Epic Games VP Mark Rein has taken on Sony"s critics, saying that he believes the strength of the PlayStation brand and the company"s ongoing strategy will ensure PS3 is a success.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in an interview at GDC last week, Rein said, "Sony has a very, very strong brand, so in my opinion, they"re still the one to beat.

"The Wii is an impressive piece of hardware, but as you get the visually more impressive games coming out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as the marketing dollars get turned up to support the larger quantities of machines, with potential price drops and titles like Singstar which appeal to the larger market... Those machines will ignite, they"ll take off, and they"ll sell just fine."

Rein"s comments came after Phil Harrison"s GDC keynote speech, during which the Sony Worldwide Studios boss unveiled PlayStation Home and exclusive title LittleBigPlanet. "It looks like they"ve got some pretty cool stuff coming," Rein said.