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Most of us know that there's a PlayStation 3 on the way, and many people are starting to ask questions about what the machine will offer. So I've scoured the net, and tried to piece all of the information together, for those that are interested. So, before anyone accuses me of copying... this is my own work, but incorporates information from a number of different websites - no Copy & Paste except where exact quotes are used!
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As we know, the machine will be powered by a custom chip called The Cell, developed jointly by Sony, IBM and Toshiba. The design is complete, and engineers will soon be creating samples of the chip, with commercial production possibly starting as soon as the end of 2004. While The Cell will feature exclusively in the PS3, there are elements of the design which IBM hope to include in future server chips.
The problem with this new chip is that designing software for it could be even more of a challenge than designing the chip itself. But the chip itself is exactly what developers have asked for in the past.
Just after the launch of the original PlayStation in 1993, Shin'ichi Okamoto (Senior Vice President and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment) asked an in-house developer at Sony what sort of power they'd need to create their ideal game. The developer replied "18,000 times the processing power of PS1". After the launch of PS2 (300 times the power of PS1), the same question was asked, and the developer replied "1,000 times the power of PS2" - and that is what Sony are trying to achieve.
But back to the software. It will take a significant leap in software development to get the best from the new chip. Richard Doherty, analyst at Envisioneering Group research firm, says "we believe the chip architecture is going to be on time and ahead of the software wizardry that is going to really make it get up and dance."
Sony demonstrated an early model to a select audience in July this year, and it seems that much of the work on The Cell is complete - although a physical chip is yet to be produced. This is where Sony's alliance with IBM and Toshiba really kicks in. Sony are effectively trying to overcome Moore's Law - that processing power roughly doubles every 18 months. What Sony are attempting would condense 20 years of Moore's Law into 5, and if they achieve that, it could be bad news for other chip manufacturers.
The Cell is basically a distributed computing network (i.e. multiple processors) on one single chip, and so Sony are looking at using IBM's silicon-on-insulator process on the new chip design. This allows transistors to be packed more densely, allowing 500 million or more on a single chip. As a guide, PS2's Emotion Engine has 13 million transistors.
"This means that Sony will be able to design its chips to take advantage of a manufacturing process that doesn't yet exist," says Bijan Davari, vice president for technology and emerging products at IBM. "By combining improvements in chip architecture, software, circuit design, and manufacturing, this is how we move toward a thousand times current performance." Apparently, this decision could pressure Microsoft into spending far more money on the development of the next Xbox if they want to compete.
The Cell is also set to feature 256MB of on-chip RAM. The machine as a whole will contain a slot-loading disc system, and possibly use Blu-Ray discs (capable of storing up to 27Gb) and be capable of rendering 6 texture layers in a single pass. It will also be the first Sony machine to feature four controller ports as standard.
Sony also hope that cell-computing chips will also be used in other devices such as TVs, camcorders and other electronic devices, rather than just the PS3. That way, production costs will fall far quicker.
In terms of the competition, nothing is yet known about any Nintendo successor to Gamecube, but Xbox2 is unlikely to receive any custom chips. Intel have no match for IBM's silicon-on-insulator process, and they also do not customise chips for specific purposes. Nvidia and other Xbox chip suppliers could only produce custom chips with funding from Microsoft. MS are expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on Xbox, and branching into custom ship design would add significantly to those losses. However, if they want to compete in the next generation battle, they may have to accept those losses.
But don't expect PS3 any time soon. Criterion recently confirmed that they believe Halo would be perfectly possibly on PS2, and stated that even with the increased number of polygons in Burnout 2 they're still only scratching the surface of PS2. Sony have revealed that developer Lost Boys have been working on a Halo-esque FPS since August 2000, with work on the game engine starting months before that. Sony clearly expect to get at least another 4 or 5 years out of PS2.
Web sources:
http://freeola.com
http://www.chinapost.com
http://www.zdnet.com
http://www.redherring.com
http://www.consolewire.com
http://www.gamespy.com
Print sources:
PSM2
UK Official PS2 magazine
-----
As we know, the machine will be powered by a custom chip called The Cell, developed jointly by Sony, IBM and Toshiba. The design is complete, and engineers will soon be creating samples of the chip, with commercial production possibly starting as soon as the end of 2004. While The Cell will feature exclusively in the PS3, there are elements of the design which IBM hope to include in future server chips.
The problem with this new chip is that designing software for it could be even more of a challenge than designing the chip itself. But the chip itself is exactly what developers have asked for in the past.
Just after the launch of the original PlayStation in 1993, Shin'ichi Okamoto (Senior Vice President and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment) asked an in-house developer at Sony what sort of power they'd need to create their ideal game. The developer replied "18,000 times the processing power of PS1". After the launch of PS2 (300 times the power of PS1), the same question was asked, and the developer replied "1,000 times the power of PS2" - and that is what Sony are trying to achieve.
But back to the software. It will take a significant leap in software development to get the best from the new chip. Richard Doherty, analyst at Envisioneering Group research firm, says "we believe the chip architecture is going to be on time and ahead of the software wizardry that is going to really make it get up and dance."
Sony demonstrated an early model to a select audience in July this year, and it seems that much of the work on The Cell is complete - although a physical chip is yet to be produced. This is where Sony's alliance with IBM and Toshiba really kicks in. Sony are effectively trying to overcome Moore's Law - that processing power roughly doubles every 18 months. What Sony are attempting would condense 20 years of Moore's Law into 5, and if they achieve that, it could be bad news for other chip manufacturers.
The Cell is basically a distributed computing network (i.e. multiple processors) on one single chip, and so Sony are looking at using IBM's silicon-on-insulator process on the new chip design. This allows transistors to be packed more densely, allowing 500 million or more on a single chip. As a guide, PS2's Emotion Engine has 13 million transistors.
