Product Overview

The Sony Playstation 3 unleashes a brilliant high-definition gaming experience onto each and everyone of us. Its heartbeat is a digital engine that is quite simply the tour de force in parallel processing, which means a gaming experience that is far beyond what you know today. Its built-in Blu-ray Disc drive delivers a whole new generation in high-definition gaming. Whether it’s gaming, Blu-ray movies, music or online services, PlayStation 3 seduces you to Play On.

Product Features

Premium pack contains 60GB hard drive
Next generation Blu-ray drive
Includes: MemoryStick / SD / Compact Flash slots
Wireless 802.11 b/g
Ethernet connection
Motion sensing wireless Bluetooth controller
Next generation Cell processor
HDMI output
Supports USB keyboards and mice
Stream audio and video to your PS3
4 x USB 2.0 ports
Backwards compatible with PlayStation 1 and 2 games
Virtual memory card capabilities save your old PS1/PS2 games
Dimensions: 325mm (w) x 98mm (h) x 274mm (d)
Weight: 5kg
PLAYSTATION 3 games are region-free (some languages and video output resolutions may not be supported in games purchased from outside the UK)

Product Review

PlayStation 3: Tower of power

High-Definition Capabilities: Enjoy high-definition entertainment, HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) means you can use your PlayStation 3 with High-Definition displays as well as conventional or standard TVs.
Hard Disk Drive (HDD): The PlayStation 3 comes with either a 60GB removable hard disk drive (HDD).
System Interoperability: The PlayStation 3 and PSP play nice together. You can easily exchange media like photos, videos and music from your PlayStation 3 system to your PSP. And get ready to witness an explosion in creativity as developers take on the challenge of integrating the PSP system into PlayStation 3 games.
Backwards Compatibility: Play thousands of PS one and PlayStation 2 games as well as your CDs and DVDs on the PlayStation 3.
Always On: PlayStation 3 delivers “always-on” online connectivity; offering a world of online possibilities including multiplayer gaming, text and video messaging, voice chatting, downloading content and browsing the internet.

Under the hood:
The PlayStation 3 is powered by the Cell Broadband Engine, a revolutionary microprocessor that leapfrogs the performance of existing processors, giving the PlayStation 3 system supercomputer-like power and performance that until now, game developers have only dreamt about. The Cell Broadband Engine is 40 times faster than the chip that runs PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system.

The PlayStation 3 system’s Cell Broadband Engine is the very thing that game developers have always dreamt about. Its unique multi-processing unit design represents a tour de force in parallel processing. The ability to do more of everything at the same time means more enemies, more AI, more explosions, and more realistic game play. Game play that takes into account ragdoll physics and keyframe animation, enemy AI behaving unpredictably, glass cracking based on the size of the object that impacted it, and individual flecks of dust in a beam of sunlight to create a more believable experience. The Cell Broadband Engine has the muscle and horsepower to move beyond artificial intelligence. This is the power that is the digital soul of PlayStation 3.

Blu-ray Disc:
The built-in Blu-ray Disc player means you can enjoy next-generation high-definition entertainment, including games and movies. Next-generation entertainment needs a next-generation format. Blu-ray Disc (BD) is that format. Just as the DVD offered a technological leap from CDs, Blu-ray Disc is the next leap forward in the advancement of data storage technology and digital entertainment. With Blu-ray, the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system offers game developers unprecedented power to express their creativity and a larger canvas to produce a level of interaction, sophistication and reality that has never existed in gaming. More than an evolution, Blu-ray is a revolution that frees developers from the constraints of storage space and allows them to dream in Blu-ray.

High-Definition - Vast storage capacity (50 GB BD vs. 5 GB DVD) supports the large data requirements of high-definition games and movies.
Pristine Picture Quality - Pristine picture quality at 1080p – the highest-definition resolution available today.
Theatre-quality Audio - Audio that redefines “life-like” with 7.1 channel surround sound and true lossless audio. This theatre-quality "uncompressed" audio supports 8 channels of Liner PCM and up to 32 audio streams.
Home Entertainment Content
Delivers a broad range of home entertainment content - seven of the eight major movie studios have already announced titles for Blu-ray, including Warner, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate.
Recordable Media
Blu-ray offers a recordable format with unsurpassed storage capacity to store your digital world: photographs, home videos, music libraries and data, as well as games and movies.
Maximum Bit Rate
With the overwhelming computational power of its Cell Broadband Engine processor, PlayStation 3 is capable of playing back with ease content from BD at a bit rate of multiplex 48Mbps, the maximum bit rate defined in BD standards.
Industry Support
Supported by more than 170 of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson – Blu-ray has the broadest industry support for any disc format ever launched.

SIXAXIS wireless controller:
With the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system’s Cell Broadband Engine creating experiences that were never thought possible, a controller was needed that would enable your experience to match its potential. Enter the new SIXAXIS wireless controller. Utilizing sensors designed to read when a player angles, tilts, thrusts, or pulls, the SIXAXIS controller allows game play to become a natural extension of the player’s body. And with the heritage of the PlayStation system’s basic controller design still intact, gamers are now able to play the controls they’ve grown accustomed to while harnessing the added intuitive movements of the multi-axis controller.

Motion Sensing System - Thanks to breakthrough technology and a highly sensitive motion sensing system, the controller becomes a natural extension of the user’s body.
Bluetooth - Bluetooth for wireless gameplay (the PlayStation 3 system can support up to seven wireless controllers at one time).
Wireless or Wired - The SIXAXIS controller can be easily switched from wireless to wired.
Analogue Joysticks - The tilting angle of the analogue joysticks have been slightly broadened to enable more delicate and dynamic manipulation.
L2/R2 Buttons - The shape of the L2/R2 buttons has been altered, enabling increased travel and precision for more subtle control in games.
USB Charging - Plug into a USB cable and automatically charge the controller through the system at any time. (Use any of the four USB connectors on the PlayStation 3.)
Ease of Installation - Easy to set up and compatible with today’s monitors and televisions.

Multimedia - Music, Photos, Internet, Videos & Movies:
The PlayStation 3 provides an endless array of multimedia activities, all without even inserting a game. It gives you unprecedented control, access and enjoyment of a full range of digital media. The PlayStation 3 system's power, flexibility and connectivity will ignite the next era in home entertainment.

Music & Audio

Play music CDs
Connect to the internet to obtain detailed album information including album title, artist, length of album
Copy CDs directly to your hard disk drive (HDD)
Store and listen to other formats of audio/music files

Movies & Videos

Play Blu-ray Discs (BD) and DVDs
Connect your digital video camera directly to your PlayStation 3 with a USB cable
Store and watch your own videos
Download exclusive video content from PlayStation Store and the PlayStation 3 Portal

Photos

Store your personal digital photo albums
Use any of the various slideshow options to view

Internet

Surf the Internet with the PlayStation 3 Internet Browser and the SIXAXIS wireless controller. You’re free to choose your own online destinations

Pricing & Availability

The PS3 will be released in the UK on 23 March 2007 and cost £425 for the 60 Gb premium edition. Availability is likely to be poor, however, Amazon are taking pre-orders and are likely to be the best way of securing one for the actual launch.