The creative force behind the design of PS3, Teiyu Goto, has revealed how the Spider-Man font came to be used on PS3 in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine।

Goto explained, "Take the PS2 logo - we created it to blend in with the rectangular shape of the console। Personally, I feel very strongly that the logo would not have looked right on PS3.

"If you really look at the PS3 contour carefully, it is rounded when viewing the console in profile। Rather than creating a typography with all the risks that entails, it was wiser to use the one from Spider-Man, for which Sony has the rights.

"It was also the wish of President Kutaragi, who insisted that I use this typography. In fact, the logo was one of the first elements he decided on and the logo may have been the motivating force behind the shape of PS3."
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DC RID3R - contributor

The man responsible for the visual design of all Sony's PlayStation consoles, Teiyu Goto, has revealed the story behind that boomerang-shaped controller which was mocked by the world and his dog at E3 in 2005। You couldn't escape the comedy jpegs of batman holding the pad either.

"President Kutaragi wanted something different for the controller," Goto told Official PlayStation Magazine। "Quite frankly, we had set aside the ergonomic aspect in favour of the image it conjured up. We wanted to present an avant-garde model for the show, running a risk of being criticised."

It's safe to say that the criticism quickly followed। When asked about his personal thoughts on the controller and if he liked it, Goto replied, "It was very futuristic visually, but practically speaking you only had to hold it to realise how it compared to the Dual Shock 2. You know there are so many players who are used to the PlayStation controller; it's like a car steering wheel and it's not easy to change people's habits."

But the design was dropped and the Sony reverted back to the Dual Shock 2 model, which eventually became SixAxis। "The desire for change for there, but the legacy of the PlayStation was stronger - the slightest change to the controller could annoy players and the risk wasn't worth taking. Also PS2 and PS3 provide backwards compatibility; the ergonomics should be the same when you play games from the previous generation but without having to bring out the 'wired' controllers. It is for these reasons that we reverted to the shape of the classic controller."

Source : n4g.com
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By Kyle Phillips on Mar 29, 2007

VGCharts।com has just released the figures for Resistance: Fall of Man. It took 5 months, but the PlayStation 3 has it's first 1 million copy game, Resistance: Fall of Man.

Here are the sales figures for each continent:

Japan: 114,000+
Europe 220,000+
USA 660,000+

Source: ps3.net
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In a recent interview here was Team Ninja had to say about the upcoming multi platform hack and slash hit from Capcom:

GR: Moving along those lines, have you seen Devil May Cry 4? Do you have an opinion on it?

YH: I have seen Devil May Cry 4, but it's basically a totally different philosophy from what we do। If you look at their trailer that they have online, you'll see that none of the enemies attack you. None of the enemies attack whatsoever. That's a game where the enemies only exist to provide a target for all of your combos, and they don't really do anything else. For us, we're a combat-action game; our enemies are alive, they think, they attack you, and if you don't actively defend yourself, you're going to die really quick. So it's a basic difference in philosophy. We're an action game, they're kind of a "let's see how stylishly we can show off these combos and get a high score" kind of thing. So if the people playing think that's stylish, then more power to them."

Source : न४ग्.com
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Sony releases new, expanded information on the latest firmware update।

by Chris Roper

March 20, 2007 - Yesterday we brought you news from Japan of what functionality the upcoming 1।60 firmware update would add to the PlayStation 3, but today's US press release shed light on a few more details. In addition to Remote Play support for 20GB models, an on-screen QWERTY keyboard and a zoom function for the web browser, the ability to run Folding@Home and basic background downloading, there will be a handful of other features included.

A disc auto-start option will allow users to choose whether they want their PS3 to automatically play a disc when it's inserted or the machine is turned on. Support for rewriteable Blu-ray discs has been added, as well as the ability to use Bluetooth keyboards and mice.Most of all though, the US press release shed more details on the all-important background downloading feature for the PlayStation Store.

Users will be able to queue up to six downloads at one time, which coincidentally matches the Xbox 360's maximum queue. Progress of these downloads can be followed under a new Download Management section that will reside under the Cross Media Bar's Network icon. You will be able to watch video, view images, listen to music and browse the web at the same time.

UPDATE: We've received word from Sony that you will indeed be able to play games while downloading content in the background. Similar to how downloads on the Xbox 360 works, you'll be able to play games offline while downloads work in the background, and if you hop online your queue will simply pause until you disconnect.

The update is set for release on this coming Thursday, March 22nd.


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Background downloading is just tomorrow!

by Anoop Gantayat

March 19, 2007 - Sony has at last provided details on version 1।6 of the PS3's system software. This is the highly anticipated update whose release was being timed for the 3/23 launch of the European/PAL PS3.

The update will actually arrive just before that, on 3/22.The biggest new feature for the update is something that was previously confirmed by company executives: background downloading. With Version 1.6 installed, you'll be able to use the PS3 for other things while downloading large or multiple files.

Sony states that there are some limitations to this feature, but these won't be announced until the day of the update's availability. Those who use their PSP as a remote media viewer for the PS3 have something to look forward with version 1.6. Previously, the PSP had to connect directly to the PS3 in order to access media, meaning you had to be in the same area as the PS3, and only owners of the 60 Gig model could take advantage of the feature.

Version 1.6 adds the ability to access the PS3 from a wireless point in your home, bringing 20 Gig users in on the action, and presumably allowing additional freedom of movement. Not quite the worldwide access we were hoping for, but this is at least a step in the right direction.

Sony is adding a bonus for those who make use of the system's software keyboard during text entry. Version 1.6 adds the option for a full-size keyboard, for those who aren't satisfied with the current cell phone-style entry system.Other new features affect the system's web browser. The browser will now detect your video-out settings and set the standard font size accordingly, and even deal with nasty interlacing artifacts. You'll also be able to make use of a new "pin-point zoom" feature to zoom in on pages.
All that, along with the previously announced Folding@Home support should make for one hell of an update. There could be even more to the update than Sony has announced here, so be sure and power up your PS3 on the 22nd to experience version 1.6 first hand.

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HANOVER, Germany — The Blu-ray Disc Association said on Thursday it aimed to replace the DVD storage format within three years।

"Within three years it will just be Blu-ray," Frank Simonis, the Blu-ray Disc Association's European chairman, said at the CeBIT technology trade show।

Blu-ray, which offers five times more storage capacity than DVDs for storing high definition films and other content, will first have to beat the rival HD DVD format which offers somewhat lower storage capacity but claims cheaper production of players, burners and discs।

• Click here for FOXNews।com's Personal Technology Center.

Measured in the number of players, Blu-ray is already well ahead of HD DVD because Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3 (PS3) video games console comes with a built-in Blu-ray player।

Sony Computer Entertainment said it had sold 1.84 million PS3s by the end of December in Japan and North America and that one million PS3s are ready for launch next week in Europe.
The HD DVD camp conceded it is being outsold by Blu-ray because of PS3 by at least five to one, but it claims that sales of movie titles are still level।

Film studio 20th Century Fox, which supports Blu-ray, said weekly Blu-ray film sales are actually three times higher than HD DVD।

A total of 5।2 million Blu-ray discs have already been sold, said Nick Sharples at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Hundreds of thousands of titles have been given away to consumers buying a PS3.

EUROPE IS बेहिंद

Any difference between regional sales may be explained by the fact that European consumers cannot yet buy PS3s and there are only two Blu-ray players available, Simonis said।

"It's the launch of the hardware, pulling the software। That has yet to play out in Europe," said David Walstra, director of AV technology at Sony.

Sony reiterated its target to have sold six million PS3 game consoles by the end of the year.
Five out of eight major Hollywood studios support only Blu-ray। One studio, Universal, supports only HD DVD.

The HD DVD promotional group, in a separate presentation, said consumers should not only focus on the big blockbuster titles from Hollywood, but also those from regional film houses in Europe and Asia which would bring many titles to HD DVD because it was cheaper and simpler।

Toshiba and Microsoft (MSFT), as the two main backers of HD DVD, support film studios and production houses to bring out their films on HD DVD, several studios said on Thursday.
Hollywood and electronics manufacturers hope new high-definition DVDs, with better picture quality and more capacity, will rejuvenate the slowing $24 billion home DVD market.
But the war between HD DVD and Blu-ray — also supported by companies like Samsung, Philips (PHG), Matsushita (MC), Apple (AAPL), and Dell (DELL) — has curbed adoption।

Source : foxnews.com

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Playing "Gears of War," "Lost Planet," "Halo" and other action video games that involve firing guns can improve your eyesight, new research claims।

Sedate games like "Tetris" don't work.

The study involved 10 male college students who started out as non-gamers and then received 30 hours of training on first-person shooter action video games।

They showed a substantial increase in their ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space compared to 10 non-gamers given the same test, said Daphne Bevelier of the University of Rochester.

