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The console was released on November 11, 2006, in Japan; November 17, 2006, in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong and Taiwan; March 7, 2007 in Singapore; March 22, 2007 in the Middle East; and on March 23, 2007[3] in Europe, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand; and will be released on April 27, 2007 in India. It is available in two initial configurations, the 20 GB Basic model (model number: 98001) and the 60 GB Premium model (model number: 98000).
OverviewHistorySony officially unveiled the PlayStation 3 to the public on May 16, 2005, during the 2005 E3 conference. A functional version of the console was not present at E3 2005 nor the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005, although at both events demonstrations were held on devkits (e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) and comparable PC hardware, and video footage based on the predicted PlayStation 3 specifications was also shown (e.g. Mobile Suit Gundam).[11] It was not until E3 2006 that games were shown on actual PlayStation 3 systems. At E3 2005, Sony said the PlayStation 3 would have two HDMI and three Ethernet ports. This was later reduced to one of each, presumably to cut costs. The PS3 is capable of HD video output at resolutions of up to 1080p (1920 by 1080 progressive). Both models of the PlayStation 3 ship with a built-in 2x Blu-ray Disc drive.[12] In preparation for launch, Sony demonstrated 27 playable PS3 titles during the Tokyo Game Show in September 2006 on final hardware.[13] MarketingIn what could be its first big advertising campaign, the PlayStation 3 was featured in the advertising boards of 16 stadiums across Europe, during Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 Group Stage, on September 12 2006 and September 13, 2006. However, on the other group stage matchdays, the advertising was replaced by PSP, perhaps as a result of the system's launch delay. The PS3 advertising returned for the First Knockout Stage Matchday (Matchday 7), on February 20 2007 and February 21, 2007, as the console neared its new European launch date. Television advertisements also began airing in the United States, carrying the slogan "PLAY B3YOND - l l l 7." The 3 that replaces the E in "BEYOND" (an example of leet) hearkens back to the launch slogan of the PlayStation: "u r not e".
In Europe the main slogan used is 'This Is Living', branded across many marketing campaigns. On release day in the UK, Sony rewarded customers who had queued at Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street for the midnight launch with a free Sony BRAVIA 46 inch High Definition Television (which at the time had a street value of around £2,000). In addition to this, Sony also paid for their customers' taxi ride home (presumably this was to prevent the customer from being mugged while returning home).[14] System configuration
The basic configuration of the console has a 20 GB internal hard drive. The "premium" version of the PlayStation 3 comes with an internal 60 GB 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive, IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity, multiple flash memory card readers (SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash, Memory Stick) and features a chrome-colored trim.[16] Both consoles feature a silver-colored text logo on the top face of the system. The hard drive is upgradeable, using the standard Serial ATA interface. No official Wi-Fi or flash memory card adapters have yet been released by Sony, although plans for such add-ons are in place.[17] Nevertheless, as both models feature four USB 2.0 ports, wireless networking and flash memory card support can already be obtained through the use of widely available external USB adapters. No high-definition video cables are included; instead, a composite video/stereo audio cable ships with the system. While Sony has released an official PS3 component cable, the official PS2 component cables are compatible with the PS3, as both consoles use the same AV Multi Out jack. The converse is true as well; official PS3 component cables work with the PS2.
