We've already read about John Koller's leak frustration, now it's Jack Tretton's turn to air his frustrations about info leaks. The SCEA president talks about confidentiality, the industry's focus, and their fight against the reliably accurate rumor mill.

“People don’t respect confidentiality in this industry,” he said. “It’s tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties.” Leaks have been around for as long as secrets, but the growing frequency and accuracy of rumored information is definitely a call for concern if you're trying to keep specs under wraps.

Tretton goes on:

This is an industry that has trouble focusing on today. We want to constantly talk about tomorrow.… You have to prepare for people to know things in advance. The frustrating thing is they only know a part of the story and that opens up a lot of conjecture and misinformation that ultimately waters down the reality when you roll it out.

He's got a point. Take the PS3 Slim for example - it has already been judged, criticized, and speculated on while it's not yet even in its final output nor would it be able to defend itself with specs that Sony isn't even gonna release for a long time. Rumors basically killed what could have been a surprise, and like Tretton said, "waters down the reality when you roll it out."

Sure, the industry wants to stay informed. The information would definitely help with future purchases. Speaking in a general context (and not just the PS3 Slim), if there's something new coming out, I wouldn't want to wind up getting the inferior version of anything a day before the release of the better one - that would just suck. It's like spending all your gil for a weapon minutes before you get Ultima Weapon (it doesn't happen, but you get the picture, yes?).

It's a debatable subject, so I guess it'll be up to the reader. At the end of the day, it's all about how you want to stay informed.

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More on the PS3 Slim non-rumor:

• Hold it! Engadget issued a Cease and Desist by mystery Chinese firm for PS3 Slim leaked pics
• GameStop merchandising rep confirms PS3 Slim