Most aspects of vision have to do with the size of one's eye and the thickness and shape of the cornea and lens।

But some visual defects are neural in nature, said Bevelier, author of the new study on vision and video games published in the journal Psychological Science.

First-person shooter action games helped study subjects improve their spatial resolution, meaning their ability to clearly see small, closely packed together objects, such as letters, she said।

[Editor's note: "Gears of War" and "Lost Planet" are actually third-person shooters, since the player can see his own in-game character as well as what he's aiming for।]

Game-playing actually changes the way our brains process visual information.
"These games push the human visual system to the limits, and the brain adapts to it," she said in a prepared statement। "That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life."

The finding suggests that playing first-person shooter action video games could be a useful rehabilitation therapy for people with certain vision problems, she said, such as amblyopia (or lazy eye) and the simple effects of aging।

Another study has showed that playing virtual-reality games that involved physical motion helped stroke victims improve their ability to walk।

Source : foxnews.com
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By Kyle Phillips

In the battle for next-gen supremacy; great games are a neccessity। So will gamers actually shell out 60 dollars for a new PS3 game? The NPD Fungroup reports that yes, gamers are eager enough for the fun। NPD Reports that in January, the average PS3 owner owned 2।7 games। Now for March, the average PS3 owner owns 3.4 games...

"While some detractors may consider the next generation cycle off to a poor start," said a representative from NPD, "we think that improving tie ratios indicate strong demand for the relatively light software lineup on the next gen consoles, and we believe that once a greater variety of compelling software is released later this year, demand for the new hardware will increase."

Source : ps3.net
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PS3 systems will be able to help study the causes of cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases by connecting to Folding@home, Stanford University's computing project that simulates protein folding

By K.C. Jones InformationWeek

Sony Computer Entertainment is encouraging Playstation 3 owners to put their consoles to work for science.

The company announced Thursday that its PS3 systems would be able to help study the causes of cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases. Sony said the consoles would be able to connect to Folding@home, Stanford University's computing project that simulates protein folding to determine how irregular protein folding can contribute to disease.

More than 1 million CPUs have participated in the project since October 2000, according to Folding@home researchers. Now, PS3's Cell Broadband Engine processors would become part of the distributed computing network processing the data. Sony said that the game consoles' processors are about 10 times faster than standard chips inside personal computers.

"Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment," Masayuki Chatani, corporate executive and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment's computer division, said in a news announcement. "Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases."

Researchers characterized the use of game consoles as a "major step forward," adding that PS3 power could allow them to tackle problems previously considered impossible.

"With this new technology (as well as new advances with GPUs), we will likely be able to attain performance on the 100 gigaflop scale per computer," researchers explained in a statement on their Web site. "With about 10,000 such machines, we would be able to achieve performance on the petaflop scale."

Sony announced in 2006 that PS3s had been used for the project. Later this month, the company plans to add a Folding@home icon to the menu of its XrossMediaBar, allowing users to join the program by clicking on the icon. Users can set the application to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle.

Folding@home announced that the PS3 client would support advanced visualization features and the console's graphic chip would display the actual folding process in real-time using HDR and ISO surface rendering. Researchers also said they would be able to explore the three-dimensional representations of molecules using PS3 controllers.

Source : informationweek.com

Labels: PS3 Article

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Link up your console to unravel protein structures and fight illnesses।

by Rob Burman, IGN UK

UK, March 15, 2007 - Although most people are getting a PS3 to fight aliens and race cars round tracks, a innovative new feature that sees PS3s linking together to fight incurable diseases, launches later this month।

Folding@Home is a joint venture between Sony and Stanford University in America। It aims to map the way that genes change shape (or 'fold'), so they can be studied by scientists and, potentially, cure illnesses such as Parkinson's or a variety of cancers.

PS3 owners can get involved in the Folding@Home project by downloading a firmware update, available by the end of the month, which adds a new icon to the cross media bar। When opened, Folding@Home starts processing a 'work unit', which is one section of an entire folding programme. Unfortunately no games can be played and you can't watch Blu-ray discs while the programme is running.

After completing one 'work unit' the console then sends the information to Stanford's servers next time it goes online and is given a new unit to start unravelling। The console doesn't even need to be online while running the Folding@Home function because it automatically updates every time the console is taken online.

Although it may sound like the stuff of science fiction, if enough PS3 owners choose to help with the initiative, it could potentially halve the time needed to complete a full gene folding simulation।

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By Christopher C. Leonard

High Definition Televisions
Amazing graphics are one of the big selling points of the PS3. As developers get more experienced with the system, games are going to look better and better. This will make many people seriously consider getting that high definition television of their dreams. With the recent drop in prices it is possible to get an HDTV for $1000 or even less. However, while people’s opinions will differ as to which television is the best, there is one important aspect that gamers should take into consideration… Burn-in!

What is Burn-In?
Some television channels have logos and/or bars across the bottom of the screen that remain in the same position all of the time. This can actually become “burned” into the screen if the channel is not changed for an extended period of time. This problem generally affects newer televisions and not older ones because of the difference in the technology used to produce the image. The average viewer may not experience this problem with his or her new wide screen high def TV because he or she may not leave it on the same channel for hours at a time. Gamers, however, should learn about burn-in before spending their hard-earned cash.

While playing a video game there is almost always a health bar, or some other type of display, that is stationary on the screen. After several hours of playing one game that image could get burned into the screen causing it to stay there long after the game is turned off. Imagine changing the channel after a couple hours of playing and realizing that your favorite Dancing With the Stars contestant has full a full health bar and magic meter. Then you change the channel again, to your second favorite show, and realize that Walker Texas Ranger has full a full health bar and magic meter also. After spending such a large amount on a high def TV this would be a nightmare.

In general this seems to be something that happens mostly with plasma technology. Therefore, while plasma may be a reasonable choice for movie fans, it is not necessarily the best for gamers. LCD seems to be much more suitable for video games. It is true that it may suffer from lesser degrees of burn-in such as ghosting or temporary image retention. However, both are temporary, and neither are serious problems.

What If I Already Own A Plasma Television?
There are several preventative measures that current plasma TV owners can follow which will significantely decrease their chances of experiencing burn-in.

1. Do not leave it on a channel that has static images for an extended period of time.
2. Adjust the contrast setting at or below 50%. The higher the contrast the greater the chance of experiencing burn-in.
3. Use burn-in protection features such as full-time picture shift (both vertical and horizontal)
4. Remember that plasma screens are more likely to experience burn-in during the first couple hundred hours of use. During this time people should make sure that they are extremely careful.
5. Some plasma televisions may have a gray image or negative image that may be able to repair ghosting.
6. Buy a Plasma Saver DVD. Using this could erase some degrees of burn in.

Do Research
The purpose of this editorial is to introduce readers to the concept of burn-in. I prefer LCD screens to plasma due to the fact that burn-in is not a big issue with LCD. However, anyone who is thinking about getting an HDTV should do extensive research on the subject before making a decision

High Def Dilemma
By Christopher C. Leonard on December 14, 2006

Source : ps3.net

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By Nathan Shrewsbury

Including the Blu-ray disc technology in the Playstation 3 gaming console has been a costly move for Sony। Not only did it whittle their launch to 500,000 units, less than half a percent of the PS2 units currently out there, but it was Blu-ray issue that forced them to delay entirely the European PS3 launch to March 2007.

This move could pay off big for Sony in the long run by insuring the dominance of Blu-ray technology over its competitor, the HDDVD. Sony is one of the primary stake holders in the Blu-ray technology, the other being Philips। Sony began work on the Blue-ray disc after feeling that they got screwed over on their share of the royalties for the DVD.

At that time, warring factions from various tech firms brokered a deal under the guidance of IBM president Lou Gerstner to unite under the DVD standard. Toshiba came out with the better end of the final deal. This time neither company is prepared to make nice. Those of us old enough to remember can think back to the war between VHS and Betamax for the undisputed heavy weight champion of home video. History is about to repeat itself big time and the PS3 could clinch it for Sony and Blu-ray.

Blu-ray and HDDVD each have their advantages in the upcoming struggle. Blu-ray can store more data with a theoretical storage limit of over 3 times that of HDDVD. Blu-ray’s Achilles heel is an expensive protective coating that is required to protect the thin data layer combined with the requirement that existing DVD factories purchase new and expensive equipment. HDDVD will be an easier and less expensive switch over for disc producers. Sony and Toshiba have each lined up an impressive group of companies to create content for their technologies, with some content providers, like Warner Brothers, supporting both formats. HDDVD potentially has a powerful ally in Microsoft.

