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PlayStation 3

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.171.150.92 (talk) at 08:32, 7 August 2006 (→Release data and pricing). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Some of the information in this article (particularly the games in development section) has not been verified and might not be reliable. It should be checked for inaccuracies and modified as needed, citing sources. Even cited information may be unreliable.

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Sony PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3 logo
PlayStation 3 logo
ManufacturerSony Computer Entertainment
TypeVideo game console
GenerationSeventh generation era
Release dateSee table
Lifespan2006-11-11 in Japan
MediaBD-ROM
DVD-ROM
CD-ROM
SACD
CPU3.2 GHz Cell Broadband Engine with 1 PPE and 7 SPEs
Online servicesPlayStation Network Platform
Backward
compatibility		PlayStation, PlayStation 2[1]
PredecessorPlayStation 2


The PlayStation 3 (Japanese: プレイステーション 3,, Pureisutēshon Surī, abbreviated PS3) is Sony's seventh generation era video game console, third in the PlayStation series. It is the successor to the 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 and November 17, 2006 worldwide, 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).[2] It wasn't until E3 2006 that games were shown on actual PlayStation 3 systems.

Thus far, public reception of the console has been mixed with the Sony stock market price declining partially due to worries about the future of the PlayStation brand and its profitability.[3] However, Sony's chief has cited its widespread developer support and advanced "future-proofed" technologies such as Blu-ray and the Cell microprocessor, as ensuring the continued success of the PlayStation platform.[4]

Retail configurations

System configuration

System Features
Feature Basic Premium
Upgradable hard drive Yes, 20 GB Yes, 60 GB
Blu-ray drive Yes Yes
Bluetooth controllers[5] Yes Yes
Built-in flash card reader No Yes
Built-in Wi-Fi connectivity No Yes
HDMI port No Yes
Silver logo and trim [1] No Yes

Sony's initial retail strategy for the PlayStation 3 will involve two different configurations that are detailed in a Sony press release.[5] The "premium" version of the PlayStation 3 will come with an internal 60 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi connectivity, HDMI output, and multiple flash memory card readers out of the box. Along with a silver trim and Spider-Man typeface style logo. The second and alternate configuration of the console will have a 20 GB internal hard drive but will not feature Wi-Fi, HDMI, or a memory card reader. The hard drive is upgradeable, and memory card and Wi-Fi support can be added through adaptors, but the HDMI support is not upgradeable.[6]

The lack of HDMI output in the 20 GB model (as with the Xbox 360 or player lacking HDCP) could potentially cause problems with restricted output resolution on Blu ray video. An ICT flag can be set by content producers, which forces non-HDCP video down to a pixel resolution of 960×540 (50% greater than DVD-Video at NTSC resolution, and 35% more than PAL resolution). SCEA president Kaz Hirai stated that it is "too early to speculate at this point" whether movie producers will activate the ICT feature.[7] According to German publisher Spiegel, a behind-the-scenes agreement was made to not enforce the ICT flag on next-generation optical formats until at least 2010, or possibly even 2012.[8]

Release data and pricing

Release date and suggested retail price by region
Region Expected pricing at release Release date
Basic Premium
Japan Japan (JPY)[5] ¥59,800 (US$520) Open price Nov 11 2006
Europe Eurozone (EUR)[9] €499 (US$639) €599 (US$767) Nov 17 2006
United Kingdom United Kingdom (GBP)[10]
-
 £425 (US$804)
United States United States (USD)[11] $499 $599
Canada Canada (CAD)[11] $549 (US$487) $659 (US$584)
Australia Australia (AUD)[12] $829 (US$631) $999 (US$761)
Norway Norway (NOK)
-
 6000 kr (US$976)
[citation needed]
Denmark Denmark (DKK)[13] 4,295 DKK (US$737) 5,295 DKK (US$909)
New Zealand New Zealand (NZD) $999 (US$619)
[citation needed] 		$1199[14] (US$743) Nov 23 2006
* Prices and release dates subject to change.
Currency conversions to US$ accurate as of 6 August 2006.

