PC Hardware

multi-core · Guest

Playstation3 uses an Nvidia GPU they call 'RSX' which is little more
than a faster G70 optimised for a closed-box environment and for the
Cell processor. RSX and G70/GeForce7800 are basicly NV47 or NV48, a
refresh of the NV40 / GeForce 6800.

wondering what Playstation4 will use, a 2 billion transistor Nvidia
NV80 GPU ?

anyway, here's the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4428626.stm

Nurturing the PlayStation dream

By Richard Taylor

The engineer who conceived the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi, talked to
Richard Taylor about the extraordinary development of the PlayStation
brand.

Kutaragi is president of Sony's computer entertainment division
It is difficult for today's so-called PlayStation generation to imagine
life without the console and all its offspring.

Though there were others before it, the PlayStation was pivotal to the
adoption of gaming as part of mainstream culture, a watershed moment in
the brief history of gaming.

Strange to think, then, that the project was very nearly stillborn. The
initial collaboration with Nintendo fell apart, and Sony was left
pondering whether or not to resurrect it.

Ken Kutaragi was the engineer at Sony behind the venture. He told Click
Online he faced enormous internal resistance to the original
PlayStation project: 99% of senior execs were against the idea.

But, convinced that shelving the project would damage both Sony and
technology industry, he was determined to carry on the project at any
cost, even in secret.

I want to change the world with technology and I want to change our
lives

Ken Kutaragi
"We tried so hard to convince Sony executives that the PlayStation
project was worth pursuing, but found that it was extremely difficult
without having a physical mock-up of the console.

"Thankfully our team made a prototype very quickly, and everyone
involved was convinced that the project would become a huge success in
future.

"We brought the prototypes with us to a presentation of senior
executives, and outlined our dream. The then CEO, Mr Oga, gave us the
green light so we were thoroughly delighted."

Exceeding expectations

Over the next few years the PlayStation took the world by storm, and by
the time the PlayStation 2 (PS2) was released six years later, it was
nothing short of a phenomenon.

PlayStation has helped establish gaming in mainstream culture
With an install base of more than 200 million consoles worldwide, Ken
says it exceeded everyone's expectations.

And today the dream of continuing that success is still very much
alive.

"I am an engineer and I like technology. I want to change the world
with technology and I want to change our lives. The best way to realise
it is, for us, PlayStation.

"In the past, game machines used to use obsolete technologies. But we
as engineers are always keen to introduce new technology to them. And
with creators, we are very interested in creating totally new
entertainment."

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is slated for release next spring and Mr
Kutaragi says it promises to usher in a whole new era of entertainment,
though observers point to hype like this about the PS2, which never
really materialised.

What is clear is that the cell processor which drives the PS3 is
extremely powerful. It has been called a supercomputer on a chip. But
much depends on how it can be exploited by developers.

Changing market

The PS3 also faces stiff competition from the Xbox 360, and the jury is
out on which will deliver the superior technology and ultimately the
better games.

Sony's PS3 is touted as the "supercomputer" of gaming
Mr Kutaragi would not be drawn directly into commenting on the threat
from Redmond, but he does believe that the power of the PlayStation is
making PC makers think again.

"While the computer itself is evolving significantly, it's also the
case that new types of computers, like the PlayStation, are going into
millions of homes all around the world.

"Companies working on PCs worry that their markets may be reduced to
being simply the office environment. That's why they're making various
attempts to approaching the next big market - real-time computing and
the home."

So, does the creator of the PlayStation feel responsible for nurturing
a whole generation of video game lovers?

"I am really pleased to be occasionally called the father of the
PlayStation.

"But my dream, and the dream of all my team, hasn't finished. In fact
we haven't achieved even half of what we're going to do.

"We want to lead with the PlayStation 3, and beyond that to the
PlayStation 4 within the next decade."

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