PlayStation 3

Lore & Background

The PS3 was built around the custom-designed Cell Broadband Engine processor, co-developed with IBM and Toshiba. It was the first console to use Blu-ray disc as its primary storage medium, the first with an HDMI port, and the first capable of outputting games in 1080p resolution. It launched alongside the PlayStation Network online service and supported Remote Play with the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. In September 2009, Sony released the PlayStation 3 Slim, which removed hardware support for PlayStation 2 games but introduced a smaller, more energy-efficient design. A further revision, the Super Slim, was released in late 2012.

In Their Own Story

The wind finds you in the alley behind the old clock tower, where the ivy has swallowed the face and the hands point to a time no one checks anymore. You are small. You are one petal, no wider than a thumb, and the concrete beneath you is cold and grey and smells of rain that fell three days ago. You do not choose to move. The air does. A gust rolls off the river, catches your edge, and you are *launched*—tumbling past a fire escape, threading between two lampposts, skimming the surface of a puddle that reflects a sky you will not see for another two blocks. The city is tight here, all right angles and glass, and the wind fights you, folding you into corners, pressing you flat against a wall. You wait. You wait. Then a longer breath, a deeper pull, and you are over the rooftop, over the last concrete ridge, and the world opens. The grass is impossibly green. The flower is waiting. You land, and the stem accepts you, and the meadow hums.

Reader's Guide

At launch, the PS3 received mixed reception due to its high price, complex system architecture, and limited launch titles. The hardware was costly to produce, and Sony sold the console at a loss for several years. Reception improved over time, aided by critically acclaimed games, hardware revisions, and price reductions. The PS3 sold approximately 87.4 million units worldwide. Nearly 1 billion PlayStation 3 games had been sold worldwide. The PlayStation 4 was released in November 2013 as the PS3's successor. Shipments ended in most regions by 2016, with final production for Japan until May 29, 2017.

Did You Know?

• The PS3 was the first console to use Blu-ray disc as its primary storage medium.
• The PS3 was the first console equipped with an HDMI port.
• The PS3 was the first console capable of outputting games in 1080p resolution.
• The PS3 Slim, released in September 2009, removed hardware support for PlayStation 2 games.
• The PS3 Super Slim, released in late 2012, replaced the slot-loading disc drive with a top-loading drive.