Final PS3 Dev Kit and Menu Video

[ShootMyMonkey]

Yeah, I figured that much, but what do they actually DO? GP often = General Purpose in these situations, but general purpose WHAT? Some programmable IO port on the back of the unit used for god knows what?

Sony often gives you a few API hooks which will set the state of those LEDs on the devkit, so you can use it for debugging info. It can be handy in some cases where something like printf debugging and/or breakpoints are just too slow. For example, when I was doing work on the PSP, I would usually use two of those lights on every buffer swap at the GE so I'd know when a frame turned over and which buffer became the backbuffer and which became the front buffer. It would also tell me if I'm just busy loading (which can take a while when reading over a network) or if it's actually crashed (which happened a lot during the early stages of porting the engine).

BTW, it's not GP0 & GP1, it's GPO and GPI ("O" as in output and "I" as in Input). Again, the GPI has kind of the same purpose except you can extract a value from the DIP switches and use it as some variable somewhere and see what the results are. I've never personally had a use for the GPI switches myself, but the GPO sees some use.

 

[aldo]

IGN on PS3 dev kits:

Initially, we were concerned that the kits would still run extremely hot and be very loud (in fact, some people have likened the whine of the dev kit fans to that of a jet turbine), but we were pleasantly surprised to note the distinct lack of noise and heat coming from the system.

Confirms what Titanio stated earlier about the low noise level based on reports from GAF. Also good to hear that it's not running hot.

We were also told that the dev kit seemed to be extremely adaptive and easy to program for. In fact, Pseudo talked about how they hadn't put in their planned tilt sensitivity, but had literally dropped in the wireless support for the controllers on Tuesday.

A positive note on the programming side.

The controllers, which feel much lighter thanks to the removal of the rumble feature, nevertheless were solid and extremely responsive. While those weren't the finalized controllers for the PS3 itself, they felt much better than the ones that were at E3.

Taking this information, that this is at least the third iteration of the controller with another yet to come, in tandem with IGN's mention of an undisclosed PS3 feature linked to game control in the now deleted interview, IGN might be hinting again that there's something special in the works for the final version of the controller. (Okay this is the last time I'll bring this controller subject up.)

*Hears a collective sigh of relief*

BTW, I, like others here, also like the design of this dev kit over the PS3 and X360 designs.

-aldo

 

[Bad_Boy]

thanks for the report again once again aldo.
although it really makes no difference to me (but others are wilding vocal about it), it would be pretty ironic if this mysterious feature ends up being rumble put into the controller. I think i'd have a good laugh if that happens.

but on a serious note, the confirmation of some cool and quiet dev kits is always a plus.

 

[Guden Oden]

I for one hope Sony bites the bullet and inks a deal with immersion (even though they are con artists) so we can get rumble in the PS3 pads again.

 

[patsu]

My goodness. Sony is trying really hard to impress.

Given the secrecy, I hope it's something more exciting than rumble even though I miss it somewhat.

 

[pipo]

They're to make it look technical. Al the most pieces of hardware use LEDs to show their awesomeness.

And man does it work. Cool stuff.

Well perhaps there's not too much to read into a missing interview, but the author definitely leaves it wide open about the PS3 "feature we can't talk about yet."

Sure hope it's rumble. I don't like the Dual Shake.

 

[senas8]

anyone else besides me that prefers the look of the dev kits over the retail ps3?

reminds me of the adat hd recorders

Well.... I prefer the blu ray player over the retail ps3.

 

[zed]

heres hoping about the noise/heat (seems to good to be true, then again i heard cells been upto 5ghz so who knows)
keyboard / mouse is a given + i wouldnt be surprised if they were avaiable on launch day (though they might save that up for the halo3 launch if they feel like being )

 

[Darkon]

heres hoping about the noise/heat (seems to good to be true, then again i heard cells been upto 5ghz so who knows)
keyboard / mouse is a given + i wouldnt be surprised if they were avaiable on launch day (though they might save that up for the halo3 launch if they feel like being )

5,6 Ghz I believe and even further , but this was in lab conditions.

no surprise though cell was designed to be pretty cool running chip , a 4,6 Ghz cell (cherry picked most likely ) ran with only a heatsink.

Edit

 

[mrboo]

Some new information from over at IGN :

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/726/726255p1.html

We were also told that the dev kit seemed to be extremely adaptive and easy to program for.

Thats very welcome news IMO

we also discovered during our multiplayer session that each controller was "smart" enough to recognize which system and what player it was initially connected to, regardless of the number of other controllers or systems in the room. This bodes well for massive LAN party play or co-op play with multiple controllers on the same system.

