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is the name of Sony's seventh generation era video game console, third in the PlayStation series. It is the successor to PlayStation and PlayStation 2 and will compete against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii.
The PS3 is scheduled for release on November 11, 2006 in Japan, November 17, 2006 in the United States and Canada, and March, 2007 in Europe and Australasia, and will ship in two initial configurations. Sony officially unveiled the PS3 to the public on May 16, 2005 during an E3 conference. A functional version of the console was not at E3 2005 or the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005, although at both events, demonstrations were held on devkits (e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) and comparable PC hardware, and video footage based on the predicted PS3 specifications was produced (e.g. Mobile Suit Gundam).• It wasn't until E3 2006 that games were shown on actual PlayStation 3 systems. In preparation for launch, Sony demonstrated 27 playable PS3 titles during the Tokyo Game Show in September 2006 on final hardware.• SCEA will determine ten applicants to attend a Launch Party in Los Angeles on November 8 2006.
(*).
PlayStation 3
System configuration
Release data and pricing
Game pricing
Games
Backward compatibility
Game development
Default interface
PlayStation Network Platform
PlayStation Portable Connectivity
Yellow Dog Linux
Hardware summary
Accessories
Criticism
Marketing
See also
| | Title | PlayStation 3 | | Logo | Image:PS3Logo.png | | image | .jpg) | | Manufacturer | Sony Computer Entertainment | | Type | Video game console | | Generation | History of video game consoles (seventh gener... | | Lifespan | flagicon | | Taiwan]] [[november 17]] ... | "javascript:void" onMouseOver="return overlib... | | Onlineservice | PlayStation Network Platform | | Compatibility | PlayStation, PlayStation 2 top
System configuration
Sony's initial retail strategy for the PlayStation 3 will involve two configurations detailed in a Sony press release.• The "premium" version of the PlayStation 3 will come with an internal 60 GB Serial ATA 2.5" hard drive, Wi-Fi connectivity, and multiple flash memory card readers, and features a brighter cosmetic silver-colored trim.Both consoles now feature a silver-colored logo, to add to the cosmetic appeal of the packages.
The second, alternate configuration of the console will have a 20 GB internal hard drive, but will not feature Wi-Fi or a memory card reader. The hard drive is upgradeable, and memory card support can be added through adapters,• but Wi-Fi support cannot currently be added.•
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Release data and pricing
Prices and release dates subject to change.
Approximate US$ conversions provided as reference, and are adjusted for VAT
† Price not confirmed as official suggested retail price
David Wilson, Head of Public Relations at Sony Computer Entertainment UK, stated that both models will likely be sold in the UK market, but both may not be available at launch.
In Japan, Sony has opted to go with an open pricing scheme for the 60 GB model, allowing retailers to set a price point themselves. Rakuten, one of the biggest Japanese online retailers, has set their price point at ¥71,800, or ¥75,390 with taxes added (about US$675).
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Game pricing
There have also been statements by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) President and CEO Kaz Hirai suggesting games may cost somewhere between US$60 and US$100•, more than the US$60 standard for higher-priced games. The official Sony website, as of 2006-10-15, offers game preorders at US$59.99. (*).
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Games
All PlayStation 3 games will be region-free. *
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Backward compatibility
Sony has stated that the PlayStation 3 will have backward compatibility with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, and that every PS1 and PS2 game that observes its respective system's TRC (Technical Requirements Checklist) will be playable on PS3 at launch.
The PlayStation 3 does not include interfaces for legacy PlayStation devices, but there will be an adapter for the memory cards* so users can save their PS1/PS2 data
Playstation 1 and 2 software will still be limited by region-locking.
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Game development
The PlayStation 3, unlike the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems, is based on open and publicly available application programming interfaces. Despite earlier rumours of programming being difficult, IGN reports that they were told that the dev kit "seemed extremely adaptive and easy to program for"•. Sony has selected several technologies and arranged several sublicensing agreements to create an advanced software development kit for developers. In addition, in 2005 Sony purchased SN Systems, a former provider of Microsoft Windows-based development tools for a variety of console platforms; including PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP and Nintendo DS to create additional GNU development tools. Sony is providing all developers with GNU toolchains, and SN Systems will provide customer-oriented wrappers for GNU tools at an additional cost.
