Alert SkyDog!: PS3 announced for spring of 2006

[Kodos]

All these numbers and specs mean nothing to me, but here they are for folks who might understand them -- e.g. SackAttack

From IGN.

Link with Image of PS3.

Date info.

E3 2005: PS3 Tech Specs
More numbers than you can shake a slide rule at.
by Tal Blevins
May 16, 2005 -

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

[Mantle2600]

this thing looks pretty sweet too.

[Coop]

The contrroller is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. the console looks like the forman grill

[SackAttack]

hmm. this one mentions HDD 'slot.' Does that mean it isn't gonna be packed in?

[Coop]

I dont think it comes with one..you probably have to buy it

http://img125.echo.cx/img125/5528/ps3bbq9xa.jpg

[NYFAN]

I knew as soon as I bought PS2 they'd make a new one... dammit!

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Coop

I dont think it comes with one..you probably have to buy it

http://img125.echo.cx/img125/5528/ps3bbq9xa.jpg

Well, that makes the decision somewhat easier then, as I suspect that it will be close to the same price as Xbox 360, and if 360 comes with a HD, I'm just gonna wait for a price drop before I pick up a PS3. Why spend the same amount of money for fewer features?

/ I do like that Bluetooth support, though...
// And that Pro Duo slot. Does this mean we can download PSP demos to PS3 and transfer them to the memory card rather than waste the PSP's battery doing it directly?

[dubb93]

Some questions....what kind of discs is the X-box 360 using? If it isn't using something close to the Blu-ray Disc that the PS3 is using they may be trouble. The Blu-Ray discs hold 6x as much data as the current generation discs hold.

I've read that while both systems run at 3.2 ghz, the cell processor of the PS3 outperforms the processor on the X-Box 360 nearly 2-1. Other than that they look damn near the same on paper. We don't know a whole lot about the graphics chips, etc. that will be used. I read this on gamespot.....

"Sony also unveiled the PS3's graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision, 1080p resolution, some of the highest HD resolution around. The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. It also has more than 300 million transistors, larger than any processor commercially available today. It will be manufactured using the 90nm process, with eight layers of metal. The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards, which would cost roughly $1,000 total if purchased today."

Also confirmed were the following games....Unreal Tournament 2007, Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4, Tekken 6, Gran Turismo 5, the next Killzone, and Rockstar Games mentioned that a Grand Theft Auto would be released for the console.

[ageofquarrel]

First thing I noticed was the Spiderman font .Guess, Spiderman 3 will be coming out the same time as ps3

[Neuqua]

Can't wait to pick mine up along with Metal Gear Solid 4 at launch.

[SunDevil]

Didn't it take like 3 or 4 years for the release of Gran Turismo 4? And now in less then a year and a half they are going to release 5?

[dubb93]

It never said they were launch games[that probably won't be announced for a long time still], just that they were shown with the console. Who knows if they will be launch games or not. Although if they are showable at this point and the system is still over a year away, one would assume they aren't far off of the launch.

[dubb93]

"However, Sweeney's words were only the beginning. Later, Sony trotted out a whole host of publishers that are backing the PlayStation 3. And in the process, it confirmed several games for the console. Hideo Kojima introduced Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, Capcom showed off Devil May Cry 4, Namco unveiled Tekken 6, Polyphony Digital trotted out a fifth Gran Turismo, SCEE showed off the next Killzone, and Rockstar Games mentioned that a Grand Theft Auto would be released for the console

EA President Larry Probst was also on hand to show off a demonstration of the next Fight Night game, which will presumable be called Fight Night Round 3. When one of the two realistic fighter took a blow, his skin rippled realistically. Kudo Tsonoda from EA's Chicago studio was on hand, and said that the goal is to make facial animation convey the amount of punishment a pugilist has suffered."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05...s_6124681.html

[MacroGuru]

Wait, doesn't the X-Box have 3 3.2 PowerPC processors? I only see one here...correct me if I am wrong.....

[Mota]

Remember that it's Sony saying that the PS3 is twice as powerful as the Xbox 360, even though they are both 3.2Ghz.

