Sony to Ditch Cell Chipmaking Facilities

Toshiba, Sony and SCEI sign a joint venture deal in production of PlayStation 3 processors

Last month, a report from a Japanese news publication claimed Sony will sell its chip making business to Toshiba. Specifically, the facilities used to manufacture the Cell Broadband Engine – the CPU powering every PlayStation 3 console – would be sold to Toshiba in a deal that would complete sometime in 2008.

The day following the initial report, both Toshiba and Sony publically denied such a deal. Sony’s been restructuring its chip business for months, but Sony spokesman Tomio Takizawa said “nothing concrete has been decided,” regarding its Cell Broadband Engine plant. Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori also said nothing has been decided on such a deal.

Today, just a month after the initial report, Toshiba and Sony announced intent to establish a joint venture that will produce high-performance semiconductors, which not only includes the Cell Broadband Engine but also the RSX graphics engine. The deal also includes the transfer to Toshiba from Sony Group the 300mm wafer line fabrication facilities installed in Fab 2 of Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation's Nagasaki Technology Center (SKC) by the end of March 2008.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

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Sony Confirms Spider-Man 3 PS3 Bundle; Announces U.S./Canadian Dollar Parity

Canadian dollar finally acknowledged as more than just funny money

Early this morning, word of the 40GB PlayStation 3’s release date came from Jack Tretton, revealing that the new SKU will be launching on November 2. Shortly after, Sony Computer Entertainment America sent out an official press release confirming its president’s words.

As Tretton noted earlier, the 40GB PlayStation 3 will start selling on November 2 at $399. As many have been expecting, the 80GB will be priced at $499 – effective immediately.

In a move that is sure to delight Canadian gamers, SCEA is pricing its consoles nearly on par with the current U.S./Canadian dollar exchange rate. Gamers in Canada who once were looking at 80GB PS3 consoles for $699 each will now be able to pick them up for $499 – the same price paid as their U.S. counterparts. The 40GB PS3 will also be available in Canada for $399

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

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Sony Playstation 3 40GB Announced and 80GB PS3 Price cut

After LaptopLogic posted reports of the PS3 40GB spotted in retail stores, Sony today officially announced plans to introduce the 40GB PS3 starting November 2nd.

The new 40GB model will be bundled with Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray disc for $399.

Sony also announced the 80GB model will be slashed from $599 down to $499. "Every PS3 comes with a Blu-ray drive, HDMI output, an integrated Wi-Fi connection, Cell Broadband Engine and a built-in hard-drive," said Jack Tretton, President and CEO, SCEA.

Besides the lower price point and free movie, the con is the 40GB PS3 will no longer play PS2 titles. The 60GB PS3 and 80GB PS3 are backwards compatible with PS2 titles.

Read the whole article @ Laptop Logic

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FCC Documents Show Another New PS3 Model Coming

Another New Sony PS3 Model (Source: FCC)

FCC documents offer little data on another new PS3 model coming from Sony

With the holidays coming game system manufacturers and video game makers are getting their new wares ready for the shopping season. Sony expects to sell many of its PS3 game consoles this holiday season.

Sony is hoping that the recently announced 40GB PS3 with its lower price, thanks to smaller storage capacity and the lack of compatibility with PS2 games to help bolster adoption of the PS3 console. The FCC outed the 40GB CECHG01 PS3 console only a few weeks back.

Today the FCC again has exhibits up that provide us a few details on yet another new PS3 model CECHH01. Most of the meaty details are not included under a confidentiality request, but what is available shows the new model will have WiFi and Bluetooth like the other PS3 models currently available.

The system will be powered by a 3.2GHz processor, have 66MHz ATA, 133MHz ATA, 33MHz PCI and 750MHz SATA just like other models. The similarities to the model number of the PS3 that cleared the FCC last month could point to a version with a similarly sized hard drive, but no information on hard drive size is offered in the FCC documents.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

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Unreal Engine 3 Games on PS3 Delayed

PlayStation 3 architecture slows development of Unreal Engine 3 games

The PlayStation 3’s architecture departs far enough away from traditional development platforms to give game makers a sizeable challenge during the initial learning curve. Unreal Tournament III, one of PlayStation 3’s supposedly big time-limited exclusives for this holiday season, might not make it out to stores this year at all due to technical issues.

A financial update (hosted at Kotaku) from Midway Games revised estimates for the company’s third quarter with the news that several Unreal Engine 3 games would be delayed from their original intended ship dates. Midway now expects Unreal Tournament III to ship on PlayStation 3 sometime during the first quarter of fiscal 2008, which for the company runs from January to March next year.

The update does not affect the release of the PC version, which is still slated for a November ship date. Not only will PC gamers be assured of playing the game next month, but they will also be able to purchase a special Collector’s Edition tin

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

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