Not to be overshadowed by the recent Xbox unveiling, Sony has just released the specs for its next-generation Playstation. The PS3, which will hit stores next spring, is powered by the Cell processor (co-developed with IBM and Toshiba), and an NVIDIA graphics processor (co-developed with Sony), sporting 2 teraflops of calculation power--double that of the Xbox 360. Possibly the best news of all for Playstation fans is that the PS3 is backwards-compatible with the PS2 (and, by the looks of the specs, the PS1).

The PS3's storage system consists of the new Blu-ray disc format, which stores about ten times that of contemporary DVDs, a slot for a removable hard drive, Memory Stick slots, CompactFlash card slots, and USB ports. The console is able to network wirelessly and via ethernet. Its controllers are wireless via Bluetooth technology.

The console will support high-definition graphics, like the Xbox 360. The official press release claims that "Gamers will literally be able to dive into the realistic world seen in large screen movies and experience the excitement in real-time." Wow! Literally! Obviously the PS3 offers some trans-dimensional abilities the other consoles can only dream about.

The design of the new console softens the sharp angles of the PS2. A white, gray/metallic, and black model seem to be planned, giving consumers at least a little choice (if not Xbox 360-style removable faceplates). With a launch next spring, the PS3 will be in stiff competition with Nintendo's new console, which is also slated for a 2006 release. I have the feeling Microsoft is blowing its load too early, and that slow and steady might win this race.

Pics and detailed tech specs from the official press release follow:


PLAYSTATION®3 Specifications Product name PLAYSTATION®3 CPU Cell Processor PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz 1 VMX vector unit per core 512KB L2 cache 7 x SPE @3.2GHz 7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE * 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy total floating point performance : 218 GFLOPS

GPU RSX @550MHz 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing)

Memory 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth Main RAM 25.6GB/s VRAM 22.4GB/s RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read) SB 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance 2 TFLOPS

Storage HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0) Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1 SD standard/mini x 1 CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2) Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller Bluetooth (up to 7) USB2.0 (wired) Wi-Fi (PSP®) Network (over IP)

AV Output Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p HDMI HDMI out x 2 Analog AV MULTI OUT x 1 Digital audio DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc media * read only CD PlayStation® CD-ROM PlayStation®2 CD-ROM CD-DA CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW SACD SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD DualDisc DualDisc (audio side),DualDisc DVD side)

DVD PlayStation®2 DVD-ROM PLAYSTATION®3 DVD-ROM DVD-Video DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc PLAYSTATION®3 BD-ROM BD-Video BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE