Sony's post-PS3 vision for the Cell

  • By Walt Wyman, GameSpot
  • Posted Jun 14, 2006 11:12 am PT

SCE CEO Ken Kutaragi details Sony's plan to put Cell processors in everything from servers to home electronics.

As part of an ongoing series of interviews, Japanese site PC Impress Watch asked Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi about plans for incorporating the Cell processor into other kinds of devices. Commenting on the eight Synergistic Processor Elements (SPE) in the Cell's current specification, Kutaragi stated that this could be scaled down considerably, leading to the creation of smaller-scale Cells for domestic applications. "Just two [SPEs] are all that's needed... But first we have to computerize home electronics. Currently this is not the case. This is the real problem."

Kutaragi pointed out that while most technology advocates consider the computerization of home appliances as inevitable, this view is not necessarily shared by the consumer electronics industry. "The number of [industry] people who believe that home electronics must be computerized is close to zero," he stated. He later attributed this to "pride" on the part of the electronics industry, adding that "there's nothing wrong with pride, but it leaves the question of what to do with your fixed hardware and software when you have to process data."

On the other hand, sheer volume may make computerizing home appliances worthwhile. "As a terminal, consider the flatscreen televisions in ordinary households. If you turn all these televisions into computers, the potential broadens greatly." He also took a playful jab at some of his rivals, joking "One wrong move, and Intel and [Steve] Jobs will walk off with everything."

Kutaragi attributed public interest in Sony to its unique structure, which resembles neither a strictly PC nor an electronics company. "We're kind of the stepson of the industry... But that's why people find us so interesting. The world would be a cold place indeed without the PlayStation." Kutaragi also mentioned some ways Sony might cut down on the Cell's manufacturing costs. One was adoption of a 65-nanometer process, an event that Kutaragi predicted will occur in 2007. The Cell will also make use of Tranmeta's LongRun power-management technology. Kutaragi stressed that power consumption was critical. "If we can't reduce [power consumption]," he stated, "we will never be able to make the PS3 cheap and small."

Lastly, Kutaragi addressed cooling the Cell. "We'll use heat pipes and a custom cooling solution, but the methods used will be common," he said. "We definitely aren't using any proprietary methods... We certainly couldn't fit a liquid cooling system [inside the PS3]... We're spending a lot on heat and electromagnetic interference [management]. The power supply could almost be sold separately."

290 Comments

  • JaMeS4418

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 11:32 am PT

    Umm ok

  • ssjtrunks6

    Posted Jul 15, 2006 7:41 pm PT

    Child haha look whos talking you act like you are still living with your parents, and yes i know alot about marketing....and it goes to show ... i know alot more than you

    you forgot an important detail, the cell is an upgradable CPU chip, and has its own reality synthesizer built in

  • GoddBless

    Posted Jul 14, 2006 1:29 pm PT

    "rodrigo_br
    by the way...
    they may be wrong when sayin the world would be cold without the Playstation...
    but, they have a point, since the PS1 is a mark in video game's history...
    it was the first system that wasn't just a video game, it was also a CD player, and, the first one with 3D graphics...
    Wii all know that without the Playstation, Wii could be playin on 2D graphics and with games bein stored at those gray boxes...
    hehe
    that suck..."

    It was 2nd. The Sega Saturn was 1st.

  • SoberWarock

    Posted Jul 14, 2006 2:49 am PT

    OK

  • GeneralHavic

    Posted Jul 13, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    To the child who posted below me, you know nothing about marketing. Please dont flame people if you yourself are clueless.

    And to Red Punisher: The Cell that the PS3 is running on is optimized to do two things, and they are graphics and physics processing. IF Sony ever were to redesign the Cell so that it could handle daily tasks for computers they might have something going. And that would be their first step in making the Cell a household product like this article is stating. But dear God I hope we dont end up having computer chips in everything we I own, because sometimes I love the simplicity of household electronics.

