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"PS3 - The Final Product"

Updated 06/02/07

Well to start, an apology, as this is most obviously a rip-off of the "X-Box 360 - All we know so far" thread, but I felt a need to post it. Maybe it was the boredom, maybe it was the excitement or maybe I just needed something to do.

First of all, the basics:

The Stuff You Should Already Know

The world first became acquainted with Sony's next-generation console, suitably dubbed Playstation 3 (PS3) at the well known Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which was held in Los Angeles on the 16th of May 2005.

They show-cased three different prototype models in black, white and silver, Sony went on to boast that the new PS3 would utilize the brand new Hi-Definition Blu-Ray discs (which can store up to 50Gb of information, rather than the 4.7Gb of DVD discs); that it would be 100% backwards compatible with PS1 and PS2 games; a HDD and three Ethernet ports, and perhaps most ambitious of Sony was to state that it would be able to support a HD resolution of 1000x2000 for HDTV twice over. Ken Kuturagi also promised that it would be ready for shipment by Spring 2006. They said PS3 would be 30 times as powerful as PS2.

In fact, possibly the only thing at last years E3 that might have been upsetting for Playstation fans, was the very oddly styled controller for the console, that rather ugly “boomerang”… thing. It was disliked so much so, that 15 minutes after it’s unveiling, Sony spokespersons were already saying how it was only a prototype model to all who would listen.

With people quite skeptical of all the promises made about PS3, Sony began to reel off the tech demos, showing off all the tricks that PS3 could do.

They started with their infamous ducks, by first starting with two “pirate” ships shooting each other with their cannons whilst moving around in a bath tub full of water. It looked sleek. They showed how the fabric and water affects all worked in “real-time” They next began to add hundreds of more ducks, and continued to explain how the PS3 could easily cope with the many different types of physics applications needed to make it look as it should. A very impressive part was when the creator of EyeToy came out, and, using two specially designed cups, began to pick up the water, and pour it from cup to cup.

Next, they showed a demo to demonstrate that the PS3 can handle thousands of jobs at once, they showed a demo of thousands upon thousands of leaves all being thrown about by two tornadoes. Sony said that each leave could have its own unique sound effect, and still be managed by the CPU.

Sony continued to display more and more demos of PS3’s technical power, but the crowd was getting tired, and to be honest, most of this power was expected of PS3. So Sony pull out their trump card. Killzone.

We are all aware of the footage, but none of people at E3 could have expected it, it was amazing. The textures and lighting effects were crisp and perfectly clear. It was too good to be true… And in fact, it turns out that it may have been, when questioned, Phil Harrison said that some of it was pre-rendered and that it was only running to PS3 specifications… meaning that it was probably just running on a high-end PC.

The demos’s kept on coming out, and pretty soon, everyone believed the hype, and were ready to jump on the PS3 wagon. However, as soon as critics got their hands on the console and people behind the games, shocking truths were revealed… It came to light that nearly all the games were just pre-rendered footage, and near enough all of it had no real time play in it. Fans were shocked, and the hardcore gamer kept trying to believe on that little hope that it was all just a lie.

One Year Later…

I’ll try and keep this brief; as I’m sure it’s already been explained as to how much of a shocker it was for Sony, and how impressive it was X-Box 360.

Needless to say, the showing of a PS1 ridge racer game on a PSP that already has a new and updated version on it, wasn’t anyone’s idea of a good show, that coupled with the showing of the producer of the game Genji 2 trying to beat some kind of giant crab, and failing, miserably.

However, it was here where we were introduced to the final version of the PS3. First of all, it’s confirmed that it will be a “clear black” colour only. But it is rumored that the white and silver versions will become available in the near future. The 60Gb version has a sleek sliver trimming to it, where the logo and the edge of the console have been giving that extra ‘bling’.

