The Playstation 3 is the seventh-generation video game console and the third in the Playstation line. PS3 is Sony's answer to the Wii from Nintendo and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.
The launch will happen in the US and Japan in November 2006. The PS3 will be on sale in March 2007 in Australia, Europe, and the rest of the world. Because there aren't enough blue-ray drive diodes, the release date in Australasia and Europe has been pushed back.
Sony said that the Playstation 3 will come in two different versions. The first one is the one that costs extra. Units with this configuration have a Blu-ray drive, USB ports, Wi-Fi, memory card readers, and an internal hard drive with 60 GB of space. On the other hand, the other version only has a 20-GB hard drive and does not have Wi-Fi or a memory card reader. The user can, however, upgrade the hard drive and use adapters to connect memory card readers. The Wi-Fi feature, on the other hand, can't be added.
Users of the PS3 can watch movies and play games with the Blu-ray drive. Since a blu-ray disc can hold up to 54 GB of data, users won't have to worry about running out of media space.
The portable hard drives give the system the space it needs to store Playstation Network apps, downloads, and other files. The hard drive will also be used to save game points for the games.
In the United States, the 20-GB is expected to cost $499 and the 60-GB is expected to cost $599. In Japan, the 20-GB is priced at about $430. Sony has decided to let Japanese retailers set their own prices for the 60-GB model. In Europe, the 20-GB and 60-GB versions cost $550 and $660, respectively. In some parts of Australia, the price of the premium model will be $680, while the price of the 20-GB model will be $570.
The PS3 console is beautifully made with smooth lines and curves. The sides of the PS3 look like they are spreading out, so it doesn't look like it can hold the hardware inside. Also, the PS3 case has a highly developed cooling system to deal with the heat that comes from the system power supply and the Cell processor. Many people would think that the PS3, which uses a lot of power, would make a lot of noise. But the PS3 is surprisingly quiet when it's working.
Early Playstation 3 consoles came in silver, white, and black colours. The first release, though, will only have black. Sony chose high-quality materials for the design to give it an extra touch of class. From official looks at the design, the PS3 console's outside seemed to be black and shiny. The system's case, on the other hand, looked dark and partially see-through. And because the top of the console is curved, users will have to put the PS3 on top of their other gear. The PS3 weighs 11 pounds and is 12.8 inches by 3.8 inches by 10.8 inches.
The PS3, like the other consoles, can be put on an AV rack either horizontally or vertically. Users of the PS3 don't have to worry about their movie or game discs getting damaged when they move the console.
