PS3 User Interface

[D.D.]

from famitsu.

Starting from the top (as usual, things I write, or think what they mean in context is in square brackets)

The PLAYSTATION 3 menu system has been confirmed. Just as you can see, it uses the Cross Media Bar system [I believe you call this the XMB?] that is also used in the PSP and PSX. In effect, the system that game fans have become very familiar with has been included.

The PLAYSTATION 3 menu is separated into 8 large categories, "User"、"Setting"、"Photo"、"Music"、"Movie"、"Game "、"N etwork"、"Friend", all of which will be described below.

User: For instance, if a family consisting of Father, Mother, yourself and your little bother were to use the PLAYSTATION 3, it is possible to have different settings per user. (For example, your own menu could have a lot of game contents, you father's could have a lot of pictures, your mom's could have a lot of music contents, etc)

Setting : Language and various other settings. For example, keyboard and mouse adjustments can be made here.

Photo : This is where you can look at photos from your digital camera. You can also easily create slideshows. The PLAYSTATION 3 allows the insertion of so many different formats of memory cards, such as SD card, memory stick, compact flash, so there is a lot of support for different media types. [As a result] It is likely that there are no restrictions on what kind of digital camera is supported.

Music : Music playback is done here. CD support is obviously included. Since MP3 playback is supported, if you store music on the harddrive, you can playback music [from here...but they did not say exclusively from here]whenever you want.

Movie : Here you playback the beautiful images from your Blu-Ray discs. Although in the demonstration at E3, when you put the BluRay disc in, playback begins [automatically], the official explained that storing the movie onto the harddrive is also possible.

Game : The place for game save management.

Network : A browser is included so internet browsing is very easy [I presume this is because of the keyboard support ]

Friend : This is where you exchange [and interact] with friends. If you have registered a friend, you can check if he/she is online from here. An official has explained that if you have a keyboard, you can use it to chat....but we want details !

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2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot.
3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」

The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

[Metalmurphy]

Its looking good. One of the main requests by users was to bring back the Cross Media bar, looks like they've listened.

I'm hoping for a more detailed explanation of each type though,

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[D.D.]

here is a long video about it : http://youtube.com/watch?v=Oyd041cYyzc

apart from that, theres not too much else released.

__________________

1. Small, Cheap, Powerful - you can have only two
2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot.
3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」

The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

[Metalmurphy]

Thanks D.D. too bad they didnt go into the Network section.

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cid Highwind]

Storing a BlueRay movie on a 20gb HD, surely you're gonna run out of space pretty soon

__________________

PC Specs:
CPU: Intel Q8200 @ 2.8GHz
GPU: Sapphire ATi HD4870 / 1024MB / Core: 801 / Mem: 1000
Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3 (rev 2.1)
SPU: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
RAM: 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 @ 4-4-4-12 ~ 800MHz
HDD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint, 32MB
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580W
Monitor: Iiyama B2403WS / 1920*1200

Geometry Wars: 198.400
Lumines: 999.999

Join the NGEmu Folding @ Home community NOW!

[sims]

Uh oh, I don't see a choice for linux. I thought they say linux would be on the harddrive and come right out of the box. If there no is no option to install other operating system on it, then I'm definitely not buying one. 600 dollars for just a game console is a waste of money.

[industrian]

Originally Posted by sims

Uh oh, I don't see a choice for linux.

Are you looking at the finished product in that screenshot?

[Player-X]

When I buy a game console I am looking for a GAME console not amedia center so I think Sony building other features that raise prices is a waste of money

[GiGaHeRz]

well sony made a media center, if you want "just" a console, get the cheap version :P
they removed some features that raise the price, the problem is they also removed wifi from it, that's just dumb.

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For anyone interested, there's a mirc script which converts "/me 's" into " * nickname's whatever" and adds a nice "/my" command.

[Metalmurphy]

Originally Posted by Cid Highwind

Storing a BlueRay movie on a 20gb HD, surely you're gonna run out of space pretty soon

Heh i think thats more for trailers and stuff you can download off the Sony online service.

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[industrian]

Originally Posted by Player-X

When I buy a game console I am looking for a GAME console not amedia center so I think Sony building other features that raise prices is a waste of money

When people buy cars they want something that gets them from A to B. You don't really need leather seats, a CD player or a drinks holder, etc.

Believe me, I'll just be playing games on this thing as well, and as far as I see it's AV/outs are going to be sent through my PC. I don't need photo viewers, operating systems or a music player... because every one of my consoles is connected to my PC!! I can't imagine myself watching a movie or browsing the internet through Dscaler... but then again, I'm not everyone.

And also... leather seats are a good excuse for bumping up the price. But the best way to bump up the price is just to overcharge Europeans.

[Cid Highwind]

Originally Posted by Player-X

When I buy a game console I am looking for a GAME console not amedia center so I think Sony building other features that raise prices is a waste of money

I prefer to see it this way, it saves me from downloading homebrew apps to watch my photos, play mp3's and divX, like I have to do with the DC

However I do hope its photo app will be just as good as the one on DC, when I gave a show last year with the holiday pics a couple of ppl asked me what dvd player I had that could do such nifty tricks like zooming in ^^

Imho these things have become somewhat standard for DVD players already, so it would feel a bit incomplete if it would be left out in this device. But of course it's a matter of personal preference, I can fully understand your pov as well

I won't need any of the features either if I'd put it in my bedroom because of my PC being the media center, but some other people have it in their living room, and usually the pc's aren't next to the tv.