Microsoft will load a Window CE operating system into HDDVD players, while Blu-ray players will be loaded with a Java based OS. Microsoft is also rumored to be considering a HDDVD version of the Xbox 360. My gut tells me that Microsoft would be a day late and a dollar short with an HDDVD Xbox 360, but in life you can never underestimate Microsoft’s ability to defeat a superior technology through clever marketing. Enter playstation 3.If PS3 can sell as many units worldwide as the PS2, (about 100million) there is no question that Blu-ray will dominate. I do not think that the Microsoft Xbox is in a position to help the HDDVD format the way Playstation 3 could help Blu-ray.

Microsoft has no reason to sacrifice money to support HDDVD the way Sony did for Blu-ray because Microsoft has no stake in the licensing royalties for HDDVD discs themselves. This editor believes that for HDDVD to prevail at this point the PS3 must bomb completely. That eventuality appears highly unlikely to this editor.

Credit : ps3.net

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With the UK launch of PlayStation 3 just around the corner, let's take a look at some of the biggest upcoming PS3 exclusive games we expect to see this year। While we're at it, we present an at-a-glance list of the confirmed PS3-exclusive games and a shortlist of the titles rumoured to be in development.

Confirmed Titles :

These games are confirmed to be in development for the PS3 and should be out by the end of the year.

Final Fantasy XIII
The acclaimed series returns in a new guise as you follow the adventures of a woman known as Lightning, in a high-tech, futuristic world।
Battles are confirmed to take place in real time, with the mysterious lead character using a sword/firearm hybrid weapon resembling the gunblades of Final Fantasy VIII। Little is known about the story but it has been revealed that the lead character has been chosen to be the destroyer of the world.

Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns of the Patriots
Hideo Kojima's cinematic masterpiece returns to a future battlefield with an aging Snake fighting against the latest in high-tech mechanised weaponry। Set 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 2, MGS4 portrays a world run by private military contractors. The largest of these are all run by Outer Heaven, Big Boss's mercenary company from the beginning of the series. Snake is deployed to the Middle East to avert the impending crisis.

Tekken 6
The familiar fighters return to do battle once again in the latest addition to the Tekken series। Joined by new characters, Zaffina and Leo, Tekken 6 looks like the most polished version of the franchise yet। It will be the biggest game in the series, boasting more characters than ever before and great attention to detail is evident in the trailers.

Devil May Cry 4
Capcom is promising slick eye candy and exceptional gameplay in this new take on the demon hunting adventure. This time, players take the role of Nero, a young Holy Knight of the Order of the Sword. Nero is out after the blood of series protagonist, Dante, who was seen slaughtering the human members of the Order. With his customised sword and pistol and his power hungry "Devil Bringer" arm, can Nero avenge the Order's loss?

Ridge Racer 7
The latest incarnation of Ridge Racer combines updated graphics with new and updated cars and tracks in a true-to-formula update to the series। Players will be sliding round the track faster than ever before and in much greater style as they career sideways around sharp bends। The game was a launch title in the US and Japan.

In development, release date TBC
The following games are all in development in one form or another, but when (and if) they'll arrive on PS3 is anyone's guess. Some, like EyeDentify, are already well on the way as PS3 exclusive titles while others are still unknown.

5th Phantom Saga
Afrika
Angel Rings
Black Blade Coded Arms Assault
Derby Stallion
Driver
Eight Days
Endless Saga
EyeDentify
Fatal Inertia
Final Fantasy XIII Versus
The Getaway Gradius
Grand Turismo 5
Heavenly Sword
Hot Shots Golf 5
Killzone 3
Lair
Monster Hunter 3
Monster Kingdom
Ni-Oh
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Redwood Falls
The Eye of Judgment (Working title)
WarDevil Enigma
Warhawk
Way of the Samurai 3

Rumoured Titles
Here are the most prominent games whispered about on the internet. They may not exist officially (yet), but in the world of games rumours have a habit of coming true...

Final Fantasy VII
Officially, this game doesn't exist and hasn't been announced in any capacity by Square Enix. But the rumour mill started rolling when a remake of the opening movie from FFVII was used to showcase PlayStation 3 long before the console's release. Square Enix has yet to deny that the fabled remake will ever become a reality, so we can only wait and see what happens.

God of War 3
Kingdom Heart 3
Shadow of the Colossus 2
Zone of the Enders 3

Stay with PSU.com for all the news, reviews and rumours on these and other PS3 titles.

Source : psu.com

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61.Q: Would we be able to showcase bespoke events such a live broadcast
of a multiplayer game?
Absolutely - it would even be possible to replicate a game that is being played
by two players together on one PS3, replicating their avatars and movements
on the "world stage". This could be an invitational match, with users paying to
view the event live.

62.Q: How will the DRM of purchased items work?
Home 's DRM system is based on the entitlements system which will be
offered by the PSN.

63.Q: Will I be able to give a purchased / earned item to another user?
Not yet; however it is a feature which is planned.

64.Q. How will sharing media work within the private space? Will users be
able to distribute content?
Users will not be able to broadcast their media to people outside their private
space, but they will be able to show their own media to invited guests. We
have deliberately chosen not to allow users to 'give' media to other users as
this opens up serious risks of piracy and sharing of illegal content.

65.Q: How many lobby instances can be run?
This is down to the server infrastructure, and in theory is entirely scalable.

66.Q: How will the lobbies be regionalised? Would it be possible to have
bespoke, selectable backgrounds for each regional lobby, e.g. Paris /
London / Rome etc?
It is highly likely that the European, US and Japanese lobbies will be
localised, but it is undecided as to whether individual lobbies within Europe
will be.

67.Q: Could the global Hall of Fame be filtered by region?
This is possible, and also it is possible to have different levels of Halls of
Fame - Junior league, Newbie league etc

68.Q: What is the policy on acceptable behaviour?
Within our public spaces, Home follows the same rules and guidelines as the
PLAYSTATION Network with regard to age stipulations and acceptable
behaviour. Home uses all the same age controls as the PS3 system software.
Within users' own private spaces, we take the view that what people get up to
in their own apartment is their own business, within reason.

69.Q: Will there be a restriction to the age you’ll be able to give your
avatar?
Yes. We will not have avatars which resemble children. The avatars are
adult in appearance.

70.Q: Will users be able to make complaints about other users?
Of course. We will operate a system of logging complaints with our
moderators, which will then be investigated. If necessary we are able to take
away a user's login rights and ban them from the service.

71.Q: How much control will we have over what people get up to in their
private spaces?
As stated before, our policy is that what people get up to in their own private
spaces is up to them, and a user cannot be invited to another user's private
space until they have accepted an invitation to be on their buddy list.
However, the complaints process will still operate in these private spaces, so
if people feel that they have been subjected to inappropriate behaviour while
in someone's private space, they will be able to lodge a complaint by the
usual process.

72.Q: What moderation is used in the system for vulgar / abusive
language?
We will have a basic text profanity filter.

73.Q: Will users be able to sell things to each other?
Ultimately, an auction service will be implemented that will allow users to sell
their Home assets and user-created content to other users.

74.Q: Can I earn money in Home?
As noted above, there will be eventually opportunities for user-to-user
auctions.

75.Q: Will retailers (e.g. GAME) be able to have a presence in Home?
Yes. Retailers can create their own lobbies and deploy these for commercial
operations.

76.Q: Can we use advertising within it?
Advertising will be a big part of Home. At first adverts will be fed through the
Home advertising servers, but ultimately we may allow 3rd parties to integrate
their own advertising engines into the service. Dynamic advertising will also
be implemented, allowing us to direct specific targeted ads at particular users.

77.Q: Are all games required to have trophies available for Home?
No, it's up to each game to do what they want. But we see a huge consumer
appeal for games that support the trophy system.

78.Q: If a game does offer trophies, what is the maximum / minimum
number of trophies required?
This is undecided, currently. We would like to feel this out during the beta
period. Our inclination is to encourage a relatively small number of high value
trophies.

Credit : psu.com

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41.Q: Will I be able to trade items that I have bought or won with other
Home users?
Ultimately, an auction service will be implemented that will allow users to sell
their Home assets and user-created content to other users.

42.Q: How often will the content in Home change?
Ultimately content in Home will be updated weekly. All the participants in
Home (the service itself, 1st Party and 3rd Party publishers, non-game brands
and ultimately users themselves) will be creating new content, so the flow of
new features will be will on a weekly basis.

43.Q: Can I create new items and content for Home myself?
This functionality is in the works for future release. We see user created
content as a very important element of Home's ongoing success.

44.Q: How will users transact within Home?
During the Beta period, there will be no purchases within Home.
Subsequently, commercial transactions will take place within Home.

45.Q: Can you enter, say, MotorStorm™ quickly through Home without
having to travel to the specific MotorStorm™ lobby?
Currently, users can find each other in Home, and then arrange to go off and
play MotorStorm™ at the same time. Eventually, users will be able to meet in
Home and seamlessly launch into a game of MotorStorm™. Similarly, users
will be able to exit to Home directly from the game.

