Possible PS3 OS Information 53
Ars Technica has some details they think are fairly reliable about the OS the PS3 will be using. From the article: "In fact, there was some question as to what such an OS would be doing with all that leftover horsepower. I think the answer is probably to be found in the interactive, real-time, user- and network-facing sides of the console's functionality. This includes not only the audio/video chat and IM referenced in the PS3 Portal rumor, but also the aforementioned DRM (for streaming and downloadable online content that might be dynamically integrated into the game experience) and security/privacy-related code. "
So, you can crank it up to "eleven"? (Score:4, Funny)
So, you can crank it up to "eleven"?
Speculation or blatantly obvious? (Score:2, Insightful)
So that's pretty much what the Xbox 360 has too right? And pretty much what any next gen online console will have, hmmm? Who wouldn't expect an online gaming machine in 2006 to have AV IM/chat and downloadable online content? Sheesh!
They'll be t
Re:Speculation or blatantly obvious? (Score:5, Funny)
Not in Vista Basic, you'll need the upgrades for that...
Might As Well Go All out (Score:3, Insightful)
It should be capable of:
1) Live Video Streaming in HD (new hd movie trailers on your big screen vs. PC screen).
2) All kinds of communications, chat, voice, etc.
3) Linux networked device.
4) All the game related stuff like demo downloads, etc.
5) Release a $50 dollar tv tuner accessory + appropriate software to make this into a pvr (already has massive graphics and parallel processing power along with the output hardware built in).
Of course this isn't to say that they should put any less resources on games. They should keep their AA third party and in house development teams and release as much variety + quality of games as they can. However, I'd hate to see all this hardware potential go to waste. Then and again since theres a good chance it will be able to run on linux (if thats not the default os) we may have free alternatives made by hobbyists (depending on the strength of the drm).
Re:Sound good... (Score:1)
Performance Worries (Score:3, Interesting)
The following quote from TFA worries me a bit. It will use a good chunk of the resources on the OS rather then purely for games. If the PS3 devs can't use a lighter version of the O.S. this could be a bit of an issue should they opt to do so in their games (some games may benefit from the voice/video chat but there are tons of games where this is unnecessary and annoying). Currently in the PS2 the default OS uses an almost negligible amount of resources that are pretty much needed to run the games
In the case of the PS3 this equates to 12.5% of the available Cores on the CPU always reserved, an additional 12.5% sometimes taken by the OS, 12.5% of the available RSX memory and 25% of XDR Cell memory. Balancing these out, one could argue that Sony has removed up to 25% of the available CPU power and 18.75% of RAM for these features as well as others that are not mentioned here or will be added in future updates to the PS3 Operation System.
Re: Performance Worries (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not the amount of the cells you use, it's how you use em!
Re: Performance Worries (Score:2)
Well also realize that in the beginning people will be inefficient at programming the PS3 so having as much CPU power as possible will be important to make up for current lack of experience in optimization, so they may need 100% of the processor now to acheive what people will be able to do with 50% of the processor in the future.
Re: Performance Worries (Score:3, Interesting)
IF Sony can give out OS updates over the internet (as Microsoft sort-of does now with the 360), then it's
Re:Performance Worries (Score:2)
This is silly, because undoubtedly the OS gives you a number of things that you'd have to do anyway, thus you no longer need to do them in your game. Sony is not stupid. Their developers are not stupid. They have some of the better PS developers under their roof (Naughty Dog with Jak and Daxter
Re:Performance Worries (Score:2)
While this is true to an extent, I think Sony is making a big mistake by effectively forcing online functionality into all games.
I don't play online. I don't want to chat with friends using my game console. I don't want content streamed in from the internet. I was planning on buying a PS3, but I may not if the offline aspect isn't as solid as on the previous ge
Re:Performance Worries (Score:2)
Eh? Then don'
Re:Performance Worries (Score:1)
Uhh, yes. You're being forced to dedicate processes that are only useful to those who are online. That's the complaint. I don't really mind it so much since I'm quite fond of online gaming and consider home internet connection bandwidth to be a greater constraint than hardw
Re:Performance Worries (Score:1)
Typical Modern Day Bloat (Score:2)
Besides why should they? Next years model wil be bigge, faster, better anyway, right? ( that was sarcasm, for the slow ones among us )
Not a total cliche, considering the PS2 kit... (Score:2)
Re:Not a total cliche, considering the PS2 kit... (Score:3, Informative)
No news! (Score:3, Interesting)
I would wonder if Sony did it the other way!
It would be really hard to write and debug every single game (or application) with all the needed run time support in it.
I'd say that trivially a (kind of) operating system [wikipedia.org] is to be present into that hardware marvel.
The real question is: which operating system will Sony choose?
One already existing or a fresh new one?
Re:No news! (Score:2)
Re:No news! (Score:2)
The Xbox was the first to break that cycle by having a hard drive for patches, but MS has gone back on that idea by shipping the 360 without a standard hard drive. Althoug
Re:No news! (Score:2)
With all that horse power in the box I would spend a mere 0.1% of it for a real operating system.