Personally I remember what they promised about the PS2, and the units that ended up in our hands certainly were nothing like what was promised.

I will own both consoles, but will not let all this marketing affect me. It's ridiculous to see how all these web sites are tripping over each other to say "BEST THING EVER!" about every single console and every game that ever comes out.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Mota

Remember that it's Sony saying that the PS3 is twice as powerful as the Xbox 360, even though they are both 3.2Ghz.

Personally I remember what they promised about the PS2, and the units that ended up in our hands certainly were nothing like what was promised.

I will own both consoles, but will not let all this marketing affect me. It's ridiculous to see how all these web sites are tripping over each other to say "BEST THING EVER!" about every single console and every game that ever comes out.

true, prehaps Sony is getting chart happy, but they do have "charts" that say that their cell processor murders the XBox 360. I guess we'll have to wait and see untill we play them, although I really don't think the processor is where the difference is going to be seen. It will be in the graphic chip sets, which are both being kept under wraps.

[General Mike]

wtf did they do to my beautiful controller?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Ley's hope its an RPG lovers dream come true.

[dubb93]

Ight, looking through the processor specs on here and on Xbox.com I see where the Sony processor does 2-1.

XBox 360 performs at 1 teraflop of Overall System Floating-Point Performance

While the PS3 has 2 teraflop[or 1.8 depending on where you read it off of, IGN says 1.8, gamespot says 2.0] of Overall System Floating-Point Performance.

What in the hell does this mean? Never heard of teraflops. Anyone have a clue what they are/do?

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by indoorsoccersim

Wait, doesn't the X-Box have 3 3.2 PowerPC processors? I only see one here...correct me if I am wrong.....

I believe that the cell chip in the PS2 is just that much more powerfull from what I've read. It can stand up to and surpass in bench tests the 3 PowerPC processors.

[Crapshoot]

that thing is absolutely gorgeous looking. How they're going to sell this for less than $360-$400....

[TazFTW]

Originally Posted by Coop

The contrroller is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. the console looks like the forman grill

If it'll cook me a burger while I'm playing, I'm sold.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Ight, looking through the processor specs on here and on Xbox.com I see where the Sony processor does 2-1.

XBox 360 performs at 1 teraflop of Overall System Floating-Point Performance

While the PS3 has 2 teraflop[or 1.8 depending on where you read it off of, IGN says 1.8, gamespot says 2.0] of Overall System Floating-Point Performance.

What in the hell does this mean? Never heard of teraflops. Anyone have a clue what they are/do?

A teraflop is a measure of a computer's speed and can be expressed as:
A trillion floating point operations per second
10 to the 12th power floating-point operations per second
2 to the 40th power flops

In computers, FLOPS are floating-point operations per second. Floating-point is, according to IBM, "a method of encoding real numbers within the limits of finite precision available on computers." Using floating-point encoding, extremely long numbers can be handled relatively easily. A floating-point number is expressed as a basic number or mantissa, an exponent, and a number base or radix (which is often assumed). The number base is usually ten but may also be 2. Floating-point operations require computers with floating-point registers. The computation of floating-point numbers is often required in scientific or real-time processing applications and FLOPS is a common measure for any computer that runs these applications.

[streetballer22]

I'm gonna miss the dual shock

[dubb93]

A little more on the cell processor. I actually haven't heard of it untill today. It seems to be some pretty great stuff. I got these pages off of a google search.

http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Cell0.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/dis...715175108.html

http://forevergeek.com/geek_articles..._explained.php

There are a million more pages where these come from. It seems that the cell processor may revolutionize not just the PS3, but computers everywhere. Quotes from the articles.....

"The Cell microprocessors are expected to unleash massive computing power – something multimedia environments need tremendously – but will require some new approaches in programming for the central processing units."

"“This year the era of entirely new organic-like computing technology is starting. It will be based on software-enabled computing cells. These building blocks will be highly integrated and super-dense, have very low power, and will be cost-effectively produced in ultra-large volumes. Perhaps most importantly, it will be software, rather than hardware, that will fuel the computing performance of the new systems,” Mr. Petrov said."

