Oh, and a tech question : Why two HDMI outputs? I wish I had more inputs into my monitor, but couldn't guess why you'd need more than one monitor (Unless someone actually hung two HD monitors next to each other for some reason during multiplayer perhaps).

And who decided on seven wireless controller support? Seems like an odd number (I know, it is). Might be cool for sports games, I suppose, but that seems a little excessive to me.

I'm just speculating, but judging by the hardware I think that's probably realistic. I think you are right about the PS2->Xbox/GCM comparison, I believe that'll be the case here. Although I would love to be wrong! If the PS3 blows our socks off and blows away 360 that'll be wonderful from a graphics POV, and we know they'll deliver great games with great gameplay.

What games were you looking at and were any of them playable?

It is necessary to get maximum resolution at a higher performance. I'm uncertain it the HDMI spec is capable of carrying it on its own but by using dual HDMI you more easily utilize a high resolution monitor. (Like a PC monitor or what have you, HDTV is relatively low resolution) One HDMI output should be fine for your general HDTV.

One reason given was for a 32:9 (two 16:9 widescreen tvs next to each other) aspect ratio. Another, was for multi-tasking: playing the game on one screen, and surfing the web with the other. So when you get stuck on how to beat the final boss, you can head over to GameFAQs without leaving the game.

You could check the FAQ on the front page

But I'll tell you anyway. Blue Tooth supports eight devices - one master and 7 slaves. The master is the PS3, and the rest can be a combination of controllers, mouse, keyboard, gun, wheel, etc.

I was reading this month's Spectrum magazine, and their best technlogy of the year was the Cell Processor. The article is a bit long, so here is a link. I believe it has more in depth information then the typical game bog.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan06/2609


Here is a cell:




EDIT: fixed terminogy error

That is actually the Cell itself, not a board. You can see the 8 SPEs.

Sony First Party Launch Titles:

Genji 2 (Action)
Angel Rings (RPG)
Monster Carnival (Action RPG)
Everybody's Golf 5 (Sport) (aka Hot Shots Golf 5)
Gran Turismo Series (Racing)
The Eye of Judgement (genre TBA).

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=14134

I will update the first page to reflect these updates

How does something have a genre TBA?

Wasn't Turismo originally a launch title for the PS2?

No GT3 came out about 6 months after launch. PS2 launched in the fall, it came out in like March or April the following year.

My guess is that its an EyeToy2 title, but since they haven't announced the EyeToy2 exists yet, they can't call it an EyeToy title.

VF5 coming to PS3. And may be an exclusive.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/20/vi...ps3-confirmed/

Sorry to quote my own post but, I finally finshed reading the issue of Spectrum, even though they gave the Cell a years best, the Samsung memory that PS3 is going to use is listed as one of the years losers. I just thought that was a bit ironic.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan06/2600

Sony will reveal the inner workings of the PS3 March 1st.

IGN story

Normally we don't do updates on Saturdays, but given the nature of this news we felt it prudent to keep you updated. As some of you may remember from our story last week, Sony Computer Entertainment plans on holding a developer's summit on March 1 and 2 in the Atlantis Gallery of London's Old Truman Brewery. The event is said to focus exclusively on PlayStation 3.

Known as DevStation 2006, the two-day affair is only open to the development community (meaning no press allowed) and will cover every aspect of Sony's next-generation system. Sony is now advertising the event via its official website located at DevStation.SCEE.com.

Among the categories to be talked about at the conference are presentations about:

# Cell and the OS
# Audio
# Graphics
# Networking
# Third-party appearances (including Epic and a guest independent developer)
Middleware (like Havok and Ageia)
# Performance analysis
# Art/content generation (including presentations from 3rd-party application vendors)

Middleware vendors will also be on hand to demonstrate their latest PS3 products and answer questions, and the event as a whole is being billed as "Twin Steam" in that multiple workshops will be happening at the same time.

Most of the above we already knew, but Sony has also released the list of guest speakers expected to attend for the first time (and has begun allowing folks to register for the event). Among the speakers expected to appear are Sony's Vice-President of Technology Paul Holman, SCEE Development Support Manager George Bain, and a truckload of people associated with the Cell chip and various aspects of the system.

Specific information as to what developers who attend can look forward to include a breakdown of the operating system and its libraries, an Unreal 3.0 demonstration, Blu-ray and PS3 audio presentations, and Havok and PhysX sessions. There are also a couple of parties (which everyone always likes!).

We'll keep you informed with more as it becomes available.

Oh, I think we'll see something before that:

I'll be glad when this thing finally goes up for preorder. I'm gonna jump all over it.

I hope GameRush lasts long enough for me to pre-order one. I have $200 in credit....I really don't want one, but I may just do it since I'll get it cheaper than normal.

I take it HDMI is the ONLY way to use this? No Component? I guess that rules out my current HDTV. However, I could hook it up to the 26" LCD I just got....which might be better anyways (no room by my current TV)

For Blu-Ray movies, yes (depending on ICT tags). For games, I doubt it. Sony will probably allow the PS3 to display HD over component for games. But for movies they must comply to the AACS, which resricts the resolution to 540p if an ICT flag is present.

PS3 is available for pre-order at FYE stores. I pre-ordered but was informed that I'm number 102, which is the second batch, so I passed.

I guess so. Sony used their typical trick of showing a lot of prerendered cutscenes, and tried to pass them off as realtime. Killzone ring a bell. Plus a number of other footage. We've seen little to no gameplay. Of course, this is the same company whose CEO claimed the EE in the PS2 would produce Toy Story level of graphics, so it's not so surprising. Don't believe the hype until we start seeing realtime gameplay.

However, let's also wait until we see second generation games that weren't rushed, and are built from the ground up specifically for the 360. PGR3 looked incredible. So does GRAW, Huxley, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, etc.

To be fair, I think that Toy Story thing turned out to be a media "quote" that was never stated by anyone at Sony.

Check your facts on the Toy Story quotes:
http://feartherabbit.blogspot.com/20...th-busted.html

Interesting. I'm waiting for my GameRush to start their pre-order. Not yet though...I asked.

PS3 is easy to program for? Who knew!?

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/ar...ogramming.html

Josh - plz email me on why you think this thread should be deleted.