Release data and pricing
† Price not confirmed as official suggested retail price The PlayStation 3 was released in Japan on November 11, 2006, at 07:00. There were reports that many of the initial consoles were obtained by businessmen who paid mainly Chinese nationals to buy the console without any software[35] to resell on eBay. According to Media Create, 81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan.[36] Sony has opted to go with an open pricing scheme for the 60 GB model, allowing retailers to set a price point themselves.[37] The highest actual selling price on eBay for PlayStation 3 was just over US$3200 on November 17 2006, when presales were being conducted. The PlayStation 3 was released in North America on November 17, 2006. Reports of violence surrounding the release of the PS3 include a customer shot,[38] campers robbed at gunpoint,[39] customers shot in a drive-by shooting with BB guns,[40] and 60 campers fighting over 10 systems.[41] In California, two GameStop employees fabricated a robbery to cover up their own theft of several PlayStation 3 and four Xbox 360 consoles.[citation needed] On January 25, 2007, Sony announced that the launch date for the Australian and European release of the PS3 would be March 23, 2007;[3] however, like the European launch, the Australian launch only featured the 60 GB model for AU$999 (including GST). On March 5 2007, Sony Gulf announced that the PS3 would launch in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries on March 22 2007 at S.R 2499/AED 2,499 or approximately 665$ US dollar[42]for the 60 GB model, the only one available as with the other PAL releases. The official Singaporean release was on the March 7 2007,[33] with the price for the 60 GB version set at S$799, without any games. Sony Singapore opened pre-orders for a PS3 bundled with 2 games for S$963.[43] The initial production cost is estimated to be US$805.85 for the 20 GB model and US$840.35 for the 60 GB model.[44] On January 7, 2007, Sony confirmed they met their goal of shipping over 1 million units to North America.[9] Just over a week later, on January 16 2007, Sony confirmed they had shipped 1 million units in Japan, bringing the worldwide total to 2 million shipped.[45] Sony has been producing consoles at a loss of about $300 per 60GB console, and $240 per 20GB console - because the cost of both types was above $800.[citation needed] The PS3 was launched in Europe, Australia and New Zealand on March 23 2007, although the 20GB model has not been launched there yet. It is not yet easy to draw meaningful conclusions from early sales data. Some journalists have judged the relative ease with which it is possible to buy a PlayStation 3 in stores in America and Japan, compared with the scarcity of the Wii, as evidence of lukewarm consumer demand for the console.[46] There have also been reports that some Japanese retailers are already discounting the console to stimulate demand.[47] Sony, however, has countered that comfortable levels of stock in store are evidence of its efficient supply chain. GamesThe PlayStation 3 launched in North America and Japan with 15 titles by November 17, 2006. Resistance: Fall of Man had sold the most units after 5 days, and was heavily praised by many gaming websites, including GameSpot and IGN, who awarded it their PlayStation 3 Game of the Year award for 2006. Several planned launch titles were delayed until 2007, such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and F.E.A.R.. The European release of the PlayStation 3 will launch with a further 7 titles, including Formula One Championship Edition, MotorStorm and Virtua Fighter 5. Major first party titles include Heavenly Sword, an action-adventure game that won several awards at E3 2006; Killzone, the sequel to the popular first-person shooter for the PlayStation 2; Lair, a fantasy adventure game that sees you take the role of a dragon rider; LittleBigPlanet, a hugely immersive platformer that allows players to create their own custom levels; Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, an exotic adventure title that draws many comparisons with the Tomb Raider series; and Warhawk, a flight combat multiplayer title that makes extensive use of the PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS controller’s motion-sensing capabilities. There is also an array of notable third party titles that are scheduled for release exclusively for the PlayStation 3, such as Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a dual installment of the hugely popular Square Enix role-playing franchise; Heavy Rain an innovative yet unorthadox adventure title that draws on psychological tension; Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the final chapter of Hideo Kojima's tactical espionage epic; Ninja Gaiden Sigma, a upgraded remake of the sucessful Xbox title Ninja Gaiden Black; and Tekken 6, the continuation of the legendary hardcore fighting series. Game developmentThe PlayStation 3 is based on open and publicly available application programming interfaces. Sony has selected several technologies and arranged several sublicensing agreements to create an advanced software development kit for developers. In addition, in 2005 Sony purchased SN Systems, a former provider of Microsoft Windows-based development tools for a variety of console platforms; including PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS to create additional GNU development tools.[citation needed] Open standards for OpenGL, matrix algorithms, and scene data are specified by the Khronos Group, and are intended to work with nVidia's Cg programming language. Scene data are stored with COLLADA v1.4, an open, XML-based file format.[48] Rendering uses PSGL, a modified version of OpenGL ES 1.0 (OpenGL ES 2.0 compliant except for the use of Cg instead of GLSL), with extensions specifically aimed at the PS3.