“In a glitzy ceremony held at Sony’s film studios here on Monday, the company released eagerly anticipated details of its upcoming PlayStation 3 and said the console would reach shelves in spring 2006,” Richard Shim and John Borland report for CNET News. “Boasting a new chip touted as being as fast or faster than the most powerful personal computers on the market today, the new console is designed to be a huge step forward from today’s gaming consoles, as well as a key element of a broader networked home entertainment system.”
“According to the company, the new console will have wireless controllers, a detachable 2.5-inch hard drive, slots for compact flash and Sony’s memory stick media and a built-in Wi-Fi connection that can connect to the Playstation Portable,” Shim and Borland report. “‘The network is going to be a core part of the PS3,’ Masa Chatani, Chief Technology Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment. The system will include USB 2.0 and gigabit Ethernet connections, and will support games made for previous generations of PlayStation systems, executives said. It will include support for up to seven controllers at once, providing much-expanded possibilities for multiplayer games. The core processor will run at 3.2GHz, rather than the previously reported 4GHz. The company provided no information on expected price.”
“At the core of Sony’s new game machine is a speedy new chip developed by IBM and Toshiba, called the Cell. The chip is expected to be used in graphics design workstations, as well as in the game system,” Shim and Borland report. “With a radical new design that includes nine separate processors, with one controlling ‘brain’ that will divvy up tasks among its eight peers…”
Full article with more details here.
PlayStation 3 specs here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
RUMOR: Sony and Apple working together on PlayStation 3 – May 13, 2005
New Sony NAS-CZ1 Network Audio System the first non-Apple player to support iTunes Music Store DRM – April 18, 2005
Sony understands style. May be not as good as Apple, but much better than Microsoft and other PC vendors. they seem to try hard to copy Apple, but never get it right. Now Sony just need to start shipping their computer s/game console with right OS (Darwin or LinuxPPC, unless Sony can talk SJ into licensing OSX or may be they did).
The PS 3 due Spring 2006 … So how long before the “Cell- Mac” appears on the shelfs ??
I bet the guys at Pixar are already beta-testing Cell Macs as we speak !!
“…….When exactly is spring in the U.S. ? Is that xmas time or a bit after ?…..”
Carrot Top … Spring in the US is between March and June..
I hate to say it. I really do.
But I think the next round goes to Microsoft. Here’s why:
1. They are going to have a year jump.
2. They have quietly been pouring money everywhere to ensure the launch games are insane.
3. They plan on launching Halo 3 at the same time as the PS3 launch.
4. The integrated Live offering is amazing. Nothing from Sony on this front. But MS had a head start at the last generation, and they clearly have poured tons of money at it.
5. It’s the New Sony. Not the Old Sony, maker of amazing products and an innovator. The New Sony said no to Jobs and can’t seem to understand the market doesn’t want ATRAC3 and their Memory Sticks.
Don’t get me wrong, I won’t buy the Xbox 360 since I don’t support Microsoft unless I have to (e.g. buying MS office until Apple gets their act together with iWork.)
But looking at both offerings, despite the better Sony hardware specs, Microsoft clearly has their act together and is going to deliver a better package.
It sucks. It bums me out. But it’s true.
One other thought:
Nothing, and I mean nothing, would be sweeter than for someone to write an emulator so Xbox 360 games played on the Mac.
I am sure MS thought of this and given their fear of Apple and Linux, both the games and the OS are locked-down to no end. But it is Microsoft, and they aren’t know for their quality coding or security, so maybe it is possible.
That would be a huge win for Apple. The Mac finally has amazing games. And MS gets screwed like there is no end.
A man can dream…
at least nintendo has a chance with gameplay, M$ just got it’s ass handed to itself, there aren’t many diffrences between the XBOX and PS3 exept for one thing, an insane amount of power on the sony side.
wtf is up with 7 controlers? not like you could see on a splitscreen anyway.
Maybe it will have support for multiple monitors. That would make the whole “7 contollers” thing understandable.
I’ll bet Mac’s never see Cell. It won’t work for OS X and it lacks altivec that gives a boost to the entire platform. It needs new code, not gonna happen. It’s a sad day when Apple can’t get new hardware in a timely fashion. Where is the PCI-E, where are the high end graphics cards (the current BTO mac’s have a horrible selection that STILL lacks the X800 XT) These game units are going to have to be sub-$1,000 so obviously the hardware is cheap!
Game consoles are always cheap. They get sold as loss leaders, and the real profit gets made on the games. Hence the hardware you get for your money is always better than with a computer.
