics. They just want to have a good time and get on with their lives. So, you may be right, that may be actually opening up a whole new world for developers. But I think it’s too early to say if anybody other than the first party developers on Nintendo’s platforms, like in the past, are going to be able to reap those rewards and benefits. Or if you’re only talking about Zelda and Pokémon.

Check out the full interview here