HiFi Geek

PLAY STATION 3

ABOUT PLAYSTATION 3
The manufacturers of the PlayStation 3 popularly known as the PS3 with 80 GB are Sony Computer Entertainment, Foxcon and the ASUSTek for SCEI.It is the third home video gaming console from the family of the PlayStation belonging to the seventh generation era, the same as the Nintendo Wii.PS3 is the successor the PlayStation 2 first released on the 11th of November 2006 in Japan and India, 17th November 2006 in North America and 23rd Marc 2007 in Europe and Oceania and India. Since the launch, many new changes have been introduced to this console.

It has given a tough competition to the Xbox 360 of Microsoft along with an attractive price tag. It was heard that they phased out their 40 GB PlayStation 3 as it costed similar to the 80 GB one which has a street price of $399 including the features: Blue-ray Player, HDMI output, integrated WiFi connection, a Cell Broadband Engine and 140 titles. Till June 30, 2008 it sold about 14.41 million pieces with the best selling game of Motor storm selling 3.31 million as of December 2007.

REQUIREMENTS
Its requirements include:
A CPU of 3.2 GHz Cell Broadband Engine with 1 PPE and 7 SPEs.
A GPU of 550 MHz NVIDIA/SCEI RSX ‘Reality Synthesizer’.
Blu-ray Disc, DVD, CD.
System storage of 2.5″ SATA hard drive.
Controller input upto 7 Sixaxis/DualShock 3 Controllers.
A Flash Memory input /Memory stick/PRO/DUO for 60 and 80 GB models.
SD/MMC for 60 and 80 GB models.
Compact flash/ Micro drive for 60 and 80 GB models.
For the audio/video output, AHDMI 1.3a out, S/PDIF out, AV multi out,
Composite video/stereo audio cable, S-Video cable, SCART cable,
Component video cable, D terminal cable, IEEE 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR), 4x USB 2.0 (2x 40GB Models) and a wired gigabit Ethernet.

FEATURES OF THE PS3
One feature of the PlayStation 3 that outstands it from the rest of its version is its online gaming service in the PlayStation network. Another main feature is its use of the optical disc, blue-ray disc along with the multimedia capability to connect with the PlayStation Portable. The PS3 includes 9 categories in its Xross MediaBar that are: Photo, Music, Video, Game, Network in which the player can shop online trough the PlayStation stores, PlayStation Network and Friend in which the user can mail with the emoticons and pictures and even video chat with the friends.

Here a user can store different master and secondary profiles, manage and explore photos even with a musical slide show, play and copy music to their storage device, play movies and videos from the hard disc drive, a full web browser supporting in/compatible file download functions. Sony announced that they will introduce PlayStation network cards that will allow the user to shop from the network using the cards as money. Also with the network, you can create an avatar of your play station 3 customizing its apartment where he lives, clothes, and pets. The home will be a virtual place for you to live and will act as a meeting point for multiplayer games.

COMPONENETS OF PS3
The PS3 has 5 hardware models according to the size of the hard disc which are “20″, “40″, “60″, “80″ and “160″ GB. The retail packages include:
One or two six axis controllers and/or 3 Dual shock controllers.
1 MiniUSB to USB cable to connect the controller to the system.
1 composite stereo/video audio output cable.
1 Ethernet cable but not with the 40GB and 160GB models.
1 Power cable.
A USB port 2.0.

802.11 b/g WiFi, flash card readers, chrome trim, SACD supporters and the
Compatibility of the PS2.
The 20 GB, 60GB, 80GB and 160GB models were available in a single colour of piano black while the 40 GB in piano black, ceramic white, satin silver and gun metal grey. All have a glossy finish.

SALES OF THE PLAYSTATION 3
The PS3 had literally hit the markets with its sales so much that it led to the shortage of the product. Following are the no. of units sold and the date of launching respectively:

CANADA- 520000 units sold and released on the 17th November 2006

EUROPE- 5 million units sold and released on 23rd March 2007.

JAPAN- 2.32 million units sold and released on 11th November 2006

UNITED KINGDOM- 1.4 million units sold and released on 23rd March 2007.

UNITED STATES- 1.4 million units sold and released on 17th November 2006.

This led to the whole sales adding upto 14.41 million units and more till date.

DESIGNING OF THE PS3
The PlayStation 3 is curve on its left side when vertical with a nice and glossy finish with the logo of the play station on its left. It has a slot loading 2 x speeds Blu ray disc drive for the games to be inserted. It uses the Cell Microprocessor from IBM as the CPU. The hardware of the PlayStation 3 is even used to make the super computers with high performance.

ACCESSORIES OF THE PS3
The PS3 comes with many accessories like it remote controller, the Play station eye camera, upcoming Play TV DVB-T tuner/digital video recorder etc.

SOFTWARE DESIGN
There is the facility PlayStation has provided so system software where the player can download the updates from the PlayStation network or the PlayStation website and install them on their PS3.The PlayStation 3 can also install the other operating systems on it.