On the other thing, IBM always tout Power as being modular. We won’t see the Cell in a Mac, but we’ll see something along the same lines, only better suited for OSX.
And the XBox will still sell bucketloads. It’s just Sony will once again outdo it.
Can you imagin the next GTA game on that baby…. god dame!!!!
Retrocat is right…damned right. Specs be damned, whoever gets their muscle games machine onto the market will gain market share.
Likewise the press will get into a lather and we’ll read all about the oohs and ahs of the new console.
The proof is this: Tiger vs. Longhorn. M’soft has been getting at best lukewarm press with Longhorn. Apple has been getting the oohs and ahs.
You compare something to nothing and the something always wins. It just pisses me off that the short to mid term winner will be those Redmond boofheads.
1. They are going to have a year jump.
–Not a year, a few months. December to Spring isn’t a year.
2. They have quietly been pouring money everywhere to ensure the launch games are insane.
–Having been through many system introductions, I can tell you that insane games do not equal “good” games. I predict 2 must-have games and three other pretty good games. The others will be fillers so they can say they had more than 10 games at launch (again being generous).
3. They plan on launching Halo 3 at the same time as the PS3 launch.
–May make Microsoft feel good, but doesn’t mean anything to the enthusiast that intends to purchase the PS3 anyway.
5. It’s the New Sony. Not the Old Sony, maker of amazing products and an innovator. The New Sony said no to Jobs and can’t seem to understand the market doesn’t want ATRAC3 and their Memory Sticks.
–Which is why they included SD and Compact Flash slots as well.
I actually think it’s a great idea. Sure, they miss Christmas, but they could run headlong into the NEXT Christmas…. which is tax refund time. It may be possible that Nintendo and Sony are rewriting the rules of the game on Microsoft that will allow them to keep up in the US, who knows.
Rather than go head to head against Microsoft and have the numbers sold compared, they intentionally release in a traditional weak time so that slow sales won’t be seen as something strange. Those who picked up the Xbox will have gotten bored with the few games (and VERY few new releases in the Spring quarter) and will pick up the PS3 out of boredom. It COULD be very interesting if all the Xbox developers are not willing to do spring releases due to the low sales so that the only things new for the gamer at the time will be Halo, PS3 and it’s games.
Very interesting time and no one knows what will happen!
to the guys worried abotu XBOX killing ps3..
where does PS2 end and XBOX360 begin?
Seriously, do you have any idea how far ahead PS2 is.. and there are STILL AMAZING games coming out in the next year.. i mean..jaw dropping..
my point is.. even when XBOX 360 comes out.. PS2 will still be the system with all the best games (they just won’t have the best graphics)
I think the PS2 can hold the fort for 3 months.. they have about a 50 million unit lead..
with backwards compatibility, launch dates mean less… if it wasn’t backwards compatible, Sony’d have a problem
PS. Nintendo announced their machine won’t be HD and they might try to push prices UP. WTF Nintendo?!
blue ray dvd, cell processor can we use as clue next G6?
> PS. Nintendo announced their machine won’t be HD and they might try to push prices UP. WTF Nintendo?
uh, no they didn’t. it will be HD. just wait til noon today when they announce the revolution.
nintendo is the apple of the gaming world, better hardware, better software, better user experience. they know what they are doing.
all i see with the P3 and 360 is a more powerful version of the current generation.
Um User_01,
A cell processor is a powerPC core with 8 altevic units surrounding it. Not exactly but it’s close enough
Porting OS X and doing large graphic manipluations(that is what Altevic is for) isn’t going to be hard.
um, ha! did you even bother to check??
~~~
Nintendojo
~~~
No High Definition, but Higher Game Prices
posted 5.16.2005 | 9:16pm
In a rather significant piece of bad news for Nintendo fans, the New York Times today reported that the Revolution will be the only next-gen system not to provide support for HDTV resolutions.
Games created for two next-generation consoles – the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony – will display video in wide-screen high-definition format if the console is connected to a high-definition TV. Only Nintendo’s entry, code-named Revolution, will not cater to HDTV’s.
Further, Nintendo will begin selling games at increased prices for special editions.
…publishers can be expected to raise retail prices – even Nintendo, though it is forgoing high definition. “We’ll see if we can push prices up to $59, using ‘Collectors’ Edition’ content,” George Harrison, senior vice president for marketing at Nintendo, said. This Christmas, the company will offer a special edition of its Legend of Zelda franchise at that price.
