General PS3 info

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

i didn't see this list end up anywhere else so i figured i might as well post it:

PlayStation 3 FAQ
Everything you need to know about Sony's next system.
by Jeremy Dunham, Chris Roper

July 26, 2005 - To celebrate the recent PlayStation Meeting in Japan that highlighted the upcoming PlayStation 3, we've thrown together this FAQ so that you have a one-stop source for the system's important information. Of course we won't have every last detail until the impressive new console is actually in our hands, but a good number of the hardware specs have been finalized.

Note: Everything listed below should be taken as fact unless specifically noted as speculation.

What is the official name?
PlayStation 3.

When was the system officially unveiled?
Sony officially revealed the PlayStation 3 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo during its press conference on May 16th, 2005. The system and controller were shown along with various tech demos and game trailers, though most of the trailers were CG "approximations" of what developers were aiming their gameplay experiences to be like.

When is the system launching?
Sony is currently quoting a Spring 2006 launch. Whether this is the timeframe for the Japanese launch only, the North American launch or a worldwide release is unknown. Sony's past products have been launched in Japan first, North America roughly six months later and then Europe and the rest of the world sometime thereafter.

When is the likelihood of a simultaneous worldwide release (like the Xbox 360)?
Given the fact that Sony has shipped less than 500 dev kits to developers so far, and doesn't plan on ramping up its production of 3000 new units per month until October, the chances of having enough software and finished hardware to meet even a fraction of the demand for a worldwide release would be pretty low. Officially, though, there is no confirmed answer.

How much will the PlayStation 3 cost?
Unknown at this point, though Sony guru Ken Kutaragi has stated that "It will be expensive" -- so it will almost certainly be more than the sweet-spot launch price of $299. In a recent interview with Japanese economic website Tokyo Keizai, Kutaragi said the company wants "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

What does the PlayStation 3 look like?
Like so:



What ports and external connections will the PlayStation 3 have?
A whole crapload. There are six USB 2.0 ports, four on the front and two on the back. It has slots for Memory Stick, SD and CompactFlash cards. There are also three wired gigabit Ethernet ports, an optical port for audio, a multi-AV connector and two HDMI ports.

How is the new controller different from the PS2's Dual Shock 2 controller?
Sony hasn't released a whole lot of information about the gamepad just yet, but as you can see in the photos, the layout of the button and analog sticks basically seems to be the same as the Dual Shock 2 (though the overall design is quite different).

We do know that the default controllers for the PlayStation 3 will be wireless. They can be recharged via any USB port, including those on the system itself. Rather than using 2.4GHz RF signals, the controllers will employ Bluetooth 2.0 technology. PlayStation 3 will support up to seven players wirelessly.

What does the controller look like?
Take a look:



Will the current Dual Shock 2 controllers be compatible with the PlayStation 3?
Not without some sort of adapter. Sony is no longer using the old controller ports and connectors, so the Dual Shock 2 simply won't be able to be plugged in. No official word has been given either way.

Will the PlayStation 3 come equipped with a hard drive? How big will it be?
Sony will make a hard drive available for the PlayStation 3, but it will be a separate add-on. It will be a 2.5" removable drive, allowing you to transport large files and swap it out for other drives for more space. Additionally, the drive will come with a version of Linux pre-installed, thereby making the PlayStation 3 a full-fledged PC as soon as the HD is installed.

Sony has not yet announced a size for the drive, though it's basically hinted that it will increase the capacity of available drives for sale over time.

What kind of disc drive will the system use?
Sony announced some time ago that the PlayStation 3 will make use of Blu-ray technology. Sony and Toshiba had been in talks to combine the competing Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats into a single standard, though those talks have been disbanded. The drive itself will be slot-loading.

How fast will the optical disc drive be?
Blu-ray technology transfers at 36Mbps at 1X speed, or about 4.5MB per second. If the PlayStation 3 needed to load 128MB at the start of a level, it would take nearly 29 seconds (assuming nothing is cached on a HDD). 2X or even 4X speeds would cut this time down either by 1/2 or by 1/4.

