“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.
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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
Last market share for console users: Sony @ Microsoft Nintendo (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube. Poor Nintendo)
Sony has a huge installed user-base that has proven not all that easily swayed. Now that both consoles are on the relatively same plane it will be down to games. Actually the PS3 looks like it whomps the Xbox 360 but that all depends on the network implementation, accessories, and games. We shall see; my bet is on Sony but I am sure Msoft will do a good placement.
Mike, if you think the ps2 still has amazing games then your mad, those graphics are really poor and ive seen better looking titles that came out on the Dreamcast over 3 years ago. Talk about dated. Lets hope sony isnt all talk and come out with hardware thats as good as they say it is rather than the hypefest that was ps1 and 2.
sam: Tell me Gran Turismo 4 could be done on the Dreamcast. Go ahead, convince me.
Sammy: “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.” Uh, everywhere I go, the general consensus is that PC gaming is dying.
Has anyone noticed that the Metal Grill and Silver Exterior of the XBox 360 resembles the design of a certain personal computer manufacturer from Cupertino?
“Uh, everywhere I go, the general consensus is that PC gaming is dying.”
Uh….wrong. Of course, it would help if you actually explored the PC gaming community rather than bogus console editorials. Then again you did say PS3 would “blow everything out of the water” next spring without actually knowing the state of affairs of upcoming PC hardware from the same companies powering these next gen consoles, so I forgive this yet another example of an uninformed statement.
First person shooters, MMORPG’s (and increasingly regular RPG’s), civilian and military flight simulators, and real time 3D strategy games will all be dominated by the PC platform for some time to come. Not to mention, a huge community of mods for almost every major title will keep PC gaming alive for quite some time. Consoles have their strengths as well, such as sports and platform style-arcade games, but to say PC games are dying is just pure ignorance. The greatest threat to PC gaming aren’t consoles, its piracy…especially in this day of proliferate P2P networks and torrents.
mike, on panther
just so you know, nintendojo is the thurrott of nintendo news… basically don’t believe it until you see real confirmation.
So, MS crib every design que they can from Apple and still produce a butt ugly box.
Sony PS3 is understated and sleek.
Sony also seems to have kicked butt in the specs department – no wonder Bill Gates announced his last week to get some good reviews before PS3 proved it to be once again only 2nd best. !
ha!,
a quote from the NEW YORK TIMES and that’s what you come up with?
Besides, wouldn’t Nin-dojo be more likely to LIE to make the system look good, not publish VERY BAD NEWS from a shady source.
It’s in the NYT and there’s quotes from head execs like Harrison
I rest my case.
its just so nice 2 1080p screens!
now thats a lot of space
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Stupid Microsoft has kneecapped themselves and Sony and Nintendo in the process by announcing so early the details of the 360.
Their announcement has forced a rush announcement from both Sony and Nintendo of their upcoming machines.
Now far less people will be buying PS2, or X-Box 1 from now until either eventually do the release of their respective new versions.
Now we start to see Apple’s wisdom in keeping secret their upgrades until the last minute.
This means that Sony and MS will have to drop their prices on the PS2 and X Box 1 much sooner than would otherwise have been necessary. I’m not complaining about that as a consumer, it’s quite good from that point of view,
But it doesn’t change the fact that IMHO it was stupid on MS’ part.
Nintendo is outtathegame!
Sony. I will be buying the PS3.
M$. Bill is rich enough, and if they are reasonably similar in performance, no question, I will buy the PS3 when it arrives. I don’t mind waiting a few months.
The revolution does NOT have HD.
The PS3 looks amazing.
To LordRobin,
I’m one of the guys who said whoever gets to the market wins that round.
You say that Saturn and Dreamcast hit the market before Sony and the latter won.
So what, it’s not a fair comparison. Saturn was a nobody and Dreamcast never had the corporate, or gaming reach that Sony had (has).
However on a level playing field where you pit two huge companies, with large in depth gaming experience, and an equally large collection of games…well first in (is) best dressed.
However I make allowances for your lack of research in so far as you could’t even scan the list of posts to see the names of who has this viewpoint. The other name was Retrocat.
Stupid Microsoft ….their announcement has forced a rush announcement from both Sony and Nintendo of their upcoming machines.
—
Coincidentally, it’s E3, a time when new platforms and games are revealed…
It’s cute you thought Sony and Nintendo were putting on Press Conferences as a last-minute resort..
LOL
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