Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, recently said that more than 100 games are currently being developed for PlayStation 3, which is due to arrive this fall. I find this to be a curious statement, because:

1) That seems like quite a lot of games since game makers just started getting
developer kits for the final, finished hardware design.

2) According to Gamespress.com, which isn't the Bible of course, there are
currently 33 titles scheduled for release on the PS3 between now and the end of
2007, including Call of Duty 3, Stranglehold, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas.
That's a far cry from 100. Surely, there are many titles in the works that
haven't been announced yet. But by my math, that would mean that a third of all
PS3 titles are currently unannounced and flying under the radar, which makes no
sense from Sony's point of view because they want big titles to hype their new
console.

Something's fishy here. I'm not saying that Sony and Harrison are exaggerating,
but I'm puzzled nonetheless. I think the company may be feeling the heat after
being showed up at E3 by Nintendo and Wii, which has continued to steal Sony's
thunder in the ensuing months with its lower price point and allegedly shorter
game development cycles. Now comes word that Ubisoft is absolutely ga-ga over
Wii and has seven titles in development for the console.

I guess that's what bothers me. Sony has reeked of desperation and its
executives have been very defensive since PS3 fizzled at E3. I'd feel a lot
better if game developers and publishers were more vocal in their support of the
new console and were enthusiastically announcing exclusive, blockbuster titles
for PS3. Instead, it just seems like developers and publishers are tepidly
defending Sony out of loyalty rather than heralding the console as a result of
true excitement.