CONNECTIVITY WITH OTHER PLAYSTATIONS
The play station 3 can be connected to the play station portable in many different ways one of which is in-game connectivity. Also it is possible to download PS1 games from the PlayStation network. The PSP can play the cideos of the PS3 using an ad hoc wireless network referred to as remote play located under the browser icon on both the PS3 and PSP.

AVAILABLE GAMES FOR THE PS3
The PS3 was launched with 12 titles in America with 3 add ons with the FALL OF THE MAN as the top selling game praised by various website of games including game spot and Ignites game include: Heavenly Sword, Lair, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, War hawk and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Motor storm, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, LittleBigPlanet, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and White Knight Chronicles, The Agency, an MMO shooter, God of War III, Kill Zone 2etc etc.

REVIEWS FOR THE PLAYSTATION 3
The PlayStation 3 got mostly bad views by the websites for its high price lack of quality games though after the revision of its prices lots of times and the launch of its better games like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune etc, the reviews changed to a little better than before. It was given the eighth position in the PC world magazine list for top 21 tech screw ups of 2006 as it was criticized for being late, incompatible and high cost. Game radar ranked it on top for the game related disasters but even said that it had untapped potential.

The CNET United Kingdom praised it saying that it is a versatile and an impressive piece of entertainment and is worth of its high cost. NET awarded it 8.8 marks on the rating of 10 and voted it as a must have for its robust graphics and stylish exterior design although criticizing its availability of the games. Also, the Home Theatre Magazine and the Ultimate AV have given the blu-ray playback nice views for its quality and for the convergal panel stating it as the best media center product in the year 2007-2008.At GDC 2007 Shiny Entertainment’s founder Dave Perry summed it up by saying that it is the best machine with the best hardware. The original launch review marked it 6/10 whereas the Ars Technicia marked it 9/10.

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WORKING OF THE Wii

The working of the Wii is similar to a television set as similar to it, it has separate channels that are graphically displayed in a grid form and are navigated by the remote. The arrangement of the channels can be changed using the A and B buttons. The basic six channels include: Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Forecast Channel, and News Channel. More channels can be added to it by downloading from the Wii Ware which includes channels like: Everybody Votes Channel, Internet Channel, Check Mii out Channel, and the Nintendo Channel.

CONNECTIVITY

Wii has a wireless connectivity which allows the player to use the Nintendo touch screen

And the microphone as in the Pokemon Diamond or Pearl Nintendo DS Games. The Nintendo Channel lets you download demos of the games, additional data and can also expand DS games.

It can be easily connected to the internet with the 802.11b/g wifior a USB to Ethernet adapter so that the players can access to the WiFi. Nintendo does not charge fees for playing via the service. Wii has its own 16 digit code for use with Wii non game features. This service has never-ending features for the console like: Virtual Console, Internet Channels, WiiConnect24, Forecast Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, News Channel etc. It can also communicate and connect with other systems through a self generated wireless LAN enabling you to play multiplayer on different TV sets.

EXPLICIT CONTROLS

One can have parental controls to prohibit the youngsters from playing games with explicit views. If the rating is greater than the systems set age level then a password will be required to play it. The parental control can also restrict the internet usage but it does not work on Game Cube.

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THE DVD VERSION OF THE NINTENDO Wii

Soon a DVD video playback version of the Wii is to be released which will work on the software of cineplayer DVD CE navigator by Sonic Solutions.

WIRELESS CONTROLLER OF THE Wii

Its controller is a combination of built-in infrared detection and accelerometers to sense its position in the 3d space within the sensor bar. With the help of this, the user can control the physical gestures and button presses .The remote connects with a Bluetooth to the console and can even connect to the expansion devices through a port at the base of the controller. This comes with a wrist band which will prevent the player from unintentional dropping or throwing of remote and Nintendo offers a free replacement of straps in case of strap failure and also provides a remote jacket for extra protection.

LIMITATIONS

Wii is heard to use a storage system similar to the Game Cube using block units instead of bytes where 1MB is roughly equal to 8.12 blocks. The first Wii system software update caused a portion of the launch units as unusable for which the customers had to either replace it if they wished to retain the saved data or replace it for free. Nintendo has been offering a free repair for the owners of the contaminated laser lens in the optical disc which gives a difficulty in reading the high density software.

At times, the remote control loses the track of the system it has been set to and requires to be reset and resynchronized of which the process has been given on the website of Nintendo. Also, the speaker of the controller produces a low quality sound and used a substandard for the console of this generation. The hardware lacks the power required to run the software scheduled for release and the online connectivity is very poor

Also, a case had been filed against Nintendo for its defected wrist straps and infringing of the remote controls and it was sued for a company claimed that it had copied the capacitor designs for the Wii from Lonestar Inventions.

A disorder of tennis elbow called wiitis is seen in the players of the Wii as it requires more energy than playing normal computer games but at the same time, some say that it helps in weight management.

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