Misplaced Pages

PlayStation 3: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 04:21, 29 August 2005 view sourceJtkiefer (talk | contribs)9,299 edits rv multi IP vandalism← Previous edit Revision as of 04:21, 29 August 2005 view source 67.136.142.12 (talk) →HistoryNext edit →
Line 8: Line 8:


==History== ==History==
The PS3 was officially unveiled on ], ], in Sony's conference at ], where the console was first shown to the public. The console was in non-operational form at ] but Sony is expected to present fully operational PlayStation 3 at the ] in September ]. It is expected to launch in 2006. The PS3 was officially unveiled on ], ], in Sony's conference at ], where the console was first shown to the public. The console was in non-operational form at ] but Sony is expected to present fully operational PlayStation 3 at the ] in September ]. It is expected to launch in 2006. Of course, the popularity of the system is still under wide speculation in regards to the outcome of the upcoming generation. It has been speculated that the top contenders will be this PS3, The Xbox360, a stinky piece of cheese, and possibly the Revolution. All bets are on the cheese.


==Cost and release date== ==Cost and release date==

Revision as of 04:21, 29 August 2005

Template:Future product

File:Ps3logo.jpg
PlayStation 3 in vertical position
PlayStation 3 in vertical position

The Sony PlayStation 3 (colloquially known as the PS3) is the next video game console in Sony Computer Entertainment's (SCEI) market-leading PlayStation series.

The PlayStation 3 is slated for release in spring 2006. It is the successor to the PlayStation 2 and will mainly compete against the Nintendo Revolution and Xbox 360. Sony has announced that the PS3 will be backwards compatible with earlier PS1 and PS2 games. At the moment, little more is known in public about the PS3 apart from its hardware specifications and reports that it will support open APIs for game development.

History

The PS3 was officially unveiled on May 16, 2005, in Sony's conference at E3, where the console was first shown to the public. The console was in non-operational form at E3 but Sony is expected to present fully operational PlayStation 3 at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005. It is expected to launch in 2006. Of course, the popularity of the system is still under wide speculation in regards to the outcome of the upcoming generation. It has been speculated that the top contenders will be this PS3, The Xbox360, a stinky piece of cheese, and possibly the Revolution. All bets are on the cheese.

Cost and release date

The system's retail price has not yet been confirmed. Sony officials hinted that the PS3 will cost less than 40,000 yen in Japan, which is about $360 in U.S. dollars. Sony President Ken Kutaragi warns "It'll be expensive" and "I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households. I think everyone can still buy it if they wanted to," said Kutaragi to a mostly Japanese crowd. "But we're aiming for consumers throughout the world. So we're going to have to do our best ." while Kazuo Hirai claims the PS3 will not be expensive and that it will be competitively priced with the Xbox 360. Both the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 retailed in Japan for 39,800 yen, which is almost 360 U.S. dollars.

File:Bluraylogo.gif

More recently, however, a report compiled by Merrill Lynch Japan and published in the business magazine Toyo Keizai estimated the total cost of producing a PS3 at launch time at 54,000 yen, or $483 US (the most expensive components, the Cell microprocessor, the RSX Graphics processing unit, and the BD-ROM drive are each estimated to cost $101, with the additional cost going into the motherboard, RAM, wireless chipsets, and probably system-on-a-chip implementations of the PS1 and PS2 systems for backwards compatibility). Sony is already making efforts to control manufacturing costs, and has dropped the system's planned integrated router to reduce expenses . In the same report, Merrill Lynch predicts that Sony will initially sell the PlayStation 3 for 44,800 yen ($401 US) in Japan, and $399 in the US, taking a financial loss (as it did with the PlayStation 2) in order to build the console's install base, losing as much as $1 billion in the first year after release. Sony would later recoup this loss (as well as the Cell's $1.83 billion R&D expenses) through software licensing fees and future reduced hardware manufacturing costs. The report also notes that Microsoft may disrupt the normal console business cycle by choosing to cut the price of the Xbox 360 at the same time the PS3 launches, which the report estimates would cause Sony to lose an additional $730 million in its second year, and $457 million in its third. It is not known whether these hypothetical losses would be due to Sony being forced to further cut the price of the PS3 hardware, or suffering reduced revenue from game purchases due to stiff competition from Microsoft.

In the same magazine, Sony Computer Entertainment president and "father of the PlayStation" Ken Kutaragi was interviewed, and expressed little concern over the PS3's possibly high launch price, believing that customers would be willing to pay extra for a superior product, as they had in the past for the original PlayStation (39,800 yen vs. 12,500 for the Super Famicom) and in the present for the PlayStation Portable (25,000 yen vs. 10,000 for the Game Boy Advance).

During its E3 presentation, Sony confirmed the PlayStation 3 will be available in Spring 2006. Reports quoting high-ranking Sony officials suggest the PlayStation 3 may be launched simultaneously in Japan and North America, a tactic that would differ significantly from the PlayStation (launched December 1994 in Japan and September 1995 in North America) and PlayStation 2 (launched March 2000 in Japan and October 2000 in North America).