One very important new feature is the controller. Once revealed a few laughed at the complete turn-around of the new design idea; It looks exactly the same as the Dual-Shock2.
However, once demonstrated on screen, we see the true reason as to why it was kept a secret.
The new pad has six sensors that can detect, not only, the acts of tilting and twisting in a 2D environment, but also movement in 3D world as well. The sensors inside can detect when you lift or drop the controller, this was demonstrated by Phil Harrison whilst playing Warhawk. It looked as though the controller must also have some form of acceleration sensor in it as well, due to the fact that when when you lower it softly the representation on screen adjusts and the same for when you lift the controller up quickly or slowly.
Another change to the design was to give the L2 and R2 buttons a kind of trigger feel to them, much in the same way to the X-Box controllers. The pads are kitted out with shoulder button “throw” to give them a much better pressure-sensitive value. Changes have also been made on the analogue sticks, they have been reduced in size, to again, assist with the sensitivity, to raise it from 8 pixels to 10. Lastly, there is also a new button in the centre of the pad, which looks like it will be used like the 360’s guide button.
However, at the moment, no PS3 controller will have a vibration feature in them. Sony claim this to be because it would have interfered with the new sensors. However, more likely is because Sony have recently lost the lawsuit put forth by Immersion would have meant Sony would have to pay a much higher price for the feature. Immersion say that it would have easy to put both the sensors and rumble feature in the controller, and offered to help Sony in creating the controller.

Other changes include:
- The two USB ports on the back of the machine have been cut, but the four at front, remain.
- The amount of extra square holes for ventilation has greatly increased, Sony are taking no chances with this.
- The idea of running two HD 1080p TVs has gone, there is only one HDMI port on the back, and only on the 60Gb Version.
- There was an idea that the PS3 could run with 3 Ethernet ports, one as an output, and the other two as echo outputs turning the PS3 into a central hub. Now you only get the one output. That’s it.

The Prices, the Stats and the Differences

First of all the prices: During the Sony press conference at E3, we were told that the PS3 would ship out across the world from the 11th of November in Japan, and the 17th of November to the USA and Europe.

Dates changed for Europe to 23[S]rd[/S] of March 2007.

The pricing goes as follows:

Japan
20GB - ¥59,800
60Gb – Open price, to be set by the retailers

This equates to £288 for the 20GB version.

USA
20GB - $499
60Gb - $599

This equates to £270 for the 20Gb version and £320 for the 60Gb version.

Europe
20Gb - €499
60Gb - €599

This unfortunately, equates to around £340 for the 20Gb version and £420 for the 60Gb Version.

*UPDATE:* The European Launch date has been delayed to March 2007. Sony say it is to do with the lack of Blu-Ray players.

Another “sting” in the tail for the UK is that they have only allocated 2 million consoles for the opening launch of the PS3. That means, that if Japan get at least 1 million, then the USA get another 600,000, that leaves 400,000 for the rest of Europe… and even that sounds optimistic.

Now to the differences in the consoles: You might be thinking, that around £420 is far too much for a console, and that you would rather pay the £340 for the 20Gb version. However, this version has other changes in it apart from the reduced memory space.

1 – It has no memory card slots, which of course isn’t a great hardship as your getting near 20Gb of memory to use, but also consider that you won’t be able to plug in your PSP memory stick or media from any other device directly. However, these may be available for the 20Gb version if your willing to pay up and get it upgraded.
2 – The slivery bits mentioned earlier will not be on the 20Gb version, which of course doesn’t affect your gaming, but maybe the extra experience? I mean, they do look quite appealing.
3 – HDMI Port does not exist on the 20Gb version, now this is big news, because it means you will never get to experience that 1080p “True HD” game play on your console.
4 – 802.11b/g wireless will not be available, we all remember trying to get our PSP’s up-linked to the internet using this. It may not be a direct problem to you now (maybe you would settle just to use the Ethernet port at the back) but someday, you will probably wish you could use your PS3 to stream downloads wirelessly or use it as a wireless router. Again, this will probably be available as an add-on, much like the 360's HD-DVD add-on, which looks neat and snug next to its "Daddy".

