Here's another way to harness the power of the PS3's Cell chip. Fixstars Corporation of Japan has announced CodecSys CE-10, the first H.264 encoder that's designed specifically for the PS3. The product will be showcased at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas starting April 20th. The CE-10 software will be installed on a PC, but will somehow allow users to access the power of the PS3 as a way of accelerating video encoding. Fixstars is promising "ultra fast HD encoding" and "high quality low bit rate compression," targeted at the prosumer market at a prosumer price.

When questioned further on how the PS3 would interface with the CE-10 program, we were provided this rather useful document (pictured above). It appears the PS3 will need Linux installed, severely limiting its accessibility to all but hardcore PS3 owners. Considering the rather specific demands of this application, perhaps that makes sense.

CE-10 will be available for purchase in June 2009. For burgeoning HD filmmakers, this should be a very cheap way of turning the PS3 into a powerful piece of video hardware. Also, did we really just say "prosumer?"

Written by two designers of the Cell processor, The Race for a New Game Machine, is a new book covering the creation of Sony's ambitious PlayStation 3 chip, and how Microsoft got a hold of its architecture for the Xbox 360. The Wall Street Journal, which gave a rather gloomy forecast for the PS3 earlier this week, has an extensive preview.

According to the book, Sony, Toshiba and IBM started working on the Cell in 2001 and planned to spend $400 million over five years. If everything went according to plan, the PlayStation 3 would be out by Christmas 2005. In 2002, Microsoft approached IBM about making a chip for what would later be known as the Xbox 360. IBM ended up making a new chip "built around the core" of the Cell it was currently creating for Sony. In the end, Xbox made the 2005 launch (with a time bomb under the hood) and Sony came out a year later.

As the WSJ points out, for all the power and money behind Microsoft and Sony's consoles, Nintendo has outsold both using a "sound strategic vision" with the less-powerful Wii.

There's one company that's getting rich out of every video game system you buy. IBM chips are at the heart of all three home consoles, from Wii to PS3. While PS3's unique Cell processor is well-known for its supercomputing power, a new book from one of Cell's designers explains how R&D spent on PS3's advanced chip was used in making the Xenon processor for Microsoft's Xbox 360. "The Race for a New Game Machine" from David Shippy and his co-worker Mickie Phipps delves into their time at IBM working on the chips for both of these competing consoles.

Sony approached IBM to create the Cell processor in 2001, with plans to target a Christmas 2005 launch for the PS3. Microsoft approached IBM in 2002, and it appears Sony agreed to let Microsoft not only see early prototypes of Cell, but purchase components as well. "All three of the original partners had agreed that IBM would eventually sell the Cell to other clients. But it does not seem to have occurred to Sony that IBM would sell key parts of the Cell before it was complete and to Sony's primary videogame-console competitor. The result was that Sony's R&D money was spent creating a component for Microsoft to use against it," the Wall Street Journal book review summarizes.

While the end result for Cell and Xenon are both quite different, it's ironic to think that Sony may have inadvertently aided its primary competitor. Of course, console success stories are always based on quizzacle corporate decisions. Let's not forget that Sony's first console, PlayStation, was originally a collaboration with Nintendo to make an extension to the SNES.

[Thanks, DirtyOFries!]

Stopping cancer, simulating black hole collisions, and now ... breaking internet security? Is there anything the PS3 can't do? Researchers have been using the PS3 in interng ways. Most recently, a team of researchers from the U.S., Switzerland and the Netherlands have found a way of bypassing the security of digital certificates provided by companies like Verisign. These digital certificates help transmit your credit card information on the internet in a secure manner.

By using 200 PS3 systems linked together, researchers were able to do the math that helped them decrypt the MD5 hash that's used by Verisign. The researchers would be able to mimic online retail sites, potentially stealing tons of valuable information from consumers. It appears researchers want the hash to be replaced by a more potent one.

It's unrealistic to expect hackers will be able to replicate the results of these researchers any time soon. Getting 200 PS3s linked to each other can be quite a pricey feat! Of course, when you're stealing all of the internet's credit card info, you might be able to afford buying a few hundred PS3s.

[Thanks, BPerry!]

Sure, it's been only 690 days since the PlayStation 3 officially launched, but it's never too early to for discussion on the next next-gen consoles. According to reputable Impress Watch technology writer Hiroshige Goto (via IGN), Sony is looking into using an upgraded version of the Cell processor for the PlayStation 4.

Goto speculates that Sony's upgraded processor would feature between 10 and 20 cores (current Cell uses 8) and boast twice the power. Keeping with the Cell -- as opposed to developing a new chipset -- would not only be cost efficient for the company, but it would also likely prove beneficial to manufacturing costs, software development (it'd be a familiar architecture) and backwards compatibility. Remember: although this is from a reputable source, the news is unconfirmed and, given the PS4 is likely many years away, subject to change even if true.

