New PS3 info..., NOT OLD AND FAKE I SWEAR

Future Publishing U.S. magazine, PSM has revealed a number of anonymously sourced details about Sony's PlayStation 3 in its September issue, including information about its specifications and storage capabilities.

The magazine reports that the PS3 will not be able to use old memory cards or provide the relevant slots currently compatible for PlayStation 2 or PS One, as Sony has decided to use only its Memory Stick Duo cards -the same format used for PlayStation Portable- to save PS3 data.

This will mean save games on the older formats will not be useable on the next generation format, unless they are saved directly on the PS3's Memory Stick. It is suggested that this standardisation of the format will aid in downloading information for the multimedia machine, as well as avoiding current problem of PS2 and PS One memory cards not being interchangeable.

PSM goes on to state PS3 will also not support older peripherals that use the PS2/One controller port. While the new PS3 gamepad will work when playing the older games, it appears third party extras and dance mats will not be compatible - as we originally suggested at E3, when we noted that the system has no visible ports for connecting such devices.

However, the PSP will be optional as a Wi-Fi remote, allowing the handheld to manage media stored on the PS3, switch it on from sleep mode, control movie playback and more. This is in addition to a planned USB TiVo style peripheral, permitting the PS3 to record television programming to the optional micro hard-drive, with the stored information interchangeable between the next gen machine and the PSP.

Regarding full hard-disc drive for the machine, PSM says Sony aims to keep initial HDD storage to the previously mentioned micro-drive, pitched at 80 gigabytes for the first batch. The intention is not to use this for games, but media storage such as movies, MP3s and digital photos, transferable across a PC, PSP or another PS3. However, the magazine is keen to stress the final specs for the machine are not yet set and there may be improvements to the basic system memory and other parts of PS3 architecture.

With gaming being an obvious part of Sony's format, PSM states most titles will run at a standard 720p visual resolution for High Definition TVs (HDTV). Although it still supports 1080i and 1080p high-definition modes, it's known that a majority of HDTVs do not yet support such a scale yet. Further to this, Sony wishes to allow players to drop the resolution to 480p (progressive scan) or 480i (the standard regular TVs currently use), if they so wish, leaving an option for users who do not have HDTVs.

Sony's PlayStation 3 will be released in Japan next spring, with a launch in the West following later in 2006. More information on the machine will be revealed by Sony at a next month's Tokyo Game Show .

Source

yay real news =D

I would like to use it's hard drive for saveable data instead of those expensive memory sticks.

Blah, nothing that interests me. It sounds like Sony will either make their console expensive or sell at a huge loss. Either way, I doubt this will fare well at all just like the PSP.

It will be expensive AND they'll be selling at a big loss. Unless it's exhorbitantly expensive, then it's a small loss, but still.

Uh oh, trouble with older game saves. o_o

Which sold 2 million units since launch, which was a gain for Sony.

Anyway, I got this issue a week or so back, and I read that too (I only get PSM because otherwise our frequent flyer miles go to waste).

I think the PS3's gonna be setting people back around over $700 (including memory card, game, and nonessential External HD) or something like that.

If that's the case, then I won't buy it unless there's a game I really got to have and I can't get it on any other system.

sounds.... different........
the controller looked really weird
FYI: when you say PS One i think you mean PlayStation.
PlayStation and PS one are two different systems

But Revolution will support GCN memory cards, controllers, and peripherals, as we well know by now I hope

Once again, it seems as though Sony has done something stupid. PS1s and PS2s were roughly based off one another, with the same sort of controllers, memory cards and other accesories. Now that Sony are desperate to make it wireless, a lot of this stuff has to be packaged again with wireless compatibility (Unless their accesories are going to use the non wireless ports).

I bet you a wireless Eyetoy will be released within a year of the PS3, along with several other unneccesary wireless accesories, which Sony are bound to make a loss on.

So it's backwards compatible with PS1 and 2 games, but it's not backwards compatible with the memory cards? That's... really not good.

I think the reason they're doing it is for more compatibility. All the memory cards are using Sony's new magical memory stick technology. What would REALLY be good is if they did a service like Xbox 360 where you can store all your PS2 files online.

It isn't a bad thing if Sony's improving their memory. The N64 memory card's could hold too much, and Nintendo's cards for GCN are getting better and better. I know it's too bad you can't have old saves, but it is nice to know they're keeping the system continuity.

Sounds like the last Sony system I'm going to buy is the PS2. PS3 sounds like too much hassle combined with Betamax.