"Designed for the PlayStation 3, Sony, Toshiba and IBM's new "Cell processor" promises seemingly obscene computing capabilities for what will rapidly become a very low price. In these articles I look at what the Cell architecture is, then I go on to look at the profound implications this new chip has, not for the games market, but for the entire computer industry. Has the PC finally met it's match?"

"So just how much faster than current processors will the cell processor be?

The first Cell based desktop computer will be the fastest desktop computer in the industry by a very large margin. Even high end multi-core x86s will not get close. Companies who produce microprocessors or DSPs are going to have a very hard time fighting the power a Cell will deliver. We have never seen a leap in performance like this before and I don't expect we'll ever see one again, It'll send shock-waves through the entire industry and we'll see big changes as a result."

This is very fascinating stuff if you have time to read them all.

[SackAttack]

Take the Sony hyperbole with a grain of salt, dubb. Don't forget, the PS2 was supposed to be the core of the Iraqi nuclear arsenal.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Take the Sony hyperbole with a grain of salt, dubb. Don't forget, the PS2 was supposed to be the core of the Iraqi nuclear arsenal.

lol, i remember that.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Take the Sony hyperbole with a grain of salt, dubb. Don't forget, the PS2 was supposed to be the core of the Iraqi nuclear arsenal.

but they have to know something about the cell processor if they are putting 1 3.2 ghz processor up against 3. That has to say something about it. I'm more interested in the effects it could have on desktop gaming.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Take the Sony hyperbole with a grain of salt, dubb. Don't forget, the PS2 was supposed to be the core of the Iraqi nuclear arsenal.

Not sure what the bigger joke is, the PS2 being the core of the nuclear arsenal or saying Iraq had a nuclear arsenal?

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Not sure what the bigger joke is, the PS2 being the core of the nuclear arsenal or saying Iraq had a nuclear arsenal?

Yeah, it's funnier in retrospect. The idea was that Saddam was allegedly buying the PS2 by the hundreds because it was powerful enough to be the guidance system for his missiles.

For what it's worth, the spec sheet sure is pretty.

Just sayin', I'm just ever so slightly skeptical.

/ Particularly about their ability to ship this sucker in spring '06.
// Although Microsoft's "greatest library in the history of video games" blurb isn't doing much for their credibility, either.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Yeah, it's funnier in retrospect. The idea was that Saddam was allegedly buying the PS2 by the hundreds because it was powerful enough to be the guidance system for his missiles.

For what it's worth, the spec sheet sure is pretty.

Just sayin', I'm just ever so slightly skeptical.

/ Particularly about their ability to ship this sucker in spring '06.
// Although Microsoft's "greatest library in the history of video games" blurb isn't doing much for their credibility, either.

Even if they do ship in spring 06, they aren't going to be able to meet demand. I know I'm gonna wait 6 months or so before I grab mine.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by streetballer22

I'm gonna miss the dual shock

I concur. The dual shock is the best controller ever for my slightly small hands. The PS3 picture scares the crap out of my hands.

I'm thinking that once both are out (so spring of next year), I will go to a Best Buy or Circuit City, hold the 2 controllers in my hand, and play whatever game is available for demo. Better make sure I like the controller on whichever system I end up getting.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by dubb93

". The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision, 1080p resolution, some of the highest HD resolution around.

1080p. That's nice, but there are very few (not sure there's any) TV sets on the market right now in the US that can display pictures in 1080p. Nearly all of the HD television sets out there display in 1080i or 720p format (which is what the new xbox is capable of). So unless you're buying a new, very expensive TV two years from now, seems like a nice feature that doesn't mean much.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

I concur. my slightly small hands.

They say you can tell how big a man's..... Um nevermind.

I actually have fairly large hands, so something a little bigger than the dual shock is fine.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

I concur. The dual shock is the best controller ever for my slightly small hands. The PS3 picture scares the crap out of my hands.

