Much to the surprisal of journalists , Sony came out with a bang at their pre - E3 league on Monday . What started off as a dull serial publication of generic demos and videos quickly turn into a jaw - dropping demonstration of the PlayStation 3 ’s capabilities — whole overshadow Microsoft ’s subsequent Xbox 360 press consequence .
Sony pulled out all layover , revealing the look of the cabinet , specs , and launch particular date . slate for release in Spring 2006 , the PlayStation 3 features a PowerPC - cornerstone core running at 3.2 gigacycle per second , 256 megabit of XDR RAM at 3.2 GHz , 256 MB GDDR3 VRAM at 700 MHz , Bluetooth wireless accountant , built in WiFi ( 802.11b / g ) , and RSX , a Department of State - of - the - art next - gen GPU by Nvidia with a clock hurrying of 550 megahertz . Similar to the Xbox 360 , the GPU is able-bodied to freely reach the 512 MB of RAM , lack the restraint seen in conventional PCs . And continuing its tradition , the console table is backwards compatible — as is the Xbox 360 .
While techno - geeks can chew over forever the possible ramification of the specification , Sony talk most understandably through its impressive demos ( both tech and also of existent plot ) , show the potent console at piece of work . Make no error : the PlayStation 3 is utterly superior in nontextual matter to the Xbox 360 from what has been shown .
What really go down the PS3 asunder from the 360 was its lighting and phantasm effects . The first technical school demo showed easy absorption and subsurface deflection , foreground how different surfaces react differently to lighting . For lesson , skin reflect a warmer glowing due to the Light Within being partially absorbed , while the eyes give off a realistically glassy manifestation . The lighting model was advanced enough to even show in high spirits - volume brightness beam through the body ( much as you ’d see when you insure a hard light source with your fingers ) . Game demos such as Fight Night Round 3 implement other graphics - hog effects such as soft shadows ( where phantasma edges wait blurry at a distance ) . And like the 360 , the PS3 also had flush effects , light flooding and bump map .
While each effect in of itself is subtle , when all combined the added ambiance is noticeably improved from what ’s pick up in top - ending personal computer art . The PS3 also seemed to have importantly more complex polygonal models than the Xbox 360 . While the 360 ’s rather dissatisfactory Ghost Recon 3 bet like a small facelift from Ghost Recon 2 , Killzone on the PlayStation 3 was an eye - opener — undoubtedly the most beautiful looking FPS game to date ( Quake 3 and Half - animation 2 picket in comparison ) . When compare the artwork between the 360 and the PS3 , the latter has graphics that are dependable to the idiomatic expression “ next - propagation ” while the 360 seems more like a respectable upgrade ( say , the jump from PS One to PS2 ) from the original Xbox .
The main concern with the PlayStation 3 , however , is the control blueprint . Onlookers quickly acquire the verbal description of “ boomerang ” as the controller featured magnified bender and arcs . Disconcertingly , the button and d - tablet are slightly cant over , recalling the sour experiences with Microsoft ’s ergonomically disastrous horned rattlesnake . Analog thumbsticks appear largely unaltered from the PlayStation 2 , another point of fear . From a airfoil appraisal , the Xbox 360 depend to have the better controller .
On the brighter side , the design of the PS3 console itself is minimalist and sleek in an industrial , Bose sort of way . The console is bulging as opposed to concave , interestingly enough — whether or not Sony deliberately made an polar design conclusion to Microsoft is nameless . While Sony and Microsoft seem to want to elicit different emotions from their console innovation ( Sony ’s cold , brush aluminum cool versus Microsoft ’s soft and fun ) , Sony yet again gain ground out with a more aesthetically enticing cabinet .
Although the 360 appear inferior to the PS3 in terms of sheer ironware potentiality , Microsoft ’s console table stands out from Sony ’s with its mass - marketplace appeal . dish as a biz console , Tivo , one - stop source for on - demand medium ( MP3s , moving-picture show , medicine ) , TV chat service , the Xbox 360 seems far more versatile than the PS3 — potentially draw in a much more various audience . coast even showed the cabinet to be potentially compatible with rival electronics such as the iPod and PSP . Sony by contrast did n’t focus much on the medium functionality of the console ; it did show its compatibility with a whole slew of CD and videodisk formats , but the PS3 does n’t seem to have videodisk burning functionality .
Microsoft ’s big investiture for the Xbox 360 is online with Xbox Live , and Microsoft show itself to be better machinate for out - of - the - box web characteristic . While a lot of the intro rehashed what had previously been announced , J Allard also expanded on the mart functionality , say that gamers can potentially sell their goodness to other gamers online ( custom T - shirts , car role ) . Sony ’s explanation of its on-line functionality was relatively abbreviated , the only Apocalypse being the use of an Eyetoy - similar gadget for HD IP photographic camera . While Sony may come out with more concrete information about online , for now Microsoft has usher to be more forward thinking with obedience to on-line gaming .
Still , in the end Sony stole the attention for the day . Microsoft ’s flicker was intelligibly taper off when it made its surprisal announcement toward the end of its pressure event about working together with Square Enix & to bring in Final Fantasy XI ( of all secret plan , one that ’s already been liberate on PC and PS2 ) on the 360 . Comparing that to the proclamation of Final Fantasy XII being released on the PlayStation 3 ( not to mention Metal Gear Solid 4 and Devil May Cry 4 ) , it seems Japanese developer are still hold their plug-in nigher to Sony .
