For those of you that have any interest in this kind of thing, Sony Europe boss David Reeves stepped down recently and was succeeded by a fellow called Andrew House.

This year’s E3 was House’s first as president of Sony Europe, so it’s unsurprising that he wasted no time in chiming in with a typically brash Sony-style sound-bite when Edge Online interviewed him at the event.

EDGE: What are the key battlegrounds, as we go through the ten-year cycle, on which Sony will engage Microsoft? Is it encouraging people that have bought Wii into HD gaming?

Andrew House: I think you’re absolutely right. If you look back at previous lifecycles, like PS2 versus N64 [sic], we have lots of data that suggests that lots of people bought into N64 as their entry level gaming device, and were happy to upgrade to a more powerful machine later in the life cycle when the price point was right for them.

I think we’re going to see this later on PS3, and the fact that it’s a Blu-ray player as well and that there’s a [greater] wealth of network based experiences than are perhaps available on the device they already have will add to the proposition. I think that will definitely be a factor in the marketplace.

So there you have it. Better start saving those pennies because according to Sony, you WILL be buying a PS3 soon – even if you don’t know it yet.

I hope he has spare batteries for his crystal ball. It may be a spell before his hope becomes reality.