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March 12, 2006
PS3 Shoulda Been
You know, it's funny how absolutely PSYCHED up I get about "new" things. I sit, research, read, notate, only to compare to older collective pieces of information I gathered all in the hopes of unlocking the "secrets" before the end product is unveiled. Unfortunately I am almost always disappointed when the real thing shows up.
This is how I felt when the PS3 made its official debut at the 2005 E3. More than anything, I am interested in how form has followed function, or in case of a mistake - function has followed form. Looking at the PS3, I couldn't decide which way the company went. The industrial designers at Sony are AWESOME, make no mistake about it. These people know how to make incredible products inside and out. But the design of the PS3 stuck me in a negative way. It took me a minute to get over the beautiful super hi-gloss exterior, but once I did, I had A LOT of questions.
What's up with the crazy proportions? Why is the disc drive indented so far into the machine, only to be followed but this rise in bulbous proportions that I can only hope is to allow for better air circulation. Doesn't the round-esque shape feel disrupted when it's bluntly cut off on the edges? Why all the seams? It looks as if its made of layers. Worst offense of all is the logo across the machine. Are they planning to tie it in with the next release of Spiderman? I SWEAR that's the same font.
I much prefer the design concept by industrial designer Jaren Goh. His iteration of the PS3 is slick, seems balanced, and takes that age old design philosophy that less is always more. The actual acronymic Playstation logo highlighted by version number, to me is more powerful and memorable than writing it across the machine. In a way, its iconic because we see that logo everywhere and yet Sony decided to go and change it. Right now, its just three characters and the number "3" allows for both perfect symmetry and/or asymmetry depending on where it's placed. I also like how Goh's design in the disc drive keep the exterior lines of the unit clean. It also has height, and seems to tower when placed vertically, and that smooth curve from body to foot stand is just beautiful (assuming it can do something else when the unit is placed horizontally). The mesh grill that all of the next generation game consoles have has a chrome plate on it, making it a part of the design as opposed to an afterthought. I'm sort of yes/no on that one, but nonetheless, Goh's design is far superior than the real PS3.
Now just as I can be disappointed by the first public viewing of a new product, my opinion can completely change when I get the actual product in my hands. Sometimes touch, feel, and experience can allow one to understand the intent behind the design. As it stands I feel the PS3's purported power is hindered by its design and I only wish the designers at Sony would have taken a much more cleaner approach, similar to Jaren Goh. At the end of the day, yes it is about the games but today's consoles aren't like yesterdays. These things are meant to be displayed alongside all our other HD goodies and I expect that it look just as good as it plays.
more pictures of Goh's PS3 after the jump
Posted by tranism at 10:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Youre right man, the design of the ps3 is crap. and the font is that of spiderman, the movie. every time i see it thats all i can think about, drawing my focus away from anything that is sony.
its very unsetle-ing even the controller they showed threw me back. All I can think of is hand cramping and blisters.
Posted by: djhinn at March 13, 2006 5:31 AM
The grill ain't great. And I agree about the font. But Goh's design is absolutely awful.
What's with the fake seam on the front panel? The footstand makes it impossible to lay the product on its side.
The front face is too prominent. To be functional you have to face the disk slot forward, but that means you now have this huge leg sticking out to one side.
It's ugly, and it's a functional nightmare.
At least the grill is just sort of weird. It's overall not really much worse looking than any other console box to date.
Posted by: Dennis at March 13, 2006 10:30 AM
Now that casing looks cool something you'd want to show off and make a fuss about (at the very least, you wouldn't mind having it on show next to your TV).
I will never forget laughing when I saw the PS3 originally, as I had mistaken it for a George Foreman Grill or a Breville Panini/Sandwich Machine.
Whilst MS learnt and made a better looking console with the 360, Sony seems to be getting worse with each console iteration.
Posted by: Nataku at March 13, 2006 10:32 AM
I agree with djhinn, I'm not too thrilled with the design overall, especially with the leg to stand on. Going with what you've stated about form following function, this redesign by Goh just doesn't have it. Lack of ability to set the console on its side is a very big design mistake, unless it were to have some sort of a function to bind itself to peripherals, but even in that case until you get said peripherals it'd be awkward for any people who desire a horizontal orientation. The chrome plate for ventilation doesn't make sense to me either, it seems like it was just slapped on there, especially since it fails to be continued anywhere in the rest of the model and is an odd choice for materials. Chrome is meant to attract attention, to act as a focal point or highlight key areas, but it's highlighting an air vent that will never be seen if it's tucked away in an entertainment center. The ports don't seem like they were given much attention or thought either. Overall, this concept rendering almost seems more like a Mac Mini reject concept and not a final rendering for a Playstation 3, in my opinion. However it is better than the "official" PS3 design. I hope Sony changes it.
Posted by: Luke at March 13, 2006 11:12 AM
Haha,
Thank you, Dennis, I had never thought about it, but the PS3 prototype really does look like a George Foreman grill. Wow. That adds a whole new level to it.
Regardless, that design for the PS3 will never come to production. It's as much a mock-up as Goh's PS3. In fact, Goh's would stand a greater chance of going into production. I've been saying this since the very first prototype showed up, and only now is everyone else starting to realize it; the PS3's design could not support the power requirements.
