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To: Rusty Johnson who wrote (1521)	5/6/1999 12:43:00 AM
From: Rusty Johnson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2615

Sony Takes Another Big Gamble on Playstation ghibli writes "A New York Times article on the Sony PlayStation II describes it as a high-tech computer that will rival Wintel PCs. It's virtual reality CPU, dubbed the "Emotion Engine", claims to be more powerful (and expensive) than anything on the market. " nytimes.com The tech world is buzzing with speculation. "This machine has the power of the highest-end computers masquerading as a game, an amazing example of what one can do when one pushes the envelope to its limits," said Elias Antoun, executive vice president of the consumer product division of LSI Logic Corp., which makes the central processor for the original Playstation and is making the input-output processor for the new one. It could "create opportunities that no one can foresee." But Kutaragi, uncharacteristically, seems less ambitious for his machine, or at least less willing to reveal his extended vision. "Having Playstation 2 become the core system for the home, that's Idei-san's point of view," he said. "But for now, we agree it's going to be for games." That's somewhat disingenuous, for Kutaragi is the first to lay out the machine's ability to connect at high speed to the Internet over cable and satellite links. He notes the slots it will have to connect to modems and hard drives and its capacity to recognize voices and even facial expressions. The possibilities of interacting with simulations of everyone from a cartoon character to, say, Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor and heartthrob, are myriad. "Imagine a virtual DiCaprio," Kutaragi said. "He'll be able to wink back at you and smile. He will even be able to ask you how your day has been." Given the level of Sony's investment, the Playstation 2 has to be more than a game machine. Sony is spending $1 billion to $2 billion, Idei said, to produce the core chip and graphics chips that make it so revolutionary, and many analysts doubt that it can recoup that investment as a game machine alone. Thanks to slashdot.org