Sony is one of the most praised electronics manufacturer in the world. It designs electronics that range from simple mp3 players to huge LCD TVs and custom build audio systems. The company also has its own music recording studios and its audio&video division assures most of the companie`s financial revenue.



Sony`s first attempt at the gaming industry took place in December 1994 when it launched the PlayStation gaming system. The console was a huge success as it challenged the Nintendo 64 which had already been on the market for quite some time and had no direct competitor. The PlayStation provided improved graphics and used the CD as game support. This was proved a huge advantage over the cartridge because CDs where a lot less expensive to produce.



The main strategy in marketing was to advertise the PS as an adult gaming system. With this perspective Sony relied on children to buy the PS in order to feel cool and more mature, and also captured the teenager and adult market by not using children like ads like Nintendo.



The series followed with the PS2 and which surpassed all expectations. It`s the console with the longest life cycle and with the the most impressive game library.



Twelve years after the PS series made its debut Sony introduced the PS3. The console is meant to compete with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The console sold 81,639 systems in the first 24 hours after its Japan release. Sony offered two launch models: a 20GB edition and a 60GB edition. NTSC versions where both PS2 compatible by using a hardware Emotion Engine, but only the 60GB PAL edition supported.PS2 software emulation. Later Sony introduced a 40GB and 80GB bundle which depending on the video system (PAL or NTSC) could support PS2 titles. The most recent upgrade is offered with a 160GB hard drive and was advertised in October (Europe) / November (USA) 2008.



The console has a very sleek design sporting a glossy black case with chrome touches and touch sensitive led controls. Compared to its main competitor, the Xbox 360, the console never had any hardware issues or heating problems and is known to be (together with the Wii) problem free.



The PS3 controller has not changed much from the early days of the PS2. It has the same color scheme and visuals are the same, but new features include wireless connectivity. The consoles comes with a miniUSB cable that connects the controller to the console for recharging. Sony outfitted the controller with two analog triggers, 4 main action buttons (left side of the controller), a Sony style Dpad and two analog sticks. The uppers side of the controller also shows to more buttons positioned above the two triggers.





Regarding hardware specifications Sony used the Cell microprocessor developed with conjunction with Toshiba and IBM. The processor features one 3.2 GHz PowerPC based PPE (Power Processing Element) and six Synergistic Processing Elements (SPE). There are actually seven SPEs, but one of the is reserved for the OS, so developers can only use 6 of them.



The PS3`s GPU is a 550MHz chip designed with the 90nm process. It was developed by Nvidia and has a really cool name: RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' (makes you wonder what kind of names will they use when VR devices and holographic consoles will take over the gaming market). The video unit has a fix memory of 256 MB (GDDR3) clocked at 700 MHz. This allows for 22.4 GB/s read and write bandwidth.



Sony`s choices when it came to architecture of the PS3 where not so pretty development-wise. Although on the graphics side there are no obvious differences between the PS3 and the Xbox 360, it is generally considered that the PS3 has more processing power, but game developers admit that the PS3 SDK is a programmers nightmare. One of the main problems is the fact the developers have to divide tasks on the six SPEs and the system has fixed amounts of memory for the graphics (256MB) and the rest of the computations (256MB) like physics or AI. Microsoft made the smart choice and allowed developers to use the shared 512MB memory as they see fit.



Connectivity-wise the PS3 comes with one Ethernet port, 2 or 4 USB ports, HDMI connection, component and composite output. As the Wii, the system comes with native Wifi capabilities and can sync wirelessly with the PSP for content download and other activities.



The PLAYSTATION Store is Sony`s version of Live MarketPlace and allows users to download digital game releases, videos and movie trailers. Internet is also used for OS updates. Sony`s on-line gaming support is known to be inferior to the Xbox Live, but as a advantage the service is pay*once*play anytime, compared to the monthly fee in order to use the Xbox Gold service (the Silver one is free but doesn`t allow on-line multiplayer).



The 80GB model has a 399$ price point, while the 160GB model comes at 499$. The 20, 40 and 60GB models where discontinued.http://news.softpedia.com/news/Sony-Reveals-160-GB-PlayStation-3-and-New-Peripheral-92207.shtml