Kotaku: Cell

The Makers of Scribblenauts Give You More Bounce to the Ounce With Run Roo Run

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:30:00 EST

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The App Store's rotten with platformers. Everywhere you turn, there's some developer revisiting his or her childhood with their own take on the hoppy/jumpy left-to-right adventure genre. Many of these stink or are otherwise unremarkable. But 5th Cell's Run Roo Run is different. More »

Triple The Splinter Cell Heading To PS3 In HD And 3D

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:30:00 EST

A triple dose of Sam Fisher comes to the PlayStation 3 this March with the long-rumored release of the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell HD trilogy. He'll be joined by three times the Prince of Persia on a Blu-ray disc. More »

Report: Sony So Wants Its Chip Factory Back At Discount Rates

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:00:00 EST

Back in 2008, Sony sold its Nagasaki chip plant to Toshiba. The factory produces chips for the PS3. Reports say Sony now wants the factory back. More »

Report: High-Speed Cell Service Could Come to Nintendo, Sony Devices

Brian Crecente — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Sony and Nintendo are in talks to add 3G network connections to their next line of handheld game machines, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. More »

IBM: We'll Keep Making Cell Processors As Long As Sony Needs Them

Mike Fahey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:20:00 EST

Rumors are circulating today about the death of IBM's Cell processor, which powers Sony's PlayStation 3. Kotaku spoke to IBM about the fate of the Cell and its commitment to the PlayStation 3. More »

Mobile Games Market Has 'Flatlined' - Experts

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:20:00 EST

Now hang on a minute. It doesn't seem like five minutes since some gaggle of market pundits were proclaiming that the iPhone had turned the mobile games market inside out and pointing at developers rolling around in pits of cash like Scrooge McDuck. More »

45nm Cell Processor Due Next Year - Cheaper PS3s On The Way?

Stuart Houghton — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:20:00 EDT

In 2009, Sony and Toshiba are to begin mass production of the 45nm version of the Cell processor used in the PlayStation 3, reports Gizmodo. More »

U.S. Air Force Wants To Buy 300 PS3s For Cell "Assessment"

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:00:03 EST

Ripped from tomorrow's press releases comes word that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has submitted a purchase request for a bunch of PlayStation 3s—three hundred of the 40GB model, to be exact. They're not (officially) intended for playing Grand Theft Auto IV or training pilots under the harsh control conditions of Lair, mind you, but for "conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors." Uh huh. More »

45nm Cell Means Cheaper PS3

Mike Fahey — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:00:14 EST

From 90mm to 65mm to 45mm - IBM has announced details on a smaller, more efficient version of the Cell BE processor, which of course is the brains inside every shiny new PlayStation 3. IBM will soon migrate from the 65nm process currently used to manufacture the chips to their next generation 45nm high-k process, which results in a Cell that requires 40 percent less power, reducing cooling costs while a smaller die means higher yields and a lower overall cost. This gives Sony a choice - reduce the price of the system to increase their install base or just ride the cheaper process for awhile to work up a little profit. Also interesting to note is that once again the shrink comes with no performance tweaks, with IBM citing the need to maintain gaming software operation. In other words, IBM's Cell division is Sony's little bitch. More »

Hackers Find The PlayStation 3 To Be Totally Hackarific

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:40:00 EST

The PlayStation 2 was at one point demonized as a dangerous supercomputer that could fall into the wrong hands (the Communists!), with the potential to be used as a launch mechanism for nuclear missiles or some such nonsense. The PlayStation 3? It may very well become the tool of choice for another nefarious sect: HACKERS! According to security researcher Nick Breese's report from the Kiwicon hacker conference in Wellington, New Zealand, the PS3 can brute force crack passwords 100 times faster than comparable Intel hardware. More »

Sony's New PS3s Are 65nm After All, Partially

Mark Wilson — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:00:00 EST

Deep Breath...We heard that Sony was using tiny 65nm chips in their new 40GB PS3s instead of the oringal 90nm chips but then Sony was all like no we aren't doing that and we were all like oh our bad because we heard that you were but then we heard (again) that Sony is really using the chips after all but only the Cell processor is shrunk not any of the other stuff but that makes sense to us because the new model uses way less power and we were confused how that happened without shrinking any chips but since the chips have been shrunk and we know it's true because it came from Kaz himself everything is right in the world again. More »

Ex-Harmonix Dev Has Harsh Words For PlayStation 3

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:40:26 EDT

Former Harmonix employee and one-time PlayStation 3 developer Jason Booth has posted a harsh evaluation of Sony's latest console, refuting claims that PS3 developers are "lazy"—resulting in ports of Xbox 360 games that often perform worse than the original—and attempting to "explain exactly why ports to the ps3 will never be as good as their 360 counter parts, and why most ps3 exclusives will likely continue to suck." Oh, boy, this should be good. Booth does his best to pick apart what seem like hardware advantages, mainly the Cell and Blu-ray, and how they may wind up being nothing but hindrances. More »

Cell Architect Addresses Developer Response

Mark Wilson — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:40:51 EDT

The Cell has been under fire from a lot of developers for its, well you know the story. Gamasutra interviewed IBM's James A. Kahle, the chip's lead architect. Here's his take on the situation:

Anything besides a single-threaded processor is going to be more difficult...it's the structures that are requiring people to do a lot more up-front planning...Whereas before, I wouldn't say [developers] were lazy, they didn't need to worry about that kind of structures...so there's some adjustment to that, and tools needed, to make that more efficient.

