Sony announced its next-gen console will arrive on November 17, but website are sure to begin offering pre-orders for the PlayStation 3. Play.com is already taking pre-orders, charging customers £550 ($1014).
Back in May, Sony said it would release two versions of the new console. The cheaper model will cost $499 and will have a built-in 20 gigabyte hard drive. The other version will be $100 more expansive ($599) and features a 60 gigabyte one.
As expected, due to the high price, the console listed for pre-order is the more expansive model
- CPU: Cell Processor
- GPU: RSX
- Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)
- Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
- HDD: 2.5″ Serial ATA (60GB)
- I/O: USB 2.0 (x4) – MemoryStick/SD/CompactFlash
- Communication: Ethernet (x1 / 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) – IEEE – - – 802.11 b/g – Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
- Wireless controller (Bluetooth)
- AV Output: Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
- HDMI OUT – (x1 / HDMI NextGen)
- AV MULTI OUT (x1)
- DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) (x1)
- BD/DVD/CD Drive (Read Only): Maximum Read Speed BD 2x (BD-ROM), DVD 8x (DVD-ROM), CD 24x (CD-ROM)
- Super Audio CD 2x
- Dimensions: Approximately 325mm (W) x 98mm (H) x 274mm (D)
- Weight: Approximately 5 kg
However, even with this pre-order customers can’t be sure they’ll be the first ones to get the PlayStation 3. Early rumors about PlayStation 3 shortages seem to be true. The site states:
“Due to an expected European shortage of the PS3, we are unable to guarantee delivery of your PS3 before Christmas. All pre-orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis and game titles in this package may be changed, subject to availability.”
The launch of the PlayStation 3 is expected to stir up quite a fuss on the gaming market and, eventually, to make almost everyone forget about Microsoft’s Xbox 360. While it’s still rather hard to predict a winner between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, one can’t overlook that the latter console is still losing to PlayStation 2