Capabilities

GNU/Linux

President and CEO of SCEI, Ken Kutaragi states that the PlayStation 3's hard disk drives will be preinstalled with the GNU/Linux operating system. Ken Kutaragi also hinted the PlayStation 3's hard disk drive will probably be sold separately. The operating system is already ready. However, Mr. Kutaragi is also open to other operating systems.

IBM has sent a series of patches to the Linux developers mailing-list regarding the Cell processor, and has publicly presented a server running Linux Kernel 2.6.11.

Software Development Kit

Sony has selected several technologies and arranged several sublicensing agreements to create the software development kit for developers. The PlayStation 3, unlike the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems, has embraced publicly-available application programming interfaces.

The list of open standards includes:

Sublicensed technologies includes:

Recently Purchased company to help with the API:

  • ProDG tools by SN Systems

The list of standards they are reported to be considering includes:

Backwards compatibility

Games

The PlayStation 3 will be fully compatible "on the chip" with PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games, without emulation. It still isn't known how Sony has achieved this (although Sony had developed a single-chip PS2 CPU/GPU solution, used in newer revisions of the "slim" PS2). Compatibility with PS2 online games and games designed for the hard drive support hasn't been elaborated upon. In a recent interview Ken Kutaragi has recently stated that backwards compatibility will be achieved through a combination of hardware and software emulation:

"Third-party developers sometimes do things that are unimaginable. For example, there are cases where their games run, but not according to the console's specifications. There are times when games pass through our tests, but are written in ways that make us say, 'What in the world is this code?!' We need to support backward compatibility towards those kinds of games as well, so trying to create compatibility by software alone is difficult. There are things that will be required by hardware. However, with the powers of the PS3, some parts can be handled by hardware, and some parts by software."


Hardware

According to PSM Magazine the PS3 will not be compatible with many of the hardware peripherals. Which means that memory cards for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 won't work on the PlayStation 3 hardware.

"We've received a lot of letters asking about how PS3 will be backwards compatible with PS2 and the original Playstation if it doesn't have memory card slot. Well, we have an answer, and it's both good and bad. First, the bad news: All of those old memory cards you have won't be usable with PS3. Okay then, wha's the solution? Sony has actually decided to only use Memory Stick Duo cards(the same format PSP uses) for PS3 save data. However, if you play a PS1 or PS2 game on PS3, the system will treat the Memory Stick like it's a normal memory card. This is different from the PS2, which requires you to use a PS1 memory card for PS1 saves. What this means is that you won't be able to use any of your old saves if you play PS1/PS2 games on PS3 (wonder if a DexDrive will work...). But there's an upshot to all this: Downloading and sharing saves via PC for all three Playstations and PSP(hint, hint) will be easy as pie."

Hardware specifications

A simple comparison of the system architectures appears to indicate that the raw floating point capability of the PS3 is roughly double that of the Xbox 360. It should be noted that this figure is based on the combined floating point capacity of the Cell microprocessor and the RSX GPU in the PS3 compared to the combined capacity of the Xenon CPU and Xenos GPU in the Xbox 360. The amount of completely programmable floating point capacity afforded by the Cell microprocessor for general-purpose tasks, like procedural content generation and game physics, is considerably higher than that of the Xbox 360's CPU, while the floating-point performance of the two systems' GPUs, which are designed specifically for graphics rendering tasks, are closer to parity.

According to a press release by Sony at the May 16, 2005 E3 Conference, the specifications of the PlayStation 3 are as follows.

Central processing unit

3.2 GHz Cell processor:

  • 1 PPE (PowerPC-derived)
    • 512 KiB L2 cache
    • VMX vector unit (IBM's branding for AltiVec)
  • 7 SPE (Synergistic Processing Elements) vector processor units
    • 256 KiB SRAM local memory for each SPE
    • 218 GFLOPS total floating point performance
    • 128×128bit SIMD general purpose register files
  • 234 million transistors
  • 213 million working transistors due to the disabled SPE

Each chip includes 8 SPEs, but one is disabled to improve yields and reduce costs

Graphics processing unit

Custom "RSX" or "Reality Synthesizer" design co-developed by NVIDIA and Sony:

  • Clocked at 550 MHz
  • 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance, 356 GFLOPS programmable
  • Full high definition output (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
  • Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
  • Over 300 million transistors (exact amount not yet known)
  • 136 shader operations per cycle
  • 100 billion shader operations per second
  • 51 billion dot products per second (When combined with CPU power)
  • 128-bit pixel precision (for rendering scenes with high dynamic range imaging)
  • Vertices Performance: 1.1 billion vertices per second
  • Texture bandwidth: 47.5 GB/s

NVidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang stated during Sony's pre-show press conference at E3 2005 that the RSX would be more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards. Current industry speculation is that the RSX may be based on the G70 architecture used in NVidia's GeForce 7 Series GPUs which were introduced in June of 2005, but implementing more parallel pixel and shader pipelines (48+) than any consumer PC GPU (NVidia's top-of-the-line GeForce 7800 GTX currently contains 24 pixel and 8 vertex pipelines), and clocked higher than PC GPUs based on G70 (again, the 7800 GTX is clocked at 430 MHz, compared to 550 MHz for the RSX).