As Blu-ray drives aren't really available to the public yet (aside from a handful of pre-final parts in Japan), coupled with the price of the drives, we expect the PlayStation 3's drive to run at 1X (but the official speed is still forthcoming).

Besides a hard disc and Blu-ray drive, what other sorts of storage options will be available?
Memory Stick (standard and Duo), SD and CompactFlash. It's also likely (but unconfirmed) that the PlayStation 3 will further allow you to natively use USB flash drives.

What is the Cell?
The Cell processor was co-designed by IBM, Toshiba and Sony. Configurations can differ, but here's what the PS3's Cell chip will be like:
# PowerPC-based Core @ 3.2GHz
# 7 SPEs @ 3.2GHz
# 512KB L2 Cache
# 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPEs

Basically, a single Cell processor is designed to act like multiple processors working together, or even independently. A Cell processor has a single PowerPC Architecture Unit (PAU) and multiple Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). A Cell's PAU dolls out instructions to its various SPEs, which can then independently work on tasks. So for instance, one SPU might be programmed to run a game's AI while another handles physics. Since each one acts independently, multiple calculations can be done simultaneously. In other words, it's very powerful. In fact, it's powerful enough to perform 218 GFLOPS.

Who is supplying the hardware?
IBM, Toshiba and Sony are supplying the Cell processors, while NVIDIA is handling the graphics processor.


Tell me about the graphics chip...
NVIDIA's chip is codenamed RSX. The chip runs at 550MHz and is capable of rendering two 1080p signals simultaneously. It's touted to hit 1.8 TFLOPS of floating point performance and can perform 100 billion shader operations per second, or 136 shader operations per cycle. The RSX uses 128-bit precision for enhanced color definition, making the system capable of High Dynamic Range rendering. Programming-wise, it's based on OpenGL and NVIDIA's CG language.

NVIDIA recently released its GeForce 7800 GTX GPU for the PC, which provides a reasonable real-world approximation of what sort of effects the RSX and PlayStation 3 can handle. The RSX is a step beyond the GeForce 7800 GTX however, making it faster than anything currently available for the PC.

How much RAM will the PS3 have?
256MB of XDR Main RAM @ 3.2GHz and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM @ 700MHz, or a total of 512MB for the entire system. The RSX graphics chip can actually use all 512MB of system RAM; it is not limited to the 256MB of GDDR3 RAM.


Will the PlayStation 3 output 16:9 or HD video?
Yes. In fact, the standard resolution for the system is 1080p. Yes, as in 1920x1080 progressive, not interlaced. 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i are all supported as well, of course.

One of the system's more interesting features, however, is the ability to display two 16:9 images simultaneously through the dual HDMI outputs. That means that for the first time in console history, the PS3 can output with a panoramic view of 32:9 or display an entirely different screen that's still coming from a single source.

What sorts of video connections will be available?
Composite, S-Video and component are all possible via AV cables, but for the best image quality possible the system also employs two built-in HDMI connections. The PlayStation 3 is capable of displaying two video feeds simultaneously via HDMI, though it's unknown if you can mix-and-match HDMI with a standard AV output.

Will there still be jaggies?
Some of the video we've seen has had evidence of a slight bit of aliasing, though simply due to the HD resolution the system renders at, it's very, very slight. It's likely that the jaggies that we've seen are only due to in-development software and hardware and that final code will feature anti-aliasing, but we're unsure.

What sort of surround sound support will the PlayStation 3 have?
For in-game audio, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS are all supported and processed by the Cell. Keep in mind, however, that since all the audio processing is done by the Cell, developers could use or create whatever audio codecs they desire.

What kind of audio connections will be available?
Analog stereo and optical audio output.


Eydentify will make use of the HD IP Camera
Will the PlayStation 3 have camera functionality?
The PlayStation 3 will boast an HD IP (High-Definition Internet Protocol) Camera that's essentially the next generation of the EyeToy. The new camera will capture images that match the same screen output as the PlayStation 3 and will work off an Internet address so that it can be used anywhere in the world for use in independent web-cam broadcasts.