Kahle also stresses that IBM has a very open development system to foster synergy, and that Sony is also doing some work on their own. And then inside his head he mentioned that he really hoped that people would ultimately love the Cell and that his name might go down in history (in the good way). More »

Sony to Sell PS3 "Cell" Facility to Toshiba

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:00:47 EDT

Starting March 2008, Toshiba is the proud new owner of Sony's microprocessor and graphic chip production facilities. Toshiba, Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment will set up a joint venture to run the Nagasaki "Cell" microprocessor output plant next April. The price hasn't been set yet, but it's likely to be over US $858 million. Previously, Sony said it planned to cut back on chip spending and possibly might not produce advanced 45-nanometer "Cell" chips. Under this new partnership, Toshiba and Sony will cooperate in producing 45-nm "Cell" chips. This is the last year of CEO Howard Stringer's aggressive plan to cut non-core business. Sony spokesperson Daichi Yamafuji assures that gaming consoles are still one of Sony's core businesses. More »

New Computer Chip Based on PS3 Cell

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:00:08 EDT

A prototype chip based on the PS3 Cell processor has been developed and will be shown next week in San Diego. The prototype is for computer boards (not the PS3), and it shouldn't come as a surprise as applications for the Cell have been mentioned for some time now. The original chip was developed by Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, IBM and Toshiba. Called the "Cell Computing Board," this new prototype is the Cell Broadband Engine microprocessor married with the RSX graphics processor, which, according to Sony, goes beyond the Cell chip's power. That's right, a super computer. Fingers crossed for 4D output! More »

echochrome Screens

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:40:00 EDT

Sony says it's looking for a console defining puzzle game in echochrome—a fairly tall order. It certainly doesn't look like anything else on the PLAYSTATION 3, but it reminds us of minimal previous PlayStation gems like Intelligent Qube and Vib-Ribbon. Of everything that SCEA showed at yesterday's E3 conference, this PlayStation Network downloadable was the most striking thing I recall. Possible only with the power of Cell (and possibly some good graphing calculators)! More »

Pachter Watch: Sony May Be "Overly Ambitious"

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 18 May 2007 21:20:48 EDT

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told GamesIndustry.biz that Sony's inclusion of Cell and a Blu-ray drive in the PLAYSTATION 3 may have been "overly ambitious" and says that consumers are "balking" at the machine's high price. More »

Mainframes + Cell Chips = Armageddon

Mike Fahey — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:20:20 EDT

What do get when you cross the awesome power of the PS3's Cell processor with the computing juggernaut that is the mainframe computer? Well according to our PR contact, you'd call it the Gameframe, but I think I'm going to call it the Harbinger of the Matrix, Sire of Our Destruction. It has a certain ring, doesn't it? More »

MIT's PS3 Class

Brian Crecente — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:00:45 EDT

The first-ever class on the Playstation 3's Cell Broaband Engine has just wrapped up over at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. More »

UK "Insider": PSP's Future Dark, Wii's Bright

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 05:00:40 EST

An anonymous comment has surfaced over at Guardian's Gamesblog. While it doesn't exactly bring promising PSP, it does illustrate how British third party devs feel about the Wii. So. Onto the quote! More »

Kutaragi to Head New Sony/Namco Game Studio

Brian Crecente — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:40:59 EST

Sony and Bandai Namco have announced a joint venture to develop new content for the Cell chip including games for the PS3 and content for mobile phones and personal computers, Bloomberg reports. More »

Sharp To Make Blu-Ray Diodes, Will PS3s Flow Like Wine?

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:20:47 EST

Bloomberg is reporting that the Sharp Corporation is set to invest BILLIONS in the manufacturing of blue laser diodes, the very same ones found in the PlayStation 3. And every Blu-ray player and recorder. And HD-DVD players. Sharp will start pumping out 150,000 diodes per month, ramping up to 500,000 by September 2007. More »

Phil Harrison: "Nobody will ever use 100% of PS3's capability"

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:40:19 EST

The always quotable Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, sat down for a conversation Stephen Totilo of MTV to talk all things PlayStation. So what does Phil have to offer? More »

NBA Live 07 Rocking the Cell

Brian Crecente — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:00:52 EST

I've yet to play a mobile game that is even a shadow of it's console self. So I don't have high hopes for NBA Live 07, or at least the mobile version of the game. More »

First Geometry Wars Phone Screens

Brian Crecente — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:00:23 EST

This batch of screens just popped up in my email. They are, I'm told, the first images of Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Mobile. It looks pretty damn neat, I just hope it turns out better than Lumines, which I heard sucked hard. Jump is home to more screens and the fact sheet. Brian Crecente More »

Clips: The Cell PS3 Commercial

Brian Crecente — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:00:37 EDT

This is a pretty cool commercial trying to explain why gamers should care about the Cell processor. It sorta stumbles a bit when it transitions from a snow storm to Warhawk, but the rest is all good. Brian Crecente More »

The PS3 Cell... In Your Friggin Mobile Phone

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 19:21:25 EDT

The heart of the PLAYSTATION 3? A suped-up Cell processor developed by Toshiba, IBM and Sony. A single chip contains a main processor and eight sub-processors to unleash 200G Flops (floating point operations per second) of power. And now Toshiba plans to put that chip in mobile devices. More »

New Extended Metal Gear Solid 4 Trailer

kotaku.com — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:40:59 EDT

80 Percent of PS3s to be High End Sku

Brian Crecente — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:00:17 EDT

Sony told analysts last week that roughly 80 percent of the Playstation 3s they ship to stores will be of the premuim, 60GB, built-in WiFi, variety with the remaining 20 percent being the core, 20 GB version, Next-Gen is reporting. More »

Wii Chip Shipments Started About 3 Weeks Ago

Brian Crecente — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 01:00:00 EDT

Frankly, I'm not sure if this is good news, bad news or no news, but IBM confirmed today that they started shipping the brains of the Nintendo Wii for their New York fab plant about three weeks ago. More »

PlayStation 3 To Cure Alzheimer's?

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:24:19 EDT

It's about that time. What time you ask? PlayStation Supercomputing Capabilities Hyperbole Time! Remember how much fun we had this generation with the mainstream media clucking about the PS2 being classified as a "supercomputer" and that North Korea was going to import one and launch ICBM's at us via the DualShock? I'm getting misty from the nostalgiac hype. More »

Buy a Cheap Phone, Get a Free PSP

Brian Crecente — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:20:49 EDT

National Camera chain Wolf Camera is running a special this week that gives you a free Playstation Portable if you purchase selected T-Mobile cell phones. Reader Michael swung by the story and says he was told that the deal requires you to purchase a phone on the list and sign up for a two-year contract. More »

A Thought Experiment on PS3 Cell Costs

brownlee — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:40:14 EDT

The 10-20% yield comment from an IBM engineer has brought forth a lot of speculation about the number of consoles Sony is going to be able to produce for launch. They claimed they would have a million available world-wide; estimates say they need around 8 million to satisfy demand. Cell yields might make the derth even greater. More »

IBM Engineer Says PS3 Yields Not So Good

brownlee — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:40:09 EDT

At what point in beating a puppy clean to death with a sack full of its own hardened excrement does an inhuman like me begin to feel this emotion you call 'pity'? I don't know — that day may never come. But even I, monstrous and morally deformed as I may be, am beginning to feel sorry for Sony. Because now IBM's just flat-out saying that the Cell processor is way too expensive and complicated to make. More »

More PS3 Downgrades On The Way?

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:17:44 EDT

He's back. The connected PS3-party wet blanket who brought us covert info on the PlayStation 3 has dug up some dirt from a phantom insider who claims the PS3 may see even more downgraded specs. From lower clock speeds to an external power brick to who-knows-what-else, one thing we know for certain is that we sure as hell won't be getting what was promised at E3 2005. More »

Slashdot Geeks Rip Inquirer Gaping Orifice

brownlee — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 07:00:02 EDT

Sissily slapping Charlie Demerijian to death with their purple electronic purses, the Cylons over at Slashdot have taken umbrage at The Inquirer's earlier portrayal of the PS3's Cell as "slow and broken". More »

Resident Evil Hits Cell Phones

Brian Crecente — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 07:06:37 EDT

Cell phone game Resident Evil: The Missions will return gamers to the gothic manor of Raccoon City. The game is described as a "collection of 100 new zombie-hunting scenarios based on teh events and locations in the original console game." More »

Cell Designer Talks PS3

brownlee — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:40:43 EDT

H. Peter Hofstee, IBM's chief architect of the Cell processor to be used in the PS3, recently gave a lecture in Austin about designing the Cell and shared some information about the design process of the processor. More »

Bomberman Kart Racing Goes Mobile

Brian Crecente — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:01:21 EDT

Analyst: 200 Million PS3s in Five Years

lsmith — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:00:40 EST

A Business Week article makes some strong claims about Sony's PlayStation 3. In addition to claiming that the Cell processor would be a better chip than Intel's Pentium (I can hear that infernal Intel jingle in my head right now), the article also cites some numbers by the Envisioneering Group. These numbers are almost laughable. They suggest that the PS3 will sell 12 million units in year one and over the course of five years sell 200 million units. More »