The Evolution Of PlayStation

PlayStation 3 will launch sometime early in 2006, and Sony has promised a new era in computer entertainment, driven by profound new technology ‘Cell’ and a high-powered graphics processor christened ‘Reality Synthesiser’. As the latest evolution of PlayStation, Sony says it has delivered a supercomputer.

You kind of doubt any of this was intended as understatement.

Sony has been quick off the mark to guarantee full backwards compatibility with PS2 and PSOne games, however not so reassuring on how it will compete with Microsoft for online services. PlayStation 3 is, however, wireless ready out of the box – you’ll be able to connect instantly to a wireless home network, and use up to seven wireless (Bluetooth) DualShock controllers simultaneously.

Perhaps the biggest leap of faith Sony is asking game creators and consumers alike to make is a new storage format – Blu-ray Disc (BD), capable of storing up to 54GB of data on a dual-layer disc. A dual-layer DVD, by comparison, maxes out at just under 9GB. You could have the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on a single Blu-ray Disc – one to bind them all, as the ads will probably say.

‘Blu-ray’ refers to the new type of blue-violet laser required to read the new discs, which is more precise than the existing red lasers. The format has been designed with high-definition TV in mind, and is expected to replace DVD as the standard recording format as HDTV gets introduced this next couple of years. A standard Blu-ray Disc can store two hours of HD television footage, or around 13 hours of standard-definition broadcast images. Of course the most relevant aspect for PS3 is the data storage required to deliver next-generation console games. Xbox 360 is sticking with DVD, for better or worse.

Although Microsoft will launch Xbox 360 months ahead of PlayStation 3, right now Sony is playing second to no one. A decade ago it was Nintendo and Sega banging the drum for consoles. Then Sony showed up with a full-on marching band and hasn’t looked back. Somewhere lost in the unending fanfare Nintendo and Microsoft are playing their own tunes, but you struggle to hear them.

When Sony unveiled PlayStation 3 in LA last May its games looked so ridiculously impressive (in particular Killzone) that the harshest criticism launched against it was, ‘This has to be a lie.’ Which Sony may wish to interpret as, ‘Gosh, I don’t believe it’, but in fact was intended more along the lines of, ‘believe it when I see it’.

The skepticism is due to people feeling cheated by Sony when it previewed PS2 back in 1999. Tech demos showing realistic games characters with long flowing hair and fabric, or fantastically detailed aging skin of an old man were arguably not true indications of what to expect. Certainly nothing in the launch line-up matched these demos for quality, but it’s open to question whether PS2 has ultimately made good on those promises. God of War is one example of how far PS2 has come in five years. And it’s not as though there are 100 million people out there all bitterly disappointed!

It could be smoke and mirrors all over again, but nobody outside of Sony can know for sure.

Jargon like ‘Emotion Engine (EE)’ is always going to seem ridiculous in hindsight. Yet that fabled PS2 central processor, promised capable of evoking true emotion from the gaming experience, has surely lived up to its name: we’ve winced at the spectacle of a Burnout, clenched our teeth while enduring Fight Night, revelled in the sublime handling of cars in Gran Turismo 4.

What’s frustrating for Microsoft and Nintendo, and their most dedicated fans, is that Sony isn’t the sole purveyor of such magic. Sony just came up with a better name for it. When Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was asked how GameCube would respond to PS2 and its Emotion Engine, he smirked and said, “with a Super Emotion Engine.”

Nintendo’s GameCube has proven better than PlayStation 2 on occasion, with games like Resident Evil 4 to stand by. And of course, Xbox delivered Halo ‘unto’ us, God’s greatest gift to first-person-shooting by most accounts. It’s all about marketing, and what people like you and me are prepared to believe. For example, starting with the design of the casing, Sony would like us to believe that it captures the essence of a Tokyo Skyscraper – whereas you or I might think it looks a bit like a pricey bread-bin.

Let’s try sticking to facts.

Next: The PlayStation 3 Online