First PS3 Review

In one of the first hands-on reviews found on the Internet for the Playstation 3, Kikizo has obtained a highly secretive look at a basically finished Playstation 3. There was much that they could not talk about due to a NDA, but they did reveal the following pieces of information which I'll bulletpoint:

• From what they had seen, there was no BluRay support to be seen and everything was being written for standard DVD size.
• The graphics chip used by the PS3 is called the RSX ("Reality Synthesiser"). Initial impressions were that, while although powerful, it doesn't live up to the hype offered by Sony. This is mainly due to the fact that the games are running in 720p and not 1080i.
• The PS3 showed the potential to handle more simultaneous graphical tasks than the already on the market Xbox 360. However, developers for the PS3 say that they will need additional libraries to be provided by Sony to unlock even more power from the Playstation 3 console.

So, initial impressions don't seem favorable for the PS3. If only Microsoft could figure out their supply problems, they could really dominate the North American market (I think Japan is a lost cause for MSFT still).

Update 11/21/2006: Ars Technica has posted what I consider the best PS3 review on the Internet. Read about their PS3 review here.

Update 11/13/2006: A lot of people are still hitting this post and I want to make sure that readers are actually finding the information that they came here to look for. So, here are some initial retail release reviews (alliteration?) of the PS3 for your pleasure:

• Gizmodo Unpacks the PS3 and Wii Simultaneously - A photo report on the packaging of the retail Sony Playstation 3 system (and Nintendo Wii).
• Playstation 3 Disassembled - A video of someone disassembling the PS3 (a second part is available on YouTube).

Update 10/24/2006: Since this post is still ranking highly for the term "PS3 Review", I wanted to give users looking for good PS3 info all the necessary information they need. Check back frequently as I should be updating this post as it remains useful as a PS3 Review source.

• PS3 Pre-Ordering Info - First round of PS3 pre-ordering (which sold out within hours)
• Wikipedia's Playstation 3 Page - the Wiki for PS3 which is under strict content control by the Wiki editors and is constantly being updated.
• 23 Facts About the PS3 - a simple and sweet list of PS3 facts garnered from initial reviews and impressions by Joystiq.