Slashdot Mirror
Playstation 3 Not A Video Game Machine
Gamespot has coverage of a pair of interviews with Ken Kutaragi in which he states that the PS3 isn't really a gaming console. Instead, it will be an all around device that will allow the owner to experience all sorts of different types of new entertainment. From the article: "The PS3 is the product we have been aiming for since the establishment of SCEI...We haven't been creating our [past] PlayStations for the sake of games. Our belief, and the motivation behind running our company, has been to [explore ways of] applying the power of computers to entertainment and enjoyment. We equipped the original PlayStation with a 3D graphics chip, and we equipped the PS2 with the Emotion engine. The PS3 isn't designed to lean towards games. It's not a computer for children. In the sense that our goal has been [to create] a computer that's meant for entertainment, you could say that the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 had existed as steps towards the PlayStation 3."
Is it me or is Sony starting to sound like Microsoft?
The more you focus on trying to be everything to everyone, the more you start to fail everyone in everything. Focus on your core, the stuff you're good at, and you will have those interested in that core beating a path to your door.
Also, the codec comment is a little disturbing. Codecs do matter. If you have unlimited processing power, you still cannot convert a privately held codec due to the DMCA. Also, converting things to the PSP format is what it seems to imply, but I think that's a very small feature in the big picture.
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
We like iPods, we like Cell phones, we like digital cameras, but we don't buy PDAs that do all three. Even camera-phones are tremendously underwhelming to all but tech-nerds and 14-year-old girls.
I would suggest that Nintendo is poised for a MAJOR comeback if they do the system right. They have said in no uncertain terms that the revolution is about games, not convergence. You heard it here first.
People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.
We went through this before with the PS2.
Tell me what an emotion engine is, exactly, and why anyone should care? It's a processor. Woopty doo, you gave your video game machine a processor.
Unprecidented.
The PS3 will not be a supercomputer. The PS3 will cost $300 - $500. When an IBM workstation with dozens of PowerPC cores costing half a million dollars can only do 40 or so GigaFLOPs, there's no way in hell that the PS3 (based on the same basic Power Processor architecture) can do 2 TeraFLOPs. Not if they're measuring the same thing anyway. Otherwise, why doesn't IBM just use those in it's big iron instead of Power PCs, and market themselves as offering "A Gazillion YottaFLOPs!!!!"
Because IBM has a reputation to uphold, and they market to people who aren't teenagers dazzled by the biggest number they can think of. The people they market to will hold them to their promises.
Sony is just hype.
Yes, digital convergance. Yes, bringing it all together. Blah blah blah. Sony, you're not the only one working toward this goal, and frankly, you're not NEARLY in the position MS is in to offer it. Their market penetration on the desktop PC gives them a powerful edge, as does the fact that they started doing it in the last generation, so people who were looking for that kind of convergance already found a good thing with the X-Box.
Sony should not be allowed to market.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
Sony to unveil PlayStation 2 New console system will reportedly feature graphics on par with "Toy Story"
I forgot how much they love to hype bullshit.
Top 10 Reasons To Procrastinate
10.
battery or the external car battery?
You, my friend, are absolutely WRONG!! ;)
;)
The emotion engine was not hype at all, it was used to full effect in Gran Turismo 3
Every AI opponent you faced had their whole life simulated before the race. Their upbringing, how they got into racing, what happened to them in previous races, etc was generated randomly and the racer would react according to this.
For example, one racer may be brought up in a poor family, only racing to make enough money to put food on the table. Once, he almost won a 50000cr race, but spun out on turn 11 of Laguna Seca, and got injured for 5 years. Now, in the race you're competing against him in, there is a turn that resembles the turn in Laguna Seca that caused his tragic injury. But he also needs this money or his parents won't be able to afford the medical care they need. Should he risk it all at the turn, or just let you pass? So many conflicting emotions!
So he just drives in a predetermined pattern completely ignoring the position of his opponents, like the AI in Pole Position.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
Its a lean, mean, grilling machine!
The thing is, this convergence box, regardless of who makes it, is going to be somewhere in between a console and a computer in terms of complexity and cost.
Cost is a big issue, because it's one of two things that consoles really have going for them (the other being ease of use, which I'll get to in a moment). Basically, consoles can deliver a whole lot of bang for the buck because they've historically used less powerful hardware, but been much much more optimized specifically for gaming. You can either despecialize the hardware (and become more computer-like), or just throw enough raw power into it that software can pick up the slack. The second option seems to be sony's chosen path, and the high price tags being thrown around for the PS3 reflect that.
Ease of use is the other one. How functional beyond games can something get with a game controller as a primary interface? Once you add a keyboard and a mouse, you're going back to a computer. I guess the point is, this convergence thing is going to be a simplified computer, or a beefed up video game console.
I'd have more faith in a computer company (Apple comes to mind first), successfully paring down their knowledge into something workable than I would a company like Sony kludging together a bunch of different pieces well.
Like the parent post said, the computer is an all in one magic box. It's already here, it's been around for a while, people have experience with it. All that's left is to strip out some of the extra parts and make it easier to use. Sony still has to build something that works first, then strip out the extra stuff, and make it easy to use. That first step is hard.
MS would seem to be in a better position than Sony to do this, except stuff that just works has historically been rather difficult for them.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.