Playstation 2 Uses DVD! (and much, much more...)
Sony Computer Entertainment announced the specifications for their
Playstation 2 today, and they're impressive to say the least.
The new Playstation will include several features which will easily make it
the most powerful computing system available to consumers.
First and foremost, the new system uses Sony and Toshiba's new "Emotion
Engine" as its central processing unit. This CPU is capable of an amazing
67 million polygons per second (flat, shaded), or 20 million polygons per
second with full lighting, textures, fog, etc. The "Emotion Engine" also
includes the ability to recreate complex physics environments, allowing 3D
characters in games to have clothing and hair which can react to
environmental variables like wind. Coupled with the central processing unit
is a graphics chip capable of handling 75 million polygons per second.
What this means is that the display to the screen will never be bogged down
by the graphics chip, so the full 67 million polygons per second can be
displayed without any slow down. To give an idea of the graphical prowess
of their new system, Sony claims it is capable of rendering the movie "Toy
Story" in real time. As proof of the technological muscle of the new
Playstation, several developers showed demonstrations of some of the
features. Gran Turismo was running at near-photo realistic resolutions and
the previously pre-rendered "Dance" sequence from Final Fantasy VIII was
rendered in real time (with no loss in quality). To put things into even
better perspective, the developers had only had their development kits for a
week at the time of the announcement.
For sound, Sony has developed an all-new audio chip which is capable of
generating real-time AC3 (Dolby Digital) and DTS (Digital Theatre Sound)
audio. This should mean unparalleled realism in video game sound.
Another interesting feature of the new Playstation is that it is
backward-compatible with existing Playstation games. This is easily
achieved because Sony's new Playstation uses the original Playstation's CPU
as an I/O core, meaning it handles Input and Output from all the ports on
the system (which include a USB port). This means that existing Playstation
owners won't have to give up the huge investment in software that they
currently have. Current information suggests that there will be no
graphical enhancements to original Playstation software.
Last, but certainly not least, the Playstation 2 uses a DVD-ROM drive as
it's main storage device. This means the Playstation 2 will not only be
able to use Playstation and Playstation 2 games, it will be able to use DVD
movies as well. This makes the Playstation 2 an excellent central unit for
anyone's home entertainment unit, and Sony sees this. They claim the
objective with the new system is to generate a whole new entertainment
market combining video games, movies and music. The Playstation 2 certainly
seems more than capable of this.
The Playstation 2 (or whatever Sony decides to call it) is due out in Japan
sometime between December 1999 and March 2000. The North American release
is slated for Fall 2000. European release will probably be sometime in
Winter 2000 or Spring 2001. The price being suggested by sources at Sony
seems to be around 29,000 - 50000 Yen ($250-420US). This makes it somewhat
expensive as a game console, but given the features (and multiple uses) of
this unit, Sony is well within the acceptable price range.
For more information on the Playstation 2 and its specs, as well as
screenshots of some of the demos shown, check out www.psmonline.com and
www.next-generation.com.
Ken Pierce
Dvdken@home.com
Contributing Editor, www.dvdfuture.com
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