    By the way, I'm not biased in any of my opinions towards PS3 or Xbox 360, I am just your everyday guy that likes to have a little dose of tech news. And I do hope we never have to live through the day were we are living by computer chips as a daily thing.

  • ssjtrunks6

    Posted Jul 12, 2006 8:31 am PT

    UH_OH dont get scared now 360, this is only a small portion of what the ps3 has in power, stop saying just buy a 360..that machine has a small portion of the power that a ps3 has, only the people that actually want more for their money would buy a ps3....and please grow up everyone should understand the ps3 has a high price but..come on stop complaining about that , move on stop going on about the same story over and over, and the 360 is not any better, their are hardly any great games for it, and microsoft could not ever release Halo3 when they wanted to because they wanted to see what sony was going to come out with before they made a mistake again so soon. microsoft is slow in the production industries, it takes them sooo long just to release another great game that can a rank of around 9.

  • gskehans97

    Posted Jul 9, 2006 3:36 pm PT

    Do it really matter when i have a xbox360,ps2,and a Computer???

  • lamech777

    Posted Jul 8, 2006 5:09 pm PT

    shabulia wrote:
    (Quote)
    "When you look at The Xbox360 launch, the problems the big N is having with its controller, and now Sony is having cooling problems... It's like I have been saying all along. The world was not and IS not ready for next generation gaming yet. All three companies needed to give it about another year of research and develpment. The current systems have never been tapped out fully and never will because everyone is so intent on getting the newest and most powerful system they can get. Back in the days of the 16-Bit era, companies maxed out their systems' full potential and THEN went on to the next thing (all except for Sega).

    When we are talking about the cost involved with everything these systems have to offer, wouldn't you rather make sure the stupid thing worked right? I am not going to blow $600 on a system that overheats and crashes. This is not good, Sony. And Microsoft isn't much better either.

    Bottom line, I say they all should have waited for another year to release their systems. It's too much too fast. And it's all too damn expensive!" (End quote)

    And I say:
    I agree.
    I agree 100%.

  • chubbydwk

    Posted Jul 1, 2006 12:23 pm PT

    who gonna get that crap when there is 360 to cover for ps3...
    ps3 is too expensive and it should be not include all these
    cell crap to make the prices higher.... xbox360 and ps3 basically has same
    graphic like xbox and ps2...only that difference...

  • LittleYoshi

    Posted Jul 1, 2006 10:42 am PT

    PS3 is way better then X box360!
    Xbox 360 don't know crap

  • werid

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 7:25 am PT

    Interesting

  • miiiguel

    Posted Jun 26, 2006 9:49 am PT

    I'm not saying that it was any of you guys, but I remember the mocking on the 360's power suply, ant the aleged over-heat issue...

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 26, 2006 9:15 am PT

    This topic is so old I cant take it seriously anymore. Lets move on.

  • aiia

    Posted Jun 26, 2006 7:57 am PT

    super ! we (humans) will finally enter the final stage of our computerization ... excellent!

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 6:22 pm PT

    They went too far with the PS3 they should have just made it a solit gaming console not a pc. Thats where they got screwed. Oh well. My 360 works awesome.

  • ArcAngel6903

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 2:55 pm PT

    Yeah, I'm a Sony faithful (don't ask about the 360 plugged into my tv though) and this PS3 just keeps sounding less and less like something I will ever purchase. Is it too much to expect my video game console to just play games? I really don't need a little pop-up dialog box coming on my tv screen in the middle MGS 4 telling me that my pop tart is ready, ya know. Nor do I intend to start "aquiring" music using my VIDEO GAME CONSOLE. Let me stress those 3 words again, VIDEO GAME CONSOLE. Leave the computer functionality to the Vaio and the strictly gaming capabilites with the Playstaion. Did they fire one team and merge both product lines to save money or something? My laptop/desktop I upgrade all the time, but I won't be able to do that with my PS3 now will I? It's in no way convenient to throw all of this crap that WILL MOST DEFINITELY be come obsolete in less than 10 years. Now, show me a PS3 case with upgrade options, and I'll throw down that $600 or whatever the price may be when they finally get their thumbs out of their....... we'll stop right there.

