The PlayStation 3 is Sony's newest effort to their highly successful line of PlayStation consoles. The third generation of PlayStation will be released in the United States on November 17, 2006, although it appears that initial quantities will be quite limited. Oddly enough, after stating that they were prepared for a word wide launch, Sony switched the European PS3 release date to March of 2007. Perhaps this is due to Microsoft's somewhat botched launch of the Xbox 360, a direct competitor of the upcoming PS3 unit, along with the Nintendo Wii. Sony has stated that the PlayStation 3 console will be backwards compatible with all previously released PS One and PS2 video games. The PS3 will come in two flavors, the biggest difference of the two will be the size of the hard drive. The PS3 Basic will have a 20 gig hard drive and the PS3 Premium will have a 60 gig hard drive. Advantages of the premium PS3 will be the hard drive size, built in WiFi, and buit in flash card readers. Both versions feature Blu-ray disc drives, HDMI ports, and bluetooth controllers (one each). Full PS3 specs and details are here.
Sony also confirmed the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray discs as its media format. The discs can hold up to six times as much data as current-generation DVDs. It will also support CR-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R formats. Sony also confirmed that the machine will be backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation. It will also have slots for Memory Stick Duo, an SD slot, and a compact flash memory slot. It will also sport a slot for a detachable 2.5-inch HDD, somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's. Sony did not mention if the drive would be standard. Sony also laid out the technical specs of the device. The PlayStation 3 will feature the much-vaunted Cell processor, which will run at 3.2GHz, giving the whole system 2 teraflops of overall performance. It will sport 256MB XDR main RAM at 3.2GHz, and it will have 256MB of GDDR VRAM at 700MHz. Sony also unveiled the PS3's graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision and 1080p resolution--some of the highest HD resolution around. The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. It also has more than 300 million transistors, larger than any processor commercially available today. It will be manufactured using the 90nm process, with eight layers of metal. The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards, which would cost roughly $1,000 total if purchased today. The PlayStation 3 will also sport some hefty multimedia features, such as video chat, Internet access, digital photo viewing, and digital audio and video. Speaking of video, Sony Computer Entertainment's chief technical officer Masa Chatani was on hand to show off the PS3's panoramic video functions. Since the console has two HD outputs, it is can be hooked up to two side-by-side HDTVs to projecting video in a 32:9 extra-widescreen format (think Cinemascope in your living room). Like a gigantic version of the Nintendo DS, the dual digital outputs also allow for an extended game display, with the action on one screen and either game information or video chat on the second. Out of the box, the PS3 will have the capability to support seven Bluetooth controllers, which can be used for nearly 24 hours before they require charging. Later, pictures of the controllers themselves were released, showing their almost boomerang-like shape. It will also have six USB slots for peripherals: four up front and two in the back. As rumored, it will also have Wi-Fi connectivity to the PSP, which can be used as a remote screen and/or controller. I want one of these new toys For OS9USER !
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