46.Q: How often is incremental content being created for Home?
Content for Home will be developed continually. In addition to an ever
increasing variety of items to customize avatars and Home Spaces, there will
be special events such as Halloween and Christmas where special content
will be available for a limited time.

47.Q: Will consumers be bombarded with advertising?
Advertising is a core revenue source for the publishers who will have to put a
lot of resource and money into making the Home experience as fulfilling as it
will be. As an offset to having to pay for the basic online service, and being
able to enjoy the fundamental Home experience for free, some advertising is
entirely reasonable. Advertising will be kept to palatable levels however. It is
in no-one's interests to cause users to leave Home through excessive
advertising.

48.: How will I protect my kids from seeing things they shouldn’t?
Parental controls are available through PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network.
We encourage parents to take an active role in participating any time a child
has access to an open communication network, such as the internet.

49.Q: How will age restrictions be applied?
Home employs the same age restriction policies as the PS3 system software
and the PLAYSTATION Network.

50.Q: What’s the development overhead?
Minimal. In the extreme, an application (say a mini-game) could be written in
C++ as normal, and then a thin Home layer added to implement that
application within Home.

51.Q: How quick and easy will it be to develop for?
Home will allow developers to use their own assets and code for applications,
and export those assets into a Home wrapper, which will allow the minimum
of bespoke work. The tools that will be available serve to provide that
wrapper, they do not require developers to work to particular specifications or
packages.

52.Q: Will developers be able to run existing code applications within
Home?
Given that any application would have to fit within the available resources
while running Home, and certain TRCs will need to be satisfied, yes.

53.Q: Will there be additional TRCs for games plugging into Home? When
will these TRCs be released?
There will have to be base TRCs for Trophies and Matchmaking before the
service hits the XMB™. Others will come online as they are needed.

54.Q: Will there be additional TRCs for Home game trophies? When will
these TRCs be released?
See above.

55.Q: In terms of user's names are they exclusive and different from their
network ID. E.g. PSN account = PeterE / Home name = Tarzan123?
Your Home user name will be the same as your PSN account ID.

56.Q: Can I log on to Home in addition to someone else from one PS3? E.g.
at my friends and I want to log on...
This is technically quite an advanced problem. It effectively means logging in
to two PSN accounts at the same time from one machine, which makes it
unlikely.

57.Q: How will I navigate between spaces?
Within Home you can travel instantly (i.e. through the world map), or at your
own pace on foot.

58.Q: How will the age restrictions work? Will I be able to see different
content in the generic lobby depending on my age?
Home employs the same age restriction policies as the PS3 system software
and the PLAYSTATION Network. These age restrictions will apply to both the
areas that users are admitted to and the content that they are able to view.

59.Q: When I jump back from a game into Home, will I return with the same
people next to me? Will I return to a default location?
Upon returning to Home, you will land in the same place which was your last
position before you left (for instance, if you left Home from your apartment,
that is where you will return to.) However, given that Home is an online world,
other users will doubtless have moved on while you are off doing something
else (unless you've specifically asked them to wait for you.) Currently Home
is not a persistent world, so when you leave Home, all of your possessions go
with you. For instance, it is not currently possible for other users to visit your
apartment while you're not there. We are working on the persistent aspect of
Home, and expect to implement it in the long term.

60.Q: Can I get media for my apartment from other devices such as PC?
Not yet; we are working on enabling this feature which is contingent upon
firmware functionality.

Credit : psu.com

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21.Q: When can IP holders have / manage their own Home Spaces?
We would like to engage with interested IP and content rights holders
immediately. If you are an interested non-games company or IP holder,
please register your interest with us at http://home.scedev.net . An
appropriate representative will follow up your enquiry.

22.Q: What support will SCE give to 3rd Parties?
Support to publishers and developers with existing licence agreements will be
provided by the Third Party Relations groups within each region. If you are a
non-game content provider or do not have a license agreement, please visit
http://home.scedev.net where you will find more information and an
application to register your interest.

23.Q: Who should our developers call for support?
Registered developers should request information through their existing
support relationships. Information will be available on http://home.scedev.net/

24.Q: Who will run Home?
SCE has created a Home Platform Group that will provide the technology,
strategic direction and support to each of the SCE regional headquarters.

25.Q: Home looks so great – how do publishers ensure that users continue
to play their games rather than spending all their time in Home?
There is a huge scope for publishers and developers to promote their current
and future IPs - as well as exploiting their back-catalogue. For example, it will
be possible to develop small demo-areas within Home that promote new titles,
or to re-publish an old IP as mini-game within their Home Space.

26.Q: Is Home just a platform for SCE-published games?
Absolutely not. Home will not be a success without broad support and
adoption by our Publishing and Development partners and indeed from nongame
companies and services.

27.Q: Is Home a PS3 specific service? Will users be able to access Home
through other devices?
Initially Home will only be accessible via that PLAYSTATION®3, although
over time our intention is to enable users to interface certain Home features
and services via other networked devices such as PlayStation®Portable
(PSP®) and mobile phones.

28.Q: Can I launch and watch a BD movie from within Home?
Launch, yes. Watch, no. (This means you would leave Home to watch the
BD™.)

29.Q: What is the business model?
The proposed business model for Home is still under review and we'll
announce the details in due course.

30.Q: How will publishers make money from it?
Initially we predict that the primary areas for generating revenues will come
from the following areas:
- Content purchases (e.g. avatar clothing and accessories)
- Advertising
- Content Auctions

31.Q: What will be the upfront investment and development costs be for me
as a Home content provider?
The tools and technology required to build and maintain a presence on the
Home Platform are being designed to enable fast and efficient development,
and use industry-standard processes and techniques. The resources required
are surprisingly low and entirely scaleable.

32.Q: How will businesses be able to promote their products?
The possibilities for promotion and advertising of products and services within
Home Spaces are virtually limitless. Given the initial broad set of functions
and features the possibilities are limited only by creative vision. As the native
features of Home will be continually growing, the creative possibilities will
grow also. The Home Platform Team will also take feature requests to support
our partners in their creative endeavours.

33.Q: Will we be able to sell products (other than Home assets) online?
Eventually Home will not only support the merchandising of virtual assets, but
also will provide cross-promotional opportunities for selling physical goods
online.

34.Q: Could publishers sell tutorials to their games through Home?
Yes, the commercial services and features that publishers and developers will
be able to support is extremely broad. Further discussion of specific content
ideas that you may have, please consult with your 3rd Party Account Manager
or register your interest in the Home platform at http://home.scedev.net/

35.Q: What tools will be available for creating content, and when will they
be available?
The Home Platform Group will be providing a roadmap for the deployment
and content of Home Tools. Over time the Tools package will develop into a
comprehensive set of enabling technologies that we can provide to our
partners to assist them with their Home Platform content creation.

36.Q: Can we reserve a number of seats for the closed & open betas?
Yes, please liaise with your 3rd Party Account Manager and request the
number of seats that your company requires. If you do not have a TMLA,
please register your interest at http://home.scedev.net and an appropriate
Home Platform representative will contact you shortly.

37.Q: Will it be possible to have territory based promotions for regional
content?
Yes, although Home is a global platform there are regional Home Spaces that
users within each regional area will access by default (based upon their
registration details). There is no restriction on where a user can go from their
default starting location (other than any content age restrictions). Because
there are regional Home spaces, each region will operate its own promotional
events and activities.

38.Q: How large is the download?
We're aiming for the initial download to be under 500MB. Subsequent
downloads will hopefully integrate a streaming method that makes them
negligible.

39.Q: How do users find friends and spaces within Home?
There is an integrated PSN Friends list, and search functionality for spaces.

40.Q: How many friends can I have?
As many as the PSN friends list allows, which is currently 50।

Credit : psu.com

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1.Q: What is Home™?
Home™ is a real-time 3D, networked community that serves as a meeting
place for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) users from around the world, where they
can interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share content and even
build and show off their own personal spaces. Home will be available as a
free download from the PLAYSTATION®Store and will launch directly from
the PS3 XMB™ (XrossMediaBar).

2.Q: What is the target demographic of Home users?
Home is for everybody. It is a global platform and the aim is to populate it with
a broad and rich content experience, the diversity of which will create a broad
and diverse community of users.

3.Q: How do consumers use it?
For the user, Home is a new experience in social networking. It’s a way to
meet new friends online, or hang out with old friends and family. It’s also a
rich media experience outside of the fundamental game-based activities on
PS3. It will reside on the XMB between Game and Network.

4.Q: What features does it have?
Communication between users, creation and customisation of your own
personal avatar, creation and customisation of your own personal space.
Ability to share media with friends, and to experience media from publishers.
Users will be able to benefit from game matchmaking, search facilities,
seamless transition between game and Home.

