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PS3 Opened For Pictures

Posted by Hemos on Mon Nov 13, 2006 01:16 PM
from the purty-pictures dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As all of you surely know by now, the PS3 has just been released in Japan. What you might find interesting, however, is that among those 80 000 happy PS3 owners (or self-appointed resellers) was at least one who decided it was his or her sacred mission to crack this puppy open for a peek inside. About the article, it is in Japanese. Someone who knows enough of this fabled language of wonder well enough would do well to offer some translations, although I don't really suspect that the story is the most important thing here..."
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] Games: Playstation 3 Sells Out At Japanese Launch 250 comments
s31523 writes "With its high price tag and stiff competition the PS3 was a gamble. Based on the reaction in Japan to the game console's release, there might be a new hot toy on everyone's Christmas list here in the states. According to the article there were 100,000 units [Z: actually, only 80,000 units] available and all were sold out in record time. There are 2 configurations currently offered, a 60GB WiFi enabled box and a 20GB non-WiFi box. The Japanese price for the lower end system is considerably discounted vs. the system to be released in the States." For a look at launch day, Kotaku has photos taken by Sony's Phil Harrison on the streets of Tokyo.
[+] Games: The Dark Side of the PlayStation 3 Launch 505 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku is running an article prompted by an email from a foreign student in Japan. The reader unveils the sad reality of the modern gaming industry. Japanese businessmen made ample use of homeless people and Chinese nationals to obtain PS3s for re-sale. There was also a large amount of pushing and shoving, some fights, and almost no police presence at the most crowded stores." From the article: "Based on my observations of the first twenty PS3s sold at Bic Camera, they were all purchased by Chinese nationals, none of whom bought any software. After making their purchase, television crews asked for interviews but all were declined. These temporary owners of PS3s would then make their way down the street where their bosses waited. After several minutes, a dozen PS3s were rounded up, as their Japanese business manager paid out cash to those who waited in line for them. I witnessed a homeless-looking Chinese man, in his sixties or seventies get paid 20,000 yen for his services and was then sent away." Update: 11/12 05:40 GMT by Z : You're right. Sony only shares a portion of the blame here. Offsides on my part.
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  • Translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by dada21 (163177) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Monday November 13 2006, @01:19PM (#16825232) Homepage Journal
    Ugh. Japanese is annoying, hah.

    November 11th, the Playstation 3 was released.

    People are talking a lot about the quantity initially available, etc, but the product is also gaining attention because of positive features such as the Blue Ray drive and other hardware (CELL?).

    The 60GB hard drive version can be purchased, so you'll see information on it right now.

    First the site will discuss all the basic information of the product, and then go into detail on each section.

    1. The package is heavy.
    2. Here is the list of contents in the package.
    3. Here's a picture of the box open
    4. Here is a list of what comes with the package.
    5. Here's a picture of the back.
    6. Here's a picture of the left.
    7. Here's a picture of the right.
    8. Here's the memory card reader.
    9. You can access the HDD slot.
    10. Here's the 60GB Seagate hard drive.

    Note
    When dissassemblnig the product, you lose the manufacturer's warranty.
    The PC Watch editorial staff is not responsible for any damage that my might occur if you take apart your model. It will damage the unit.

    The editors of PC Watch will not answer any questions submitted about taking apart the product.

    More photos:

    1. The warning seal is similar to the PS2
    2. When the seal is peeled off, "VOID" becomes visible.
    3. Under the warning seal is a special screw which must be removed to get the cover off.
    4. When you remove the large screw, the cover can be opened.
    5. The cable which is connected to the cover goes to the memory card reader.
    6. Removing the case shows you the BD drive and power supply.
    7. Look at the power supply. It is a direct 100V power supply. The power supply is small.
    8. The baseplate on the front side of the power supply is likely for separating the wireless networking from the power supply, along with the necessary cables.
    9. When the BD drive, power supply and wireless networking system is removed, you can see the motherboard seal and the heatsink.
    10. The the bottom of the case is removed, you can see the huge cooling fan who is not visible from outside the case.
    11. Difference angle of the cooling fan. There is approximately 16cm of contact area for the fan.
    12. You can see the fins for the heatsink and cooling system.
    13. The cooling fan removed.
    14. The heatsink removed, you can see the cooling piping.
    15. Here's the motherboard top.
    16. Here's the motherboard bottom.
    17. Here are for big chips. The leftmost side is probably for the PS software emulation.
    18. The next chip is the graphics chipset.
    19. Under the seal of the graphics chipset, we see 4 chips.
    20. The graphics memory is made by Samsung
    21. The right most chip is a Sony CXD2973GB.
    22. Not sure what this says, but it is connected with a lot of wires.
      • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2006, @02:42PM (#16826470)
        "They forgot to comment on how shiny it is. You know that shiny sells."