[49] Other specifications include OpenMAX, a collection of fast, cross-platform tools for general "media acceleration," such as matrix calculations, and OpenVG, for hardware-accelerated 2D vector graphics. These specifications have GPL, free for any use, and/or commercial implementations by third parties. Sublicensed technology includes complete game engines, physics libraries, and special libraries. Engines include Epic's Unreal engine 3.0. Physics libraries include AGEIA's PhysX SDK, NovodeX,[50] and Havok's physics and animation engines.[51] Other tools include Nvidia's Cg 1.5 (a C-like shading language, which HLSL was based upon), SpeedTree RT by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (high-quality virtual foliage in real time), and Kynogon's Kynapse 4.0 "large scale A.I.".[52] Sony has considered using IPv6, the next generation of the Internet Protocol.[53] Some titles, such as Genji: Days of the Blade and Ridge Racer 7, allow users to install 4–5 GB of game data to the hard drive, which dramatically improves load times. In Genji, for example, the cached data apparently reduces load times from 15 seconds to 4 seconds.[54] Recently, Sony announced a new toolset that will be free to all developers known as 'PlayStation Edge' that will offer highly optimized lightweight libraries for CELL SPUs. These libraries will provide code for animation, compression (expected to greatly help loading times), and many more features. The package will also provide 'GCM Replay', a powerful RSX profiling tool to allow developers to gain the most out of the PlayStation 3's graphics chip.[55] Backward compatibilitySony stated that every PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game that observes its respective system's TRC (Technical Requirements Checklist) would be playable on PS3 at launch. SCE president Ken Kutaragi asked developers to adhere to the TRC to facilitate compatibility with future PlayStations, stating that the company was having some difficulty getting backward compatibility with games that had not followed the TRCs. It has been confirmed (image) that initial PS3 units include the CPU/rasterizer combination chip used in the slim PS2 (EE+GS) to achieve backward compatibility.[56] European launch units will ship without the EE component, instead relying on software emulation for the Emotion Engine.[57] The backward compatibility function is region-locked.[58] Japanese and American PlayStation 3 released in near future will also lack the Emotion Engine.[59] The PlayStation 3 does not include interfaces for legacy PlayStation peripherals, though IGN.com tested a legacy controller using a PS2-to-USB adapter, finding that it is compatible, though most other devices (such as the Guitar Hero controller) may not be compatible.[60] Nyko Technologies have started production on the "Play Adaptor", a PS3-to-USB adapter allowing for guitars and other PlayStation 2 peripherals to be used on the PlayStation 3 and is scheduled for release in Q2/2007.[61] The PS3 supports both the USB EyeToy camera/webcam and SOCOM Headset for video and voice chat. A memory card adapter is available so users can save their PS/PS2 data to a virtual memory card on the hard drive.[62] The PlayStation 3 can also use Memory Sticks to store save data for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 software.[63] Initially, at launch, approximately 3% of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles had minor compatibility issues, such as dropped audio, freezes or controller malfunctions.[64] Popular games reported to have these glitches included Tekken 5 and Gran Turismo. Many games had also been reported to have problems with garbled or unreadable text on-screen and generally blurry image quality, but the January 24, 2007, firmware release, which updated the system to version 1.50, has fully resolved this issue.[65] Software emulation versionRegarding the software emulation version of the PS3 to be launched in Europe and Australia, Sony released a list of compatible games on March 20, 2007, with ratings saying whether a game had noticeable issues, minor issues or no known issues. Games not on the list are not compatible with the PlayStation 3 at that time. The list shows that 1,782 PlayStation 2 games will be playable on the PAL PS3 at launch (though some have minor to major issues),[66] accounting for about 72% of all PS2 games released in Europe.[67] From IGN's top 25 PS2 games list,[68] 9 games are reported to have no known compatibility issues with the PS3, 4 games have minor compatibility issues, 4 more have major issues and 8 games aren't supported at all. In line with Sony's original gameplan,[69] and in a press release by SCEE Europe, Sony stated that starting with the PAL version, the PS3 will utilize software emulation for aspects of PS2 backwards compatibility that was originally taken care of by dedicated chips. In the same press release it is stated that in time, some additional PS2 titles will become compatible ... through regular downloadable firmware updates'. The backwards compatibility information page advises players to "avoid the use of 60Hz and network modes" and "skip optional FMV sequences" in order to minimise the effects of errors in the emulation.[70] David Reeves, President of SCEE Europe, stated that 'rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3'. The press release also states that a list of compatible games 'will be available on 23rd March to meet launch day'.[71] Sony have since stated that they will be removing the chip in the North American and Japanese models going forward.[72] There are reports from developers working on the emulation software, that the PlayStation 3 software emulation will include upscaling of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles to HDTV resolutions 720p and perform FSAA image processing.