Sony reconfirms that the next-gen PlayStation will use Blu-ray

TOKYO--During the same press conference in which it unveiled the new, slimmed-down PlayStation 2, Sony also revealed plans about that console's successor, commonly referred to as the PlayStation 3. Company officials confirmed that "it [has] begun preparations to adopt the Blu-ray Disc ROM (BD-ROM) format as a medium for the next-generation PlayStation."

Thought it was Sony's first official Blu-ray announcement, it has been long known that the PS3 would use the technology. For one, Sony has been investing heavily in Blu-ray research for years. Secondly, representatives for the company also told an August meeting of the Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF), an organization committed to developing and standardizing the format, that the PS3 would use the format. Today's announcement officially sealed the deal.

For those unfamiliar with Blu-ray, it is high-density optical disc format with a memory capacity six times greater than a dual-layer DVD-ROM, able to store up to 54GB on a single disc. The format is specially designed for high-definition video and "next-generation entertainment," according to Sony. There are currently no plans to make the PS3 able to record on Blu-ray discs.

While the Blu-ray disc is being rivaled in the next-generation media war by the High-Density DVD format, SCE president Ken Kutaragi commented that the Blu-ray is simply better than HD-DVD format since it holds an incomparably larger amount of data, something Sony sees as essential for video games in the future. Using the Gran Turismo series as an example, Kutaragi explained that the first Gran Turismo used only one CD-ROM, while GT2 required 2 CD-ROMs, GT3 shifted to DVD, and the upcoming GT4 will be using a dual-layered DVDs.

Of greater import was Sony's announcement that it is working on "a single optical pick-up that can read data from all three formats of CD, DVD, and BD" for inclusion in the PS3. SCE is also hoping to make the next-generation game console backward compatible for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games as long as it is possible. "Backward compatibility has been one of the beauties of the PlayStation," Kutaragi said. "It's an important factor since the library of games [from our past systems are] a substantial asset. It will be a challenge for us since it's technically very difficult to make the machine backward compatible."

The first details on the PS3 are expected to be released in Japan before the end of March 2005. The machine is scheduled to debut at E3 in the spring, with a playable exhibit expected at the Tokyo Game Show next fall.