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.[10] Previously, Sony Computer Entertainment UK Marketing Director Ray Maguire had stated that only the 60 GB version would be available at launch.[15]

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 675 USD).[16]

The PS3 has received mixed reviews for its price. It is significantly higher than its same-generation competition in all world markets.[17] Sony has publicly defended its pricing model, citing the PS3's higher performance and inclusion of a Blu-ray drive, of which stand-alone players will cost an estimated US$1,000.[7] Prices may be subjected to change. {{rquote|Microsoft shoots for the moon. Sony shoots for the sun.|Ken Kutaragi on the PlayStation 3

Wikiquote has quotations related to Ken Kutaragi.


Software

Current event marker This section contains information about video games under development.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change as more information becomes available. Information relating these titles to the PlayStation 3 may be found on the individual game pages. 		Game controller
Main article: List of PlayStation 3 games

Games

Launch title

Other major titles

Game pricing

There have also been statements by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) President and CEO Kaz Hirai suggesting games may cost somewhere between $60 and $100 USD[18], more than the US$60 standard for higher-priced games.[19] Futureshop, a Canadian electronics store, has priced each game at C$ 74.99 (about 66 USD) [20].

Also shown at E3 was a Final Fantasy VII technical demo of the opening sequence remade for the PlayStation 3.[citation needed] Square-Enix has stated it has no plans to remake FFVII.[21]

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.[1]SCE president Ken Kutaragi asked developers to adhere to the TRC to facilitate compatibility with future PlayStations, stating that the company was having some difficulty getting backward compatibility with games that had not followed the TRCs. "Either it's accidental or on purpose; there's actually a lot of games that don't follow the TRC."[22]. Initial PS3 units will include the CPU/GPU combination chip used in slim PS2 (EE+GS) to achieve backward compatibility.[23]

The PlayStation 3 does not include interfaces for legacy PlayStation devices, but there is supposed to be an adapter for the memory cards[2] so you can save your PS1/PS2 data on to a virtual memory card in the hard drive. USB devices for PlayStation 2 may be compatible with PlayStation 3. PlayStation 3 can use Memory Sticks to store save data for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 software.[24]

Software development

The PlayStation 3, unlike the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems[citation needed], is based on open and publicly available application programming interfaces.

Open standards

Sublicensed

Considered standards

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

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[citation needed] where SN Systems will provide customer-oriented wrappers for GNU tools at an additional cost.

Interface and operating system

Main article: Cross Media Bar

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.

Because we have plans for having Linux on board [the PS3], we also recognize Linux programming activities… Other than game studios tied to official developer licenses, we'd like to see various individuals participate in content creation for the PS3.
—Izumi Kawanishi on the presence of the Linux in the PS3.[29]

Online services (PNP)

Main article: PlayStation Network Platform

In response to Microsoft's successful Xbox Live network, Sony announced a unified online service for the PlayStation 3 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[30], free and include multiplayer support. However developers are permitted to charge a subscription fee, as is common with MMO games.

Hardware specifications

Unless otherwise noted, the following specifications are based on a press release by Sony at the 2005 E3 Conference,[31] and slides from a Sony presentation at the 2006 Game Developer's Conference.[32]

The floating point performance of the whole system (CPU + GPU) is reported to be 2.18 TFLOPS[31]. PlayStation 3's Cell CPU achieves 256 GFLOPS single precision float and is reported at around 26 GFLOPS double precision.

Central processing unit (CPU)

Main article: Cell microprocessor

3.2 GHz Cell processor: one PowerPC-based "Power Processing Element" and seven 3.2 GHz Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). The PPE has a 512 KB L2 cache and one VMX (AltiVec) vector unit. Each of the eight SPEs is a RISC processor with 128-bit 128 SIMD GPRs and superscalar functions. Each SPE has 256 KB of L1 cache/software-addressable 4.8 GHz SRAM, called the "Local Store".

Only seven SPEs are active; the eighth is redundant, to improve yield. If one of the eight has a manufacturing defect, it is disabled without rendering the entire unit defective. Additionally, one of the seven active SPEs is reserved for use by the system's OS, leaving six SPEs directly available to applications.

