"Today, I would like to tell stories that might sound like a dream," Kutaragi declared at the beginning of his keynote speech. The CEO of Sony computer Entertainment revealed his company's plans for the future of entertainment possibilities arriving with the CELL processor and it's evolution with time. Finally Cell proccessor's power inside the PS3 in spring '06.

120 frames per second entertainment on PlayStation 3

After wowing the audience with the stunning introduction of next-gen PS3 game videos, Kutaragi went on to detail the story of modern television sets and their restrictions. According to him, present technology allows TV's to run at only 50-60 fields per second and PC monitors that display around 60-90 frames per second(fps). He expects PS3 to be able to run at a frame rate significantly higher at almost 120 fps, making it display twice the frames of conventional TV's.

Although the human eye cannot distinguish between frame rates above 30 fps, smoother gameplay exists above this frame rate, with 60 FPS being a minimum standard for most First Person shooters. Kutaragi believes that with such frame rates and peripherals like a HD camera (or the next-gen EyeToy technology) could produce some interesting gameplay scenarios for PS3 gamers.

Kutaragi went on to share his vision of such gameplay by relating it with a scene from the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The lips of the main character were read by the computer. He explained that a similar recognition system can be achieved through the combined power of the Cell Microprocessor and Sony's EyeToy.

To make that possible, the electronic industry has to catch up with Kutaragi's ambitions. " I earnestly hope to see the home electronics industry strive hard so consumers can enjoy such an environment at home before long," said Kutaragi.

High Definition and Cell Roadmap

Aside from new gaming innovations, Kutaragi also talked about the future of HDTV's with Cell processor inside. He added that the Cell chip would permit HDTV's to reach a level never achieved before, like high-definition video conferencing, displaying a newspaper in its actual size or playing tens of HD channels from multiple sources at the very same time. Image manipulation such as enlarging or rotating with these HD signals is also possible in real time with the power of Cell, added Kutaragi.

Speaking about the evolution of the Cell processor, Kutaragi stated that the chip will see a decrease in size as time progresses. Sony's recent state of the art factories were created specifically for the Cell microprocessor production. Which can output different configurations of the Cell chip. Current 90 nanometer process will be shrunken down to 65 nanometer and finally down to 45 nanometer process making it the 'Micro Cell'.

We can think of a great implementation of a future Micro Cell. Such as the next-generation PSP from Sony (maybe) in 2009-10, given Sony's usual 5-6 year console track with the PlayStations. The possibilities are endless!