Sony takes wraps off PlayStation3

And here it is – the first ever image of the Sony PlayStation 3. Apparently it comes in white, silver or black.

You will have to wait for it though, as the company has confirmed that it won’t be available until 2006.

As for the specs Games Digest confirms it is backwards compatible to the initial PlayStation and boasts multimedia features, such as video chat, Internet access, digital photo viewing, and digital audio and video. There’s also a really impressive PS3’s panoramic video function as it can be hooked up to two side-by-side HDTVs projecting video in a 32:9 extra-widescreen format. The dual screen digital outputs also allow for an extended game display, with the action on one screen and either game information or video chat on the second.

It uses Blu-ray discs – which can hold as much as 6x current DVDs and is compatible with all manner of optical discs including CR-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R formats.
It has slots for Memory Stick Duo, an SD slot (no we can’t quite get our head round this either) and a compact flash memory slot. There’s also a slot for a detachable 2.5-inch HDD, similar to the Xbox 360’s.

It features the Cell processor, which will run at 3.2GHz, giving the whole system 2 teraflops of overall performance. It has 256MB XDR main RAM at 3.2GHz, and it will have 256MB of GDDR VRAM at 700MHz.
Sony also displayed the PS3’s graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision and 1080p resolution–some of the highest HD resolution around. The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. It also has more than 300 million transistors, larger than any processor commercially available today. It will be manufactured using the 90nm process, with eight layers of metal.

The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards, which would cost roughly $1,000 total if purchased today.
The PS3 will have the capability to support seven Bluetooth controllers, which can be used for nearly 24 hours before they require charging. It also has no fewer than six USB slots for peripherals: four up front and two in the back and Wi-Fi connectivity to the PSP, which can be used as a remote screen and/or controller.

There’s more details and more about the games here.