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New PlayStation 2 Chip
Iron Chef Japan writes "Sony has announced that they have fit the PlayStation 2 Emotion Engine, and the Graphics Synthesizer on to a single chip using a 0.13-micron process. This will allow Sony to make three times more PlayStation 2's annually, so it's all for the better."
I don't consider squeezing 2 chips into 1 is going redefine the marketplace, or even Sony's bottomline.
No this is not going to redefine the marketplace, but it will signifcantly impact Sony's bottomline. If you do not understand how, then you do not understand the hardware design and manufacturing process. Once yeild is up on the new silicon, there will be significant savings on Sony's manufacturing process. For example, let's consider two invidivual chips with a large number of interconnections. By placing both peices of silicon on the same die, you have eliminated a very serious amount of redundent connections. Instead of going from Silicon -> Package -> Board -> Possible Vias -> Package -> Silicon you are now going from Silicon -> Interconnect -> Silicon (basically). This is a huge savings in board space, packaging, and a large increase in reliability. The increase in reliability comes because you have less overall connections. Each connection in an electronic device is a possible point of failure.
The disadvantage is that this was not done already. Then again this is an excellent chance for Sony to debug this chip design for the PS3 (backward comabilitiy) and the creation of a PStwo.
Quoted from Nintendo's vice president of marketing:
d o. reut/index.html
"A GameCube cut was contingent on whether any Sony price cut is to $199 or $249, from the current price of $299.
"We haven't made a decision on (a price cut)," Harrison said. "Sony's expected to make the first move and then we'll see where we stand."
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/04/02/ninten
I forgot to reply to the two folk that asked about the Atari chips source files, so here is the link:n etlist. htm
http://www.geocities.com/glenn_b18/jaguar/
It's in a custom HDL that can decode to Verilog simply. All you need to create your own Jaguar Tom and Jerry chips.
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
The Canuck Buck is now sitting around 63 cents US.
In '91 it was 89 cents US.
.89/.63 = 1.41
$85/1.41 = $60
Feeling a little poorer now? Well, keep voting Liberal or Conservative-- they are the economic wizards that were in charge all that time....
Cheers,
-B
Obviously you know nothing about the PS2 arch. The Emotion Engine is actually several SGI-based chips that were tweaked and modified by Sony and packed up into just a couple chips, with a 297MHz R5900 MIPS CPU. The EE is a very powerful and complex system, and I think it rocks from a developer and gamer standpoint. Using a Wintel CPU in a game console is, IMO, a big mistake. The EE is specifically designed to be a game console; the Wintel arch is just a generic architecture with stuff games will never use, and lacking in areas where MIPS and EE together shine.
You speak of inherent problems with the EE. What are you talking about specifically? What situation do you say Sony is in now? PS2 outsold Xbox and GC combined last holiday season.
A solution to the problem with music today