Sony chip to transform video-game industry
Mar 4, 2003 at 10:40 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 27
RickG

RickG

Electrostatic Elvis
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Umm, wow...

eek.gif


http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercuryne...printstory.jsp
 
Mar 4, 2003 at 10:59 PM Post #2 of 27
to show you how far behind I am, I haven't even bought that xbox that I've been thinking about for over a year......

well maybe it's just I was waiting for an article like this to get me to put it off a couple more years!
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 12:00 AM Post #5 of 27
I'm always skeptical of press releases and new electronics claiming they can blow everything away. I've been hyped up too much in the past only to be let down time after time. Often times the technology is there, but the effectiveness of releasing the technology and marketing it fails.

Then again, Sony does know how to market. So this could be interesting...
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 12:20 AM Post #6 of 27
they leave the utilization of the chip vague because of its horrible secret:

they implant it in your brain!
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 12:28 AM Post #7 of 27
As far as I can tell It is a combination of Intel-esque hyperthreading and SMP setups. Not new technology in itself, a similar setup is running in the computer-science building of my University, but putting it all on one chip is the step foward.

The problems as I see it will center around the chip having a huge die size. This means lower production, combined with higher defect rates. Also, the sucker will be expensive as hell and probably dissipate a lot of power. Also the distribution of data to the individual processors will slow it down. Also of note is that most games rely on the results of the last calculation to start the next one, so it doesn't matter if you have 8 processors if 7 of them are waiting on one of them to give them data to process.

Oh well, I'll wait and see what happens.
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 12:34 AM Post #8 of 27
Quote:

Originally posted by RickG
confused.gif


Sorry, just a little 2001 Space Odyssey "Hal 9000" reference...

[size=xx-small]Open the pod bay doors Hal

I'm sorry, I can't do that right now Dave...[/size]

smily_headphones1.gif
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 1:32 AM Post #9 of 27
Sony put out a lot of hype more than a year or so before the release of the PS2. Anyone remember all the previews of the vaunted "Emotion Engine," and how it would revolutionize everything? How about the news stories that the PS2 would have to be banned from being shipped to Iraq, because it would qualify as a "supercomputer"?

Sony is a master of media manipulation.

It worked though. I would guess that their marketing of the PS2 at least helped to sink the Dreamcast.

But I wouldn't take their claims all that seriously.
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 3:06 AM Post #10 of 27
PS3: ho hum. in two years time we'll be running 17G processors. meanwhile surround sound went from 4.1 to 51.,6.1,7.1... the more the platforms take away from the PC, the sooner the PC will die. Nvidia and ATI stock will take a plunge because no one is buying $400 video cards (and why should they?, since no one is making games for the cards). what you're more likely to see is a PS3 with a keyboard and a mouse, a .1G lan connection, connected to your HDTV.
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 3:22 AM Post #11 of 27
Negatory. I think you are more likely to see computers used for that purpose instead. HDTV tuning, recording (tivo-like capibility), DVD playback, music playback, ect all in one box. With HDs pushing 250GB now, the space is avalible (that's ~20hours of HDTV recording), and the constant upgradeability of the PC makes it much more attractive than a console, which in general will cut corners to keep costs down.

Bluetooth should provide reliable wireless keyboards, mice, and remotes.

I may be a purist, but I think that consoles, for price and useability reasons will not make it as all-in-one entertainment centers. Microsoft is taking a huge hit for every X-Box they sell, mostly because the hardware is so versitle (HD, DVD playback, Internet connectivity, ect).
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 4:23 AM Post #12 of 27
I really don't know whether computers or consoles will become the so-talked-about "convergence" appliance. They've both been positioning around it for years, but all of the attempts to market one so far have failed miserably.

We have various arguments both for and against each:

Computers: Computers with media center attachments have been tried in the past. Remember the strange Gateway 2000 tv / computer thingies?

Sure, you can do all that stuff right now, but it requires sophisticated knowledge to set it all up correctly. Certainly upgradeability could be a major factor for computers as well. With computers, though, it will all be rather expensive.


Consoles: have also been tried, though I can't come up with any specific examples from history though. The last major console to have lots of computer-style interaction was the Atari.

I think price will actually be on the side of the consoles, because they are standardized. It is precisely because they are sold for a loss that they can appear to be more attractive, and build up a user-base. Of course, given the closed nature of the consoles, the console maker would probably be making money hand over fist on subscriptions and the like.

As for quality concerns, when was the last time that that was a major factor in
consumers' decisions as a whole?



I think that there is going to be lots of inertia against either form of convergence technology. I think it's slowly starting to change right now, with the rise of the PVR.
 
Mar 5, 2003 at 4:28 AM Post #13 of 27
Capt,

the PC may be more versatile, but the economic profit point is more suited to a much lower monetary value. for equipment, in the consumer market, the magic number is $149.95. only when HDTV is under the $1000 point will consoles make inroads into mainstream consumer top-end products. as for Tivo, many cable companies will probably be selling cable boxes with that ability built in, as very few people bought into Tivo. just like Divx, it has not found widespread acceptance among the majority of consumers.

it used to be that PC sales were driven by gamers. They were more likely (along with engineers) to have the fastest processors, with the fastest memory, and the fastest video and lan connections. with the gamer market in a tailspin (look at how thick your PC gaming magazines are), there is now a PC slump. every corporation spent for Y2K, and now see no reason to buy 3 Gig processors. all they're running is Word. Throw in Microsoft's new licensing platform, and very few people are buying PCs. haven't you noticed how many computer technicians are out of work? cable companies have seen flat to recessive sales of cable modems. maybe they should lower their prices from $50 a month? everyday, people are finding out that they can live without the latest computer, if not living without computer completely. i have no faith in bluetooth. it's too slow a technology. the PC world is looking forward to a messiah, a bang up application that everyone must have. and it still has not arrived. the PC is on a deathbed. more likely you'll see all those capabilities integrated into a dvd type box (probably a cable box), or you'll see it integrated into the TV itself.

the leading edge will always be on the PC. but the profits will always be with the masses. and the masses are revolting. CD sales are down, game sales are down, cell phone sales are down...
 
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