5.Q: What is the timeline for rollout?
Closed Beta (appx. 15,000 users): April - August
Open Beta (appx. 50,000 users): August - October
Service Live (50,000+): October

6.Q: What is the function of the Central Lounge?
The lobby is the central meeting place where you can meet new friends or
arrange to meet old friends, before transferring to a private meeting place.
The current maximum of concurrent users in a lobby is 64. But a multitude of
lobbies can be active at any time to accommodate all users.

7.Q: What other lobbies will exist within Home?
Over time Home will expand to include many different locations. It is our
intention that ultimately anyone can create a Home Space, be they a
publisher, a developer or a Non-game Company.

8.Q: What is the Hall of Fame?
The trophy room is a Home Space where users are able to display their
gaming accomplishments.

9.Q: How do I win Trophies?
Players will be able to win Home Trophies when they play games that support
the Home Trophy system. publishers and developers will be able to support
Trophies by building them into their games' architecture. Further information
on how to develop trophies within games will be available soon.

10.Q: What content will users be able to purchase from within Home?
Over time the range of content available to users will expand dramatically. If
you consider Home to be a simulacra of the real world then most goods and
services found within the real world could theoretically be replicated within
Home. Initially all commercial transaction will be via the
PLAYSTATION®Network (PSN) Store. Eventually users will be able to
transact within the Home environment.

11.Q: Will I be able to attend ticketed (paid-for) special events?
Yes, in time Home will play host to many types of event. Bespoke events such
as exclusive game previews and developer interviews will be organised by
Home and its affiliated content providers. Live events such as sports and
concerts may also be broadcast within Home.

12.Q: Can Home users win non-purchased prizes and items?
Yes, it will be possible to give prizes to users.
Q: Will all billing have to be via Sony Wallet?
Yes, all transactions will use the Sony Wallet system within the PSN Store,
although ultimately transactions will be possible without leaving Home.

13.Q: Can users share their favourite bookmarked Home Spaces with one
another?
Currently there isn't a way to do this, but this is a feature that we'd like to
implement in the future.

14.Q: When can users have / manage their own spaces?
Every user has a private apartment space that users can modify and change
over time. The basic apartment is free and will offer users lots of options for
customization and personalization. In the future we will provide tools that will
enable users to have an even greater ability to create their own Home spaces
and content.

15.Q: Is Home a commercial environment?
Home is primarily a platform for social interaction and the intention is not to
create a space for purely conducting ecommerce. Home prioritises community
and entertainment over ecommerce. That said, we believe that there will be
ample opportunities for businesses and individuals alike to generate
significant revenues from the Home platform.

16.Q: When can I start to develop for Home?
You can register your interest to develop for the Home platform immediately
at http://home.scedev.net/

17.Q: Who should I contact about developing for Home?
If you are an existing licence holder you should channel requests for
information through your existing 3rd Party Account Manager. If you do not
have a license agreement, please visit http://home.scedev.net where you will
find more information and an application to register your interest.

18.Q: I don’t have an existing PlayStation® licence agreement – how can
get involved in developing content for Home?
See above.

19.Q: I’m an IP / content holder / aggregator – how can I get involved in
Home?
See above.

20.Q: How soon can publishers and developers have and manage their own
spaces?
We would like to engage with interested publishers and developers
immediately. If you an existing licence holder you should channel requests for
information through your existing 3rd Party Account Manager. If you do not
have a licence agreement, please visit http://home.scedev.net where you will
find more information and an application to register your interest.

Source : psu.com/


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Find out what happens when you upgrade your PS3 hard disk।
by Anoop Gantayat

Japan's Impress Watch media site took delivery of a retail PS3 unit today, and quickly began putting it to various tests. It took the system apart , confirming that every PS3 does indeed include the PS2's Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer combo chip as an assist for backwards compatibility। More importantly, at least if you're interested in saving some cash, the site conducted a hard disk test to see what happens when you put a new hard disk into the system.

According to Impress, the 20 Gig PS3 includes a Seagate LD25।1 hard disk running at 5,400rpm and with a cache of 2 megabytes. The 60 Gig PS3 has a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 running at 5,400rpm with a cache of 8 megabytes. The site investigated what would happen when you replace the hard drive with a Seagate 7200.1 series 100 gigabyte hard disk running at 7,200rpm and with 8 megabytes cache. This hard disk was purchased at a standard PC parts shop in Akihabara for the equivalent of around 180 dollars.

You'd expect a faster hard disk to speed up the transfer of game content from the Blu-ray disk during game installation। But that's not the case. The three hard disks took approximately the same amount of time to install Ridge Racer 7 (9 minutes, 45 seconds) and Gundam (8 minutes, 13 seconds). The site speculates that the bottleneck during the install is reading from the Blu-ray disc rather than writing to the hard disk.

There also isn't that much difference when playing games that have been installed। Impress reports hardly any difference between the three hard disks when going from Ridge Racer 7's stage select to the start of a stage.

Finally, the site put one more PS3 multimedia feature to the test। It transferred a large amount of data from compact flash to the hard disks in order to compare write speeds. The 20 gigabyte hard disk performed the worst, taking 4 minutes 56 seconds for the transfer. The 60 Gig and 100 Gig hard disks took 4 minutes 28 seconds. It appears that the cache size of the latter models is more important than the speed jump to 7,200 rpm for the new 100 Gig hard disk.

As its final judgment, Impress recommends that, for now at least, users should avoid a 7,200 rpm drive due to cost and potential heat concerns। Instead, the emphasis should be placed on hard disk size and cache size.

Source: au.ps3.ign.com

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Legendary Lyricists Bust Rhymes, Skulls in Def Jam®: ICON™
By Matt Lachlan

As hip-hop fans know, every MC worth their weight in iced-down pinky rings and oversized gold chains is quick to spit game about "platinum hits."

Nonetheless, something tells us hyperkinetic, blinged-out one-on-one brawler Def Jam: ICON, coming this March from Electronic Arts for PLAYSTATION®3, isn't quite what they had in mind.

"We wanted to do something different," shrugs Kudo Tsunoda, general manager of EA Chicago and executive producer on the title, by way of explanation. "Being hip-hop doesn't just mean wearing your hat to the side and saying everything's all 'dope' or 'wack.' It's about doing what you do to the utmost and showing off your own style and flair – something most developers fail to take into account."

The solution, according to his team, also responsible for the critically-acclaimed EA Sports™ FIGHT NIGHT series: Build a unique fighting game where environments literally bounce and pulsate to the thundering bass of chart-topping background beats. And, of course, reward players for executing head-snapping techniques in time to the sounds of speaker-rattling joints like Ghostface Killah's "The Champ" or Paul Wall's "Sittin' Sidewayz," letting them more effectively maim opponents by mastering move timing – not simply mashing buttons.

Artists themselves are further placed at the heart of the action, with 25 playable lyricists like TI, The Game and Bun B offered from a roster of 38 total licensed characters. Heads can even look for a special cameo by label founder Russell Simmons. "The vast majority of games just pay hip-hop lip service," says Tsunoda. "We wanted to put the focus back on its most famed musicians and personalities, as well as positive elements of the culture (e.g. the music, clothes, lifestyle, etc.) as best we could within the given framework."

No surprise then: Customizable soundtra

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So, the Playstation 3 is about to arrive in Europe , bringing with it mass debate from Japan and America over weither or not it lives up to its hype। Much like the PS1 and PS2 then I suppose?

Sony has taken mass criticial intake from gamers and game journalists alike over the past few months, with regards to price, blu-ray, motion sensor controls, the power of the console, basically everything that the console has, has been either criticised or from certain people praised। The price is the reason I see for it getting so much stabbing, it is expensive (£425!) here in England without a game is a lot for a working man/woman to fork out on something that doesnt include a game. In fact its close to getting at the "straightjacket" stage. Even so, here in the UK, game retailers such as Play.com have reported record pre-orders for the console, outselling the Xbox 360 and Wii. Why?

Playstation is a brand that everyone knows, everyone has seen and nearly everyone has played games on। Why?

Games that have been marketed superbly and appeal to casual and hardcore alike, the ability to have gotten your product to the word of mouth stage, which is basically free marketing coming from the public on what they have bought and what their friends and family should buy। Its vital. Playstation is the Coca-Cola of gaming these days, with Nintendo and Microsoft arguing over who should be Pepsi. Some people might not agree but I think its true.