  • shabulia

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 2:46 pm PT

    People! People! People!!!

    When you look at The Xbox360 launch, the problems the big N is having with its controller, and now Sony is having cooling problems... It's like I have been saying all along. The world was not and IS not ready for next generation gaming yet. All three companies needed to give it about another year of research and develpment. The current systems have never been tapped out fully and never will because everyone is so intent on getting the newest and most powerful system they can get. Back in the days of the 16-Bit era, companies maxed out their systems' full potential and THEN went on to the next thing (all except for Sega).

    When we are talking about the cost involved with everything these systems have to offer, wouldn't you rather make sure the stupid thing worked right? I am not going to blow $600 on a system that overheats and crashes. This is not good, Sony. And Microsoft isn't much better either.

    Bottom line, I say they all should have waited for another year to release their systems. It's too much too fast. And it's all too damn expensive!

  • carpepoon

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 2:00 pm PT

    Does this mean that my PS3 can run my diswasher in 1080p?

  • cloudxv

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 7:52 am PT

    very nice

  • iwao

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 7:20 am PT

    i just hope ,the tekken 6 is not bad ,because they will lose many fans ,if the graphics is so bad!

  • colbyhutcho

    Posted Jun 24, 2006 6:00 pm PT

    I've noticed that the only bad comments on the first page were posted by people with xbox logos or with the word freak in their sn

    HMM

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 24, 2006 4:31 pm PT

    May God have mercy on all of our souls.

  • Rayzup

    Posted Jun 24, 2006 1:31 pm PT

    ganondorf_002
    Join the Army
    You Are The Army
    Be a Soldier of Wii
    Wii can't be stopped. Wii are the revolution.
    Buy a Nintendo Wii
    Playing=Believing

    that has to be the gayest thing I have ever read and Im pretty sure anyone in this topic that has read it has gotten dumber that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard and may god have mercy on your soul

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 23, 2006 10:25 pm PT

    Ouch. Sony is going to feel it bad when their PS3 doesn't do so well...Probaly throw up their inards out.

  • Grunt_Lord

    Posted Jun 23, 2006 8:29 pm PT

    imaging and alarm clock which uses the cell processor, and then consider that the cell processor take i think 200,250 or 300 dollars to produce, gona be an expensive alarm clock .

    yes i do know that that will most likely not happen... but then again, RIIIIIIDGE RAAACER!

  • RedPunisher

    Posted Jun 23, 2006 3:51 pm PT

    It will be cool if the Cell becomes available on the market
    for compatible motherboards just like intel and AMD. May be I just went too far with my imagination, but that could become an interesting dimension to Sony's marketing.

  • smokey_77

    Posted Jun 23, 2006 11:47 am PT

    im pretty sure it means (external power supply) not sold seperately, what is wrong with you people?

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 11:03 pm PT

    WeeWee...please go to another corner and cry over Sony's lost. It's pathetic. Also your life does not matter to us, comments like those just makes yours more pathetic.

  • WeeWeeJumbo

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 4:27 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • Nawras

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 1:10 pm PT

    This is just great. Now my stereo would cost $1000 simply because it has the additional feature of having a built-in PSP screen plus it communicates with God through its Cell powered antenna

  • Darth_Karth

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    Im not a sony hater or anything, but is it just me or has sony been ultra arrogant lately?

    "We're kind of the stepson of the industry... But that's why people find us so interesting."

    Dont forget this one

    "The world would be a cold place indeed without the PlayStation"

    and this statement about the psp if anyone remembers

    "we have created the most beautiful device in the world"

    There are numerous other statements they made that I found to be unusually arrogant in tone, such as the gamespot blu-ray interview with sony, and sony calling people stupid when they questioned exactly where they got the motion sensing idea from.

    Once again, I am not a sony hater, i've been with sony since the ps1, plan on raising money for all the consoles conming out. I just noticed these things over the months.

