Sadly, it doesn't mean it will actually be put in the system. With the amount of money being spent on the drive I don't expect them to put in top of the line.

I can't get the link to work.

That really depends on what they start manufacturing. If they start with 2X, then it would be more expensive to put a specialized 1X drive in it. It sounds like 2X will be the starting point.

Hmmm still works for me on firefox. Did you try "save as"?

If they don't have at least 2x it will be looking fairly sick for them early on... 1x won't support streaming detailed environments, particularly 1080p.

Yes and it still refuses to work for me.

Reading that over again it does mention that it's going to be the first non-cartridge BD-ROM discs/players and I don't see them putting a caddy drive in the PS3.

Hopefully we can get some more solid info on it at some point.

Reposting the digital mirror demo here just so we have all the PS3 info in one place:

http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/131#more-131

Factor 5 developer presentation for Lair:

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20...waugh_01.shtml

Choice quote:
He played a recent extremely high-resolution trailer in real-time, occasionally pausing to swing the camera around or turn on or off various effects. To be fair, the scene in question was clearly a cut-scene, calculated to show off just how many polygons the PS3 can throw around; it's still a lot of polygons, though.

Each model, Worch claimed, contained somewhere between 100,000 and 170,000 triangles. Each had a bunch of other special maps and lighting applied, and the main character was built up with "over ten textures". He compared this to an estimated 10,000 for characters in Gears of War and other recent high-res games. The high-res models, meanwhile, that got dithered down to produce the in-game models, ran up around 5,000,000 triangles.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/658/658639p1.html

Team ICO plans to work on a game for PS3. They expect the long development times to continue (well worth it IMHO).

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12465

Sony has confirmed that PS3 will have parental controls similar to that of PSP.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3145024

PS3 priced under 40,000 yen in Japan says Famitsu Mag

This would be the same price as the PS1 and PS2 launched in Japan.

Both ended up launching in the US for $300.

If it launches in the US at $300 I will be shocked. Although I'll happily save the extra $200 I was counting on spending.

The only way I see $300 making sense is if they anticipate a MS price drop and are launching at $300 to be competitive.

Looks like a big wait and see and thanks for the info.

From Game-Science.com http://game-science.com/news/001249.php :

For smaller developers, I'm sure that they are just getting their dev tools. Larger game developers always get them first. That's not new in the industry.

The announcing the price thing is retarded. Microsoft waited until, what, two months prior to shipping to announce price. I didn't hear developers whinning about that. It's all fluff.

I do agree that Blu-Ray will be less of a factor for video only users, but for gamers it could be the feature to tip the scale for them to buy a PS3 over 360 or REV. Its hard to tell how effective the move will be until we get closer to launch.

I don't see that holding water. While MS did wait to give an exact price til about 2 months out, they've been saying for several months prior to the announcement that it would launch in the $300 ballpark.

On the other hand, Kutagari has said previously that the PS3 would be expensive and that people should want to work extra hours to get one. That kind of talk is the only thing said officially in regards to price and "expensive" is far to vague to plan for.

To be fair, you don't know if Microsoft waited or not. They could have easily informed developers under NDA. In fact, evidence supports that fact in the accurate price rumors that came 6 months prior to the official price release.

If this "news" above is accurate, it could be that Sony has still not divuldged the PS3 price to developers even under NDA. This wouldn't surprise me at all. Despite the fact that it looks like the Hi-def format for DVD's will be blu-ray, there are still a lot of uncertainities in the cost of the hardware itself. Sony is likely working like mad to somehow offer it competively. Estimates put the drives in the 1.2k range currently...

Correct, I remember Trigger came back from E3 with the knowledge of the price, so people have known since at least then.

I still cannot see them coming out around $300. Aren't HD-DVD players like $500+ by themselves?

At the time the PS2 was released, it was the cheapest DVD player by a few hundred dollars. I expect a similar situation with PS3 and Blu-Ray players.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12554

PlayStation 3 may not offer full backwards compatibility

Ellie Gibson 08:45 27/10/2005
Will be compatible 'as much as possible', says Sony spokesperson

Doubt has been cast over whether the PlayStation 3 will be fully backwards compatible with all previous PlayStation titles, despite earlier claims that the next-generation console will play both PlayStation and PS2 games.

Speaking to the IDG News Service, Sony spokesperson Reiko Sakamoto said: "It's hard to say the PlayStation 3 will be 100 per cent backwards compatible."

"But as we said earlier this year, we aim to make it so as much as possible."

Sakamoto's comments came after Sony published a list of games which are not compatible with the new silver slimline PS2 console, due to go on sale in Japan next month. A total of 38 PSone and nine PS2 games were listed, including Tekken 5, Hitman: Contracts and Resident Evil.

"We believe multiple factors are responsible," Sakamoto told IDG, explaining that the new console has a different chipset which is not compatible with the way some software is programmed, resulting in glitches such as hangs and slow game saves.

The consoles had already gone into production by the time compatibility testing began, and since testing is not finished more games could yet be added to the list.

This is not the first time backwards compatibility issues have arisen for a next-generation console - there was also considerable confusion over whether the Xbox 360 would play Xbox titles, and even now it's not clear which games will be fully supported by the platform. A list of compatible games is due to appear on the official Xbox website within the next week or two, according to recent comments by Xbox VP Peter Moore.


Chris

The PS2 is not 100% backwards compatible with PS1 games. I don't think anyone expected PS3 to be 100% backwards compatible with PS2 and PS1 games. I am glad they are testing the new chipset now, instead of when the PS3 launches. They had fixes for a few of the PS1 games on PS2, so I imagine that they will have the same for PS3. It will be much easier to distribute these fixes by firmware upgrades similar to what they are doing with the PSP.

A version of the ps2 not compatible with Tekken 5? That has to be some kind of error surely. I'd find it strange if the PS3 wouldn't play T5, probably the best fighter around, but on an iteration of the pstwo?! If this is true namco should bust sony's balls over it..

Sony's not going to have a unified online service for the PS3?? REALLY Bad news if it's true. At the very least tehy should have unified logins or something.

http://joystiq.com/entry/1234000813066433

well... sony doesnt care but should they... they are still the number 1 in gaming consoles.....