Hurray the confusion will stop

Speaking of LAN play, all eight dev kits were connected over the PlayStation Network in real time, which exhibited no lag whatsoever. Part of that could've been due to the massive storage capacity of each system streaming game information in tandem: each dev kit held 80 gigabytes of storage, so the multiplayer match had approximately almost a terabyte of storage synched up over the Network to stream the alpha build and accurately model the multiplayer destruction of Full Auto 2

So it seems that the PS network is stable

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That doesn't give any idea what it'll be like over your average BB connection though.

 

[Fox5]

A couple of developers on GAF have said it's virtually silent, FWIW.

Virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs? Cause that's not the same thing as virtually silent in a living room with 1 person.

 

[Titanio]

Virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs? Cause that's not the same thing as virtually silent in a living room with 1 person.

Of course not, I didn't suggest it would be. The ambient noise level is obviously going to be higher in an office space than in a living room, but given that people were complaining earlier about "jet turbine" style noise in similar conditions, the relative reduction in the noise level is noteworthy. IGN corroborates from their time with the kit too that it is distinctly un-noisy.

If the retail model is really as quiet as a slim PS2, then for me at least, it may as well be "virtually silent", as there'd be ambient noise in my room higher than that normally (namely from my projector, which is unfortunately reasonably close to where I'd normally sit for the moment).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs? Cause that's not the same thing as virtually silent in a living room with 1 person.

From every comment to date, it sounds like PS3 will be at the sound levels of PS2 slimline, which I'm sure most would agree is virtually silent in comparison to many a device. If I can't hear the console over the sound of what I'm watching when it's at a reasonable volume (and not just cranked up to drown the sound of the console!) then that'll do me!

 

[Guden Oden]

Virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs? Cause that's not the same thing as virtually silent in a living room with 1 person.

I think you're over-reaching. They didn't say 'virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs'.

 

[Rolf N]

My goodness. Sony is trying really hard to impress.

Given the secrecy, I hope it's something more exciting than rumble even though I miss it somewhat.

It might be Rattle(tm)!

 

[patsu]

Erm... gimme back my rumble then. It's the most logical guess so far anyway.

If the rumor is true, I think Ken must be very bored, very mad, and/or very dedicated. I actually feel happier if Sony focuses on delivering/exceeding existing promises instead of delivering more secret features. But I guess Rumble is like a lost cousin.

 

[aldo]

I found the deleted IGN preview over at GrandeCom:

Speaking of the PlayStation 3, 2K was very forthcoming during our demo when it came to discussing the benefits of the new system and how it would affect The Darkness. Because of the Blu-ray format, for example, Starbreeze plans to include additional videos that exploit the "television watching" feature which currently consists of the classic "Nosferatu" vampire silent film (in its entirety) and five 30-minute Popeye cartoons.

Additionally, Starbreeze is also looking into taking advantage of the PS3's tilt controller and is considering some possible changes with another feature we can't talk about yet. Xbox 360 fans shouldn't worry about feeling left out with all this talk about PS3 exclusives, though, as other than what's mentioned above, the game should be damn-near identical in every way.

Also, note the last comment in the article:

Hopefully we'll have more from the floor at the Leipzig event in Germany next week where it's expected to make an appearance. We'll let you know.

This may fall in line with what Titanio posted earlier:

That's odd that the preview is entirely gone now. I'm not sure how much I'd read into it, though, maybe IGN just jumped the gun, publishing it early, or something.

-aldo

 

[Fox5]

Of course not, I didn't suggest it would be. The ambient noise level is obviously going to be higher in an office space than in a living room, but given that people were complaining earlier about "jet turbine" style noise in similar conditions, the relative reduction in the noise level is noteworthy. IGN corroborates from their time with the kit too that it is distinctly un-noisy.

If the retail model is really as quiet as a slim PS2, then for me at least, it may as well be "virtually silent", as there'd be ambient noise in my room higher than that normally (namely from my projector, which is unfortunately reasonably close to where I'd normally sit for the moment).

I doubt you could even hear "jet turbine" style noise in just about every game besides RPGs. Or maybe during load times. The Dreamcast's disk drive was very noise during loading.

I think you're over-reaching. They didn't say 'virtually silent in a room full of programmers and PCs'.

Ok, worst case scenario, it's somewhere inbetween that and a child's bedroom.

 

[aldo]

Erm... gimme back my rumble then. It's the most logical guess so far anyway.

If the rumor is true, I think Ken must be very bored, very mad, and/or very dedicated. I actually feel happier if Sony focuses on delivering/exceeding existing promises instead of delivering more secret features. But I guess Rumble is like a lost cousin.

It could be rumble, but the author of the article seems to lump the feature in as a PS3 exclusive:

Xbox 360 fans shouldn't worry about feeling left out with all this talk about PS3 exclusives

Since X360 has rumble it wouldn't be an exclusive on the PS3. Unless Sony has made a deal with Immersion and the author is differentiating between the PS3 having the new TouchSense technology and the X360 having the older rumble technology.

-aldo