Linux-equipped PS3 to be used in DARPA Urban Challenge

While we're sure a number of you have a Yellow Dog Linux-equipped PS3 around for leisure's sake, Axion Racing is using a similar setup to "manage one of seven autonomous vehicle cameras." The San Diego-based team is reportedly eager to show onlookers "things [other than gaming and Blu-ray playing] that can be done using a PlayStation console," and expects the device to mesh well with its array of Dell computers, SICK laser finders, Bumblebee stereo cameras, and FLIR infrared cameras." Of course, who knows what could happen if a stray android climbs on board and fires up a round of MotorStorm while it's trying to concentrate.

[Ben Hobbs @ Aug 3rd 2007 11:33AM]

SHOCK HORROR

PS3 used NOT to play games.

[Matt B @ Aug 3rd 2007 11:39AM]

You just wish your console was as multifaceted. ;P

[Jagster @ Aug 3rd 2007 11:43AM]

Oh yes Matt, "we" all wish "our" GAMING console was not being using for actually playing *gasp* GAMES.

[Ben Hobbs @ Aug 3rd 2007 11:53AM]

Think he was being sarcastic

[Edd Mills @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:11PM]

Ooooh insulting the PS3, original!

[Ben Hobbs @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:33PM]

Oooh using the PS3 for something other than gaming, Original!

[AlexP @ Aug 3rd 2007 1:16PM]

Shock! HORROR! Xbox 360 not used due to it not having enough processing power!

Xbots in torment!

[Ben Hobbs @ Aug 3rd 2007 1:38PM]

lol, the awesome power of the PS3, watch as it hits nearly half the frame rate of the xbox360 AND has no games.... GASP.

[AlexP @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:41PM]

You're hilarious. You should go read about what causes these issues (hardware that's superior but harder to develop for, to sum it up). The Playstation 2 was a great example of this.

The reason everything is going multiplatform is because dev. costs are now so high that it's much more profitable to do that than to stick with a single platform.

Try justifying the extra 10 bucks I'd need to fork on an Xbox 360 game vs. Wii and PC - you can't, it's not a next-generation format.

Go have fun with your so said superior beige box that outputs in ANALOG HD (unless you got the Elite, and that would make you a douche) that isn't even a true media center unless you're subscriped to Live - I'll stick with my Wii (sure, it's not exactly worth the money you're forking on it and it's profitable, but at least it's non-stop fun and it's different) and PS3 (whenever I get it, heh) so I can play games with normal people, not only gamers (implies that most if not all 360 hit titles are titles that could and fare as well on a PC - i.e.: racing and FPS games.

... And maybe watch an HD movie every now and then (our HD set is broken, so that'll have to wait. :V).

[Blake @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:03PM]

Nice use of a ps3, makes me want one.

[darkstar @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:14PM]

i thought i was the only one using my PS3 for nuclear simulations.
oh SNAP!

[jerrt @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:22PM]

i'm suprised its only running one thing. i guess when it gets unlocked a little more it can run the whole car. maybe next year. seriously good stuff though.

[rockstar @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:45PM]

What's wrong with you guys?
All you can think of is always negative.
IMO, this is another good way of using technology in a very positive way. And I don't see anything wrong with that.

[Grizz @ Aug 3rd 2007 1:03PM]

Its scary out there in the city. My PS3 is right at home Folding@Home. Games? What do you mean it plays games?!?

[ejordan @ Aug 3rd 2007 1:31PM]

I could be wrong, but "FLIR infrared" sounds redundantly said twice.

[Kevin @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:30PM]

This is very cool. And yes, I too think "FLIR Infrared" is redundant...

[Dominic D. @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:28PM]

whats the point of using linux on PS3? RSX Hypervision blocks 70% of performance

[Andir3.0 @ Aug 3rd 2007 3:00PM]

Graphics performance, but the Cell is wide open and available for use.

[Stryker707 @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:27PM]

Too bad PS3s dont come with a free off-road vehicle, might make them sell a little better.

[Aaron @ Aug 3rd 2007 5:39PM]

Wow.. the ps3 can do things other than gaming.. maybe that's because people got tired of thinking that if they really wish hard, their PS3 would turn into the Wii! (and their $350 difference would show in their wallets [$250 now, I guess])

[Ken @ Aug 3rd 2007 5:44PM]

Doesn't such use of the game console violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998? Wouldn't the team risk arrest entering such a vehicle?

[Zeus the God @ Aug 3rd 2007 5:55PM]

Can the PS3 launch nuclear missiles like the PS2?

[Dave @ Aug 3rd 2007 9:01PM]

Some how I predict a CE Oh No He Didn't when sony sues the team for DMCA violation.

[aronrubin @ Aug 3rd 2007 10:04PM]

Considering that the technology for the Cell processor came from DARPA PCA project this is probably very appropriate.