__________________

PC Specs:
CPU: Intel Q8200 @ 2.8GHz
GPU: Sapphire ATi HD4870 / 1024MB / Core: 801 / Mem: 1000
Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3 (rev 2.1)
SPU: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
RAM: 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 @ 4-4-4-12 ~ 800MHz
HDD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint, 32MB
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580W
Monitor: Iiyama B2403WS / 1920*1200

Geometry Wars: 198.400
Lumines: 999.999

Join the NGEmu Folding @ Home community NOW!

[D.D.]

also, much of this is a software cost and they've been developing much of this before, with PSP, their Vaio line. in other words, a lot of the R&D has already been done.

__________________

1. Small, Cheap, Powerful - you can have only two
2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot.
3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」

The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

[D.D.]

sorry for the double post, but i think this is worth it. as of today, a new version of the menu arrived at the kiosks at E3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5954843...n/photostream/

'Cascaded' windows, windows not in use are pushed to the background

credit to Titiano of B3D.

__________________

1. Small, Cheap, Powerful - you can have only two
2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot.
3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」

The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

[Player-X]

Originally Posted by industrian

When people buy cars they want something that gets them from A to B. You don't really need leather seats, a CD player or a drinks holder, etc.

Believe me, I'll just be playing games on this thing as well, and as far as I see it's AV/outs are going to be sent through my PC. I don't need photo viewers, operating systems or a music player... because every one of my consoles is connected to my PC!! I can't imagine myself watching a movie or browsing the internet through Dscaler... but then again, I'm not everyone.

And also... leather seats are a good excuse for bumping up the price. But the best way to bump up the price is just to overcharge Europeans.

Actuaily leather seats help the experience of getting to A to B those useless features on the PS3 is not in use during gameplay like web browsers and media centers. Things like network compatibility adds to the experience so I don't consider those a waste of money but the media center is

[Paratech]

Originally Posted by Cid Highwind

I prefer to see it this way, it saves me from downloading homebrew apps to watch my photos, play mp3's and divX, like I have to do with the DC

However I do hope its photo app will be just as good as the one on DC, when I gave a show last year with the holiday pics a couple of ppl asked me what dvd player I had that could do such nifty tricks like zooming in ^^

Imho these things have become somewhat standard for DVD players already, so it would feel a bit incomplete if it would be left out in this device. But of course it's a matter of personal preference, I can fully understand your pov as well

I won't need any of the features either if I'd put it in my bedroom because of my PC being the media center, but some other people have it in their living room, and usually the pc's aren't next to the tv.

People were unwilling to buy the Dreamcast at $150 WITHOUT those features, imagine if the Dreamcast had those features @ $400? It'd have died even quicker than it did WITHOUT the features and at a reasonable price...

I'm unsure gamers want to pay $600, but I guess this Christmas they'll be paying a lot more than that for them, just like they did with the 360...

[Cid Highwind]

Originally Posted by Paratech

People were unwilling to buy the Dreamcast at $150 WITHOUT those features, imagine if the Dreamcast had those features @ $400? It'd have died even quicker than it did WITHOUT the features and at a reasonable price...

I'm unsure gamers want to pay $600, but I guess this Christmas they'll be paying a lot more than that for them, just like they did with the 360...

That wasn't really my point, and what you're saying about the DC is rather irrelevant in this topic

What I wanted to say was that features that have become somewhat standard for every standalone dvd player from the past 5 years are hard to be left out from PS3. And like DD already pointed out, developing stuff like that for PS3 won't bring any significant costs with it: The knowledge is already there, they only need to write the code to make it run on PS3 and give it a nice design.

__________________

PC Specs:
CPU: Intel Q8200 @ 2.8GHz
GPU: Sapphire ATi HD4870 / 1024MB / Core: 801 / Mem: 1000
Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3 (rev 2.1)
SPU: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
RAM: 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 @ 4-4-4-12 ~ 800MHz
HDD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint, 32MB
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580W
Monitor: Iiyama B2403WS / 1920*1200

Geometry Wars: 198.400
Lumines: 999.999

Join the NGEmu Folding @ Home community NOW!

[industrian]

Originally Posted by Player-X

Actuaily leather seats help the experience of getting to A to B those useless features on the PS3 is not in use during gameplay like web browsers and media centers. Things like network compatibility adds to the experience so I don't consider those a waste of money but the media center is

You get my point though.

I wouldn't expect someone to use their car stereo as their Hi-Fi, so I won't expect people to browse the net using their PS3. I'll end up just using it for convienence: "I just pwnd some n00bs in Killzone, might as well check the G-mail while I'm here."

I'm not expecting people like us to use the Media Centre and browser, but I expect a lot of other people to. I know a lot of people without PCs who are going to love this part of the PS3. The Bluray movies will be fun if you have a TV that can make full use it.

Originally Posted by Paratech

I'm unsure gamers want to pay $600...

I'd EASILY pay that much for a PS3. Seeing as the UK price is $800.

[Player-X]

I wouldn't expect someone to use their car stereo as their Hi-Fi, so I won't expect people to browse the net using their PS3. I'll end up just using it for convienence: "I just pwnd some n00bs in Killzone, might as well check the G-mail while I'm here."

It would be hard to read text on TV for most people who dosn't have HDTVs and type with the controller and besides I have a laptop that I can bring around and a WiFi network anyway so for me that's why I think it's useless. Maybe it could be useful for some people but not me

[industrian]

Originally Posted by Player-X

It would be hard to read text on TV for most people who dosn't have HDTVs and type with the controller and besides I have a laptop that I can bring around and a WiFi network anyway so for me that's why I think it's useless. Maybe it could be useful for some people but not me

I once used my PC on a 14" TV with composite-out. "Hard to read text on TV" is an understatement .

And I've had a related discussion with this issue before: In 2000 a guy made a thread on RPGMaker.net's forum with the title "I made this post with my Dreamcast" and pretty much every answer was: "What was the point? You have a PC in your next room."