Sony's PlayStation 2 unveiled

[02.28.99] » Reportedly capable of pushing graphics nearly 50 times faster than the Dreamcast, the PlayStation 2 will handle DVD movies, music, and the next generation of video games.

   After months of rumors, speculation, scuttlebutt, and mass hysteria, Sony has finally stepped forward and divulged official news regarding the successor to the PlayStation. Set to be released in Japan by March 2000, the 128-bit system will use the DVD-ROM storage format for not only video games, but standard DVD movies as well. Sony claims the system is capable of pushing 3D graphical data nearly fifty times faster than Sega's Dreamcast. The full story comes courtesy of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Monday morning edition, March 1, 1999:

   "TOKYO (Nikkei)--Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. plans to release the follow-up to its popular PlayStation video game system by March 2000. The successor to the world's biggest-selling 32-bit game console is to feature a microprocessor co-developed with Toshiba Corp. (6502) that provides motion picture-quality images, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Sunday.

   "Likely to be called PlayStation 2, it will also be able to play movies and music stored on DVDs, allowing players to integrate various entertainment media into video games. While it will have data-processing capability several times more than that of a personal computer, the price will be kept below 100,000 yen, company officials said.

   "Development costs for the new 128-bit microprocessor -- which integrates image processing, memory and other functions onto a single chip -- reached nearly 10 billion yen. The chip is to have data-processing speed several times faster than that of Intel Corp.'s Pentium III.

   "The Sony unit seeks more than dominant market share in the video game console market with the chip, company officials said. "We take aim at the stranglehold on the chip/operating system market enjoyed by the Intel-Microsoft alliance," an executive said. He added that major battles will shift from spreadsheets, e-mail or other business-related areas to home entertainment systems fusing games, movies and music.

   "The new microprocessor will allow users to handle nearly 50 times more 3-D image data compared with Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s (7964) Dreamcast game console. It will also let users produce game characters comparable in image quality to Walt Disney's Toy Story.

   "While the PlayStation console employs CD-ROMs as its medium of data storage, its successor will adopt DVD-ROMs, boosting storage capacity by 7-8 times to 4.7 gigabytes."

   One point to note is that 100,000 yen converts to roughly $840 American. However, even though the PlayStation 2 appears to be a full-fledged home entertainment system, the 100,000 yen maximum price was quoted in comparison to the PC market, where prices are quickly plummeting below $1000 US. Sony's new system will likely be introduced with a much lower price tag.