Now Playstation to me has brought me many good memories, I still remember the day I first played Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, nearly crapping my pants at the giant spider in the first Resident Evil, listening to Billie Jean while causing shit in Vice City, scoring a wonderful free kick for the first time on Pro Evolution Soccer, I could go on। Playstation has brought me very good game memories, none like I have had since the SNES days (well, maybe apart from seeing Gears of War for the first time in person) and for me, the examples given are the reason you should never under estimate the power of Playstation. It has given birth to so many good games that Bill Gates would give most of his bank balance to have that kind of reputation and history when it comes to the Xbox.

I am no Sony fanboy though, I love all three gaming companies' consoles, I own a 360 at the moment and I am very pleased with it and the Wii but for those writing Sony off, you should not, they have given birth to so many new top selling and critically acclaimed game franchises in the past and they can do it again, that is the real power of Playstation, not Cell, not three cores , RSX etc, its the games themselves।

I hope they do because at the end of the day it will be great for us gamers who are fanboy of games, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft , all three will provide us with wonderful experiences over the next few years, its very exciting times indeed।

Credit : n4g.com

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This should make every single PS3 fan proud and happy. Over at North Carolina State University, Computer Science Associate Professor Dr. Frank Mueller has built a supercomputing academic cluster using eight PlayStation 3 consoles. Being the first of its kind in the world, the set up costs around US$ 5,000 and is capable of high-performance computing. Mueller explained though that clusters is not an entirely new concept in the computing world. Prominent businesses that use such setups include online site Google, the stock market, automotive design companies, and even scientists themselves। The professor remarked,

Scientific computing is just number crunching, which the PS3s are very good at given the Cell processor and deploying them in a cluster. Right now one limitation is the 512 megabyte RAM memory constraint, but it might be possible to retrofit more RAM. We just haven't cracked the case and explored that option yet.
Just so you guys have an idea how powerful the PS3 cluster is, take note that there is actually a list of the top 500 fastest computers in the world। The fastest is BlueGene/L, with more than 130,000 processors, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The setup designed by Mueller doesn't break into the top 500 though। But quite interestingly, the professor added that with approximately 10,000 PS3 machines, anyone could create the fastest computer in the world. Lastly, Mueller shared that they will be exploring ways on how to fully use this setup:

Here at NC State, we will use it for educational purposes and for research। We are working with scientists to determine the needs and how our cluster can be used to their benefit, and our computer science faculty is already using the cluster to teach classes in operating systems, with parallel systems, compilers and gaming likely to follow.

Credit : ps3.qj.net
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The next generation.

E3, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, proved a particularly significant event this year, with the emphasis squarely on the next generation of console hardware. As soon as Microsoft had revealed the Xbox 360, Sony stepped up to introduce PlayStation 3 – a machine that spec-wise seemed to trump their competitor's machine. Sony are claiming that the PS3 is 35 times more powerful than the PS2. Crucially, it seems to be twice as powerful as the 360. It also has superior graphics capabilities, seemingly twice those of current high-end PCs. But will people have the high-definition tellies to take advantage of this, even in a few years?

Some commentators have suggested the PS3 and the 360 can't even be considered to be the same generation. But then the strict notion of console hardware coming in clearcut generations is misleading these days. What gen was the Dreamcast? Were PS2 and Xbox literally in the game gen? While Sony's market leader has been looking tired for a couple of years now, Microsoft's continues to prove its superiority. Just compare recent first-person shooters like Cold Winter, and Pariah on Xbox. All are fairly average games, but the Xbox title has a whole different graphic quality and feel.

Anyway, so much of the information we're getting at this point about the PS3 and the 360 is bluff and bluster. But, to continue using FPS examples, there's no denying how impressive the Killzone 2 trailer looks. It reportedly brought about a wowed reaction at E3 – something not achieved by any of the 360 footage (much of which looks cool – Need For Speed Most Wanted, yet another Final Fantasy XI – but didn't feel truly next gen. Plus, is the footage even from a 360, or actually from an Apple G5 at this point?).

Microsoft intends to relieve Sony of some of the spotlight on the launch of PS3 (mooted for next spring) by releasing Halo 3 at the same time. In a Time magazine story, Bill Gates says, “It's perfect. The day Sony launches [the PS3] they walk right into Halo 3.” Halo 3's important, even if the dates don't literally coincide, as Halo 2 alone sold more than 6.5 million copies and is central to the expansion of Xbox Live, the game being credited with increasing the number of subscribers from around 750,000 to more than 1.5 million. Even though Sony finally look like they're coming up with an online strategy for PS3, Microsoft have already proven themselves in this area. It's a factor that might just give them some favour in the upcoming console wars.

Credit : bbc.co.uk
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Cell inside

When final specs were released for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, not surprisingly, there was a big debate over which system was technically more powerful. The 360 uses more off-the-shelf PC components while The PlayStation 3's 3.2GHz Cell processor was built from the ground up just for the PS3. It consists of a single PowerPC-based core with seven synergistic processing units and is the result of a joint effort between IBM, Sony, and Toshiba, which is ironic, considering that Sony and Toshiba are in a deathmatch over Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

The key thing to know about the Cell is that it has the juice to run a new class of gameplay physics that will allow developers to create spectacular effects and eventually provide a whole new depth of realism to games. Paired with PlayStation 3's RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics-processing unit, a gargantuan 550MHz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip based on Nvidia's GeForce 7800 GTX graphics technology, and you're looking at a very high-end PC. The only problem, of course, is that it'll take developers years to learn to take full advantage of all that processing power and truly deliver on the graphical promise of the system. The same, of course, is true for the Xbox 360, but we suspect from our talks with developers that the PS3 may ultimately be declared the more powerful system. (Say what you will about increasing development times and rising costs for producing video games, but Blu-ray's 25GB to 50GB storage capacity--as opposed to 8.5GB for the Xbox 360's DVD drive--does give developers the chance to create huge games).

At the end of the day, as Microsoft learned, you can tout all the power you want, but if you can't keep your system cool--and fairly quiet--you're going to have some serious problems on your hands. What's impressive about this PS3, in fact, is that with all this power under the hood, the system runs as quietly as it does. After running for three hours straight, we found that we could still place a hand over the back of the unit and not get scorched--the system runs pretty warm, but not blazingly hot. While the 360's tendency to overheat has been exaggerated, its cooling fan and DVD drive are comparatively far noisier, sometimes to the point of distraction

Play time The first thing we should be clear on is that for your $600, you don't actually get any games (the first round of systems will ship with a Blu-Ray movie, Talledega Nights). There's also only a single controller. With our review unit, Sony sent over retail copies of Resistance: Fall of Man, a first-person shooter that's arguably the system's most impressive title and Genji, a hack-and-slasher that's garnered only average reviews. At a couple preview events, we also played several other launch titles, the majority of which are also available for the Xbox 360.

In fact, it's very hard to tell the difference between titles that are already available on the 360 and their PS3 counterparts because they're ports of the same game. Where you start to see some of the promise is in Sony's in-house titles, such as Resistance: Fall of Man and NBA 07. The latter may not measure up to 2K Sports' NBA 2K7, but the game looks impressive, with crisp graphics and smooth 60fps high-def gameplay. Formula One Championship Edition is another title that really jumps out at you graphically; the game looks really impressive but won't be out until later next year. We're also waiting to compare the PS3 versions of EA's Fight Night 3 to its Xbox 360 counterpart to see if the company was able to make any improvements.

The long and short of it is that the PS3 clearly measures up to the Xbox 360 in terms of its graphics prowess and the added dimension that the tilt controller offers, is a new twist. That said, there really isn't anything available yet that's too unique or so far beyond what the Xbox 360 offers that you think, "I gotta get this system to play that game." The reality is, as usual, you're going to have to wait for that breakout title. (Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, due in 2007, is currently getting a lot of buzz and will supposedly be a PS3 exclusive.)

Backward compatibility While you're waiting for that killer PS3 game, you can still fall back on hundreds, if not thousands, of PlayStation catalog titles. The PS3 is fully backward-compatible with nearly all PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 1 games. Just toss in a disc and the PS3 will create a virtual memory card on its hard drive to store saved games and preferences. We had no trouble running PS2 titles such as Shadow of the Colossus and Star Wars Starfigher. While we expect that a handful of older titles won't run on the PS3, Sony deserves kudos for near-universal backward compatibility. By comparison, Xbox 360 support for Xbox1 titles is limited to a set list of games with emulation profiles (Microsoft updates the list periodically, but it's still limited to less than half the number of the games available for the older console). Nintendo does better with the Wii: it plays all GameCube game discs.

Hardware and accessory compatibility is a mixed bag. You can't connect PS2 controllers to the PS3 because the new console lacks the older controller port, but because the PS3 control design is nearly identical, your older games will play just fine. Likewise, games that utilize any unique accessories that must plug into the PS2-style control port--such as Guitar Hero's mighty ax--won't work on the PS3. But USB accessories--such as the EyeToy--should be good to go. Have some old God of War saved games that you just can't part with? Invest $15 in a special card reader, and you can transfer any games from your PS2 memory cards to the PS3's hard drive.