        Well then, bald men should be leaping off the shelves then.
      • by DeadCatX2 (950953) on Monday November 13 2006, @03:43PM (#16827412) Journal
        Japanese uses a topic-comment sentence structure, as opposed to subject-verb-object that we use in English.

        English: I did Sally.

        Japanese: About Sally, I did her.

        Other cool tidbits of info regarding Japanese -

        Verbs always come at the end. Like Yoda-speak.

        Since verbs always come at the end, they use single syllables called particles (I think) to denote what is the subject, what is the object, etc, since those (subject/object/etc) can go anywhere in the sentence. They also use a particle for topic, which is why it's so central to their grammar.

        In fact, the central focus of topic means that Japanese can quite often drop things that are sufficiently in context, even to the point that the sentence consists only of a single verb. This is similar to the following scenario -

        Me: Did you go to Tokyo this summer?
        You: Went.

        Their language also only has a bit over 100 different sounds, and the syllable structure is almost always open-ended (i.e. ends with a vowel). Seriously, check it out - all Japanese words end in either a vowel or the letter n. They're also missing a few letters we have (like l and v - ask someone who speaks Japanese natively to say the word "love" hehe)
  • by aardwolf64 (160070) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:19PM (#16825244) Homepage
    I read the headline to the story, and then saw the pictures of the PS3. That thing looks like a flatbed scanner! Opened for Pictures indeed...
  • I am used (Score:5, Funny)

    by cucucu (953756) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:20PM (#16825248)
    I am used to surfing sites where the pictures are the important thing
  • Translated page (Score:4, Informative)

    by SgtPepperKSU (905229) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:21PM (#16825274)
  • by Skaber (1017606) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:22PM (#16825282) Homepage
    View http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHS07EFGZ3g&eurl= [youtube.com] to see japaneses opening a PS3 with nothing more than a screwdriver !
  • PS3 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blackmonday (607916) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:29PM (#16825394) Homepage
    I found in interesting that PS3 has compact flash and SD card slots, in addition to memory stick. Pretty cool I guess, but I would have only expected Sony's proprietary (and not that expensive anymore) memory stick.

    Am I the only one on Slashdot who thinks PS3 will eventually be a huge hit? Look forward 4 years down the line, and I think this console has better chances than Xbox 360 or the Wii (which I have pre-ordered). I'm sure the 360 will eventually have HD-DVD built in BTW.

    • Re:PS3 (Score:4, Funny)

      by grommit (97148) on Monday November 13 2006, @02:08PM (#16825958)
      Report to Zonk for re-education mister! Sony is an evil company and the PS3 is going to be a total failure and Zonk will make sure of that.

      I can see the Slashdot offices later on today...

      Zonk: Hey Hemos, I saw that PS3 submission you put up earlier today, about opening the case.
      Hemos: Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool that it can be opened so easily and the hard drive upgraded.
      Zonk: Yeah... about that...
      Hemos: Hmm?
      Zonk: *bashes Hemos' head in with a Swingline stapler*
      Hemos: Grngh!
  • by johnlcallaway (165670) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:30PM (#16825412)
    ...how the hell are you supposed to stack anything on top of it?? Why can't engineers make something that is pretty AND functional. Including enough space for front-to-back air movement.

    Oh ... I understand. Marketing got involved.
    • Marketing: Let's make it neat.
    • Engineer: But that takes up too much space.
    • Marketing: But it's cool.
    • Engineer: But it still takes up too much space.
    • Marketing: To late, it's already in production
    • by abradsn (542213) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:49PM (#16825678) Homepage
      Engineering: I don't like pretty or neat stuff.
      Marketing: Do you like to get money?
      Engineering: Do whatever it takes, I'll make it work.
      Marketing: Okay, Thanks.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Marketing : can't we make it fit in with otu hi-fi range and make it stackable.
      Engineer : It overheats when you stack it, better make it unstackable.