"This means that Sony will be able to design its chips to take advantage of a manufacturing process that doesn't yet exist," says Bijan Davari, vice president for technology and emerging products at IBM. "By combining improvements in chip architecture, software, circuit design, and manufacturing, this is how we move toward a thousand times current performance." Apparently, this decision could pressure Microsoft into spending far more money on the development of the next Xbox if they want to compete.
The Cell is also set to feature 256MB of on-chip RAM. The machine as a whole will contain a slot-loading disc system, and possibly use Blu-Ray discs (capable of storing up to 27Gb) and be capable of rendering 6 texture layers in a single pass. It will also be the first Sony machine to feature four controller ports as standard.
Sony also hope that cell-computing chips will also be used in other devices such as TVs, camcorders and other electronic devices, rather than just the PS3. That way, production costs will fall far quicker.
In terms of the competition, nothing is yet known about any Nintendo successor to Gamecube, but Xbox2 is unlikely to receive any custom chips. Intel have no match for IBM's silicon-on-insulator process, and they also do not customise chips for specific purposes. Nvidia and other Xbox chip suppliers could only produce custom chips with funding from Microsoft. MS are expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on Xbox, and branching into custom ship design would add significantly to those losses. However, if they want to compete in the next generation battle, they may have to accept those losses.
But don't expect PS3 any time soon. Criterion recently confirmed that they believe Halo would be perfectly possibly on PS2, and stated that even with the increased number of polygons in Burnout 2 they're still only scratching the surface of PS2. Sony have revealed that developer Lost Boys have been working on a Halo-esque FPS since August 2000, with work on the game engine starting months before that. Sony clearly expect to get at least another 4 or 5 years out of PS2.
Web sources:
http://freeola.com
http://www.chinapost.com
http://www.zdnet.com
http://www.redherring.com
http://www.consolewire.com
http://www.gamespy.com
Print sources:
PSM2
UK Official PS2 magazine
Page:
Pop!
can't wait for it...
*turns on ps2 with pride*
*turns on ps2 with pride*
I definatly think PS2 can do a lot better than it is.
Just think of the PS1 launch games - blocky Ridge Racer awful Tekken.
Then what about FF9, eh? Blummin lush.
What if that much improvement continues on PS2?
Until GTA3, MGS2 and Onimusha2 all look like crappy blocks of
sh**e.
And PS2 is said to be much harder to develop on so even more improvement could arrise.
Just think.........
Can't blummin' wait
Just think of the PS1 launch games - blocky Ridge Racer awful Tekken.
Then what about FF9, eh? Blummin lush.
What if that much improvement continues on PS2?
Until GTA3, MGS2 and Onimusha2 all look like crappy blocks of
sh**e.
And PS2 is said to be much harder to develop on so even more improvement could arrise.
Just think.........
Can't blummin' wait
the 4 player ports should be a great addition.
Wow the PS3 sounds amazing but i'm in no rush to buy one as you said we are still waiting to see the PS2's full capabilities. Should be good.
How much is this going to cost then?
The Green Goblin wrote:
> How much is this going to cost then?
No-one knows - probably not even Sony, at this moment in time.
Can't see it being any more than the 'usual' £299 though - marketing suicide if it is.
> How much is this going to cost then?
No-one knows - probably not even Sony, at this moment in time.
Can't see it being any more than the 'usual' £299 though - marketing suicide if it is.
what i don't get is this...
if ps2 hasn't been used to its full capabilities...and criterion believe that they could make an exact same version of halo on xbox...
then how come on all multi format games...the ps2 version is always the worst graphically and has the greatest amount of slowdown out of the three versions (normally).
surely the extra power could be used to make it just as good as any of the other versions
if ps2 hasn't been used to its full capabilities...and criterion believe that they could make an exact same version of halo on xbox...
then how come on all multi format games...the ps2 version is always the worst graphically and has the greatest amount of slowdown out of the three versions (normally).
surely the extra power could be used to make it just as good as any of the other versions
Lazy developers.
PS2 doesn't work like the other consoles, and if you develop a game on PC/Xbox/Gamecube and do a straight port, you won't get the best from the machine. Develop the same game on PS2 and you'll get far better performance.
Such an example is Turok Evolution - it was developed on the Gamecube, then ported to the other formats. Hence the GC version is the best, and the PS2 version is lousy. Had they developed from scratch on PS2, you'd have had a far better version of the game than you do.
PS2 doesn't work like the other consoles, and if you develop a game on PC/Xbox/Gamecube and do a straight port, you won't get the best from the machine. Develop the same game on PS2 and you'll get far better performance.
Such an example is Turok Evolution - it was developed on the Gamecube, then ported to the other formats. Hence the GC version is the best, and the PS2 version is lousy. Had they developed from scratch on PS2, you'd have had a far better version of the game than you do.
Agreed totally wookie, that is why it will be interesting to see how MGS will turn out on the X-BoX.
In terms of the PS 3 it will definatly be interesting to see it develop but only in the next 5/6 years, there's a lot of stories on it at the moment but who can trust any of them? certainly not me. However its good to read that the future holds good things for the playstation and Sony in general.
At the moment I will enjoy the PS 2 and I know there is a lot more to come and indeed it is still to reach its maximum capabilities.
In terms of the PS 3 it will definatly be interesting to see it develop but only in the next 5/6 years, there's a lot of stories on it at the moment but who can trust any of them? certainly not me. However its good to read that the future holds good things for the playstation and Sony in general.
At the moment I will enjoy the PS 2 and I know there is a lot more to come and indeed it is still to reach its maximum capabilities.
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