I wouldn't panic yet. Considering it's made by the Japanese, whom in general are smaller and would tend to have smaller hands ... I would imagine the controller will be easier to grip than it appears.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by moriarty

I wouldn't panic yet. Considering it's made by the Japanese, whom in general are smaller and would tend to have smaller hands ... I would imagine the controller will be easier to grip than it appears.

Good point. I also was just reading some of IGN's impressions of the PS3, and one of the editors mentioned that the controller looked small. He didn't like that...I did.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by Danny Drickman

They say you can tell how big a man's..... Um nevermind.

Dola--it's not the size, it how you use 'em.

Well, except for controllers, it really can be about the size.

OK, never mind.

[Kodos]

Why mess with the best controller known to man (the dual shock)?

[dawgfan]

The specs are great, as expected.

Some random thoughts on the specs:

- The CPU: Obviously the hype machine is in full swing right now, so we'll see just how much faster it is than the triple CPU setup in the Xbox360. It's important to note that the CPU is only part of the gaming equation - RAM and the GPU are the other major factors. A faster CPU will mean that the programmers can get more in-depth in writing their AI/logic code and in programming in-game physics, which should result in more realistic behavior in AI-controlled characters and more interactive environments (although the interactive environment part will also have to be supported with more RAM).

- The GPU: Nothing really to say on this for either machine, as I haven't seen any reliable specs on their performance. This will be a big factor in the perception of both machines.

- The wireless controllers: I'm not really sure how it will be much of an advantage to have more than 4 wireless controllers supported (the PS3 will support 7); I guess I'll have to wait and see how that is taken advantage of by the next-gen games, but I suspect it's at best a very minor advantage, something that will very rarely be exploited to Sony's benefit.

- The USB ports: The PS3 will have more, but again I wonder if it will really be a big deal. Assuming these are standard USB 2.0 ports, there's no reason I can see that if someone really has a pressing need to connect more things to the Xbox360 than it has ports for that you can just buy a USB port expander.

- The multiple HD display support: Now this is a cool feature in the PS3. Most people wont have the scratch to afford to hook up 2 HDTV's to their gaming console, at least right away, but down the road this could prove to be a big cool-factor advantage. I can also see a new generation of gaming arcades dedicated to console games that would take advantage of this capability.

- The RAM: I haven't seen the specs for this yet, but how the PS3 compares to the Xbox360 in RAM will be a big factor in what kind of difference you see in the games between the two consoles. RAM was a big bottleneck in developing for the Xbox (and the PS2) in the past.

As I've said before, I wonder if we're not edging towards the point of diminishing returns with the advanced technology, especially graphically. There's still room to grow from the previous generation of consoles, particularly in the areas of surfaces, shading/lighting and anti-aliasing. But I wonder if the difference graphically between the PS3 and the Xbox360 will be as much as it was between the Xbox and the PS2?

Similarly, while the vastly increased horsepower of the CPU's should mean much more realistic gaming behavior, it will also place that much more pressure on programmers to develop complex and believable AI and in particular on testers to be able to properly track all the potential bugs that this added level of complexity will bring.

[Anthony]

the end result is that these games will look prettier, but will have the same limitations gaming-wise. i've long said i was disappointed with the last generation of consoles, hwo i felt they didn't offer the next-gen level of sophisticated gaming (other than in the graphics dept). i had thought they would deliver. i was looking forward to an entirely new gaming experience, and i didn't get it.

games still are based on "get this key to unlock that door, open up the note which gives you a map of where to get the next key". console games just haven't progressed content-wise from the N64 era. it's the same experience, just a different wrapper. now with the next-gen Madden games does it appear that a new experience in games is possible. i still want to see what all this computing power does. with all the sophisticated AI that is potentially able to be programmed the programmers still have to make a game beatable, or else people would get pissed at playing games against super computers that always defeated you. so there's a cap as to how hard or savvy the AI can/will be. so we're back to what kind of different experience can they provide? i really hope the next-gen games focus on making more immersive environments. i want to be able to act and do things in-game that i would in real life. that'd be a start.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i want to be able to act and do things in-game that i would in real life.

Did this scare the utter crap out of anyone else?