US Air Force to purchase 300 Playstation 3s

63 Comments by Scott Jon Siegel Mar 6th 2008 8:20AM
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3

The United States Air Force has an application in to the Federal Business Opportunities group to purchase 300 40GB Sony Playstation 3s. No, they're not belated holiday gifts for the troops; the consoles will be used to test the robust Cell processor and its military applications.

According to the document, the PS3 features the only Cell processor on the market to meet the standards required by the testing, and does so at reasonable cost. The Air Force Research Laboratory will be using the machines to conduct the tests, in what appears to be a growing trend these days. Or, you know, it's all a big scam so that they can get their Metal Gear Solid 4 fix.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Tags: air-force, cell, military, us-air-force

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

merf1350: Mar 6th 2008; 8:27AM

Now they just need to add a bunch of 360's into that mix and they can build a beginning for the eventual destruction of man called SkyNet.

Matt B: Mar 6th 2008; 9:40AM

We have Skynet here at work. It's an old Dell with like a 2GHZ Xeon.... I'm not too worried.

Korova: Mar 6th 2008; 8:30AM

You know they are getting the MSG bundles. Troop recreation is a military application too.

I guess 360 RRODs too quickly in heat of the Iraqi and Afgani desert.

capt_carl: Mar 6th 2008; 8:32AM

I was about to say why not purchase some of those new IBM computers with Cell processors in them, but then I realized the PS3s are cheaper, and probably more reliable.

Mills and Boom: Mar 6th 2008; 8:49AM

Well I suppose there are enough to go around!

Oooh they won't like that. Not one bit.

Dr0ooo: Mar 6th 2008; 8:50AM

Very Impressive sony.

DangerMouse: Mar 6th 2008; 12:03PM

Yep, and now the government can utilize all that duct tape they never used on the windows and connect all the ps3's together.

rc: Mar 6th 2008; 8:51AM

Glad they aren't depending on 360's. Would hate to have national security depending on the reliability of that garbage.

deaftly: Mar 6th 2008; 9:32AM

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WhoMe: Mar 6th 2008; 9:33AM

^ fail

merf1350: Mar 6th 2008; 10:16AM

As Deaftly noted, I apply this to whome

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cc123: Mar 6th 2008; 10:21AM

^

what?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 6th 2008; 11:57AM

"what?"

...Chicken Butt.

Booxatron: Mar 6th 2008; 12:52PM

Seriously...what?

cc123: Mar 6th 2008; 1:00PM

"Chicken Butt."

Yeah, I don't see it. In IE it looks like complete gibberish and in Firefox it looks likes gibberish with a penis head on top.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): Mar 6th 2008; 2:51PM

I see it perfectly under firefox.

It's ASCII art for a facepalm.

Mills and Boom: Mar 6th 2008; 8:52AM

On a serious note - does a PS3 sale make a profit for Sony now?

My other question would be if the 360 did too. I remember there being hoo-hah from both sides about which made each company more money but I honestly didn't care to listen.

capt_carl: Mar 6th 2008; 10:13AM

To add what someone else said:

IBM announced a while ago that Cells are now being made with a 45nm architecture. They began manufacturing them with 90nm architecture. So in the course of roughly two years IBM managed to reduce the size of the Cell by half. A bit outside the realms of Moore's Law, but still within a reasonable timeframe. But yea, they're cheaper to produce, and more reliable now that they use less power, and therefore generate less heat.

Brodie-san: Mar 6th 2008; 9:06AM

@ Mills and Boon

My understanding is that, though Sony have made advances in reducing cost via the cheaper laser and smaller chipset etc., these cost cutting measures have not yet been factored into the new PS3s currently being manufactured so no, they still don't sell them at a profit.

I could be wrong though. Won't be the first time you read something on the internet that's erroneous.
:)

Mills and Boom: Mar 6th 2008; 9:23AM

Ah right, thanks!

WhoMe: Mar 6th 2008; 9:33AM

Wasn't there the news a while ago that they were breakeven? I think going forward they might actually be turning a profit on these things, or at least close to. Impressive if you look at what's inside that box and how recently it launched. But then, Sony is a hardware company, and it shows. (MS being a software company, which also shows.)

Nate: Mar 6th 2008; 9:49AM

I believe there was a story that said Sony was breaking even on the PS3s now. Not bad for barely a year into a console's life, especially one with so much new hardware.

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring): Mar 6th 2008; 9:49AM

Yeah, it's break even time now for the PS3. But considering how much they were bleeding per unit at launch, that's a big win for them.

Matt B: Mar 6th 2008; 9:37AM

NPD +300

Poisoned Al: Mar 6th 2008; 9:39AM

I dunno why everyone is giving Sony the credit. IBM made the chips, and it'll be they who'll get the contract.

An American company getting money thrown at it by the US military. Who'd have thunk it huh?

Matt B: Mar 6th 2008; 9:42AM

Both consoles are still made in China even if MS is an American company.

