Posted: 10/10/98    News: | SonyGames | Main

On March 1, 1999, after months of rumors, Sony has FINALLY revealed official information about the predecessor to the incredibly popular Playstation game console. It will [most likely] be called the Playstation 2, and yes, you information-hungry monkeys, a release date has been set. Barring any unforeseen problems, the system is set to release in Japan in less than, and no later than, one year from now, between the winter of this year and March of 2000. So, judging by the history of releases, don't expect it to see it here in the United States until at least the fall of 2000, if then. But that part is just my opinion.

The system will use DVD format not just to play games, but to play movies as well. Modem capabilities, including e-mail, have also been mentioned. That's right, this is THE entertainment system of the future. One tidbit of information, which is my absolute favorite feature of the system, is that the Playstation 2 is going to be 100% backwards compatible! That means that if you are low on cash, you can sell your old Playstation to help you reach your goal of buying the newer system. This backwards compatibility doesn't just include the games, but also all peripherals. That's right, those spare memory cards you bought aren't going to waste. The graphical capabilities will quadruple from the 32-bit graphics of the Playstation to a whopping 128-bit graphics. Using a microprocessor codeveloped with Toshiba Corp., Sony claims that the Playstation 2 will be almost 50 times faster then the Sega Dreamcast, even faster than Intel's new Pentium III chip. And if that amazes you, just hold on! Another claim of Sony is that the high-tech system will be able to create characters for games that can be compared to those of Disney's Toy Story. The DVD-ROM's that are used in the Playstation 2 will be able to store almost eight times as much memory as the Playstation's CD-ROM, with storage up to 4.7 gigabytes. That's about as much as your average home PC.

Speaking of PC, we come to the price. Now, bearing in mind that this is a full-fledged entertainment system, don't expect the system to come cheap. In comparison with it's ability to run faster and better than your average PC, officials have stated that the price will be kept below 50,000 yen. This translates to roughly $420 American. But this maximum price tag was only mentioned to compare it to the computer market. This is expected to be an initial Japanese price, and brought down between $250 to $420 when a US release comes around.

Several technical demos of the system's capabilities were shown, and they were quite impressive at that. First, several demos were shown to illustrate the system's advancements over it's predecessor. The Playstation 2 will use a concept that Sony calls Emotion Synthesis, which "allows the system to simulate not just how the images look, but how the characters and objects in a game think, act and behave." A dandelion blown apart by wind was a demo used to illustrate Emotion Synthesis. In it, the individual particles were not just randomly moved to give it a realistic look, but actually calculated the movement using physics: factors such as weight and size were used to calculate this, to give it an extremely true effect. Third party demos were also shown at the display, with companies such as Namco, Polyphony, Software, and Squaresoft.

All in all, the Playstation 2 looks to be one hell of a video gaming system. It is a major advancement, even over the yet-to-be-released-in-America Dreamcast system that Sega has created. The best part being that it really isn't that far from being released, and you can bet that when it does, it will quickly beat Nintendo64's record of selling half a million systems in fifteen minutes, set back in 1996. Some gamers say that all this technology is being wasted, that a video game system doesn't need all this fancy technology, which will make the price unnecessarily high. But you can bet that they'll stillbuy the Playstation 2!