The announcement of the upcoming release of the world-known gaming console PlayStation 3 has certainly become an unordinary event not only among true gamers but among many PC users as well. The times when these devices had only one purpose, to run games, have passed, and now the new generation of gaming consoles provides many useful and interesting functions and features for gaming and other kinds of entertainment. PlayStations have always been among the best representatives of gaming devices, and now they promise to combine gaming features with the abilities to play video, music, streaming video files, and other. Being designed by Sony Corporation, PlayStation 3 incorporates high industry standards and the most up-to-date achievements of the digital entertainment sphere.
Technical side of the device is interesting and quite impressive even for those advanced PC users who understand the difference between a hardware configuration for a typical personal computer and a high-grade gaming console. The latter must be a lot more powerful to be able to create the appropriate gaming atmosphere. Sony PlayStation 3 is stuffed perfectly. The device uses IBM PowerPC chip as a central processor. This chip provides working clock rate at the level of 3.2 GHz, with 512 Kb of cash memory, which means a highly professional approach to gaming devices development. The second "heart" of Sony PlayStation 3 is its video accelerator by NVIDIA, named RSX, Reality Synthesizer. This video accelerator enables players to experience truly realistic feelings in process of playing.
There are also additional features, which at first seem to be of less importance for a gaming device, but, nevertheless, represent the modern approach to gaming. Sony PlayStation 3 is equipped with optical disk drive, which allows playing multiple disks formats, including DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 and WMA disks, and photo CDs.
It is not surprising that Sony has included Blue ray disk support into this console. Blue Ray is an advanced technology of Sony Corporation, which allows creating disks with capacity of up to 54 Gb of data stored. Compare it with a typical DVD with its 4.8 Gb, which a standard for the time being, and you will understand the seriousness of Sony approach to its new gaming console. There are also 6 USB ports on the PlayStation3, which enable the connection of the device to different peripherals thus broadening the scope of its application.
Sony introduces its PlayStation3 not only as a gaming console, but as a modern and powerful home multimedia center with high density TV support as well. The ability to access the Internet is also aboard (though you will obviously need a keyboard and a mouse for that purpose). Many changes and improvements have touched game pads. They are now wireless, have Bluetooth support, and there can be seven of them to play on the single console.
Speaking of games for PlayStation 3, they promise to be very interesting and addictive, made to personal preferences of all types of gamers. There will be role-playing games, strategy, modern fighting and shooter games.
Having in mind these impressive features of the new device, the hardest thing for gamers at the moment is to wait for Sony PlayStation 3 to hit the shelves. The release is planned sometime in spring 2006.