Marry me Mario: Mar 6th 2008; 9:46AM

The CELL was a combined effort between IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. The work on the CELL began in 2001. So all three companies "own" the CELL chip.

Zeus.:God: Mar 6th 2008; 4:46PM

Sorry, Marry, but Toshiba and Sony more or less just invested in it. The actual chipmaker, IBM, is the company that designed the Cell.

MakAttack: Mar 6th 2008; 9:41AM

Helicopters, especially those in the OD Green scheme of the UH-1 you have in the image above are generally flown by the Army or Marines. I think Air Force and Navy rotary winged aircraft have different schemes: battleship grey or similar.

http://www.randolph.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/051107-f-2907c-176.jpg

Oh, and wasn't there a period when the PS2 launched when the US Military was concerned about "rogue states" buying them up to use for guidance and navigation processing or simulations? It seems the USAF have learned a thing or two from Saddam.

AirIntake: Mar 6th 2008; 9:47AM

If they actually learned a thing or two from Saddam, they would know that using game consoles for the military purposes is stupid. Nothing will ever come of this, just as nothing came of Saddam's PS2 plan.

Marry me Mario: Mar 6th 2008; 9:49AM

Come correct son.

Marry me Mario: Mar 6th 2008; 9:50AM

Airintake,

This is hardly the 1st use of the PS3 outside the world of videogames...so your statement is Krap.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 6th 2008; 11:59AM

The only thing thats crap around here is your constant trolling. You're annoying factor has quadrupled in the last 2 weeks, easily.

Brian Sexton: Mar 6th 2008; 12:13PM

Thank you for the information, but everybody already knew the image was not accurate; there is no way a single helicopter of any configuration could possibly lift a PlayStation 3 by itself.

The Artist formally known as Jesus: Mar 6th 2008; 9:56AM

So I guess the military is going to implement some COD4 tactics in their strategy now. Awesome

Spiza: Mar 6th 2008; 10:06AM

The Cell is a great processor for military applications. They still use a lot of PPC cores. They want deterministic processing which they can't get from x86 designs.

Kye Grammar DF: Mar 6th 2008; 10:20AM

"the consoles will be used to test the robust Cell processor"

Yeah, because everyone knows that military technology is years behind what's available commercially.

Curmeo: Mar 6th 2008; 10:49AM

+300 MGS4 pre-orders confirmed!

religiousjedi: Mar 6th 2008; 12:30PM

That's where my tax dollars are being wasted! On a useless console!

^__^

(See how much trolling is stupid?)

In all seriousness...this is what my tax dollars are being spent on? *face palm*

kevinski: Mar 6th 2008; 10:51AM

While this helps the overall sales of the console, it really doesn't help the attachment rate. Sony's primary source of revenue as far as gaming goes is in accessories and games, and I doubt that any (or many) of those 300 PS3's have any accessories or games shipping with them.

a ham sandwich: Mar 6th 2008; 10:53AM

lol. i bet that picture is life size.

driven2sin: Mar 6th 2008; 11:05AM

what about the military applications of the Wii Zapper?

switch it to a Link's RPG trainer

Pawsie: Mar 6th 2008; 11:21AM

I'm concern... on if they're using this wisely. From what I learned through the years.. this country bount trailers that no one can live in, Laptops contractors just burnt to get new ones, and boats no one really wants.

dan stabbingworth: Mar 6th 2008; 1:14PM

I get the feeling you're making a good point, but can you say it in English?

Grant: Mar 6th 2008; 11:25AM

the PS3 cell processor is one hell of a chip.... too bad no ps3 software will fully utilize it for another year or 2.

Marry me Mario: Mar 6th 2008; 11:30AM

Grant,

It was the SAME way for the PS1 and the PS2. If you make system hardware that does not easily give away it's secrets then you will have software that will continue to improve throughout it's lifecycle. I am not saying Sony does it on purpose...but I seriously doubt that they are to concerned about the ease of development in the Playstations 1st year or 2. It has worked for them 2x's in a row and so far in 2008...it seems that it will work for them again.

Grant: Mar 6th 2008; 11:53AM

i would agree with you wholeheartedly, because traditionally this has been the case with every console. Full system utilization is never achieved until the last year before it's life cycle ends. Notice that i said "for another year or 2", which would work out to be at very least two years before a normal life cycle, or 7 if Sony's claim that PS3 has a 10 year life span is used.
The fact of the matter is that the 360 pretty much utilizes all of it's resources and i would bet the wii does too. Also, Sony has notoriously harder development software for whatever reason, which obviously slows down the process of full utilization.

Marry me Mario: Mar 6th 2008; 12:07PM

Yes Grant,

I can hardly wait for what we will see the PS3 produce in a year or 2.

jrhawk42: Mar 6th 2008; 11:38AM

So instead of just buying 300 cell cpu's, they are going to buy ps3's?????? Pure Genius... Obviously who ever put in this order has the technical know how, and business sense of your average 8 year old.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 6th 2008; 12:01PM

Well, it is the US government. No single entity can piddle away money like them.

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