Memory

Theoretical system bandwidth

  • Main XDR DRAM: 64 bits × 3.2 GHz = 25.6 GB/s
  • GDDR-3 VRAM: 128 bits × 700 MHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) = 22.4 GB/s
  • RSX: 20 GB/s (write), 15 GB/s (read)
  • System Bus: 2.5 GB/s

Overall floating-point capability

File:8784671701491003.jpg
Sony comparison of PS3 performance in FLOPS with Xbox 360.

In a slide show at their E3 conference, Sony presented the "CPU floating point capability" of the PlayStation 3's Cell CPU, and compared it to other CPU's. The presentation claimed that the PS3 Cell CPU is capable of 218 GFLOPS, compared to the Xbox 360's Xenon CPU's 115 GFLOPS, and the floating point performance of an "average" PC CPU of about 8 GFLOPS. In their official press release, the same statistic regarding the PS3 as a whole was reported to be 2 TFLOPS. With nVidia's RSX doing 1,8 TFLOPS. It's possible that the figures are rounded estimations. At this stage it is unclear how these numbers were calculated, possibly being nothing more than a creative addition of the theoretical peak floating point capabilities of all the processing units in the Cell CPU and the RSX GPU. Floating point performance is a single-dimensional metric for measuring one computer against another. This means that it should not be taken as the only (or even the single most important) indicator of one game console's capabilities over another's, but rather as a comparison of one facet of their respective performance

Audio/video output

Sound

Storage

  • Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
  • DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
  • CD: PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer) SACD HD
  • Memory Stick standard/Duo and standard/mini slots
  • CompactFlash Type I and II slot
  • SD slot
  • Slot for detachable 2.5" hard drive (drive likely sold separately)

Physical Dimensions

  • 32 cm (L) x 24 cm (W) x 8 cm (H)

Communications

  • Three Gigabit Ethernet ports (Sony has indicated that the PlayStation 3 might act as an accessory interface or hopefully as a hub but not a router)
  • IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • USB 2.0 (four front and two rear ports)

Controller

File:ImagePs305.jpg
The new DualShock 3 controller shown at the 2005 E3.

SCEI's press release indicates that controller connectivity to the PlayStation 3 can be provided via:

Currently there is some controversy among fans about the new PlayStation 3's controller, which they dubbed DualShock 3. Many argue it is simply untastefully designed and somewhat of an eyesore, or that the controller itself has poor ergonomics, all aesthetic attributes aside. Its design has been likened to a boomerang by many observers. However, other gamers suggest that the controller, while a little un-traditional in contrast to the DualShock and DualShock 2 controllers, will provide greater comfort for extended hours of play, and that eventually everyone will "get used to it." According to the Japanese video game publication Famitsu, Sony Computer Entertainment chief technical officer Masayuki Chatani said that the controller design is a "prototype, so there could be some small adjustments." In an interview with Edge, SCEE's Chris Deering echoed these statements by describing the E3 controller as "just a design study". Some people pointed that the controller bears a similar resemblance to the old Alps Interactive 3rd party controller which was originally made for the PlayStation 1.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the PS3 may in fact support the older DualShock 2 (and by logical extension DualShock) controllers. The number of ports to support such backward compatibility would most likely be limited to one, although this is also an unconfirmed rumour. The PS3's specifications, and E3 display units, don't support DualShock controller ports.

Gallery


See also

Dedicated consoles
Home
Original
Retro
Handheld
Arcade
List

References

  1. "Xbox 360 set to cost around $300; final pricing decision within months". May 27, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  2. "Q&A: Sony video game exec predicts PS3 will prevail". May 19, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  3. "Report: PS3 to sell for $399, cost $494 to make". June 30, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  4. "Add-on PlayStation 3 HDD will run Linux". June 9, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  5. "IBM Discloses Cell Based Blade Server Board Prototype". May 25, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  6. "Juniper Networks on IPv6 and MPLS networking in Asia – Part I". DigiTimes Publication. June 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  7. "Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. to launch its next generation computer entertainment system" (PDF). Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. June 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  8. "Open sourcing of Cell coming to fruition". IT Manager's Journal. June 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  9. "Kutaragi talks more on PlayStation 3". GameSpot. June 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  10. "Introducing the IBM/Sony/Toshiba Cell Processor — Part I: the SIMD processing units". Arstechnica. February 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  11. "From Xbox to Xbox 360, from PS2 to PS3". June 20, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  12. "Sony Undecided on Hard Disk". June 1, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  13. "Router functions dropped from PS3 spec". July 11, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)

External links

Categories: