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Never mind the "technical protection measure". There's enough precedent alone for an appeal...

I think for the most part the analysts are lying when they say Microsoft or Sony is losing hundreds of dollars on each console. When you look into all these pricings, they generally including costs that are comparable to retail.

Not to mention that when you look at this article:
      http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/167
It claimed a $100 loss if Sony sold at $500. But the retail is closer to $600 suggesting at worst Sony is breaking even.

But then you look at this article:
        http://news.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029682,492853 30,00.htm
Which suggests at $600 Sony is losing $240.

I say it's all nonsense. I think Sony & Microsoft like this analysis of pricing because people lap it up and think "Oh gee, for $600, I'm getting something worth almost twice as much! What a deal!". It plays on greed.

The only people who know how much the console makes (or doesn't make) aren't saying. Everybody else is talking out of their ass. Everybody.

Warning: common sense detected - Please report to the nearest Anti-Sony bandwagon and jump on immediately!

Who cares that it's "UK news sources, citing retail contacts" with no actual proof and an already previous denial by Sony? http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/159

Hating Microsoft is so last year. We hate Sony now and all references to them are now spelled "$ony". Didn't you get the memo?

1. Is it about Sony?
2. Does it make Sony look bad?

I bet if IBM and Sony had decided to go with six SPEs per Cell rather than eight, and cut the die down in size, they wouldn't be having these problems.

Speaking purely from public knowledge...

They are actually only using 7 of the 8 SPEs per chip to add greater fault tolerance.

I'm guessing that the yields work out dramatically better this way than with simply 6 SPEs per chip. If you think about it - say half the silicon is used by the main processor and parts other than the SPEs and then the other half is used to make up the 8 SPEs... 6SPEs means you drop total die size by 12.5%. Assuming an average chip has one flaw, some have none, some have two - the chips with two flaws almost certainly still have issues and the ones with one flaw only change by a few percent. On the other hand, build in the ability to accept a flaw on half the silicon, you're looking at dropping your failure rate by nigh on 50%.

So, in short, the very parallel design of the CELL opens up opportunities that the much less parallel design of say a Pentium can't use. With a Pentium, if there's a flaw anywhere, you ditch the whole chip. With a cell, if there's a single flaw, so long as it's in the SPE area, oh well. It's only when a second one turns up that it's an issue.

Even better would be if they could switch those blocks of local memory around. That way you could have SPE 4 and memory 6 both have errors and still get a perfectly servicable chip by routing SPE 6 to use memory 4.

Nice little trick for totally rewriting the rules on yield issues.

There won't be any used games blocking .

Can the design and look of a new video games console make or break its market success? Regardless of which new console gamers appear to champion based on specs and features, in the looks department opinions differ greatly. Which company has succeeded in "nailing the Zeitgeist" with the design of their new console? This poll accepts votes, comparing the look of Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution. Last time I looked, the results indicate that the PS3 design is best received.