It seems to me, the 20Gb version is for people who aren’t bothered by the special advancements in gaming, and just want to get down to it. If this sounds like you, then go for the 20Gb Version.

Finally, the specifications, for all you techno egg-heads out there:

(These apply to the 60Gb Version)
(Also please note, these specifications may have changed since I last researched them)

CPU
Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX Vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7x @56KB 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) x2 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 – 2.5 GB/s (write) + 2.5 GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance
2 TFLOPS

Storage
HDD – Detachable 2.5” HDD slot x1
USB – Front x4 (USB 2.0)
Memory Stick – Standard/Duo, Pro x1
SD – Standard/Mini x1
Compact Flash – (Type I, II) x1

Communication
Ethernet – (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T) x1 (input)
Wi-Fi – IEEE 802.11b/g
Bluetooth- 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 x1
Analog – AV Multi out x1

Disc Media (CD)
Playstation – CD-ROM
Playstation2 – CD-ROM
CD-DA – CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW
SACD – SACD Hybrid (CD Layer), SACD HD
Dual Disc – DualDisc (audio side) + DualDisc (DVD Side)
*Read only

Disc Media (DVD)
Playstation2 – DVD-ROM
Playstation3 – DVD-ROM
DVD-Video – DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc
Playstation3 – BD-ROM
BD-Video – BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

One more thing, well it’s more a rumor than anything else. The final twist in the PS3 story (hopefully) The 20Gb Version might not ever be released. Phil Harrison (again) has admitted that the 60Gb unit is far more important for them and UK game store Gamestation has begun taking pre-orders for PS3, but only for the 60Gb Version. The rep for them, once questioned, said that they were only acting on information from Sony. “There has been no confirmation that we will be selling the 20Gb version. So we’re only taking orders on the 60Gb version.”
This might be due to what happened on the 360’s launch. The “core” package sold in poor numbers compared the “premium” unit and it was only sold as a means to attract an affordable price tag.

Online Play

Sony's first step into the online arena (the PS2 Network) was - lets face it a shambles. After building the hardware and making it work (more or less) they left the end experience in the hands of isolated games developers rather than producing a single Sony-approved 'face' for the system. The result? A mess.
This time things will be different (says Sony) mainly because Xbox 360's Live network is a superb piece of work and Sony are desperate to catch up. If PS3 Network is half as good as Xbox Live it'll be twice as good as what insiders are predicting. But let's give Sony the benifit of the doubt for now. They've already shown off dummy screens that show how the system might work, and have put in place a virtual cash system for us to spend our very real money on in-game upgrades and goodies. Just hit the new PS button on the PS3 pad to access the menus (much like the 360). From there, pretty much anything is possible...

Buy Credits

To make anything happen you're going to have to exchange real money into virtual cash. Sony have shown a 'Playstation Card' with a face value of $50, though have since insisted that these cards won't be coming to the UK. Instead we'll be able to buy PS online credit using a credit card in dribs and drabs - whatever we can afford at the time.

Chat and Voicemail

Get ready for free online chat and voicemail. While Sony are yet to unveil a headphones-and-mic headset, one is on the way and once your PS3 is online you'll be able to speak to your friends for free via broadband. Add the HD IP camera (which Sony have shown) and you've got full video chat - for free. The finer points of the system are yet to be shown, but a straight copy of Xbox 360's chat system will do nicely. Invited friends appear in your friends list and whenever their console is on you get a visual indication on-screen, whether you're playing a game, watching a movie or just fiddling with with the menus. You can then ignore them, or patch them through with a click and chat, or play a game.

PS3 Arcade

The surprise hit of Xbox Live it Arcade - a place to browse, and buy and download 'minigames' that, while barely pushing the power of the machine, are brilliant fun to play. Microsoft have successfully secured a raft of classic arcade games (everything from Defender to Street Fighter II) and brand new titles - Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars is a huge hit, and only costs a fiver. Sony have got some catching up to do, so expect plenty of PSone games, alongside (hopefully) some arcade classics and some new original games.