I'm lucky I'm not a video game developer or engineer!
Re:No news! (Score:2)
Only now are consoles getti
Re:No news! (Score:2)
I can bet that a mere 0.1% of the total CPU resources can be "wasted" for a real real-time operating system!
This's my opinion, of course!
Re:No news! (Score:2)
Anyways, how much are you willing to bed on your 0.1% figure? Did you even read the article? It claims that both the PS3 and Xbox 360 OSes take well over that.
Re:No news! (Score:1)
Re:No news! (Score:1)
Hardware (Score:3, Insightful)
When you say "all this potential hardware" you really mean "blu-ray drive." The power difference between a PS3 and a 360 (with 3 3.2ghz processors and a better GPU) is negligable.
Re:Hardware (Score:2)
That's simply not true,
The architechture behind each console is VERY different and just flat out saying which is faster is impossible. The GPU on the 360 has unified shaders, so if you need to use a lot of just one kind of shader it should be faster on the 360, but the overhead of having unified shaders probably means that if you are doing some balance of vector and pixel shading then the PS3 will cl
Re:Hardware (Score:1)
Basically the PS3 has 8 SPEs on die (1 is reserved) and one is the PPE. All are running at 3.2GHz. The PPE is a general purpose CPU based on the PowerPC arch. and the SPEs are specialized processing units.
Now, the PPE has two hardware threads each with 128 x 128bit wide hardware registers. Each SPE has two hardware threads each containing the same number of registers with the same width. Soooo.
Grids? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm wondering if this is still the plan? Was it the press confusing Cell and Grid? The other question it poses is what is the legality of using a client's box and bandwidth for sony's network
Re:Grids? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it was just a way of trying to demonstrate the phenomenal cosmic powers the PS3 will possess. I truly doubt that was ever anything other than talk.
See also the "Emotion Engine" (translation: "CPU"), "real-time Toy Story graphics" (something the new generation is getting close to if you fudge the resolu
Re:Grids? (Score:2)
No [google.com].
In the first page of those results (that I see), there are three reasonably-official confirmations that connect the PS2 and "Toy Story", and two more that aren't what I'd consider official, but reference it.
Claiming FF: TSW-level graphics for the PS2 would have been absurd, as the PS2 came out before FF: TSW, so all FF: TSW would
Re:Grids? (Score:2)
Funny how everything gets mixed up after a while, isn't it?
Re:Grids? (Score:2)
this here is a direct link to the microsoft toy story claim, however:
http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282, 40970,00.html?tw=wn_story_related [wired.com]
Re:Grids? (Score:1)
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-948493.html [com.com]
Theft (Score:2)
Where is the Devastator Cell? (Score:5, Interesting)
In the dawn of the PS3, the system specs were all powerful. The almighty Cell processor has 8 SPEs and would take advantage of other Cell processors on the network, such as those in your TV. It was kind of like Devastator [toyarchive.com], the processors combining to become even more powerful.
Then we find out that Sony is having trouble making Cell chips with 8 working SPEs. So the PS3 is promised to only have 7 working SPEs for each system.
Today we find out [evilavatar.com] that the OS will always consume an SPE and has the right to abduct another when necessary. This reduces the potential number of SPEs that a developer can reliably count on for a game to use at all times is reduced to 5.
The true power of the PS3 keeps being reduced the closer to launch it becomes. Additional features have already been dropped [gamesindustry.biz]. How many more will evaporate before the PS3 becomes a real device you can go to the store and buy?
What went wrong on the way? Why do we now have a processor that isn't half what we were promised but is still a total bitch to program for?Don't you think someone should be asking these questions?
Finally (Score:4, Funny)
Homer Simpson's Car (Score:3, Interesting)
Think of a car manufacturer telling you about an upcoming sports car. The automobile will have 8 cylinders in a brand-new type of engine and will be faster than anything else on the road.
A year goes by and the manufacturer is having trouble producing the brand-new engine with 8 working cylinders. Instead, they decide the sports car will only use 7.
Now we find out that the fancy computer controlled car needs power to run the fuel-injectors, radio, On-Star and GPS system. As a result, the car will always occupy one cylinder of power and will have the option to abscond with another cylinder when it deems necessary.
Your 8-cylinder powerhouse is now a 5-cylinder go-kart. Sure, it has a really fancy GPS system and radio, but what about those that wanted the super-car they were promised? The machine isn't focused on delivering the best driving experience possible, it has turned into a Homermobile [wikipedia.org], with a bluray player, the ability to download music and shows, 7 wireless controllers, cup holders, a coffee machine, and three horns that play "La Cucaracha".
How about a company that focuses on doing something well, instead of trying to be everything to everyone?
Re:Homer Simpson's Car (Score:1)
Re:Homer Simpson's Car (Score:1)
The original PS3Portal article (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.ps3portal.com/ps3/article/352.html [ps3portal.com]
http://www.ps3portal.com/ps3/article/352/2 [ps3portal.com]
Sony Operating System (Score:2)