It appears that Microsoft, which launched Xbox in late 2001 after Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube consoles, will be the first company to unleash its next-generation home console.
Meanwhile, IBM and Sony are developing Cell, a proprietary, powerful new architecture that will be used in PlayStation 3. Some developers believe that Sony could delay the arrival of its next-generation console to as late as 2007 in order to create a Trojan horse for its budding Blue-Ray DVD technology, which promises to deliver high-definition DVDs into the living rooms of consumers, replacing current DVD-players.
Sony’s Blue-Ray technology has one formidable hurdle to overcome: HD-DVD. This alternative format, backed by such electronics giants as NEC and Toshiba, is positioned to give Blue-Ray a run for its money. But HD-DVD could be squashed in the same way the DVD squashed DivX if Sony were include Blue-Ray DVD-playback in PlayStation 3, instantly turning millions of gameplayers into Blue-Ray supporters.
Doing so would also give Sony a clear selling point over Microsoft’s “Xbox 2” as the only console that could play true high-definition DVD out of the box.
News source: IGN