Movie watching Before we got our hands on a retail unit, we'd been able to spend some time previewing the system, and while we had a pretty good picture of what it can do in terms of gaming and multimedia functionality, we hadn't been able to test it as a Blu-ray player. Sony, of course, is taking a big risk by attempting to go out with a new system that not only features a new processor but a new, unproven optical drive format. The company is making a heavy bet on the PS3 as a game machine, but it's also staking its Blu-ray fortunes on the system as well, and we were most curious to see how it delivered as a Blu-ray player.

Because we were more familiar watching Mission: Impossible III on the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player, we decided to do our testing using that disc rather than Talledega Nights. Watching on one of the finest large-screen TVs available, the 60-inch Sony KDS-R60XBR2, we watched several scenes from the movie on the Samsung first, then switched over to the PS3. In case you're wondering, load times for the disc were essentially identical at 40 seconds on each player (we hit stop on our stopwatch when a picture appeared on the screen). That isn't terrible, but this is obviously an area where Sony can make some improvements down the road with a next-generation drive that's faster.

As for the picture, it was quite comparable to what we saw on the Samsung, and navigating the disc was a fairly zippy process. In other words, at first glance, the PS3 seems to stack up fairly well against Blu-ray players costing nearly twice as much ($1,000), which may obviate the need for those players to actually exist.

Furthermore, the PS3 is the first A/V device to hit the market to utilize the HDMI 1.3 specification. That doesn't mean much now--there's no corresponding HDMI 1.3 products to connect it to. But in the future--2007 and beyond--that should enable to PS3 to pass HD video and next-gen surround-sound audio (such as Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD) to compatible A/V receivers via a single HDMI cable. In the meantime, the PS3, like other Blu-ray and HD-DVD players, can pass 1080p HD video and uncompressed LPCM surround soundtracks to compatible A/V receivers and TVs.

If we had one complaint with the PS3, it was that it didn't upscale standard DVDs to HD resolutions, a feature that's standard on other Blu-ray and HD-DVD players. Instead, they default to 480p (progressive-scan). But that's hardly a deal-breaker, especially when you consider the competition: the Xbox 360 requires a clunky add-on drive to play HD-DVD movies (though downloadable high-def movies will soon be available via Xbox Live), and the Nintendo Wii doesn't play back movie discs of any type.

Accessing Blu-ray and DVD menus with the PS3 controller is functional, if awkward. Unfortunately, you won't be able to program a standard universal remote to control your PS3--it lacks an infrared port, so it needs to receive commands via Bluetooth. Not coincidentally, Sony offers a Bluetooth compatible remote for $25.

Conclusion Though not with out a few minor drawbacks--and we'll probably find a few more as we continue testing the system--the PS3 is a versatile and impressive piece of home entertainment equipment that lives up to the hype. As usual, the launch titles don't do all that much to sell the system, but that should start to change within the next six months as more impressive titles come to market. Whether you buy the PS3 today or whenever it becomes available in quantity, you can be sure you'll feel that you got your money's worth--from a gaming and a multimedia perspective.

Editors note: We are continuing to perform ongoing tests on the PlayStation 3's gameplay, online functionality, Blu-ray player, and media compatibility, and will update this review accordingly.

Copyright ©1995-2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Controller makeover

The single controller that comes with the PS3 is very similar looking to the traditional PlayStation 2 Dual Shock gamepad, but there are some notable differences। For starters, it's wireless. You can connect as many as seven (!) controllers via the system's built-in Bluetooth, which Sony's claims offers a 20-meter range (about 65 feet). Recharging the built-in battery simply requires connecting the included USB cable between the console and the controller. You can continue to play as the battery juices up (Sony pledges 30 hours of gameplay between charges), but the cable's somewhat short 5-foot length will put you right on top of the TV. That said, the controller has a standard mini-USB port similar to the one found on many digital cameras and PC peripherals, so swapping in a longer cable--or using a USB extender--shouldn't be a problem.) Unfortunately, the battery isn't removable, which means that if it dies--as inevitably it will someday--you'll have to replace the entire controller ($50) if you want to play wirelessly. By comparison, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii controllers offer user-replaceable batteries: AAs or proprietary rechargeables for the 360, and AAs for the Wii.

As for the controller's design, Sony has made a few tweaks। The L2 and R2 trigger buttons are a bit bigger, and the increased depth in stroke offers players more subtle game control. Sony has also increased the tilting angle of the analog joysticks to give you more precise control and a wider range of motion. Those analog sticks are more sensitive as well. The PS2's Dual Shock controller had 8-bit sensitivity, while the PS3's controller has 10-bit motion detection. The big omission is force feedback support: the PS3 controller offers no vibration or rumble control, which is a bit of a bummer.
However, you do get something called SixAxis motion sensing, which means the controller's capable of sensing motion in six directions: up, down, left, right, forward, and backward। Game developers have incorporated it many of the new games in one form or another. For example, in 2K Sports' NHL 2K7, a quick thrust of the controller makes your defensive player perform a check. In Tony Hawk's Project 8, you can steer your skater and control his movements by tilting the controller from side to side and forward and back. Sony's NBA '07 also makes interesting use of the tilt feature, allowing you to control a player's moves and jukes on offense.

To be sure, some implementations of the tilt sensitivity are better than others। Furthermore, it's unclear if all the games that utilize motion sensitivity will require it--some are optional and can be switched off, and we could certainly see some folks not wanting to bother with them at all. Clearly, Sony wanted to steal some of Nintendo's thunder, and there's no denying that the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers are more central to that console's DNA. The Wii controllers are also more sophisticated, including the ability to measure actual motion (spatial movement) and acceleration, rather than just tilting--but unlike the Wii, the PS3 doesn't require a motion-sensor bar in front of the TV. (The current Xbox 360 controllers offer no motion sensitivity at all.) It's safe to say we'll see more innovative uses of the tilting sensitivity feature in future games--it definitely added an extra level of control when flying the eponymous attack vehicle in Warhawk (we played an early build at E3 2006, but the game isn't due until sometime in 2007).

Unlike the PS2 controller, the SixAxis controller has a centered Home button, which functions much like its counterpart on the Xbox 360 controller। You use it to return to the console's main menu screen, as well as to sync the controller to the console and start it up or shut it down wirelessly.

Familiar interface If you own a Sony PSP, you'll immediately notice the similarities between the PS3's interface and the PSP's cross media bar-style GUI (graphical user interface)। You navigate horizontally through top-level selection categories such as users, system settings, and media options such as photos, music, videos, games, network, and friends. When you select a top-level category, a vertical list of sub options appears, and you can navigate down that list until you find the option you want. The interface is polished and generally user-friendly, but you do have to drill down a few levels to reach certain features, and getting to some functions isn't quite as intuitive as it should be. Still, the overall design is slick enough to be called Mac-like, and--at least from an aesthetic standpoint--is more appealing than the Xbox 360's Dashboard and Nintendo Wii's Channels interfaces.

Digital media hub The PS3's media features are extensive--enough so that the console could be a worthwhile purchase even for people who never deign to even fire up a game। For starters, the PlayStation 3 hits the shelves as the most affordable Blu-ray player you can buy--merely half the price of $1,000 to $1,300 models from the likes of Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, and--ironically--Sony. Before we delve into the PS3's HD movie prowess (see "movie watching," below), let's take a holistic look at the console's multimedia functionality.

In addition to the built-in memory card reader on the 60GB model (we applaud Sony for not subjecting us to a Memory Stick-only environment), the PS3 can read digital photos from a variety of USB-attached devices, including most digital cameras, the PSP, USB flash drives, and home-burned CD-Rs। (One caveat: the images may need to be placed in a special directory, such as DCIM or Picture, if they're not already there.) A few different slide show styles are available, including a unique "photo album" view that splays the images across a white work surface as if you'd dumped them there and spread them out. When stored internally on the hard drive (copying back and forth is easy), photos appear rapidly, and in the basic slide-show mode, you can advance your slides forward by simply pressing on the top-right shoulder button (the left shoulder takes you back a slide). Most JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and PNG images should work just fine. By contrast, the Xbox 360 lacks both an internal media reader and the impressive photo album viewer, and the Wii--while including some cool and fun photo-viewing and manipulation functionality--includes only a built-in SD card reader.

As for music, the PS3 supports most of the major music-file types, including MP3, ATRAC, AAC, and WAV, and like the Xbox 360, has a built-in music visualizer। As with the photos, you can import songs from a flash memory card or a USB thumbdrive--again, you'll have to create a special Music folder--or rip songs directly to the hard drive from a CD. (Yes, unlike some Blu-ray players on the market, the PS3 can actually recognize and play CDs). While the PS3 even plays Sony's increasingly obscure SACD discs, it cannot play back music from attached iPods, nor can it stream from other music players that incorporate copy-protected music formats. Here, the 360 has a leg-up: it offers some iPod compatibility, and it can play back WMA music files as well.