Download Demos

One of the highlights of the Xbox Live system are the free game demos. Expect Sony to follow suit. Each month a new selection of fresh game demos (mostly entire levels from finished games) are put online for free download. And the back catalogue of free games awaiting new PS3 owners will grow even larger with each month.
Once you own a game you can expect to be invited to download add-ons to increase your playtime. Sony have shown a screen showing an extensive list of additional Warhawk ships, weapons and levels to buy. Let's just hope some of these are free :-D

Movies, Music and Trailers

Will Sony offer downloads of their movies too? A great feature would be the ability to download a movie for a few quid and be able to keep it for a few days, after which it auto-deletes. Sony Pictures are responsible for Spider-Man, James Bond and the Da Vinci Code among other hot properties.

Music - Expect Sony to be better than 360 here. Not only will you be able to download hi-def videos of 'featured artists', but Sony would be crazy not to offer a full iTunes-like download service given the huge raft of music they own. Expect Sony artists (i.e. The Zutons, Xzibit, The Offspring, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey, AC/DC) to start with and then other labels to follow.

Download the latest game and movie trailers (in glorius 1080p hi-def). They'll most likely be free and are an ideal way to show off your new system running at its maximum capacity.

Internet

To follow on from PSP, Sony have demoed PS3 running multiple internet windows via a Minority Report-stlye (flash and floaty) multi-window interface. And a full USB/wireless keyboard and mouse support is built in. Now that the net is in your living room, it's one less reason to use a PC.

Rankings and Leagues

Expect a rip-off of 360's Achievement points system: play games and earn points for achievements mid-game - performing a 360 degree spin, finishing first without using nitro etc. Everybody like to know how good they are at a game, but finding out you're 475,000th at Ridge Racer may come as a shoc... What would be good is if Sony took the next step and allowed you to use these points as currency (alongside credit that you've bought) and redeem your points against downloads. Now that's a real reward for extended play.

The PS3 Cross Media Interface

First Seen on the PSP, this is the interface that allows you to look at your pics or videos; play your games; or just update and play around with ur console.
It will come with 8 different sections: Users, Settings, Photos, Music, Video, Games, Browser and Friends.

Users

Much like a PC, you can have different users on your PS3. It will act in much the same way, you choose your user, and it loads up all your settings. However, it will also load up all your personal games and save files, which is nice, it saves them from getting all jumbled up. It will of course also load your own personal pics and vids etc. Expect a similar version of the PSP's security system to return.

Settings

Like the PSP, the settings menu is where you 'talk' to your PS3. It comes packed with settings for whatever sound, video or network setup you may have. If you have a hi-def TV, tell it what resolution you want it to run at. Do you have a wireless router? What are your email account settings? And keep an eye on the network update button (PSP owners should be used to this) which will keep your PS3 up-to-date with the latest features as they appear.

Photos

PS3 is a great place to store your digital photos, and getting them onto the PS3 is as simple as connecting your camera to the PS3 via a USB cable or putting its memory card in one of the slots of the 60Gb model. What better place to view your pics of a hi-def TV. Use your D-pad to flick through your pics, the shoulder buttons to rotate them and press start to kick off a slideshow.

Music

Rip your CDs to PS3 or buy new tunes from PS3's online store. PS3 plays MP3 or ATRAC formats, but expect updates to increase this list. Use the D-pad to fast forward or reverse the songs, and using R1 and L1 will skip through the tracks. Pressing triangle brings up a menu where you can choose options like shuffle and repeat, again, like the PSP. If there's a CD in the drive it appears ready for playback or ripping to the hard drive. And thanks to the Wi-Fi in the 60Gb model - expect to be able to stream your music to suitable receivers all over your house.

Video

Play clips stored on the hard drive. Once again triangle brings up a playback menu which features screen size and repeat, shuffle-type playback options. If theres a Blu-Ray or DVD movie in the drive it appears in this menu ready for selection. And expect Sony to have an ever growing selection of game and movie trailers to download. One exciting propostion (mentioned above) is the ability to download movies at a low cost and keep them for a short period of time. No more DVD rentals.