Fun fact: There are approximately 1900 days (over 5 years) between the PS2's March 2000 launch and Sony's E3 2005 unveiling of the PS3.

Perhaps the PS3 was a bit too ahead of its time. The console was almost absurdly expensive when it launched -- and not just for consumers. In spite of an initial $600 price tag, Sony lost hundreds of dollars on every system manufactured. The combination of Blu-ray drive and Cell processor made the PS3 a bit too bleeding edge, perhaps. A report from respectable Japanese site PC Watch suggests that Sony may be considering a cheaper alternative for the next-generation PS4.

Nintendo found great success (and profitability) with Wii by releasing hardware that was only marginally more powerful than the Gamecube. Sony may mimic that trend by having PS4 hardware based on the same Cell architecture as the PS3. Keeping the same architecture will help developers, many which have only recently come to grips with the complex processes of Sony's proprietary system.

However, one particular note in the report has us quite worried: according to PC Watch, the Sony wants to launch a new system, before the competition -- eyeing a 2011 release. With the PS3 still so relatively young, we'd hate to see Sony raise a white flag and move on to something new, especially when they've harped about the "10 year life cycle" so often. Too soon of a hardware release could be seen as a betrayal by many, and could result in a serious backlash. For us, we'd love to get more time out of the significant investments we've made in our PS3 hardware.

[Via NeoGAF]

Sony, Toshiba and IBM will start mass production on a 45nm version of the Cell processor in 2009, according to Japan's Nikkan. We first heard about the 45 nm shrinkage in February 2008, when Ars Technica reported the smaller chips would run off only 80 watts of power (compared to the 200 watts of the 90nm Cell when the PlayStation 3 first launched).

There is no reported time frame indicating when in 2009 production will begin. The new chip will also be cheaper to produce, meaning Sony is approximately 200% more likely to use these for PS3 production as soon as feasibly possible.

[Via Engadget]

The current PS3s already have efficient functionality with the shrunken 65nm Cell processor, but now things are going to get even smaller. Sony and Toshiba have plans on mass producing a 45nm Cell processor starting in 2009. The plan is to integrate them first into PS3s. The result of which will allow PS3s to save power up to 40 percent.

As usual, smaller chips mean less heat, less space, and more reliability. Engadget suggests that this new hardware revision could usher in a price cut and a PS3-slim model. All seems logically sound, though -- even if the chips were produced early in the year -- we still wouldn't see the end product until late 2009 at the very earliest. So if you've been holding out for a PS3 until the slim comes into town ... you've still got a long wait ahead of you buddy.

[Via Engadget]

We don't know for sure if Sony downsized the PlayStation 3's RSX graphics chip to 65nm, matching the already 65nm Cell processor, but we might have some anecdotal evidence from an external source. A forum poster at slickdeals used a Kill-a-watt device to check the power consumption of the 40GB and 80GB models during idle phase, while spinning a DVD and with Metal Gear Solid 4 in the drive, and found a 12-20 watt difference favoring the new 80GB.

It's not enough to say Sony has finally upgraded its RSX graphics chip, but it is interesting to ponder. Now, can someone end this speculation by voiding their 80GB's warranty and snapping a photo of the guts?

[Via Engadget]

The Cell processor, known as the heart of the PS3, is being used every day in rather extraordinary situations. IBM has crafted yet another supercomputer, codenamed Roadrunner, which runs at a record-setting petaflop speed. (A petaflop is the equivalent of one thousand trillion calculations per second.) This speed makes Roadrunner twice as fast as the previous best supercomputer.

"We are getting closer to simulating the real world," Bijan Davari, vice president of next generation computing systems at IBM, told BBC News. The computer will be installed in a US government laboratory to monitor the US nuclear stockpile. It will also be used for research into astronomy, genomics and climate change.

The Roadrunner will use less than 20,000 chips, and will use a hybrid design of both conventional supercomputer chips, and PS3's Cell processor. The next design by IBM will be nicknamed "Skynet."

[Thanks, Richard!]

Sean Decker, general manager of Battlefield developer DICE, spoke to VideoGamer.com about their upcoming Mirror's Edge. The first-person platforming/action game made its debut at PlayStation Day, which led some to believe the title was a PS3-exclusive. It's not, but the team is promising to make the most out of the PS3's unique architecture. For example, the team plans on utilizing tilt controls: "The great thing about it is that there's a lot of little things like, Faith there when she's walking like this (points to Mirror's Edge trailer showing Faith tightrope-walking across a beam), Sixaxis controls, super easy to implement and say, OK well just balance it and then you've got it there, as opposed to teaching a player to say, oh let's push this button or that button."

"The other thing is the Cell really allows us to push the resolution of our textures much higher and we've taken full advantage of that as well. So there's a lot of little quirks to it that we really like and our engineers love as well as our designers." However, Decker wouldn't go so far as saying the PS3 version is superior to the Xbox 360 version -- they're simply "different."