Sony's New PS3

Sony introduced today the latest Playstation console, the PS3. Available in three colors - black, white or silver - the PS3 will be able to match whatever other electronics you may have crowding around your TV in your mom's basement.

In addition to it's new look, the PS3 will be completely backward-compatible to all PS1 and PS2 games, something that Microsoft has been very quiet about with their new Xbox 360. Rumor has it the Xbox will only play select titles of previous games, thereby allowing Microsoft programmers to take more vacations and create more top-heavy operating systems.

Sony officials said the PS3's new processor technology — called Cell — will offer high performance for movie-like realism in games, high-definition movies and other features.

"The PS3 is truly is a system to be placed in the center of the living room," said Ken Kutaragi, creator of the original PlayStation console as well as the more recent PlayStation Portable handheld.

Prices or a specific lineup of games that will be available were not were not provided, though Sony showed off numerous demonstrations of games in development.

The PS3 will use the Blu-ray disc format, capable of holding 50 gigabytes of information, which is about six times the capacity of existing DVDs, as well as slots for memory cards, a detachable hard drive and Bluetooth wireless for up to seven wireless controllers.

I'm a big enough geek to say "I want one," but I won't be waiting in line for 3 days to get one before the holidays, if they are available.