Games

PS3 should play the most advanced games ever. Select a downloaded game here or, if a game is in a drive, it'll appear in the menu. You will be able to orgainse saved games into folders: "Puzzlers", "Racers", "Crap..." and so on. Again you shold be able to download old games and new 'basic' ones.

Browser

PS3 runs Sony's unique browser. Use the D-pad to navigate around the links on a page or press triangle to bring up the Site menu which appears on the right of the main browser. Use the shoulder buttons to change between up to 8 different browser windows. Which automatically scale around to fit the screen. Flip around the pages using the D-pad, and use select to bring the window to full size, then use the shoulder buttons to flip between pages. Pressing select returns to the multi-window screen.

Friends

The Friends menu is a major part of the online experience. Invite online players to be your friends and when they accept, you've a quick connection to them. See when their PS3 is turned on. Message them. Use video chat. Share content. And challenge them - for free - to play online games.

If I don't get a job, I'll stick with the Wii.
If I get a nice job, I'll buy the 360.
If I get a decently paid job, I'll definatly get a PS3.

Agreed, unfortunately I can only afford to buy games for one system
so I chose Nintendo wii instead. It's a long time before any really good games come out.

Was just comparing the prices so people could realise that the console with the Blu Ray drive wasn't much more expensive than a console with similar specs and an HD DVD Drive.
Given the choice I'd certainly get a 360 first.

AliBoy wrote:
> I don't see the price as being that expensive either. You'd be
> talking a similar price for a 360 and HD DVD drive.

But for those uninterested in paying extra for a built-in drive that's quite a significant difference (about the price of 3 or 4 games if I remember the price of the HD-DVD drive correctly (130-ish right?)

Also for those who'd like to game instantly they can spread out their payments by getting the HD-DVD drive later or simply waiting before committing to either format then the 360's a better buy.*

Not to mention the fact that the 360 has got a small library of classics etc etc which further increases the value of picking up the 360 over the more pricey PS3.


* To put it another way, people are going to be able to pick up a 360 one month and the drive the next: they can get on with gaming immediately as opposed to having to wait another month (or indeed more) to save up for a PS3.

Revolver Ocelot wrote:
> Did you stay up all night to write this Chaos?
>
> "I'll try to keep this brief".
> 2 hours later.....
> "Done!"

I wrote it ages ago, and I've just been updating it a bit. Hopefully it covers absolutly everything there is to know about the PS3.

Did you stay up all night to write this Chaos?

"I'll try to keep this brief".
2 hours later.....
"Done!"

Nin wrote:
> pb wrote:
> It's expensive for the current run of consoles, but almost in
> line with the previous Playstation releases. The PS1 was
> £400 when it came out, if I remember correctly.
>
> But it's still expensive for most people, whether they are
> really into their gaming or not.
>
> I thought the PS1 and 2 launched at £300. Doesn't matter
> anyway, i'm a Sony fanboy and i'm not even considering buying
> one.

It could have been. I should remember, really, I bought a PS1 on launch thanks to University Grants (and subsequently ate cheap bread and beans for 3 months afterwards) :D

I don't see the price as being that expensive either. You'd be talking a similar price for a 360 and HD DVD drive.

Also as pb mentioned the PS1 and PS2 were both pretty expensive on release.

Certainly wont be getting one at release - will still be keeping my eye out though to see how well the online setup is and what exclusives sony can get hold off.

pb wrote:
> It's expensive for the current run of consoles, but almost in
> line with the previous Playstation releases. The PS1 was
> £400 when it came out, if I remember correctly.
>
> But it's still expensive for most people, whether they are
> really into their gaming or not.

I thought the PS1 and 2 launched at £300. Doesn't matter anyway, i'm a Sony fanboy and i'm not even considering buying one.

You could buy a computer for £425 which would be better than a PS3 which pretends to be a computer but doesn't have good hardware for games.