  • khellendros1

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 8:56 am PT

    It's so funny to sit here and read some of these post. People get so upset about announcements made by rival companies. As soon as Sony makes a statement the Sony bashing comes out. Going from 90nm to 65nm is not a Xbox idea, it's the evevolution of all microprocessors. Anyone who makes procs want to move to 65nm to lower heat .Look, if you don't want to buy a PS3 that's fine but what's the point of getting on here and making wild accusations that have no merit. I'm a fan of the games Sony has. When i look at the lineup of games for the 360 I'm not Impressed. Halo is the real reason people buy the Xbox and I'm not a fan of Halo. When I look at Sony I see franchises that i'm interested in. Now, I'm not happy with what Sony's doing by making me pay for technology i won't use for for 2 or 3 years(BlueRay) but I do love the games. If the publishers leave Sony and go to the 360 then I'll go with them. When Nitendo was in it's prime , they had the diversity that Sony has now, but when the developers left so did the gamers. As long as Sony keeps the developers they are going to be hard to beat.

  • raymondyo007

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 8:19 am PT

    OMFG, wer are you gettin this **** from man

    I have people who make stuff up, anywho, i don't think that'll happen,
    not being racist pf nothing but the japanese are geniuses, lol, well....tahts
    what i think and the ps3 will be alryte, the last two consoles dint ave no problems so...meh.

  • TheKretinousQ

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 1:42 am PT

    Sony are having one hell of a hard time because of that white curvy box (360) and they seem to be having more problems on the reliability than the 360 which i didn't think was possible.

    The PS3 will cause the lights to dim down the whole street and your room will feel like a sauna from the heat it produces and more likely than not you will have to bathe it in cold water in order to keep it alive.

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm PT

    No **** but the system itself is not 1000 dollars otherwise it would flop. Just dont get the bundle that simple. Oh and nader08 yes sony systems all had problems. Dont say stupid **** if you dont have to.

  • PackersRock

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 8:45 pm PT

    Four $1000, it better come with the power supply. lol.

  • vrizzle

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 6:22 pm PT

    that would be stupid to sell the power supply seperate

  • foreveraln1

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 5:46 pm PT

    lol if it does get too hot and faulty ill just turn my ac on during the middle of the winter

  • nader08

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 2:46 pm PT

    sony never had problems with ps1 and ps2
    y now ps3. i know piss us off we have to wait and wait for our ps3 i want my now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come on sony u know better.

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 2:12 pm PT

    I enjoyed my PS2 before it died. It was a faulty system. The games though was awesome like the Silent Hill series. However PS3 is a major dissapointment with it's price and the fact that they say so many things about it that are not true. Xbox360 is a very good system, yes it has it's problems but I have yet to experience them so I have no reason to dislike my 360. My Xbox worked fine also. Yeah I guess your right we could use some less flamming but some of it is justified. Some fanboys will say anything to make their system sound good but overall no one knows 100% sure how the PS3 will fare, but so far it doesn't look too good.

  • XBOXSUCKS847

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 11:27 pm PT

    ok psp360gamr83 i havent bashed xbox or 360 once on this post, and i dont wanna hear something from you. im simply talking about the topic and not taking cheapshots you ........................you fill it in with whatever you want

    jesus christ almighty..i apologize to you for saying your name..now everyone stop slaughtering my idea for a cell oven your jokes are all lame. we dont know nothing until nov 17 i hope.

    and Rogerwaterz not only is your comment off with it being seperate because you didnt understand it, but why in the hell would a power supply cost $100

  • PSP360Gamr83

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 10:17 pm PT

    QOUTE:"ChoadS
    Hmmmm, "adoption of a 65-nanometer process" in 2007. Wander where they got that idea from (Xbox 360)."

    MS had released that a loooong time ago. (a 65-nanometer 3 core processor is going to repace the old ones in the xbox 360 in 2007.)

