PS3: What’s the New Console on the Block Going to Be Worth?

Originally designed to be released in March of 2006, but delayed until November to work out some kinks left to work out with the new Blu-ray technology

Originally designed to be released in March of 2006, but delayed until November to work out some kinks left to work out with the new Blu-ray technology. Still, the PlayStation 3 is one of the most anticipated gaming consoles in years, and the promise is of a system that will simply blow the competition out of the water. Of course, all the gamers, as well as normal consumers, have heard this song and dance before with about every other games system that has ever come out (anyone remember Sega CD or the Dreamcast?). So what is true and what is hype? Is the PlayStation 3 really going to be worth all the hype (and rumored extra price), or will it be a let down?

Based on the early showings at gamers’ conventions, the PlayStation 3 does appear to be one of the most promising systems to ever come out. The PS3 is designed to be more than just another video game console, but an all in one amazing multimedia breakthrough, and the PS3 should include some amazing multimedia features, such as video chat, internet access, digital photo viewing, digital audio and video—all this in addition to taking video gaming to an entirely new level. For those of you who have invested large amounts of money in the old PlayStation systems, don’t worry: all PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 games will be instantly compatible with the PlayStation 3. This was one of the first pieces of information leaked out before the PS3’s initial release at a gamer’s conference, was that the PS3 would be completely backwards compatible. This has been one of the main knocks on the new X-Box is that they are still working out to make a lot of popular X-Box games compatible on the X-Box 360.

In addition to all these benefits, there are some definite technical aspects that are worth noting. The PlayStation 3 has a stunning 256MB of XDR memory and 256MB of GDDR3 memory dedicated to graphics. In addition to this, the designers seemed to go nuts with giving the PlayStation 3 the ability to store a wide variety of data storage and transfer abilities. Whereas the PlayStation 2 only supported a memory card, the new PS3 is supposed to support multiple forms of “portable media.” The PS3 has 6 USB 2.0 ports, a memory stick slot, an SD slot, and the system supports compact flash. Sony even saved a space for a removable 2.5” hard drive! To the video gaming tekkie, this system appears to be a dream come true, and well surpass the hype that came with it.