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

• 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 2.0 (EDR)

Controller

• Bluetooth (up to 7)
• USB 2.0 (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

• 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

At the end of a promotional video played during the PlayStation 3 launch event, the words “Spring 2006” were displayed on the screen and so began the countdown to the PlayStation 3.

Months before hand many people knew that Sony would be offering a next generation console as soon as they could, but they seemed to hold back worried about making the PS2 obsolete in the market.

The three biggest features of the new machine are of course the Blu-Ray DVD Rom, which will hold much more on a single disk than a normal DVD, the Cell processor, which may have applications in next generation super computers, and the full backwards compatibility with the PS2 and PSone.

The Blu-Ray DVD Rom is one of the reasons for its later arrival to the console market as the Xbox 360 will beat PS3 by a few months. Many fans of Sony’s products are not worried as getting first to the market does not always mean a winning hand, and waiting for the Blu-Ray technology might be the ace in the sleeve for Sony, especially since Xbox 360 developers are already coming to the limit of regular DVD capacity.

Out of the box, the PS3 will have the capability to support seven Bluetooth controllers. It will also have six USB slots for peripherals–four up front and two in the back.

The PlayStation 3 will feature the much-vaunted Cell processor, which will run at 3.2 Ghz, giving the whole system 2.18 teraflops of overall performance. It will sport 256mb XDR main RAM at 3.2 Ghz, and have 256MB of GDDR VRAM at 700mhz.

Sony also unveiled the PS3’s graphics chip, the RSX “Reality Synthesizer based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision, 1080p resolution.

The PlayStation 3 will also sport some hefty multimedia features, such as video chat, internet access, digital photo viewing, digital audio and video. Also, as rumored, the PS3 will have Wi-Fi connectivity to the PSP, which can be used as a remote screen and controller.

The console was put up on Amazon.com with a price of $299.99 USD, and this falls in line with previous PlayStation releases, and puts it in a competitive price bracket against the Xbox 360, and the yet unpriced Nintendo Revolution.

The Original Xbox

The Xbox was considered too bulky by Asian markets, and thus did not perform as well there, especially against the much slimmer Playstation 2. When Microsoft went to make the Xbox 360, they looked at trying to fix the size issue as well as some other cosmetic issues.

My friends all say “the Xbox looks like a tank when put next to the Playstation 2, and the Gamecube”.

Now eventhough the overall size of the Xbox 360 is slightly larger than the original Xbox, the design plays a big role in making it feel smaller. Also, being a pound lighter than the original Xbox probably helps with the perception of size. When many people were polled on who they thought created the new console, they all assumed Apple, and Microsoft was tickled pink with that answer.

Microsoft wanted to add to what they created and they saw lots of room to improve the overall experience of their system. With so many people making modifications, Microsoft actually noticed that the more expandable they made their next system, the better off they would be.

Leaked Designs

As excitement over the release of the new design built up, there were a few designs “leaked” onto the Internet, and later found to be nothing more than fan created designs.

I don’t really know why many people came up with such fabrications, but most of them lacked the design appeal that any console maker would be going for when designing a next generation console.

Some of the designs, were so far out of the realm of possibility that it only took moments after being uploaded for people to call them out as fakes, but the buzz of the Xbox 360 continued and thus, so did the fakes, as everyone wanted to be first to show the “true Xbox 2”

MTV Featured Design Revisions

When MTV had the Xbox release special they had a quick segment going over the many design ideas for their new console, some of them looked much like the final design, and some were a big departure from the final concept.

Most of the designs do not show any sign of heading towards wireless controllers, and many of the designs look more like the original Xbox in their blocky, indestructable look. Also, for the most part the designs had a dark look to them, with only later variations being shown with a lighter grey and white exterior.

Once the inclusion of wireless controllers were in place, it seemed like Microsoft was looking for a theme, something to connect all of the devices and even the playing experience together. Something they could market easily. What they came up with was the 360 concept and the ring of light. In earlier designs you can tell this idea had not even surfaced yet.

I can understand how coming up with a console design is difficult, as no matter what you do, you will get mixed reactions. I have heard people say negative things about the Xbox 360 design, the Playstation 2 design, and the proposed Revolution design. I think they all look pretty good compared to the old Nintendo Entertainment System that I have kicking around.