    • by MWoody (222806) on Monday November 13 2006, @04:53PM (#16828462) Homepage
      On the contrary, the rounded-top console is a lesson Nintendo learned years ago with the original NES. When designing the American version of the Super NES, they purposefully made the top curvy to prevent people from setting their drinks on it, spilled beverages accounting for a relatively large number of service requests for the boxy 8-bit system. This same design philosophy also dictated the unusual shape of the top-loading NES. You'll notice that the 'cube follows this tradition somewhat (yeah, the top is flat, but if you put stuff there you can't get to the buttons/game) and I suppose the Wii does, too, though I'm unsure if it can be oriented horizontally based on the pics of the system I've seen. Combine that with the more modern concern of heat production that other posters have mentioned, and the curved-top design is one of the few things we can't really fault Sony on this round.
  • Thanks! (Score:5, Funny)

    by blackmonday (607916) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:31PM (#16825420) Homepage
    Hey, thanks for the circuit board pics. I just figured out where to solder the modchip!

  • English Takeapart (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2006, @01:31PM (#16825430)
    There's already takeaparts of the US version, in english.

    http://dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4908 [dailytech.com]

  • by StewedSquirrel (574170) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:36PM (#16825512)
    How do you say slashdotted in Japanese?

  • by thatguywhoiam (524290) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:43PM (#16825608)
    ... for interested linux people: check this out. [playstation.com] Just a teaser, but looks promising.

    PLAYSTATION®3 allows any desired third-party system software to be installed on it besides its system software provided by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Details will be posted on this site soon.

    Interesting, no? Add that to the fact that there are 3rd party memory cards supported, and no wacky media formats in the PS3's OS (its all MP3/AAC/MPEG2/MPEG4), and makes one hope, distantly, that Sony may be changing their ways...

  • by 88NoSoup4U88 (721233) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:50PM (#16825690) Homepage
    Found this blog article [mafiablog.net] (from a few days ago), which seems to have about the same pics and a translation.
  • by level4 (1002199) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:54PM (#16825752)
    It seems that Sony is not content with forcing hundreds of foreigners to wait in line, in the cold rain, just to earn a few dollars for food .. now it's taunting disappointed fans worldwide by pulling apart a perfectly good PS3, taking pictures of its wrecked insides, and just posting it on the web to get page views. Is this sickening snuff photography par for the course in this godless age, and will the degenerate hoots of paedophile basement-dwellers clicking furiously from one voyeuristic desecration to the next drown out the heart-wrenching sobs of the child you know whose Christmas dreams have been forever ruined because of this soulless, wretched visual excursion into the depths of Sony's capitalist depravity?"
    Looks like the PS3's actual value is about $1.50 in plastic and metal. Nicely done.
  • by blueZhift (652272) on Monday November 13 2006, @01:59PM (#16825844) Homepage Journal
    I guess it's not really real until someone takes it apart! Now I believe!
  • Emulators? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dan East (318230) on Monday November 13 2006, @03:06PM (#16826846) Homepage
    What I really want to know if any software PS3 emulators are out yet. I'd like to try this thing out on my Inspiron 6000 to see what all the hoopla is about. Sure, it might have to skip a frame every now and then, but I can live with that.

    Dan East
      • by be-fan (61476) on Monday November 13 2006, @04:49PM (#16828378)
        Yet they shipped the PS2 with standard ports (USB, IEEE1394) long before anybody else put standard ports in a console.

        The PS3 is about the least proprietary of the three systems being released. It uses a standard media format, supports standard flash formats, uses USB and Bluetooth for the controller, standard 2.5" hard drives, etc. On the software side, it's capable of running a non-proprietary OS (Linux), and uses open, standard APIs (Collada and the Khronos Open* stack). On top of all that, Xenon is a pretty closed chip, while there is a ton of documentation about Cell on IBM's developerworks site, and the Linux/Cell port has been in the mainline kernel since 2.6.16.

        Yeah, you can make fun of Sony for Memory Stick and Betamax, but it rings kind of hollow when you're talking about a market in which their primary competitor is using the most proprietary platform (Windows) still in common use. Even MemoryStick is a licensed format (Sandisk and Lexar make them). DirectX, SMB, NTFS, etc, are as proprietary as they come.