By ERIC A. TAUB
Published: May 17, 2005
CULVER CITY, Calif., May 16 – Bidding to maintain its commanding lead in the video game console business, Sony revealed details of its next-generation product, PlayStation 3, on Monday, promising greatly enhanced graphic effects and heightened realism. It will compete against new consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo.
The PlayStation 3 will be able to render in real time complex movielike animations that previously took hours to create, Sony executives said. It will also be able to display images at a high-definition resolution equivalent to that of digital projectors in movie theaters, they said.
The new console, to be available in spring 2006, is also intended to serve as the centerpiece of a home’s digital entertainment hardware. With digital inputs for wired and wireless accessories, it will use a new processor architecture and will incorporate Blu-ray disc technology, Sony’s new high-definition DVD format.
The PlayStation 3 will also be able to play games developed for the two previous versions of PlayStation.