Playstation 3

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Strangely reminiscent of the towering monolith in the motion picture, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the next-generation Sony PlayStation 3 is a graphical powerhouse and Blu-ray movie player with an impressive array of extra features.

The PS3 is due out November 17, 2006 in North America in two different configurations: a $600 model with a 60GB hard drive and built-in wireless networking and a $500 version with a 20GB hard drive but no Wi-Fi.

Featuring the powerful Cell Broadband Engine, offering parallel processing, PS3 lives up to its hype by delivering an experience beyond anything out there.The Cell Broadband Engine is a3.2GHz chip that Sony developed with help from IBM and Toshiba. The chip's seven synergistic processing elements (SPEs) work in parallel to churn out a staggering 218 gigaflops, or 218 billion floating-point operations per second

Like the PS2 did for DVDs, the PS3 hopes to give a boost to the recently introduced Blu-ray movie format, even going so far as to include the Blu-ray version of the Will Ferrell comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as an add-in. The console's built-in Blu-ray drive allows it to double as a high-def movie player, making its otherwise hefty $500-to-$600 price tag seem like a bargain compared to that of dedicated stand-alone Blu-ray players, which bottom out at $1,000.

Blu-ray will be the format of choice for PS3 games, and the high-density discs offer much more storage space than those of Sony's competitors; Blu-ray discs max out at 50GB and can theoretically go to 100GB or 200GB, while the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii use standard DVDs, which top out at a comparatively cramped 8.5GB. Because of its increased storage capacity, the PS3 has the potential to offer more expansive games, with better graphical textures, more full-motion HD video, and plenty of extra content.

The PS3 is also backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS2 formats. So unlike the Xbox 360, you won't have to re-buy your last-gen games, as Sony will be releasing a $15 PS3 Memory Card Adapter that allows you to use PS1 and PS2 memory cards in your PS3.

On the down side, the PS3 is twice the price that the PS2 was at launch in 2000, and it's $200 more than the basic and high-end Xbox 360 models.

But if you are serious about gaming, price isn't an issue. Right now, Sony is offering the system to beat. It's the best system out there, at least for now. Sony officially revealed the PlayStation 3 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo during its press conference on May 16th, 2005. So players have eagerly awaited this monolithgaming system.

It will officially ship on November 15th, 2006.