Sony Powers Up PlayStation II
Promising a fundamental change in the consumer electronics landscape, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. demonstrated the technology behind its highly anticipated PlayStation II on Thursday and boasted that the machine will be more powerful than today’s high-end personal computers.
Sony is still building the machine, so many details about it remain sketchy. At the Computer Game Developer’s Conference here, Sony officials ran demonstrations with the machine’s hardware, which still lacks several pieces needed to make a complete production model.
At the demonstration, the company expanded on technical specifications it announced earlier this month in Tokyo. Neither a price nor a name for the machine was disclosed, but the company said the machine and “numerous” software titles will be released in Japan by year’s end and in the United States by the fall of 2000.
The device will be four times more powerful than the current PlayStation. The enhanced computing power of its 128-bit processor promises cinema-quality game play.
The new device’s elaborate graphics, rumored DVD capability and top-notch audio features are expected to turn consoles from niche game machines into rich multimedia platforms. It is also expected to include a telephone modem, which would allow two-way interactivity, Internet access and e-commerce opportunities.
It can play music and movies using CD-ROMs, but the company won’t comment on whether it will work with the more cutting-edge DVDs.
“We’re obviously outperforming everything that’s out there,” said Phil Harrison, vice president of third-party relations and research and development. “We don’t see any other technology coming close for a very long time.”
Analysts agree and compare PlayStation II’s expected impact on consumer electronics to the Sony Walkman’s enormous influence on the music world.
Sony Corp., the parent of Sony Computer Entertainment, has pinned much of its future on the new console. The firm says it has made a $1-billion investment to develop the silicon chips that drive the device and spent another $500 million on general research and development for PlayStation II.
Earlier this month, Sony said it would reorganize and cut an estimated 17,000 jobs as it rallies around the PlayStation II.
Yet Sony faces competition. Sega of America Inc. recently announced it would begin selling its next-generation machine in the U.S. by the fall. Dubbed Dreamcast, it too will have a 128-bit processor and be able to connect to the Internet.
Huffstutter reported from San Jose, Oldham from Los Angeles.
