Playstation 3 unveiled

by brian_turner

Sony have officially unveiled the Playstation 3, within days of Microsoft unveiling its Xbox 360.

The Playstation 3 boasts a custom chip set-up known as Cell, which was developed by Sony with IBM and Toshiba. It additionally includes a new graphics chip developed with Nvidia.

The move will likely revolutionise the gaming console industry as, like the Xbox 360, Sony see the Playstation 3 as having a central role in the home, for playing multimedia such as music and films. The entire console also uses wi-fi technology, has 6 free USB ports, and has been claimed to have been designed for a broadband-connected home.

Altogether the technical specifications of the Playstation 3 seem impressive, and may well surpass the Microsoft Xbox 360, ensuring that Sony continue to completely dominate the video game industry.

The hardware involved so far announced include:

• CPU Cell Processor running at 3.2Ghz with 7 special purpose
• 3.2Ghz processors, capable of 218 gigaflops of performance
• Backward compatible
• GPU RSX at 550MHz 1.8 teraflop floating point performance
• 256Mb XDR main RAM at 3.2 GHz
• 256Mb of GDDR VRAM at 700Mhz
• Memory Stick Duo, SD, compact flash memory slots
• Detachable 2.5 inch hard drive
• Support for seven Bluetooth controllers
• Six USB slots for peripherals
• Supports Blu-ray DVD format
• System Floating Point Performance of 2 teraflops
• Communication Ethernet, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth
• Output in HDTV resolution up to 1080p as standard

Meanwhile, Nintendo has unveiled its new console – the E3 – is a small device not built to network a home, but to be carried around by kids more used to carrying cellphones and other mobile devices around.

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Posted in: Technology