The open standards are specified by the Khronos Group, and are intended to work with Nvidia's Cg programming language. Scene data are stored with COLLADA v1.4, an open, XML-based file format.•. Rendering uses PSGL, a modified version of OpenGL ES 1.0 (OpenGL ES 2.0 compliant except for the use of Cg instead of GLSL), with extensions specifically aimed at the PS3•. Other specifications include OpenMAX, a collection of fast, cross-platform tools for general "media acceleration," such as matrix calculations, and OpenVG, for hardware-accelerated 2D vector graphics. These specifications have GPL, free for any use, and/or commercial implementations by third parties.
Sublicensed technology includes complete game engines, physics libraries, and special libraries. Engines include Epic's Unreal engine 3.0. Physics libraries include AGEIA's PhysX SDK, NovodeX•, and Havok's physics and animation engines•. Other tools include Pixelux's Game Asset Synthesis Technology (a toolkit for advanced procedural synthesis) and the Digital Molecular Matter engine plug in for Maya and 3d Studio Max, Nvidia's Cg 1.5 (a C-like shading language, which HLSL was based upon), SpeedTree RT by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (high-quality virtual foliage in real time), and Kynogon's Kynapse 4.0 "large scale A.I."•.
Sony has considered using IPv6, the next generation of the Internet Protocol. •.
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Default interface
The PlayStation 3 version of the Cross Media Bar demonstrated at E3 2006 (video) included options for different user profiles, the ability to explore photos, play music and movies from the hard drive, compatibility for a USB Keyboard and Mouse, a full Internet browser and a Friends menu. In a separate demo Sony presented the "Marketplace" where users can buy and download music. Linux will be pre-installed on the PS3 hard drive. Currently it is unknown if Linux will be the operating system used to run everything, including the Cross Media Bar, or if the system will operate as a dual boot environment, where Linux would be loaded from the Cross Media Bar menu.
Sony has also worked with Stanford University to bring the Folding@home project to the PS3•. When downloaded, the program will run when the system is idle.
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PlayStation Network Platform
In response to Microsoft's successful Xbox Live network, Sony announced a unified online service for the Playstation 3's console at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing meeting in Tokyo; tentatively titled "PlayStation Network Platform".• Sony has confirmed that the service will be always connected•, free and include multiplayer support. However, developers are permitted to charge a subscription fee, as is common with MMO games.
On September 12th, it was believed to be confirmed that the PNP would be combined with a modfied version of the Xfire client to provide various match-making facilites, such as Friends Lists, among other features. However, Xfire CEO Mike Cassidy later clarified: "Xfire is not part of the PlayStation Network Platform. We are in discussions with Sony Online Entertainment, but I cannot comment any further." •
In Tokyo Game Show on September 21st, it was revealed that users will be able to download some of the thousands of PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 titles from the PlayStation Network Platform for a fee, starting with those with the smallest game data. The reason to allow this kind of functionality is that Sony wants to allow the users to choose the games of their preference. Ken Kutaragi also announced functionality with other consoles, similar to Nintendo's upcoming Virtual Console, including confirmed Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafx 16 functionality. However, Sega has replied that Sony has been too hasty with calling it a fact. Sega is currently reviewing the possibilities, but have not yet made a decision on it.*
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PlayStation Portable Connectivity
The PlayStation Portable can connect with the PS3 in many ways, including game connectivity, including a racing game shown at E3 2006 which uses the PSP as a rear-view mirror. Sony also will allow the PS3 to send PlayStation 1 games to the PSP that will be able to be used on the PSP's PlayStation 1 Emulator, which will be released alongside the PS3. .
Sony have also demonstrated the PSP playing back video content, including 1080p content from the PS3 hard disk across a Ad-Hoc wireless network, it's also been rumoured it's capable of playing movies on the PSP, from the PS3's Blu-Ray drive. This featured it referred to as Remote Play.
Sony asked PlayStation Underground members to rank features they would like concerning PSP interaction with the PS3. Possible features listed include using the device to complete side missions for PS3 games, transferring media wirelessly from the PS3 to the PSP, using the PSP as an additional weapon/utility while playing PS3 games, and recording PS3 gameplay video to the PSP.
