The ONE and ONLY PlayStation 3 Hype Thread

[davepeck]

specs:

Product name: PlayStation 3

Logo: PLAYSTATION(R)3

CPU

Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU

RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound

Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)

Memory

256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth

Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance

2 TFLOPS

Storage

Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O

USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication

Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller

Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output

Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media

CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

pics (click for full-size):

[davepeck]

more:

[davepeck]

LOS ANGELES--Today saw the second of the big three console makers announce their next-generation platform. At its pre-E3 press conference, Sony Computer Entertainment gave the world its first look at the PlayStation 3, as it now is officially called. It also confirmed that the console will arrive in 2006 and will use Blu-Ray discs as its media.

The name was not unexpected, since Sony had been running an extensive teaser-ad campaign prepping the public for the PlayStation 3. The company had laid a blanket of posters around the Los Angeles Convention Center, site of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3).

Bus stalls and billboards around the convention center proclaimed "Prepare for Chang3" in the distinctive PlayStation font with partial shots of the Dual Shock controller\'s square-circle-X-Y buttons. The same message was also borne on static-adhesive stickers, which were stuck to the screens of the televisions of many hotel rooms...hopefully by the maids.

GameSpot will update this story with more details from and complete video coverage of the Sony Computer Entertainment press conference soon.

It\'s just been confirmed that the PS3 will have a detachable hard drive, six USB ports, a memory stick slot, and seven bluetooth wireless controllers.[/quote]

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 supporrd CR-ROM, CDR+W, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R. It also confirmed the machine would be backwards compatible all the way to the original PlayStation.

Sony also laid out the technical specs of the device. The PlayStation 3 will feature the much-vaunted Cell processor, which will run at 3.2 Ghz and feature 2.18 teraflops of performance. It will sport 256mb XDR main RAM at 3.2 Ghz, have 256MB of GDDR VRAM at 700mhz, a detachable 2.5 inch HDD slot, six usb 2.0 ports, Memory Stick Duo, a SD slot, a compact flash memory slot, Compact flash slot, 2 hdmi outputs, 1 av multi out, 1 SPDIF optical output, and 1-gigabit Ethernet built in port

The PlayStation 3 will also sport some hefty multimedia features, such as video chat, internet access, digital photo viewing, digital audio and video. Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi introduced it as a "Super computer for computer entertainment."

Sony also unveiled the PS3\'s graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision, 1080p resolution, some of the highest HD resolution around. It also has over 300 million transistors lager than any processor available commercially today. It was manufactured using the 90nm process with 8 layers of metal. The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 ultras, which would cost rough $1000 if bought today.

To show off the PlayStation 3\'s graphical brawn, Sony showed several game demos, including an Unreal 3 tech demo of what appeared to be Unreal Tournament 2007. In what must come as a relief to developers, Epic Games\' Tim Sweeney was on hand to vouch for the PS3, saying it was "easy to program for" and that Epic had received its first PS3 hardware two months ago. He proved the tech demo was real time by showing it again and manipulating the camera and zooming in.

The RSX also has 512mb of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second.

We don\'t know much, but Sony promises that "Grand Theft Auto Next" will be a PS3 launch title. This information comes from some people at the Sony E3 2005 press conference currently in progress, but we\'ve yet to confirm the report with our own editors.

We\'re hoping to high heaven that we\'ll get to see snippets of the game in the coming days.

[davepeck]

Fight Night Round 3:



Killzone:



Warhawk:

[antbach]

okay, I didnt actually READ any of that but saw something, I think its the graphics card that by itself costs $1000? does that mean this thing is gonna shoot for like $3000?

[davepeck]

ant, maybe you shoulda read..

The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 ultras, which would cost rough $1000 if bought today.

it\'s just comparing the power of the graphics card. the price point at launch will likely be in the $300-$350 range..

[antbach]

ant, maybe you shoulda read..

The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 ultras, which would cost rough $1000 if bought today.

it\'s just comparing the power of the graphics card. the price point at launch will likely be in the $300-$350 range..

Ah thank you for clearing that up you video game geek

[Jim Cobb]

god dammit, my GTA addiction is going to require me to buy one of these things....  maybe i\'ll start throwing my spare change and singles into a jar and see where that goes.  or rob a 7-11.

[inertia1215]

Down with Sony!!!!!!!! :wedgie: Go XBOX360!!!!!!!!!!!

[davepeck]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8834

E3 Opinion: Xbox 360 is outgunned and outclassed by Sony\'s PS3
Rob Fahey 07:09 17/05/2005

With both Microsoft and Sony laying their cards on the table over the past week, the opening skirmish of the next-gen console war has tipped heavily in favour of the PlayStation 3 - but the war is only starting, says Rob Fahey.

There was a point, at Microsoft\'s pre-E3 conference four years ago, when a lot of people began to believe in Xbox. I can pinpoint the moment almost exactly - it was the point when the video of Dead or Alive 3 rolled, and the jaws of the audience slackened as the best in-game graphics they\'d ever seen suddenly graced the screens ahead of them. Back when Halo was just another unproven first person shooter, a single swoop over Team Ninja\'s beautiful, sun-kissed beach was enough to convince many people that Xbox was worthy of attention. I know; I was one of those people.

Walking out of that conference, just a few miles from where I\'m sitting now and just a few years back in time, I heard someone - an American journalist - say that Sony had been "totally, like, outclassed". He was right; the PlayStation 2 had just been given a technological kicking by its upstart rival. Not that this would stop Sony from coasting to a comfortable victory by the end of the hardware generation, of course, but the sheer graphical prowess of the Xbox really did give PS2 a bloody nose. Outclassed was the only word for it.

Today, Sony returned the favour. With interest.

Looking at the content of the two conferences today in Los Angeles - and the MTV special last week, in the case of Xbox 360 - "outclassed" is a word that comes to mind a lot. The bar which was set by Microsoft last week has not only been met, it has been vaulted over. PlayStation 3 is more powerful, more fully featured, more innovative and better supported than Xbox 360. When the Sony conference kicked off, we expected to see something "a bit better" than Xbox, technologically. We didn\'t expect to have our most fundamental beliefs about what next-generation games will be capable of changed. That, however, is exactly what happened.

I don\'t want to beat on Microsoft too hard, because ultimately there are still quite a few Xbox 360 games I\'m looking forward to; but it\'s hard not to feel that suddenly, Microsoft\'s hip lingo and celebrity endorsements seem to ring very hollow. Where Microsoft gave us Elijah Wood babbling through a half hour marketing-led special on MTV, Sony had us watching Phil Harrison show off jaw-dropping interactive tech demos on stage. Harrison is about as far from being a hobbit as you can get - I\'m not kidding, the man\'s a giant - and Ken Kutaragi is unlikely to ever have as many screaming fans as The Killers, but Sony seemed to feel that its new console spoke for itself. It didn\'t need celebrity endorsements, or senior executives trying to be "down with the kids" - thank god.

It\'s not that Sony would have problems rounding up some impressive celebs if they so desired. Sony Pictures, Sony Music and the PlayStation brand itself could have called out half of Hollywood today. Instead, we got to see a game console that feels genuinely next generation. We weren\'t told how "cool" a random American sports star thinks PlayStation 3 is, we were told how astonishingly powerful it is and how incredibly feature-packed it is. We\'re not just talking about a console that\'s twice as powerful as Xbox 360 in simple, logical terms (and bear in mind that that\'s a far, far greater gap in power than existed between PS2 and Xbox); we\'re talking about a console with more functionality, with fewer corners cut and with a genuinely more impressive line-up of software.

If the day could be summed up in a microcosm, it would be Square Enix\' story that explained events best. Yoichi Wada, the firm\'s president, made two stops today. At the Sony conference, he was one of many developers presenting stunning tech demos - in his case, a truly stunning real-time recreation of the opening to Final Fantasy VII, using characters almost as high quality as those seen in the forthcoming Advent Children movie. Within a matter of hours, he had another stop to make - this time with a headline billing at the Microsoft conference, where he revealed that Square Enix will be supporting Xbox 360... With the release of a four year old massively multiplayer game that\'s already available on PS2 and PC.

Outclassed? Undoubtedly. Sony\'s hardware, its software, and even its simple display of confidence in its own product have completely outclassed Microsoft today - but while there can be little doubt about the outcome of this particular battle, it\'d be a foolish man who assumed that the war was over yet. What Sony has done unto Microsoft today, Microsoft did unto Sony not so many years ago - and software giant is unlikely to take a defeat at E3 lying down. This tug of war has a long way to go yet.

[davepeck]

[Jim Cobb]

thats fucking hilarious.  where do you find this shit?  is there some secret funny picture website that i dont know about?

[kindm's]

OK I have to eat some of my words from the XBOX thread. Right after I posted I  started watching G4TV ( yes I am a Geek) and they were running their E3 preview of the PS3 and man that thing looks hot. I was talking to my GF and she made a good point that good graphics cards are roughly $200ish so it still makes the console economical so I have to admit I will probably get the next gen console as well.


This thing looks cool. they showed off the real time "core" physics in a real time rendered explosion and it was so cool. it wasn\'t created by an arist but simple done with the physiscs engine. it looked really cool.

[Spacey]

Where the grease go?

[leith]

That\'s the one thing I miss about working in the videogame biz and that is E3. It is truly a vidiots dream cum true.