What sort of network connections will be available? Does it feature WiFi?
Yes, the system supports 802.11b/g. It also has three gigabit Ethernet ports.

What companies are confirmed to be developing and publishing games for the PS3?
These are the companies confirmed so far...
Developers
# Bandai
# BattleBorne Entertainment
# Blitz Games
# Capcom
# Climax Studios
# Digital Extremes
# Digital Illusions CE
# Electronic Arts
# Epic Games
# Evolution Studios
# Factor 5
# Game Republic
# Guerilla Games
# Idea Factory
# Incognito Entertainment
# Insomniac Games
# KOEI
# Kojima Productions
# Konami
# Midway Games
# Namco
# Ninja Theory
# Page 44 Studios
# Polyphony Digital
# Playlogic International
# Rockstar Games
# Quantic Dream
# Secret Level
# Sonic Team
# Sony Computer Entertainment
# Sony Online Entertainment
# Square Enix
# Team Bondi
# Tiger Hill Entertainment
# Track7 Games
# Ubisoft
# Webzen

Publishers
# Bandai
# Buena Vista Games
# Capcom
# Electronic Arts
# Idea Factory
# KOEI
# Konami
# Majesco
# Midway Games
# Namco
# SEGA
# Sony Computer Entertainment
# Sony Online Entertainment
# Square Enix
# Ubisoft
# Vivendi Universal

What titles are expected at launch?
Launch details have not yet been revealed, except that Bandai plans to release Mobile Suit Gundam day and date.

Will the PlayStation 3 use the same network setup as the PlayStation 2?
No, Sony confirmed at an E3 2004 press conference that it is currently working towards a new universal networking hub, which in no uncertain terms is similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live. Specifics about how that network will work (outside of confirmed peer-to-peer in-game item swapping) are still unknown.

?compatible backwards be it Will
Yes. Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will be almost entirely compatible with PlayStation 2 and PSOne software. Games that do not work have not been disclosed.

Will PlayStation 3 be compatible with the PSP?
Sony has stated on numerous occasions that its PlayStation Portable will connect to the PlayStation 3 via USB and wireless connections.

What will ship with the package?
At this point, the only confirmed piece of equipment is the PlayStation 3 itself.

I know that Final Fantasy VII isn't confirmed for PS3 other than the tech demo at E3, but can you show us a screenshot anyway?



Sure!

there ya go....

all from here

[Perfect Stu]

great thread. this should be stickified...

[Typhoid]

The good thing about that controller is if any pesky Dingos try to eat your baby, you can just whip that bad boy at it.

[Dyne]

Originally Posted by Perfect Stu

great thread. this should be stickified...

Your wish is my comm.. generosity.

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

what makes me drool is the built in 802.11 b/g.....no set up required for me

[Dylflon]

Supports up to seven controllers?

That's an odd number in more way than one.

[Jonbo298]

Well, back when Performance first brought out their multi-tap, it had 5 ports on it

[Acebot44]

Could it be less powerful than we thought?

[Dyne]

Originally Posted by Acebot44

Could it be less powerful than we thought?

Don't go breaking my heart, my heart.

Say it ain't so.

[Perfect Stu]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

Supports up to seven controllers?

That's an odd number in more way than one.

I doubt many games will support more than 4-6, but it supports 7 because that's basically the max that the wireless connection can support at once. I doubt too many games will have 7 people playing at once.

[MuGen]

oh contrare.... sports games.... imagine having a bunch of your friends over playing Madden or Live.... being on the same team!

[Null]

[edit] nevermind. i thought this thread was new. lol

[Perfect Stu]

Originally Posted by Null

[edit] nevermind. i thought this thread was new. lol

early contender for Post of the Year

we still have 11 and a half months to go, but I'll keep my fingers crossed, Null...

[Null]

Originally Posted by Perfect Stu

early contender for Post of the Year

we still have 11 and a half months to go, but I'll keep my fingers crossed, Null...

dont you worry none, my goal is to have at least 5 in the top 10 contenders group. i'd like a solid chance at getting post of the year.

[KillerGremlin]

Batman could use that controller.