The Guardian.co.uk Games Blog recently conducted an interview with global PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai about a number of topics, from the direction the respective PlayStation brands are going to risk and confusion about the PSP Go, and more.

But of particular interest is where Hirai is asked about whether or not the inclusion of Blu-ray in the PlayStation 3 was a mistake, and what he might have done differently in hindsight regarding the PlayStation 3 launch.

About the inclusion of Blu-ray, Hirai says: "Purely from a gaming standpoint there was no other choice for us. Why? The capacity of the disc. Last year's Metal Gear Solid 4 was pushing 50GB as it was. If it was on DVD it would have been a 6 disc set. The packaging and cost would have been prohibitive and it would have been hugely inconvenient to consumers. So from a gaming standpoint there was really no choice if you wanted a high definition gaming experience."

"Kojima-san has been pushing the boundaries already," he continues. "And then there is the motion picture issue. The PS3 installed base certainly went a long way to making the movie studios side with Blu-ray rather then HD-DVD or supporting both. Ultimately it ended up being the right thing for the entirety of the industry as consumers don't need to hedge their bets."

"We had a lot to do with making Blu-ray the de-facto standard. That's great. But our decision to include a Blu-ray drive in the ps3 was mainly driven by gaming priorities and what the content creators could do with the storage space."

Recalling the difficult launch period of the PlayStation 3, Hirai discusses why this was the case, and what he might have done differently, knowing then what he does now:

"Given the circumstances that we had we needed to make some tough decisions. Looking back if we could have done it again we probably would have not gone for the simultaneous worldwide launch. Given the cards that we were dealt we felt we made the best of the launch that we could have."

"But remember that the success of a platform isn't based on the launch. It's more about the latter half of its life cycle. Look at the PS2. Nearly 10 years since launch and 140 million units later it has obviously been a huge success," he says.

"But to look at the PS2 two years into its life cycle and not know what the next eight years would hold it would have been premature to judge. For other consoles which have a five year life cycle it is much easier to judge performance after two years. But for us, with the 10 year life cycle we have, it is premature to judge after such a short time."

You can find the interview in full, in which he also discusses the idea of PlayStation 3 going download-only, underused features of the PS3 and PSP, and plenty more in The Guardian's interview.

My other favorite question?

"Do you feel aggrieved about Singstar and Buzz essentially creating the casual market on the consoles only for the Wii to step in and reap the rewards?"

Hit the link above to find out Hirai's response.