On the video front, the PS3 plays Blu-ray discs in full high-definition as well as DVD movies। It also supports MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4/h.264 video files from flash, USB, or disc-based media (reading from the "video" directory). If you transfer the videos to the PS3's hard drive, thumbnails on the video menu are shown as 15-second video clips, rather than just as still images of the first frame of the video. You currently can't stream files from your PC or over your LAN (local area network), but you can stream video from your PS3 to your PSP using the PS3's Remote Play feature. Sony hasn't yet provided for a way to convert videos you might download from its PlayStation Store to a portable size that can be automatically be transferred to your PSP. But we've been told to expect tighter--and better--integration with the PSP both offline and online in the future.

Sony's version of Web TV Taking a page out of the PSP's book, the PS3 also has a built-in Web browser, but the nice thing about the PS3 is that if you connect a USB keyboard, you don't have to type in URL addresses using the system's tedious virtual keyboard। Likewise, a USB mouse lets you point and click your way through a Web page, just as if you were on a PC. The system will eventually allow you to pair the PS3 with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, which is probably the ideal setup for living-room use. It's unclear whether all Bluetooth keyboards, past and present, will be compatible, but Sony assures us that many will. (We were able to pair a Plantronics Discovery 655 cellphone headset with no issues, so the Bluetooth function definitely works for third-party products.)

The browser appears to be pretty robust with the requisite Flash support, and it certainly is a nice convenience for those who to browse from their living room couch। That said, the sharpness of Web pages' appearance--and how readable they are-will depend on the quality of your TV and its size. For example, viewing Web pages on a 60-inch DLP set is going to be more of a challenge than say, looking at those same pages over a 20-inch computer monitor. And viewing Web pages on anything less than an HDTV at full resolution (720p, 1080i, or 1080p) will be decidedly eye-straining.

The PlayStation Network As of this writing, Sony hasn't turned on its PlayStation Network, so we can't say a whole lot about it other than it will be similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, including typical online gaming features along with community and messaging, as well as voice and video chat further down the road। Xbox Live Silver, Microsoft's free entry-level service, gives you access to some community options but to play online multiplayer games, you have to upgrade to Xbox Live Gold service, which runs $50 per year.

The promise of free online play is obviously a big plus in Sony's favor। That said, Xbox Live has been around for years and has had time to mature, and the majority of Xbox 360 games offer some form of online play. Not all of the initial PS3 titles will offer head-to-head online gameplay, but expect at least some online showcases: Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man is designed to handle online fragfests with as many as 32 players per match. (Nintendo will also offer free online play and communications for the Wii, as it does on the DS, but none of the initial Wii titles feature head-to-head online gameplay.)

Microsoft has its Xbox Live Marketplace, where you can download games, demos, video content--including, as of November 22, full-length movies and TV shows in high-definition--as well as game themes and additional game content। The PlayStation Store will offer similar options and functionality but it will most probably take several months to flush out and reach a level of richness approaching that of Xbox Live.

Also, keep in mind that despite the PS3 online play being ostensibly free, Sony and its third-party publishers--just like Microsoft and Nintendo--will be aggressively pushing "micropayment" transactions (additional levels, in-game extras, retro games, and other goodies) that will cost users. Instead of the points-based payment system found on Microsoft and Nintendo's networks, Sony says it will stick to dollars and cents--users can simply transfer cash to their PlayStation 3 Wallet via credit card or with prepaid gift cards. (International locations will likewise be denominated in their home currency--yen, euros, pounds sterling, Canadian dollars, and so forth.)


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Design: back in black

Sony has been showing off prototypes of the PS3 for the last 18 months, and though the exact dimensions of the final unit were in doubt, the PS3's general shape and glossy finish have been set in stone for a while। Though it's been overshadowed in recent years by Apple's leading-edge MP3 players and computers, the PS3's sexy shape and futuristic look is ample evidence that the company's renowned design standards are alive and well. One look at its glossy exterior and touch-sensitive power and eject buttons on its face, and you can see why it might cost what it does.

Like the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, the PS3 can stand vertically or lie horizontally in an A/V rack, though because of its curved top, it's not meant to have any other components resting on top of it. We saw early prototypes in white and silver colors, but at launch, the PS3 will be available only in black--the 20GB version is all black, the 60GB version is highlighted with a chrome trim--and there's no way to customize its look as you can with Xbox 360's interchangeable, if overpriced, faceplates। Judging from Sony's recent decision to bring out the PSP in more colors, we don't expect the company to stick to the black-only option for too long, especially since this system, like the PSP, is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. If you handle it at all, you'll end up having to wipe it off, so you'll probably just want to stick it in a rack and leave it there.

As for its dimensions, the PS3 measures 12।8 x 3.8 x 10.8 inches (WHL), which is roughly in line with the overall volume of the Xbox 360. That said, the PS3 does weigh a bit more--11 pounds to the 360's 9.9 pounds including power supply--so if you're going by heft alone, you're getting almost 10 percent more console. Most impressively, there's no external power supply for the PS3; you just plug the included power cable--it's the same standard 3-prong style you'll find on most desktop PCs--into the back of the unit and you're good to go. For those of us who own an Xbox 360, and have had to struggle with its massive brick of a power supply, this seems like a remarkable feat on Sony's part.

One obvious difference between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 is the way you load media। As opposed to the more typical tray loader, the PS3 has a front-slot-loading, Blu-ray optical-disc drive, which contributes to the unit's slicker appearance. Discs slide in and eject smoothly enough, so chalk one up for the PS3 here (how the mechanism wears over time, we can't say--but the odds of snapping off or damaging the Xbox 360's disc tray aren't exactly negligible).

Around back is where you'll find ports for Ethernet, HDMI output, optical digital audio output (SPDIF), and the proprietary PlayStation A/V output for analog audio and video। A composite A/V cable ships with the unit, and because it uses the same connector as the PlayStation 2, that system's S-Video and component cables should work with it as well (to get HD video, you'll need component or HDMI). That's all fine, but we would have liked to have seen at least one USB port on the back for peripherals such as a camera (the EyeToy is compatible) that spoil the PS3's otherwise clean lines by sticking obtrusively out of the front. (Early prototypes seemed to have a USB port on the back, but it hasn't made it in the final unit, which is disappointing.) On a more positive note, the internal hard drive is said to be user replaceable (there's a slot on the side of the PS3 that allows you to swap in a new hard drive). However, like the Xbox 360, the PS3 utilizes the smaller 2.5-inch SATA drive that's made for laptops. Alas, those drives are twice--or even close to three times--as expensive as the larger 3.5-inch hard drive that goes into a desktop computer.

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Story Highlights
PS3 is a versatile piece of home entertainment equipment
First games aren't a major improvement over Xbox 360
PS3 plays almost all PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 1 games
$600 PS3 is one of cheapest Blu-ray DVD players available

By David Carnoy
CNET.com

(CNET.com) -- In the gaming world, being first to market has its advantages, but it also has some downsides. With its Xbox 360, Microsoft has staked itself a year lead over archrival Sony in the next-gen gaming wars and, just as importantly, the battle for living-room dominance--these powerful minicomputers also do double duty as digital media hubs. In those 12 months, Microsoft has managed to sell several million consoles, work through some hardware glitches, upgrade the system's internal software, and bring out a full selection of accessories as well as a few signature games, including the company's own smash hit, Gears of War. But that year has also given Sony time to polish its more ambitious--and pricier--PlayStation 3.

Like the 360, the PS3 is available in two versions. Both feature the brand new Cell processor, a built-in Blu-ray player, and HDMI video output. The baseline 20GB version retails for $500, while the step-up deluxe model--reviewed here--boasts a 60GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi, a multiformat memory card reader, and silver trim for $100 more. Even though its original specs included even more features--dual HDMI output, for example--what's left is still a lot to throw into a new system, and the final product, expensive though it is, is quite impressive.

The big question, of course, is whether the PS3 is $100 to $200 better than the Xbox 360. From a pure gaming perspective, the short answer is: no, not today. As with any new gaming system, you're going to have to wait at least a year before you see game developers really start to get the most out of the PS3, and right now, there really isn't a game out there that's able to beat anything on the Xbox 360. However, in terms of design and in-the-box features, the value is here: the two versions of the PS3 are well worth their respective $500 and $600 price tags. Now, the bad news: the system will be in such short supply in the early going, you probably won't be able to get one for a while, even if you wanted to buy one. The good news is by the time you get your hands on one, Sony will have already made some improvements and added new features, and the catalog of games will have begun to be expanded.

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