After many years of waiting, Sony finally released its brand new Playstation 3 console to the public a few weeks ago. Heralded as the most advanced gaming console (aside from the computer) in years, the PS3 console was designed to provide people with a gaming experience as close to reality as was currently possible given modern day technology. The Playstation 3, with its incredibly powerful technology was looking ahead to the future of gaming and if we can see anything from the release of this new system – the future of gaming, from Sony’s perspective anyway looks pretty good.

One of the aspects of the Sony Playstation 3 console that makes it so incredible is the amazing amount of high tech parts that it uses. In contrast to the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation 3 console looks almost like a supercomputer in a black lacquered case. To begin with, the PS3 features a processor that uses as many as eight cores for rapid computational power.  While this may sound totally amazing given that most modern day home computers use one or two cores, you really cannot compare the two types of processors because the PS3’s processor is only capable of doing simple calculations, meaning that it is nowhere near as powerful as a modern gaming computer.

In the graphics card department of the Playstation 3 console, we see that Sony has incorporated a relatively high end chip much like the ones used in modern day gaming computers. Unfortunately, much like the PS3’s processor, the graphics chip is also rather limited in what it can do. A few weeks before the PS3 console went on sale, a new video card was released for home computers that completely eclipsed the power of the PS3, making it old technology before it ever hit store shelves.

Now, not all is lost if you are considering the Playstation 3 console. It is still an impressive piece of engineering and has some excellent capabilities.  First off, it features a Blu-Ray disc player for high definition movies on Blu-Ray format. At the price of six hundred dollars, you cannot find a standalone Blu-Ray disc player in any store at that price point, making the PS3 an exceptional deal even if you have no desire to use it to play games.  Secondly, the PS3 console is the only system that will be able to play games in full 1080p high definition. The Xbox 360 and the Wii are limited to 720p/1080i (natively) and 480p respectively, so neither console harnesses the power of full high definition technology. Also, you can turn the PS3 into a full home entertainment system with a simple download of an operating system that was carefully designed to use the Playstation 3’s unique processor, meaning that you can have a computer, home theater system, and gaming console all rolled into one for only six hundred bucks.