E3-2004: Before the curtains closed on Sony’s press conference, SCEI’s CTO, Shinichi Okamoto was introduced to provide further details regarding Sony’s use of Cell technology.
No striking revelations were released as expected; however the notion of distributed possessing among multiple Cell devices was reaffirmed. Specifically, the mention of devices from Entertainment Systems, to PDA’s, to PC’s which are all interconnected and the notion that a user no longer utilizes a singular system, instead one “jacks in” to the Cell fabric, is the way of the future.
He continued on, to discuss some of the new breakthroughs this technology will usher in. Breakthroughs in AI; where 100,000 solders could be independently controlled via an algorithm to make each NCP unique, all in real-time. Advances such as these will create game worlds with more life and realistic atmosphere.
Mr Okamoto then announced that the first Cell based product, a graphics workstation, would be released in the 4QT of this year (2004) with an “Entertainment System” (PS3) to follow in the near future. Sony continued detailing their vision of a graphics workstation which would combine multiple functions onto a single system, to form a super computing platform. The key functionality objectives Sony outlined are:
• Rendering
• Modeling
• Behavior
• Physics
• Facial Expressions
• 3D Sound
• Database
• Simulation
• Algorithms
• Test & Analysis
• Visual Effects
• Modeling
It is important to note that Sony attempted to release a graphics workstation just before the PS2 was announced. This GSCube comprised multiple CPUs interconnected on the same I/O board. Due to lack of market demand and high cost the GSCube was officially terminated. However Sony claims to have learned from its mistakes with the GSCube and brought forth its concepts to create the Cell architecture. It remains to be seen if Sony can successfully release another graphics workstation. Expect more details to emerge regarding Sony’s Cell architecture and therefore the PS3 in the near future.
Topic: Few New Cell Details Emerge (Read 588 times)