Playstation 3

The Sony Playstation 3 comes with several unique features that other video game consoles do not have. This article will give a brief history of the ps3 and describe what makes the playstation 3 (ps3) a great video game system.

There are five versions of the Playstation 3, the 20G, 40G, 60G, 80G & 160G. In addition to all of the features of the 20 GB model, the 60 GB model has internal IEEE 802.11 b/g wi-fi, multiple flash card readers (SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I/Type II, Microdrive, memory Stick/pro/duo) and a chrome colored trim. In terms of hardware, the 80 GB model released in South Korea is identical to the 60 GB model released in the PAL regions, except for the difference in hard drive size.

The Sony Playstation 3 was designed with a blu-ray player for watching high-definition movies. This is one of the unique features that puts the PS3 in it's own category. The other 2 main video game consoles, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, do not have this functionality.

The Sony Playstation 3 has several games that can only be found on their system. Those titles include ones such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo, Resistance, & Killzone 2. For a full list of all of the games released only on Playstation 3 just check Wikipedia's list.

The reason why the Playstation 3 is such a great system is the superior graphics that are displayed. The games can be shown in true 1080p which is better than your basic cable high-definition (720p). Gaming with the PS3 on a plasma or lcd hdtv is quite impressive. A very popular upgrade from the Playstation 2 (PS2) was the wireless controller. Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii all released a wireless controller option with their systems as well but Sony included a cord to charge your controller with the system. This allows the user to charge their controller when not playing games to reduce the dependency on batteries.

The Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii controllers run on batteries which can be a huge problem if you are playing multi-player first person shooter games. Many times I've seen people playing Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 and their batteries die.  This causes their character to die or lose the game because they have to go find batteries before they can play again. Not to mention, batteries can get expensive if you game a lot. I would suggest buying rechargable batteries or a charging stand if you have either the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii.

The last unique feature about the PS3 is the ability to turn off the system by only touching the front of the system box rather than pushing in a button.

A couple things you may not know about the PS3

• The initial prototype shown in May 2005 featured two HDMI ports, three Ethernet ports and six USB ports; however, when the system was shown again a year later at E3 2006, these were reduced to one HDMI port, one ethernet port and four USB ports, presumably to cut costs
• According to Media Create, 81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan
• As of the December 31, 2008, there have been 155 million games sold for the PlayStation 3
• When the Playstation 3 was originally built it cost around $805-$840 per unit for the 20G and 60G models respectively. During the initial release of the video game system, Sony Corporation lost almost $2 billion dollars which was roughly $250 per console sold. A profit was expected to be made by 2009.

• Wireless Sixaxis and DualShock 3 controllers
• Blu-ray Disc Remote
• Playstation Eye
• PlayTV DVBT tuner/digital video recorder

Wikipedia gives a great overview of the playstation 3 and I've gotten some of my facts and notes from them. Here is a brief description of their article.

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.