"The PlayStation 3 (officially abbreviated as PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

A major feature that distinguishes the PlayStation 3 from its predecessors is its unified online gaming service, the PlayStation Network, which contrasts with Sony's former policy of relying on video game developers for online play. Other major features of the console include its robust multimedia capabilities, connectivity with the PlayStation Portable, and its use of a high-definition optical disc format, Blu-ray Disc, as its primary storage medium. The PS3 was also the first Blu-ray 2.0-compliant Blu-ray player on the market.

The PlayStation 3 was first released on November 11, 2006 in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America and South America, and March 23, 2007 in Europe and Oceania. Two SKUs were available at launch: a basic model with a 20 GB hard drive (HDD), and a premium model with a 60 GB hard drive and several additional features (the 20 GB model was not released in Europe or Oceania). Since then, several revisions have been made to the console's available models, most notably with the release of a new slim model in September 2009 to coincide with rebranding of the console and its logo."

Source: Wikipedia, "PlayStation_3", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

Notes:

• Region Locking: Games for the PlayStation 3 console are not required to be region locked, and currently are not. However, a publisher may choose to do so, using the same region designations used for Bluray movies. PS1 and PS2 games still require a PS3 from the appropriate region as the original consoles. Playstation Network games are not region coded, but users are generally limited to what is available in their local PSN store (some users have created PSN accounts for other regions to access software not published in their locale). Game add-ons distributed via the PSN store are generally tied to the game distributed in that region (ie, add ons for a US copy of a game must be acquired via the US PSN).

DVD and Bluray movie playback is locked according to geographic region.

Common problems/faults with the console:

• C-Bomb: When the cmos battery dies (average lifespan 10 years, ERROR CE 34878-0 or 30392-7) or is replaced, the system will need to check in with the PSN to confirm the correct time. The PS3 runs the check for digital games only.
  • When the PSN servers go down in the future it will render digital games unplayable.
  • Sony could prevent this by changing how PS3 handles validating trophies in a firmware update, and failing that, a jailbroken console may avoid the problem.

Supported Media
DVD
Blu-Ray
Downloadable Content

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