What is coming down the line
Tiawan, May, 2003 - the next generation console, the Playstation 3, is expected to hit the store shelves sometime in 2004.The goal of the systme is to make it about 200 times faster utilizing a new grid technology. The use of this tecnology will, in theory, make the PS3 1000 times faster than the PS 2. What will that achieve? We'll have to wait until next year to find out.
The joint effort of Sony, IBM, and Toshiba is behind the new chipset for the console. The new supercomputer chip, which is what the companies are refering to with the PS3 technology, has been in the works for about three years, and improvements are said to be made as the chipset is released and beyond. The 'grid' technology (formerly 'cell' technology), seems to be targetted sqaurely on the possibilities of internet networking. One of the applicable uses is for sahring processing and network power between consoles.
Excerpt from an IBM press release:
Code-named "Cell," the new microchips will employ the world's most advanced research technologies and chip-making techniques, including copper wires, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors and low-K dielectric insulation, with features smaller than 0.10 microns -- 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, operate at low power and access the broadband Internet at ultra high speeds. Cell will be designed to deliver "teraflops" of processing power.
But that isn't all.
Sony is considering not even using the new memory structure, DDR-II, for it's console. The memory output for the console, or at least what Sony is expecting, isn't even in the works yet.
Where the consoles really count, as far as the attraction for the consumer, is the graphics. While in the past consoles have gone with GPUs, it seems Sony wants to take it a little different. The Playstation 3, as well as other applications that will use the Cell, will take advantage of the CPU's "self healing" capability. "Self-healing computers will be programmed not to go down," Doherty said. "Bus and processor areas are automatically corrected using a new meshed era redundancy technology." The Cell's compression engine, for example, will use a multi-processor engine to reconstruct missing pixels or other missing features due to glitches in a streaming PS3 game or video.
If Sony's aspirations succeed, then the Playstation 3 will not be a pure video game console, but rather measure the amount of milk left in the fridge, record TV programs to hard-disk, automatically download new software, perform Tera-flop operations and a variety of other things. In short, if one can automate, computerize, network or electrify a process, then the PS3 should be able to take on the task.
Today, a system like this sounds futuristic. A super-console, replacing TV, computer, game console and complete home electronics system in one wont be cheap. Rumors are making rounds that the PS3 will be sold in two versions, one that is the do-all Playstation 3 version with all the bells and whistles (perhaps including laying golden eggs as well?) and one that is, yikes(!), just a pure video game console.
Either way, the Playstation3 is still long away, and it may well be possible that the "super-do-it-all" version is eventually marketed under a different name. May we suggest Superstation? Or... Homestation? Here at psreporter.com, while not technophobic or fearing the future, we would feel more comfortable with a PS3 that does only one thing, but very well... to provide us with great video game experiences.
It is interesting that the Sony Entertainment Group wants to do what the developers of the Xbox wanted to do, and that is make the console into a all around entertainment system. Already both consoles, the PS2 and the Xbox, are more than your average videogame console, especially since they both have storage and DVD playing capabilities. Of cours,e the Xbox and what it will become will also get a article and see where it is heading. But, for now, we are still on the PS3. Something so powerful, does it need to go into a videogame console? Why not. The console gaming market is quite a fresh market, bringing in billions of dollars a year. The idea to make it a all-in-one entertainment system is not a new idea, but one that might catch on. Imagine adapting a web TV idea for your console for web surfing, a DVD player for the family, a TIVO functioning box for recording, a high-quality stereo component for gatherings...you name it. This is the way that the video game systems are evolving. Hell, if a fridge can tell you you are low on milk, why can't the gaming console be the middle of your media world?