That case is literally impossible. The graphics chipset alone is going to be consuming over 200 watts of power. That's going to require a large heatsink, a heatsink that that curvy case would not support.
Still, assuming both designs are possible, I think I prefer Sony's design. I will attempt to avoid artistic interpretation and keep it to quantifiable elements, since both cases are, ostensibly at least, attractive in many ways.
Goh's design, at first blush, is that of an Apple Mac Mini, turned on its side and stretched slightly. Obviously, Apple thought it was a good design, and it works here, as well. It's compact, would go good in other colors, and its design would fit into a home theater very well.
The PS3 can't say that. It's design would assuredly clash in a home theater set-up. But with the probable cost of it, I think a number of consumers are going to want it to stand out as almost a centerpiece to their glowing altar to American power consumption.
I think the stand is terrible. It makes the design unwiedly in a horizontal position, if this design even allows for that, and in a vertical postition, the stand takes up almost the width of the system, itself. You're taking up double the shelf space with that stand. It's silly and unneeded. His design sans-stand would be stable in a vertical position. An artistic flourish like that seems odd on a minimalist object. Perhaps he did it just to hide the fact it looks like a Mac Mini.
And I agree. The controllers are just retarded.
Aaron.
Posted by: Aaron Martin-Colby at March 13, 2006 11:18 AM
The revised design looks pretty awesome. I've always found Sony seems to be about 3 steps behind when it comes to design most of the time. The PS2 looked terrible and so does the PS3. It seems everytime Sony puts out a system they're a generation behind Nintendo in colours. Compare SNES grey vs. PSX. The N64 was black, then PS2 was black. The best Gamecube colour was silver(we'll exclude the purple launch variant) and here's the PS3 in silver. Look for the PS4 in white around 2012.
Posted by: jamEs at March 13, 2006 11:48 AM
wow, that looks much better. i really think sony TRIED to make the PS3 look good, but they just didnt do a great job. imo, the orig. design looks like a spiderman edition printer lol.
Posted by: Broom at March 13, 2006 11:53 AM
In reference to Aaron's comment:
I don't think either of these designs is capable of actually housing and cooling the PS3 components. There's a possible chance that it can be done with an external power supply a la the 360 power brick, but even then the ventilation is terrible. Even something along the lines of the 360 heat pipes wouldn't do in either design because they're too narrow to accomodate the duct. Liquid cooling isn't an option not only because of price but also because it's too fragile to be used in a unit like a console that is moved frequently.
I don't really know how the PS3 will look, but both of these designs, regardless of artistic (lack of) merit, simply don't seem physically possible (though the grill at least could potentially do bottom-edge venting, an external power supply, and a bit of beefed up size and probably work).
Posted by: Dennis at March 13, 2006 12:20 PM
The Sony PS3 concept has always struck me as looking like a 70's Hi-Fi unit. Like a B&O record player/FM tuner that had been rounded a bit. It's also true that it bears more than a passing resemblance to a waffle maker, and I'm glad someone else other than me looked at the font and the first thought that popped into their head was "Spiderman 3?" It's not the worst design ever, but for the love of god, Sony had better change the final version.
Posted by: Brian at March 13, 2006 4:48 PM
it kinda looks to me like an old turbo duo, when the duo came out it was kinda neat looking but i think we've grown past it. check the link for comparison
http://www.konsolen.org/bilder/nec/turboduo.jpg
Posted by: ger at March 14, 2006 11:37 AM
ok sony may have changesd the look of the "playstation" at least they are keeping it real and some what original. i think that they did good on the design and should only think about modifying that controller.
Posted by: tanner at March 14, 2006 11:54 AM
so does any1 actually no the release date for the ps3 email me with the answer on w8ey@hotmail.com and which is the actual design for the ps3 aswell
Posted by: tom at March 14, 2006 1:00 PM
Very nice, but looks a lot like the Mac mini.
Posted by: Quiiick at March 14, 2006 1:41 PM
Jaren's design is ventilation deficient. In building a good computer system, everyone knows that amount of air going in should equal to the amount of air coming out to get good airflow. This design total negates that. Looks good, but will function like crap.
Posted by: James at March 14, 2006 1:57 PM
I don't really care how it looks, I just want to play it.
Posted by: Olson at March 14, 2006 2:29 PM
Ca fait très 2001 odyssée de l'espace, jaime beaucoup...
Posted by: ben at March 18, 2006 6:10 AM
Fresh so fresch a look as i-pod?????
Posted by: Eddo at March 22, 2006 11:24 AM
Great reading, keep up the great posts.
Peace, JiggaDigga
Posted by: JiggaDigga at April 6, 2006 10:39 PM
The PS3 design I hate to say is pretty laughable. When I saw the "real" PS3, I SWEAR I thought it was another homebrewed imagination-inspired PS3, mainly because it looked like a George Foreman grill, and the font was stolen from Spiderman. TRUE STORY. Now that they're seriously expecting me to by such an ugly thing, and lie about the specs in the process, I already went out and got a Xbox 360, and plan on being the first to reserve a Nintendo Revolution, and sell George Foreman grills on ebay with Sony written on them.
Posted by: Truth at April 6, 2006 11:04 PM
Is there ne way i can get a free one?
email back
Posted by: Travis Magee at April 19, 2006 8:13 AM
i agree w/ the faunt when i saw a pic google i thoght it was a spiderman custom or somthing of the sort.
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