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Graphics PlayStation (Games) Software Entertainment Games Hardware

Possible NVidia Link To PS3 Disputed 28

Posted by simoniker from the don't-even-think-about-it-say-no-go dept.
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their report that a source close to Sony suggests nVidia's rumored involvement with the PlayStation 3 is 'ridiculous'. According to the article, which dismisses earlier analyst reports, the source claims "...it was a 'ridiculous suggestion' that Sony would look elsewhere for a designer and manufacturer for the graphics processor (GPU) for the future console. 'Sony has its own chip design teams and manufacturing facilities with massive experience in this sort of thing,' he commented. 'Lashing NVIDIA's technology onto the PS3 architecture would simply make no sense either technologically or commercially.'"
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Possible NVidia Link To PS3 Disputed More

Possible NVidia Link To PS3 Disputed

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  • Well, yeah... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GTRacer ( 234395 ) <gtracer308&yahoo,com> on Monday September 01, 2003 @12:03PM (#6844786) Homepage Journal
    'Lashing NVIDIA's technology onto the PS3 architecture would simply make no sense either technologically or commercially.'

    -1, Duh.

    Seriously, does nVidia (or ATI for that matter) make any non-PC graphics cards or chipsets? MS-ATI made sense as the Xbox is pretty much a PC but as all the 3rd-party PS2 developers already know, the PS2 is a unique beastie!

    GTRacer
    - It's the gameplay, stupid!

  • That's Why I Doubted It (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday September 01, 2003 @12:21PM (#6844883) Homepage
    This is exactly what I thought. Sony designed the chips for the PS1 and the PS2, why would they farm out the PS3? It would mean (among other things) sharing the profits. Why would they let their chip teams sit idly by why they send good money to 3rd parties that they, IHMO, don't even need.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • They surely didn't design the PS1 chip. That was a MIPS processor (see here [usedgames.com]. I doubt they would have built it themselves either - why bother when they're being manufactured anyway (though I realise they certainly have the infrastructure to do so).

      While you mention that they have to share the profits, that also means they have to bear the cost of development. That said, they do have the infrastructure. We know they can do it. Who knows, maybe it will turn out that Sony have licensed some IP from nVidia or
      • Just as a (very) rough point-of-reference, Nvidia spends about $57M a quarter on research and development, according to Yahoo!Finance [yahoo.com]. Granted, a lot of this cost is related to reference board designs and multiple generations and lines of chips so it's not a perfect comparison. Still, my point is that current high-end graphics technology is expensive to develop and getting more expensive every year.

        It could make a lot of sense for Sony to license some IP. I agree, that they're quite unlikely to purchase
  • ...and what about all those millions of dollars they spent with IBM and Toshiba, developing their "cell technology"? (Anyone have the figures for that?)

    What? They're going to throw all that expensive research away and go with an Commercial Off-the-Shelf product? Um,...probably not.

    • Re:Cell Technology (Score:2, Interesting)

      by GaimeGuy ( 679917 )
      here's the original announcement of the cell, claiming that 400 million dollars combined were already pledged the Cell. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-948493.html Here's a news story that the Ps3 will NOT use the Cell processor. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/394/394184p1.html And here's an a news story that Sony spent 1.6 billion dollars on a Cell production plant. http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/computers/componen ts/story/0,2000023499,20273860,00.htm

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday September 01, 2003 @01:11PM (#6845123)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Futureware, Rumorware (Score:4, Insightful)

    by imperator_mundi ( 527413 ) on Monday September 01, 2003 @02:28PM (#6845405)
    The deal between MS and ATI is annonced... and after a while rumor spreading begins...

    PS2 overwhelms Xbox with a ratio that is somewhere in the 1 to 5 and at least in the near future it looks like hard that things will turn into a bed of roses for MS, so it's maybe in Redmond's interests to shift the attention to the next generation of game machines.

    Nvdia is no longer the official chipmaker for the MS consoles... maybe producing for the first Xbox was not the King Mida's deal it seemed at first glance, but this isn't exactly the kind of news that makes shareholders explode of joy, and rumors about a possible deal with Sony for the PS3 will surely help theirs morale.

    Sony on its side, after two sledgehammer consoles is working on number three, its position is of course enviable but its rivals are quite tough: a neverending cash company that usually crushs every competitor and a toymaker that has more fanatic disciples than an ayatollah and that year after year, despite a shrinking market share, earns tons of pokemoney... so if "mo' rumors mo' hype" still working (it should) mr. Kutaragi and friends will surely appreciate any kind of rumors about PS3.

    Sounds a little a sort of "my rumors are bigger than yours" indeed.
    • riight. Nintendo has about 8 billion dollars in cash, and if you factor in assets, probably over 10 billion.
      What's with calling them a "toy" company? They make video game consoles. and they earn money from not just pokemon, but all of their games, and liscensing fees to 3rd parties on the GBA and GC. Sorry if I sound like a fanboy, but calling Nintendo a "toy company" just sounds a little bit insulting when I hear it. Yeah, Nintendo is losing marketshare in consoles, but so is
      • Mario and Zelda still selling in seven digits figures, that's right, and this is the fruit of the great legacy both series have, and the great legacy is the fruit of the massive success the old Big N consoles had.

        At present less people are playing Nintendo's game, in percent and even in absolute value, and less player today means a weaker legacy tomorrow... how many Mario Sunshine or Zelda more would Nintendo have sold if it had released them for the PS2... easily three or four times more.

        The GBA is a
    • Also, Sony seems in no better a position now then Nintendo was when they fell from grace. Nintendo was on top of the world, untouchable with their 256 or so simulteaneous colors, and ready to sweep the world with a crazy powered 64 bit machine when Sony came in and cleaned their clock.

      We can only hope for Sony that they have good developer relations, or somebody could do some serious damage.

      I would also say that Nintendo is doing better this generation then last, I don't know about the numbers, but I se
  • I don't see the big hub-bub about the rumored Nvidia and Sony dealings.
    But, I personally see no reason why Sony couldn't produce the GPU and develop it in some sort of partnership with Nvidia. I love my PS2 to death, but the graphics were never what they could have been, and now it's just hopelessy aging. I can really see Sony developing the Playstation 3 after the Xbox, basically a stripped down PC. They'd be fools if they release their next incarnation without a hard drive and network adapter out of th

  • Rename the games (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Monday September 01, 2003 @07:39PM (#6846637) Homepage
    If Nvidia made the cards for the ps2 they'd have to rename all the games to 3dmark03.exe.

    I feel bad for making that joke now because I have Nvidia stock.

  • making the ps3 architecture programmable by sane human beings.

    what's ps2's biggest fault (besides no VGA adapter)? being INSANELY DIFFICULT to program for. standardize jerks.
    • what's ps2's biggest fault (besides no VGA adapter)?

      There is a VGA adapter available for the PS2 (not directly from Sony afaik, but there is one). In fact, a quick Google search brought up a number of them, though except for generic adapters (ie adapters that would convert anything that had standard video outputs) I could only find one when I bought it a couple years ago. Unfortunately, the one I found used one of the memory card ports for power and wasn't very good (sometimes the video would go out in th
      • i could've sworn they were all just upconvertors, that ps2 was unable to output 640x480.

        bless the dreamcast.
        • Yes, I believe you're right, and I had no coffee until 11:30 this morning ;)

          Either way, the adapter I had couldn't even keep a steady video signal for very long, I'd hope that most of them are better than that.

          For a while I really considered picking up one of the more multi-purpose units, but it was cheaper to buy a large TV and a video switch (and despite the lack of resolution on a standard TV, bigger is better for most console games).

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