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Yellow Dog Linux
On 17 October 2006, a month before the console release, Terrasoft announced a version of Yellow Dog Linux for PlayStation 3 •. Terrasoft will be using the PS3 for their own supercomputing clusters as well. Yellow Dog Linux is not yet confirmed to be the official version, which Sony initially said would be pre-installed on the PS3 hard drive. In fact, the FAQ on the Terrasoft homepage states that YDL does not come preinstalled on retail PS3's and end-users will have to install YDL themselves •. Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 is already listed in Terrasoft's store, for US$50 including a printed manual and DVDs for sources and pre-compiled applications•; the applications include recent versions of the Linux kernel, the GNU Compiler Collection, Firefox, and OpenOffice.org•. YDL for PS3 can also be downloaded for free from public mirrors. Terrasoft stated the installer "enables absolutely anyone to install without instruction." Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 integrates code from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Sony, and Red Hat's Fedora Core 5. Yellow Dog Linux on PS3 and the commercial Y-HPC cluster management software will be showcased in the Supercomputing 2006 tradeshow.
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Hardware summary
Unless otherwise noted, the following specifications are based on a press release by Sony at the 2005 E3 Conference,•. PlayStation 3's Cell CPU achieves 204 GFLOPS single precision float and 15 GFLOPS double precision. The PS3 will ship with 256 MB of Rambus XDR DRAM, clocked at CPU die speed.
Regarding real world results on high computing power, the Cell processor allows programmers to assign SPE's to do different work by instructing the SPE cores to run special programs, and programmers may arrange their data flow in different ways, for example using parallel, pipelined or streamed processing data flow models. As an example for parallel processing performance gains, you can instruct one core to work on decoding and multiplexing audio, another core to perform computations on realistic projectiles subject to changing gravity constraints and yet another to govern the activities of the main character. The programmer still has 3 more cores not yet assigned but the only remaining task is to collect the work performed and display the results on the screen. Now that each core can be dedicated to one task instead of being interrupted and switching contexts repeatedly like conventional architectures, the efficiency and throughput goes up. In addition, since the program code on each SPE core is executed from its local LS memory, much more Element Interconnect Bus bandwidth is available to transfers of work data, thus allowing more efficient use of the bus, again increasing efficiency and throughput. A possible downside is that this also places a 256KB size restriction on the SPE program code, which may present a challenge for certain programming tasks.
The Graphic processing unit is based on NVIDIA G70 (previously known as NV47) architecture, which focuses on maximizing per-pixel computation in favor of raw pixel output. The GPU will make use of 256 MB GDDR3 VRAM clocked at 550 MHz. The GPU has access to the XDR main memory as well.
It also supports a wide array of standard and HDTV resolutions (up to 1080p) and connectivity options (such as HDMI and Component video). In terms of audio, the PS3 will support a number of advanced audio formats, including 7.1 digital audio, Dolby TrueHD, and others. For the optical drive, a wide variety of DVD and CD formats are supported, as well as Blu-ray Disc. A 20 GB / 60 GB 2.5" SATA150 Hard Disk Drive is pre-installed and coupled with Linux. In the 60GB configuration, Flash Memory can also be used — either Memory Stick, CompactFlash, or SD/MMC. For communication, the PS3 will have one Gigabit ethernet port, four USB 2.0 ports, and will support Bluetooth 2.0 EDR.
The console uses heat pipes and Sony claims the system will be as quiet as a slim PS2, at 22db.* Physically, the PLAYSTATION 3 is approximately 5 kg (11 lb), 9.8 cm × 32.5 cm × 27.4 cm (3.9 in. × 12.8 in. × 10.8 in.). The power supply will be built into the console. A standard 3-pin IEC connector is present at the base of the console.
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Accessories
The PS3 SIXAXIS• The Blu-Ray movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby will be included with the initial 400,000 release copies of the PS3 in North America.*
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Criticism
The high launch price of the PS3 has been subjected to much criticism, from analysts and developers alike. Sony executive Phil Harrison has defended the price by citing its Blu-ray support and overall value.•A drop in Sony's stock price following its fourth-quarter earnings report has been speculated to be in part due to uncertainties about the company's game business; analysts have voiced concerns about the viability of the PlayStation 3.•
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Marketing
In what could be the first big advertising campaign, the PlayStation 3 was featured in the advertising boards of 16 stadiums across Europe, during the Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 Group Stage, on September 12 and September 13 2006. However, on the other matchdays the advertising has been replaced by PSP, perhaps as a result of the system's launch delay.
Television advertisements also began airing in the United States, carrying the slogan "PLAY B3YOND – 1117." The 3 that replaces the E in "BEYOND" is red, harkening back to the launch slogan of the PlayStation: "u r not e".
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See also
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