Introduction

I guess being that this is an Xbox 360 site, I should give a pretty good overview of the Xbox 360.

Many of you have been following the developments of the console for some time now. A few of you maybe were even dreaming of it just after unwrapping your original Xbox console.

Well, in a few short months it will be hitting the shelves. Microsoft has lined up some great games, and accessories that will be taking our pay cheques for many months to come. The Xbox 360 will be available in fall/winter of 2005 and will have tiered pricing packages to try to have an Xbox 360 for any gaming budget.

The Console

The first showing of the console was on MTV, which is a strange departure from the E3 launches that many consoles have.Microsoft ran the special on Thursday, May 12, 2005, and ever since then the world has been buzzed about the Xbox 360.

The console was made to be more than just another game machine as the 360 in its name is supposed to imply. The idea was to put the player in the middle of their digital entertainment world, and give them full control over their experience.

At first I was a little cautious about Microsoft’s offerings as most of my friends are Sony and Nintendo fans who were quick to point at the Xbox and say “it’s just a computer for the livingroom”. I agree with them that it is, but where Windows has never really been made for multimedia in my opinion, the Xbox 360 certainly is. The dashboard used in this release is just amazing, giving an almost endless amount of control to the user.

The Xbox will be launched with two different boxes available to be picked up. One is called the Core System, and the other is the Premium Edition. Different price points are attached to each box, and with it are very different setups.

The Core System:

• Console
• Wired Controller
• Composite Cable
• Xbox Live Silver
• Xbox Live Gold 30-day Trial

Price: $299.99 USD

The Premium Edition:

• Console
• Wireless Controller
• Component HD AV Cable
• 20 GB Hard Drive
• Ethernet Cable
• Headset
• Composite Cable
• Xbox Live Silver
• Xbox Live Gold 30-day Trial
• Premium Chrome Details

Price: $399.99 USD

Electronics Boutique’s “Ultimate Bundle”:

• Console
• Wireless Controller
• Component HD AV Cable
• 20 GB Hard Drive
• Ethernet Cable
• Headset
• Bonus Media Remote
• Composite Cable
• Xbox Live Silver
• Xbox Live Gold 30-day Trial
• Premium Chrome Details
• Perfect Dark Zero Limited Edition
• Dead or Alive 4
• Kameo: Elements of Power
• Project Gotham Racing 3
• Extra Wireless Controller
• Play & Charge Kit (for extra controller)
• Extra Rechargeable Battery Pack

Price: $699.92 USD

At any time the Core System can be upgraded with any of the features and accessories of the Premium Edition or the items listed in the Ultimate Bundle from EB Games. I am also very sure we will see many competing packages created by different companies. The addition of the Ultimate bundle to this post is not an advertisement for EB Games, but just a notice that their are going to be packages that will contain much more than the basic boxes from Microsoft.

Specifications

CPU

• Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
• Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
• VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
• 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
• 1 MB L2 cache

Graphics Processor

• Custom ATI Graphics Processor
• 10 MB of embedded DRAM
• 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines
• Unified shader architecture

Polygon Performance

• 500 million triangles per second

Pixel Fill Rate

• 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA

Shader Performance

• 48 billion shader operations per second

Memory

• 512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM
• Unified memory architecture

Storage

• Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive
• 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
• Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB

I/O

• Support for up to four wireless game controllers
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Two memory unit slots

Online

• Built-in Ethernet port
• Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
• Video camera ready

Media Support

• Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
• Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs
• Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive
• Custom playlists in every game
• Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
• Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers

High-Definition Support

• All games supported at 16:9, 720p, or 1080i, with anti-aliasing
• Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported

Audio

• Multi-channel surround sound output
• Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
• 320 independent decompression channels
• 32-bit audio processing
• Over 256 audio channels

Physical Specs

• Height: 3.26″ (83 mm)
• Width: 12.2″ (309 mm)
• Depth: 10.2″ (258 mm)
• Weight: 7.7 lbs.

Sources:

Xbox.com
Engadget
EB Games
Tom’s Hardware Guide
Team Xbox