Playstation 3

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is Sony's third video game console, released in 2006 (Japan and North America) and 2007 (Europe). It competed in the seventh console generation with the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

Key Features and Development

• Blu-ray: The PS3 was a pioneer in including a built-in Blu-ray Disc player for both games and movies, which was one of its big selling points early in its lifespan.

• Cell Processor: The console was built around the complex and powerful Cell Broadband Engine processor, a collaboration between Sony, IBM, and Toshiba. This unique architecture gave the PS3 a huge performance advantage, but also made it notoriously difficult for developers to program for.

• PlayStation Network (PSN): The PS3 introduced the free online network PSN for multiplayer and digital content, as opposed to Microsoft's paid Xbox Live.

• Controller: The console launched with the wireless Sixaxis controller, which was later replaced by the DualShock 3 when the vibration feature was added. Both controllers included motion sensors.