This PlayStation May Play Too Much

[Jared Moya]

Sony's new super-packed PS3 handles a lot more than games. That, some say, could confuse buyers


Picture this: you plug your TV into a box the size of a phone book and go online to check headlines. You get bored and click over to a Giants game. Later you download Casablanca, play Metal Gear Solid against an opponent in Seoul, then chat with a friend in Seattle. What sort of box is this? It could be a PC, but Sony (SNE ) hopes it will be a PlayStation 3, the video game console it plans to introduce this spring.


Six years in the making, the PS3 is a crucial component of Sony's strategy to dominate the digital home with a full lineup of super-sharp TVs and other gear. To attract teens and parents alike, the console plays high-definition games and movies from Blu-ray DVDs. It boasts a huge hard disk to store photos, music, and TV shows. And it can connect to the Net for play against far-flung rivals, while a new multimedia chip called "the Cell" -- developed by Sony, IBM (IBM ), and Toshiba (TOSBF ) at a cost of $400 million -- juggles the workload (see BW Online, 2/08/06, "The Cell Chip's Other Life").


TOO LOADED? If that seems like a lot to pack in, it is. But there's a lot at stake. Sony is banking on the console to lift its consumer-electronics division out of trouble, and the Blu-ray drive is expected to give a boost to that Sony-backed format, one of two competing to become the next-generation standard for videos. "PS3 is very important for us," says Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda. "There are so many key devices from the electronics group that will go into it."


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[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I guess this semi-confirms it will have a HD. But at what capcity? You can only download so many movies and then you need to transfer or delete them. That on top of all the other uses the HD may have.

Still too early I suppose.

[DigitalJunkie]

I would buy PS3 to have Blue-Ray HD drive, but I am not going to let it connect to the Internet just so I can browse the web & play games against others!

[meyou123]

Frankly, I just wish they would concentrate on making a better CONSOLE...not some freaking PC! Which is basically what this amounts to! If I want to do things on a PC, I already have one!

[Andrew110]

Every console is basically a computer now and I don't think they are going to change that.

[axlman]

I still own an original PS1 and never play it. It's practically still new. Why would I go and spend alot of money on a game console? I'm not sure why anyone would and why anyone does. I know games are fun to play etc. but they cost soooooooo much. Guess that's why I just stick PC games or PC versions of some games.

Just my 3-cents

[lifehacker]

I still own an original PS1 and never play it. It's practically still new. Why would I go and spend alot of money on a game console? I'm not sure why anyone would and why anyone does. I know games are fun to play etc. but they cost soooooooo much. Guess that's why I just stick PC games or PC versions of some games.

Same here. I dont feel like spending some $200 for a console if I can play plenty of games on my PC. The only drawback on computer games is that its hard to play with somebody unless its over an internet connection (no playing when somebody comes over unless you have two computers).

[Auggie2k]

I do look forward to the PS3 but I just hope it's not doing too many things at once. If anybody can make this, Sony can but I still have my doubts.

[lifehacker]

Anybody know an estimate of how much the PS3 is going to cost?

[Auggie2k]

I think I read somewhere that they are expecting it to retail at anywhere from €400 to €600 so about $500 to $700.

[chipface]

I'll get a PS3 eventually. For now I have all my other systems to keep me occupied.

[.:sp00ky:.]

$700 and does'nt even have a built in toaster although it does look like a silver breadbin.

anyone like marmite on crumpets?

[shawners]

Maybe ps3 will re-establish western union, and get telegrams on the PC. =)

[Atheist Icon]

Frankly, I just wish they would concentrate on making a better CONSOLE...not some freaking PC! Which is basically what this amounts to! If I want to do things on a PC, I already have one!


I hear ya. What about making a console that would be fun to play games on?? I don't know...like the NES, SGES, NES, N64...What's so bad about that?

[meyou123]

I hear ya. What about making a console that would be fun to play games on?? I don't know...like the NES, SGES, NES, N64...What's so bad about that?


The thing I don't like is that they are trying to make a glorified PC and that is really not needed in gamming. What needs to be concentrated on is the graphics and processor speeds...not a better way to send email. I can already send email with my PC....I don't see why I would go out and get a console that suffers with bad or inferior graphics and speed because they wanted it to do too many things. Hopefully the ps3 will compete with the xbox360...but not if they try to make it run everything instead of concentrating on games!

I think that is the problem with the ps3...they want it to be a computer and do everything a computer does...but we already have computers. No need for something else that does the same thing.

[meyou123]

Every console is basically a computer now and I don't think they are going to change that.

A console may be a "computer" in a barebones sort of way, but what I am talking about is trying to make them into something that is not needed. A do-it all gamming console! Where you have email, TV and the net along with a gamming system. Sounds nice, but I don't know if the processor speed can handle doing all of that and making good graphics too. Something may have to give.

[broadwayrock]

These features wont confuse or scare away gamers. The only potential problem with all these features is that people might be using the PS3 for these features intead of buying/playing games (where Sony makes the profit).

This seems to be the case with the PSP. People are buying more UMDs than games (Sony wavered UMD royalties to get movie studios to release more movies in their format, so no profit unless the movie is owned by Sony)

On a happier note for Sony, Piracy of Blu-Ray movies and PS3 games will probably if eliminated if the PS3 is connected to the net.

[bruce_k2]

Although, I'm still happy with my ps2 for a few more years to the ps3 price comes down. I've heard a few people say the ps3 will lack speed and have graphic glitches. Come on if cell technology holds up to what sony is claiming (10 times faster than current processors) , cell technology will be in the pc before long and the same with the graphic processor ( probably equal or near to the top of the line pc video card).

Technology is kind of worry some though. Things are moving too fast.

I'm not taking up for sony and still haven't ruled the 360 out, but i will wait it out and see who wins before i buy a console.