"Speaking in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, SCEE development chief Phil Harrison has said that the PS3 will be cheaper to develop for than the PS2 was initially, with the system's power being much easier to exploit than its predecessor's.

'PlayStation 3, I think, is going to be cheaper to develop for than the corresponding period of PS2 development,' he said in the interview, which is published on the site today.

'I know that's a fairly contentious statement to make, but there's a very good reason for that,' he continued, before going on to discuss the fruits of the company's collaborations with NVIDIA and IBM - which, he says, will make life easier for developers as well as providing hugely impressive power for the system.

Harrison admitted that the PS2 architecture was 'challenging' for developers, although he was quick to point out that 'it didn't stop us having thousands of games and 80 per cent market share.'

Also in the same interview, Harrison discussed the demos shown of the PlayStation 3 earlier this week - reiterating that the technical demos on display were all entirely real-time and running on PS3 prototype hardware, although the game footage clips were pre-recorded and some parts may have been rendered."