[73] System softwareFirmwareSimilar to the PlayStation Portable (PSP), Sony has added the ability for firmware updates to be downloaded and used on the PlayStation 3. The updates can be downloaded from the PlayStation Network directly to the PS3 and subsequently installed. This can be performed by the user via the ‘System Update’ function under ‘Settings’ in the XMB. Sony has also provided the ability to download firmware updates from their official PlayStation website to users’ PCs and then storage media, from which the update can be installed to the system. Updates can also be installed from game discs that require the updates to be able to play the game. The PlayStation 3 has the ability to store firmware of sizes up to 128 MB. The latest version of firmware for PlayStation 3 is version 1.60, released March 22, 2007. This major update includes background downloading, among many additional features: PSP Remote Play compatibility with the 20 GB PS3; a full-size on-screen keyboard as an alternative to the previous phone-style keyboard; improvements to the web browser’s display capabilities; an option to automatically play discs upon powering on the console or inserting a disc; and support for rewritable Blu-ray discs, Windows Media Audio, Bluetooth keyboards and mice, and the Stanford University medical research project Folding@home.[74][75][76] Graphical user interfaceImage:PS3 XMB2.jpg PS3's XMB (Cross Media Bar) Interface The PlayStation 3 version of the Cross Media Bar (unofficially called Xross Media Bar, or officially abbreviated XMB) includes 8 categories of options. These include: Users, Settings, Photo, Music, Video, Game, Network and Friends (similar to the PlayStation Portable media bar). The PS3 includes the ability to store different user profiles, explore photos, play music and movies from the hard drive, compatibility for a USB keyboard and mouse, a full Internet browser and a Friends menu. Also, the PlayStation 3 adds the ability to multitask in ways such as listening to music while surfing the web or looking at pictures.[77] The PlayStation 3 XMB supports a variety of file formats (audio, image, video). Because PlayStation 3 is capable of running Linux, other formats can be played through the operating system, assuming the correct codec is present. In a separate demo Sony presented the "Marketplace" where users can buy and download music. The PS3 reserves 64 MiB of RAM at all times for XMB functions. The XMB's default background color changes depending on the current month of the year, and it changes brightness depending on the time of day. Q-Games Ltd, a small development company based in Kyoto, Japan, developed the graphics technology behind the XMB, its stylized background, and the built-in music visualizers. The PlayStation 3 uses a version of the NetFront browser by Access Co. as its internal web browser. It is the same browser used in the PlayStation Portable (Sony-branded NetFront 2.81) with the same interface, menus and virtual keyboard. Sony has also worked with Stanford University to bring the Folding@home project to the PS3.[78] When downloaded, the program will run when the system is idle. LinuxImage:Ubuntu-on-ps3.jpg Ubuntu Linux installed on a PS3. Sony has made an option in the XMB menu to install other operating systems.[79] Among other Linux distributions, Ubuntu, Fedora Core 5, Gentoo, Debian, and Yellow Dog have been run on the PS3.[80][81][82][83] Sony currently implements a hypervisor restricting RSX access,[84] though the graphics are fast enough for emulation of some old systems. Linux has access to 6 of the 7 SPEs, and IBM provides an introduction to programming parallel applications on the PlayStation 3 [2].
PlayStation NetworkIn response to Microsoft's Xbox Live network, Sony announced a unified online service for the PlayStation 3 console at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing meeting in Tokyo. Sony has confirmed that the service will be always connected,[86] free and include multiplayer support. However, developers are permitted to charge a subscription fee, as is common with MMO games. The Xfire client can be integrated into games to provide various match-making facilities, at a cost to the publisher.[87] At the Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2006, it was revealed that users will be able to download some of the thousands of PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 titles from the PlayStation Network for about $5 to $15, starting with those with the smallest game data. The reason to allow this kind of functionality is that Sony wants to allow the users to choose the games of their preference. Ken Kutaragi also announced functionality with other consoles, similar to Nintendo's Virtual Console, including confirmed Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx 16 functionality. However, Sega has replied that Sony has been too hasty with calling it a fact. Sega is currently reviewing the possibilities, but has not yet made a decision on it.[88] The registration interface can only be accessed through the PS3 system interface.[89] As of firmware update 1.60, there three methods for typing on the PS3, which includes an on-screen T9 "dial pad" system (similar to writing a text message on a mobile phone) that predicts words as they are typed. Another is a traditional on-screen keyboard, and finally the use of a physical USB keyboard is also available.[90] The predictive text does not predict any capitalized words, causing users that want to make use of this feature to input all words in lowercase and then go back and capitalize the first letters (if needed). An alternative is to add words to the system’s built-in predictive text dictionary; also, the unit automatically keeps track of any inputted terms.[90] PlayStation Home | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
