A History of the Shrinking Game Console

After Sony's announcement of the PS3 Slim earlier this week, CNet took a look back at size-reducing hardware revisions over the past couple decades in console design, noting that they're gradually arriving sooner and sooner after the initial release. "Does that mean it'll creep even lower, into two-year or even yearly cycles between major revisions? Quite possibly, yes. It's worked very well with handheld gaming devices, and even some consumer electronics devices like iPods. Apple has turned out slimmer, more powerful versions of the iPod every year since 2001, and yearly events like E3 put continued pressure on console makers to show off something big. In the case of the PS3 Slim though, it could just be that the PS3 had to be pushed out to meet its launch window, and that the Slim is what Sony was going for in the first place. Advances in the PlayStation 3's core technology, like the cell processor, also underwent changes since the console launched, including changes to fabrication that have taken the chip down from 90 nanometers to 65, then 45 — the size that can be found inside the Slim. These changes meant less power consumption, smaller components, and easier cooling."

Re:What about NES Redesign

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

You are surprised that CNET's level of "research" didn't even pass the wikipedia test?

C'mon, this is CNET.

This is your PS3 Analysis on drugs

[Simon80]

In the case of the PS3 Slim though, it could just be that the PS3 had to be pushed out to meet its launch window, and that the Slim is what Sony was going for in the first place

One doesn't even have to have a PS3 to remember how long Sony delayed the PS3 at launch because it was waiting for enough supply of the BluRay drives. Also, lets not forget that the PS3 Slim is being released over two and a half years after the original PS3.

Re:2600 Jr?

[Kell Bengal]

Actually there's some sense there. Really, who aside from the nerdy geeky types really cares about the history of any technology? I expect most people these days are happy enough to use an object without really thinking too hard about where it came from or how it works. Certainly, to most kids these days, anything that predates Power Rangers is unbelievably ancient.

Hell, when I was a kid, the NES appeared to me to be the ONLY console game, ever. Even though I had some hind-brain understanding that there was atari and C64, the mere fact that they weren't part of my mid-to-late 80s Now made them entirely irrelevant. Who could possibly care or even want to know about anything else?

Just so. To the kids who have grown up with colour handhelds and never played a sprite-based game in their life, the old systems that we cherished and can ruminate over for hours seem so passe as to be unmentionable. When was the last time you actually impressed someone when you said "Hey man, I used to play games in, like, THREE colours, man"?

Sony started bigger

[m50d]

It's not just this generation - the original playstation was much bigger than its competitors, and while the xbox was hilariously huge, even the revised PS2 felt bigger than the gamecube (it was slim but long, which took up more space on the shelf). Sony is the one shrinking its consoles for the simple reason that sony's original consoles are frickin' huge.

Re:2600 Jr?

[kaizokuace]

this is how shit gets lost in history and events are distorted!

Re:Quieter, not smaller please!

[Anonymous Coward]

you sony fantards are so quick to go off; he said the specs of the NEW ps3. do you own a new ps3? no? well then shut the fuck up until you know what you're talking about