PS3 Preview

Info on Play Station 3: A Preview


Playstation 3 is the video game console of the seventh generation era and the third in the series of the Playstation. PS3 is Sony’s response against Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

The launch will be done on November 2006 in the United States and Japan. In Australasia and Europe, the PS3 will be available in the market on March 2007. The delayed date of release in the Australasian and European regions has been charged to the shortage of blue-ray drive diodes.

Sony announced that the Playstation 3 will be released in two configurations. The first one is the premium version. Units with this configuration come with Blu-ray disc drive, USB ports, Wi-Fi connectivity, memory card readers, and an internal 60-Gb hard drive. The alternate version, on the other hand, has only a 20-GB internal hard drive and does not come with Wi-Fi features and memory card readers. However, the user has the option to upgrade the hard drive and connect memory card readers via adapters. The Wi-Fi feature, however, cannot be installed.

With the blu-ray drive, PS3 users can play movies and game discs. Because a blu-ray disc has a capacity of holding up 54 GB of data, users will not have to want for additional media space.

The portable hard disks provide the system with the required storage space needed for Playstation Network applications, downloads, and other files. For the games, the hard drive will also be used for saving game points.

In the United States, the expected pricing release of the 20-GB is $499 and $599 for the 60-GB. In Japan, the price lists about $430 for the 20-GB. Sony has chosen to set an open price for the Japanese retailers for the 60-GB model. Meanwhile, for the European release, the 20-GB and the 60-GB versions cost $550 ad $660, respectively. In Australian regions, the premium model will retail for $680 while the 20-GB will retail for $570.

The PS3 console is elegantly designed to feature pleasing lines and curves. The sides of the PS3 appear to expand outward, hardly enclosing the hardware in it. Moreover, the PS3 case is outlined with a highly developed cooling system to deal with the heat output released from the system power supply and the Cell processor. Many would expect that because PS3 consumes much power, the system would sound significantly noisy. But actually, the PS3 operation is remarkably quiet.

Early models of the Playstation 3 consoles were in silver, white, and black. However, the initial release will only include black. To add an extra touch of sophistication to the design, Sony made use of quality material choices. In official previews of the design, the exterior of the PS3 console looked to be opaque and glossy black. The system casing, however, appeared to be dark and partially transparent black. And with the curved shape of the console top, users will have to stack the PS3 at the topmost layer of their equipment. The PS3 console weighs 11 pounds and its dimensions measures 12.8” x 3.8” x 10.8”.

The PS3, just like the other consoles, can sit horizontally or placed vertically on common AV racks. Users of the PS3 do not have to worry about unintentionally damaging their movie or game discs while changing the position of the console.


The PlayStation 3 Saga: Information you Should be Aware Of


How do you define entertainment in the 21st century?

Gone are the days when operas, theatrical plays, and circus events were the most popular forms of entertainment. With the evolution and rapid development of technology nowadays, entertainment is now on its interactive form. 

Kids and adults alike find themselves enjoying the benefits of technology, especially on the entertainment industry. Animated and digital films as well as high-technology gadgets replaced traditional forms of entertainment. The impact of technology to the entertainment industry is evident such that it produced one of the most popular machinery of all time, especially to the younger generations of our society—the video game console.

Almost every ordinary American household owns at least a video game console. Since the Magnavox Odyssey era, video game consoles proved its worth to be one of the most popular forms of entertainment, especially to the younger generations of our society. The interesting storyline behind every game as well as the animation features are regarded to be one of the contributing factors to the success of video game consoles in the entertainment industry. 

Thus, it is not surprising that video game consoles reached its seventh generation, which began in the last quarter of 2005 with the release of Microsoft Corporation's Xbox 360. Thanks to the Big 3 of video gaming industry (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo), video game consoles are evolving fast, resulting to the production of advanced and more powerful video game consoles. 

Among the members of the seventh generation of video game consoles is Sony's PlayStation 3, which is scheduled to be released on different dates in major countries around the world. Its initial release was announced to be on November 11, 2006 in Japan, November 17 of the same year in Canada and United States, and March 2007 in Australasia and Europe. 

The third member of Sony's PlayStation series, PS3 was officially unveiled to the public during the E3 Conference on May 16, 2005. The release will involve the shipment of two configurations, as detailed in the Sony press release. The premium version of the PS3 contains an internal 60 GB hard drive, multiple flash memory card reader, wireless internet connectivity, and a brighter cosmetic silver-colored trim. On the other hand, the alternative configuration of the console comes with an internal 20 GB hard drive (which is upgradeable), yet without wireless internet connectivity as well as a memory card reader. 

According to the information announced on the PS3 press release, the video game console will have a series of title launches for its game, which are as follows:

• Madden NFL 2007;
• Full Auto 2: Battle Lines;
• Genji: Days of the Blade;
• College Hoops 2007;
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire;
• Need for Speed: Carbon;
• Ridge Racer 7;
• Sonic the Hedgehog;
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007; and 
• Tony Hawk's Project 8.

There are also title launches for other genres of PS3 games, such as for role playing (Final Fantasy XIII), action (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots), racing (Gran Turismo HD), and fighting (Virtua Fighter 5). All of these games are scheduled to be released within the last quarter of 2006 and the first half of 2007. 

If you are interested to know more facts about the PlayStation 3, related information is readily available in Sony's official website as well as video game console reviews. Read such information about this latest offering from Sony and be one of the interactive entertainment aficionados.