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Main article: RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'
File:Ps3 2.jpg
The rear of the 20 GB PlayStation 3 as it was shown at E3 2006. AC IN, AV MULTI OUT, DIGITAL OUT and an RJ-45 network port are visible.
  • Based on NVIDIA NV47 architecture
  • Clocked at 550 MHz
  • 128-bit DDR memory interface
  • 211.2 GFLOPS programmable (384 FLOPS per clock), 1.8 TFLOPS total
  • Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
  • 136 shader operations per clock ( * 550 Mhz = 74.8 billion / second, 100 billion with CPU)
  • 24 2D texture lookups per clock ( * 550 Mhz = 13.2 billion / second)
  • 33 billion dot products per second (51 billion dot products with CPU)
  • 128-bit pixel precision
  • S3TC 5 to 1 texture compression site

Memory

Total 512 MB, split into:

System bandwidth

  • 204.8 GB/s Cell Element Interconnect Bus (Theoretical peak performance)[33]
  • Cell FlexIO Bus: 35 GB/s outbound, 25 GB/s inbound (7 outbound and 5 inbound 1Byte wide channels operating at 5 GHz) (effective bandwidth typically 50-80% of total)[34]
  • 51.2 GB/s SPE to local store
  • Experimental Sustained bandwidth for some SPE-to-SPE DMA transfers - 78 to 197 GB/s.[34]
  • 25.6 GB/s to Main Ram XDR DRAM: 64 bits × 3.2 GHz / 8 bits to a byte
  • 22.4 GB/s to GDDR3 VRAM: 128 bits × 700 MHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) / 8 bits to a byte
  • RSX 20 GB/s (write), 15 GB/s (read)
  • System Bus (separate from XIO controller) 2.5 GB/s write and 2.5 GB/s read

Interfaces

Video

Supported resolutions

Resolution Aspect Ratio Megapixels Standard Output (RGB via VGA connector or SCART)
720x480 Interlaced 4:3 0.31 interlaced 480i Composite video / S-Video / Component video / RGBHV / RGB-SCART
720x480 4:3 0.31 VGA / 480p Component video / RGBHV
1280x720 16:9 0.92 720p Component video / RGBHV
1920x1080 Interlaced 16:9 2.07 interlaced 1080i Component video / HDMI
1920x1080 Progressive 16:9 2.07 1080p Component video / HDMI

Sound

Communications

Power supply

The power supply will be built into the console. A standard 3-pin IEC connector is present at the base of the console.

Storage

  • Optical
    • Blu-ray Disc (2x = 9.0 MB/s) PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-R/RE (*Region free for gaming)[37]
    • DVD (8x = 11.0 MB/s) PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD ± R/RW
    • CD (24x = 3.5 MB/s) PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW
    • SACD (2x) SACD Hybrid (CD layer) SACD HD
  • Hard disk drive: Pre-Installed 20 GB / 60 GB (depending on package), 2.5" SATA150, detachable/upgradeable, with Linux pre-installed.[38]
  • Flash memory interfaces (60 GB model only) - Memory Stick, CompactFlash, SD/MMC

Controller

The 2005 "Boomerang" or "Banana" controller was officially abandoned.
The final PlayStation 3 controller. Its design is nearly identical to that of the DualShock.

E3 2005 showcased Sony's "boomerang" design, which was abandoned due to poor public reaction and replaced with an upgraded wireless version of the DualShock 2 at E3 2006. The new controller features finer analogue sensitivity[39], more trigger-like R2 and L2 buttons, an Xbox 360 like central button, and an USB mini-B port for charging the internal battery and use for wired play. There are four numbered LED indicators, to identify and distinguish multiple wireless controllers. The major feature revealed was the ability to sense both rotational orientation and translational acceleration.[39]. Games that use this feature will come with an option to turn it off. Sony has stated that because of these sensors, the rumble feature of the previous controllers has been removed, reasoning that the vibration interferes with motion-sensing.[39] Haptics developer Immersion Corporation (who successfully sued Sony)[40] expressed skepticism of Sony's rationale,[41] and has since introduced tilt and motion-sensing which filters out vibration in software.[42]

Other information

Sony revealed PS3 would use heat pipes, and the system be as quiet as a slim PS2[43] ~29dB (A). The PlayStation 3 is approximately 5 kg (11 lbs), 9.8 cm × 32.5 cm × 27.4 cm (3.9 in. × 12.8 in. × 10.8 in.)[5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PlayStation 3.
PlayStation Consoles

PlayStation: PlayStation | PSone
PlayStation 2: PlayStation 2 | Slim PS2 | PSX
PlayStation 3: PlayStation 3
Portable: PSP | PocketStation
Games: PS1 | PS2 | PS3 | PSP

References

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  43. ^ Cite error: The named reference pr jap was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Official sites

Unofficial

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