    P.S. yeah the 2 comments i made seem to favor the xbox more but dont anyone call me a fanboy. Im just stating simple facts to correct people who dont know what their talking about. I have done my research on next-gen consoles. Also, I still enjoy the PS2 and PSP. For people who have any doubt at all on what they comment i suggest looking up xbox 360 or PS3 on wikipedia.org . i have done research on many sites but if you dont have much time check there for a good history/ tech./ news breifing on the 360. Also im not a moderator but please for the readers sakes refrain from making comments that include almost a page worth of quotes then ranting and raving for another 5 paragraphs mocking and insulting other members and trying to prove something wrong when you obviously dont know anything about what your talking. Yeah I know this is long to but im sure many people appreciate this post. A few last things to clear up... Backwards Compatability requires the chipset of the older console to be installed in the new one, MS didnt want to spend too much money on the 360 as they were already over $250 over their market price per console (MS didnt say that a financial analyst did) so they chose emulation (which takes time so they can write new coding for the game), and if you do enjoy the xbox 360 and see a comment that someone named xboxsucks write, just dont read it, its just going to make you get angry.

  • PSP360Gamr83

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 9:36 pm PT

    QOUTE:"UntoldDreams
    Power Supply... He was talking about the amount of engineering design of the heat pipes... He's saying it is such a good design he could almost sell that separately to another company.

    For example. The heating and cooling solution on the 360 could benefit from PS3's thermal pipe design..."

    Actually the "Thermal Pipe design" is another term for Heat Pipe Technology wich IS used to cool the Xbox 360. The 360's CPU's heatsink uses Heat Pipe Technology (or Thermal Pipe) to channel the heat from the CPU to the fans. Another fun fact is that the loud noise the 360 makes is actually caused by its high speed 12x disc drive. ps3's disc drive will be more quiet and allow bigger games but with longer load times because its only 4x.

  • DanyGo

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:12 pm PT

    Go Sony!!!!

  • G-Corleone

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:32 pm PT

    Dune571, YOU ARE A TOTAL JACKASS, if you think that the Xbox was much better than the ps2, YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT. Just look at the numbers. Since the year 2000, Sony has sold more than 100 million ps2's, and Microsoft could only sell 20 million, you know why??? because the PS2 BEATS THE CRAP OUT OF THE XBOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what do you have to say know??? IDIOT!!!

  • evilyoda861

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 12:22 pm PT

    Dune571 if you had a brain you would know that the PS3 is not more powerful than the 360. The specs are virtualy the same just that Sony is claiming PS3 to be a super computer...Hell the PS3 hasn't even proven it can work yet! The 360 has. I know the Wii will work just perfectly just as all their other systems have. Plus I hear Wii will release just a little bit earlier. Sony got served on a platter of ****

  • MSE369

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 10:21 am PT

    the translation must bee wrong im sure that i read 2 other articles on 2 differents web site a couple of days ago saying that he said it could be external....

  • Magicmaster-E

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 9:59 am PT

    woo-hoo, $300-400 microwaves yes!!! will there be "toast error" in my toaster. wait no maybe Sony WON"T copy off of nintendo and make playing cards, errr wait nintendo did that about 100 years ago!!!!!! Sony suxors

  • Dune571

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 1:10 am PT

    All I can say is that my 360 hasn't had problems. I can't play it in my room though otherwise it overheats, but I don't count that because it works fine downstairs. I play H2 on it sometimes and haven't had any problems at all. Other than that I haven't really been impressed with it graphically. I am a PC gamer most of all, and would consider my allegience to the Xbox, just because Xbox (ONE) was so much better than the PS2 in every way. I am kinda a sucker for graphics, and the Xbox pwned the ps2 in that regard, but the PS3 is shaping up to be more powerful so now I'm pissed. But MY computer will always have better graphs. than consoles ne' ways so oh well. Cheaper games too.

  • ganondorf_002

    Posted Jun 19, 2006 11:19 pm PT

    Join the Army
    You Are The Army
    Be a Soldier of Wii
    Wii can't be stopped. Wii are the revolution.
    Buy a Nintendo Wii
    Playing=Believing

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