PS3 Details Slowly Emerging 169
The Playstation Magazine (PSM) has a feature coming up in the next issue which discusses Sony's new console with a few new details. Both Maxconsole and Ferrago have a look at the piece. From the Maxconsole article: "We've received a lot of letters asking about how PS2 will be backwards compatible with PS2 and the original Playstation if it doesn't have memory card slot. Well, we have an answer, and it's both good and bad. First, the bad news: All of those old memory cards you have won't be usable with PS3. Okay then, wha's the solution? Sony has actually decided to only use Memory Stick Duo cards(the same format PSP uses) for PS3 save data. However, if you play a PS1 or PS2 game on PS3, the system will treat the Memory Stick like it's a normal memory card."
Comment removed (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The Rub, 10 years down the road.... (Score:4, Informative)
They've also said things about how the PS2/PS3 would be 200 times more powerful than their last console.
If you believe them when they say it will have a 10 year life cycle, you should probably get your head examined. If anything, it seems that the lifespan of consoles is decreasing: (based on information from GameFAQs [gamefaqs.com].
Nintendo: 7/83 - 11/90
Super Nintendo: 11/90 - 6/96
Nintendo 64: 6/96 - 9/01
GameCube: 9/01 - 8/06 (guess based on current information)
As you can see, the lifespan of consoles is decreasing as they become more advanced. The Xbox has only existed for roughly 4 years and it's already being replaced. People will still makes games for a system after a new one comes out, but most of the killer apps will be for the new platform.
I think what Sony meant to say when they threw out the 10 year figure is that it has technology in it that will finally come into wide acceptance and be standard in 10 years. 1080p TVs, good luck finding those today, but in 10 years I think a lot of people will have HD TVs capable of making full use of the PS3's graphical output abilities. Blu-ray discs won't be heavily used now since most people are satisfied with DVDs, but in 10 years it's possible that they will have replaced the DVD as the standard. There is no way, however, that the PS3 will last for 10 years. That's like saying if you purchased a top of the line computer right now that it would still be competitive 10 years down the road. It might handle Doom 3 just fine now, but what about Doom 5?
Essentially what we get is another bullshit figure pulled from the ass of Sony to get people to buy what they're selling. 10 is a nice round number and sounds impressive and somewhat believable after all the hype about the PS3 we've had thrown at us, but in 10 years I think we'll be looking at getting a nice new shiny PS5, which will replace our PS4, which 5 years before replaced the then almost pathetic PS3. Moore's law just won't allow something like the PS3 a 10 year life span.
Re:The Rub, 10 years down the road.... (Score:3, Informative)
I believe if you weren't a Nintendo fanboy and looked at the lifespan on the PS1, you'd see it survived a decade. The PS2 has an easy 3 years left in it, which puts it close, and I wouldn't be suprised to see more.
Because clearly, there are no consoles besides Nintendo consoles. Don't get me wrong: I grew up on Nintendo and love them like anyone else. But this decline could also easily be attributed to Nintendo's production of fewer and fewer games, their focus on the Gameboy, or any number of factors. Look beyond Nintendo [wikipedia.org] and we don't see a decline at all.