“The specs on both the box and station sound unbelievable. Forget games, why can’t they make a computer that good.”
Larry: game consoles are dedicated machines with well-defined interfaces and a narrow range of functions. They are designed specifically to play games. Personal computers are general purpose. It is easier to create a powerful single-purpose computer than it is to create a general purpose computer equally as fast. Game consoles can be tweaked like crazy given their easily defined design points.
USER_01
Actually….I read somewhere that the code does not need to be re-written. Since the basic core architecture is in the PowerPC family. It’s still a RISC processor.
And this is why I laugh at PC gamer fanboys. This PS3 will blow absolutely every other gaming platform (Xbox, PC, etc) out of the water when it’s released next spring. That’s why when I want to use a real computer, I use a Mac. And when it’s game time, I’ll go with a PlayStation.
With those performance specs how much is this super gaming entertainment system going to cost? Here’s your playstation 3 that will be $2,ooo,ooo.oo please, will you put it on your visa today? Those wow specs are great and I’m sure the performance will be wonderfull but I don’t think there going to sell this for $249 at your local gaming store that’s for sure. How many people will really be able to afford such a massive powerhouse entertainment system? This maybe leading to a big disappointment for all of us when they reveal the price. Which if you noticed there very scared along with Microsoft to mention how much they intend to sell this for.
I love how the marketing tools at Micro$oft named the XBox 2 the XBox360, so it wouldn’t sound like it was lagging behind the PS3. They should have just named it the XBox4, just to be sure, or maybe the XBoxXP…
“Nother interesting fact: Now both Sony and M$ are using variations of the IBM Power architecture. I _have_ to think this is good news for Apple: not only a validation of superior chip architecture, but porting games from either system should be pretty darned easy now, compared to porting from the X86 platform….”
Won’t be any easier at all, unless the game is designed from the ground up for multiple platforms. We’re still talking dedicated chips that’s non-existant in a G5, despite sharing a somewhat similar PowerPC architecture.
“The PS 3 due Spring 2006 … So how long before the “Cell- Mac” appears on the shelfs ??”
NEVER. Cell is Sony exclusive. Besides, Apple has no use for a dedicated Cell processor.
“And this is why I laugh at PC gamer fanboys. This PS3 will blow absolutely every other gaming platform (Xbox, PC, etc) out of the water when it’s released next spring. That’s why when I want to use a real computer, I use a Mac. And when it’s game time, I’ll go with a PlayStation.”
The same was said of PS2 when specs were announced. The same “doomsday” theories for PC gaming. Problem is, it never happened….the PS2 was crushed in raw performance at launch, and the same thing will happen again this time.
The cycle is repeating itself yet again. Specs for Xbox/PS3 are awe-inspiring. The graphics chip for the PS3 is a variant of Nvidia’s G70 (which Sony touts as more powerful than two 6800 Ultra’s for its presentation), which Nvidia will announce over the next few weeks for 3rd quarter availability for the PC. Same for ATI’s next generation R500xxx chip for Xbox 360, due for a fall release for the PC. So the cycle comes first circle again….so the G70 (which Nvidia itself says is twice as fast as the current 6 series), will be available this fall with a spring refresh (and SLI capability). Sorry to bust your bubble, the PS3 isn’t blowing anything out of the water.
The design of Playstation 3 is light years ahead of the stupid looking Xbox 360 which borrow design of the computer box from the 90’s. The Nintendo Revolution is going to have a nicer design too so MicroS#@t is going to loose!!!
To the guy who said that Microsoft wins this round because they were first to market:
Both previous incarnations of the PlayStation faced serious competition that got to market first. The original PlayStation was beat to the shelves by the Saturn, and the PS2 by the Dreamcast. In both cases, Sony wiped the floor with the competition.
Unless the XBox360 is so mind-blowingly better than the PS3 that even the non-fanboy can see it, AND Microsoft’s console gets a majority of the hot exclusives, the next round is yet another slam dunk for Sony. The PlayStation name is ingrained in our consumer culture, it’s what we’re used to. People won’t switch consoles, because the PS is “good enough”.
(LOL, I just realized how ironic this is! Microsoft will lose for the same reason the Mac has trouble gaining traction against Windows!!)
Plus, the XBox360’s introduction was a disaster, and there are rumors developers are deserting the platform for the PS3.
Somehow I remember Bluetooth having a limited number of connections for a given piconet. 7 controller addresses and 1 base station address (the PS3) is probably the max.