[simzy39 @ Aug 7th 2007 12:49AM]

I have read basically everything on the wii, and alot on the 360, a tiny bit on PS3 way before being released and current.
I'm also not bias i researched all.
The thing is the 360 really isn't good, i had the specs sheet during development and yes on paper it sounds good but no!
The 360's are already being taken back and a new power cord being produced because it is faulty and causing fires like in my street 4 people i know had the problem.
The Sony 3 has no circuit breaker and if something goes wrong you get electrocuted and it wont cut out. Fun :)
Also if you guys weren't bias and actually did some research you would read all the wii's articles/papers and realize how revolutionary it is.
I was a gamer fanatic and i grew tired of the old consoles and old game play and old controllers etc, the Wii lets me revisit my gaming experience and i no longer grow weary.
And yes Sony and definatley Microsoft are doing the arms race. more ram, more graphics, more speed.
Get over it, gameplay has to change and be unique and different.
Nintendo Wii is the only console of it's kind and yes it uses less power than 360 and ps3, it is smaller, only 3 dvd cases in size, it is also great graphics and it allows you to interact with the games.
move and your character moves.

All 360 has is Halo 3, dont denie it, you know it's true. I remembere when Microsoft said on the release day of Sony 3 they would release their secret weapon, Halo 3.
haha, even microsoft knew that is all they had, but they didnt do it.

Also if you even try to convince yourself that 360 has better hardware than 360 you deserve to be shot .

Sony 3 is definatley the most advanced in hardware etc but the Wii wins because it is also extremley complex and does so much sony 3 does in the conventional/mainstream gameplay.

1. Wii (only because it is different)
2. PS3 (easily the best but same conventional gameplay)
3. PS2
4. Nintendo 64
5. Sega Dreamcast
6. Playstation
7. SNES
8. Gameboy
9. Nintendo
10. Sega Megadrive
11. Sega Mastersystem 2
12. Sega Mastersystem
13. Everything i didnt write down
14. Xbox 1
15. Xbox 360

[simzy85 @ Aug 7th 2007 1:25AM]

God dam you talk some shit Heath. You can't even spell correctly. Plus you don't own any of the above. Oh wait you own a game boy colour and a broken 64.

[vlad_curtean @ Aug 9th 2007 2:34AM]

Man yall need to shut the hell up man cuz I've got all 3 systems.
LISTEN HERE'S THE FACTS:
-I got the Wii on the day of release and honestly it's got no competition because of the way you can play the game. It's a fun system to play and something that's new to all. I like how you can download some of the old classics which BTW WE ALL GREW UP ON (I did anyways cuz I'm 23). I'm not too impressed with the graphics on it and the limited storage. The Wii menu is very easy to use and it's got some neat features you can download. I'm a bit disappointed with the fact that you need to buy a Nintendo adaptor to connect it through USB Ethernet for internet unless you want to use it with the built-in wireless. The browser is very easy to use and also very fun if you're just browsing the net or watching youtube. You can also use all Game Cube games on the Wii as well but you got to buy a separate controller though. Not that there's too many good games for that console though. I'm a little disappointed in the fact that you can't charge the controller through USB like the PS3 or the 360. It uses AAs which I've got rechargeable for anyways. I also like the fact that you've got a SD slot which you can back up and store virtual games and saved Wii games. All in all I think Nintendo's brought out a cool new toy at an affordable price that's very fun to use and also unique gameplay.
-I got my 360 about 4 months ago. I've already got the 'Dreaded Red Ring of Death' on it. The warranty was the best investment I've ever made. I hate the fact that you have to pay extra for everything you get on the damn thing though. If you want the USB rechargeable battery pack you got to pay extra. If you want TO PLAY GAMES ONLINE!!! You got to pay extra? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard but I guess it is Microsoft and Bill doesn't faille to amaze me one bit. If you want wireless Ethernet, you guessed it, you got to pay extra. I also don't like how you can't browse the internet on the 360. I thought the internet was the thing of the future! I guess Bill's next gen system requires you to buy a computer with it as well to get the full package. On the flip side, I like the loading time on the 360. I also like in-game music playing capability from a USB device or the HDD. 20 GB for a next gen especially from the worlds biggest player when it comes to computers I think is a little weak not to mention for those that bought the basic where you have no HDD. I like the fact that you can use the 360 to record TV. I think that's really cool and Sony's got to get on that. It's a little stupid how you can't use all XBOX games on the 360 either. The fact that there's so many games out for it is very cool but it stops there. Game play I don't think isn't smooth at all on this console compare to the PS3. Honestly the main reason I got the 360 is because I got it almost free and most of my friends have it. I would never pay the money for it. REMEMBER!!! BUY THE WARRANTY FOR THIS CONSOLE BECAUSE YOU'LL REGRET IT LATER.
-And now for the best over all console ever made. I got mine 2 weeks after it came out. Let's just say that when you have 3 giants in the computer industry (IBM, Toshiba, and Sony) spend a billion dollars developing a processor for the system and you have Nvidia put out the best graphics card yet, you are bound to get some unreal graphics and game play in 1080p. Games like Gran Turismo look absolutely unbelievable. I've played the demo and it's unreal how good it looks. There's a reason why the man behind Gran Turismo was named one of the top 50 most influential people on the automotive industry. Look that up if you don't believe me. He placed higher then Enzo himself. Backwards compatibility is awesome on the PS3 as it works very well with PS2 and 1 games. You can also download PS1 games from the Playstation store for the PS3 and your PSP. You can download full movie and game trailers in 1080p, game demos and other cool stuff. Blu Ray I think is an awesome invention. Movies and games on my 1080p 50" look unbelievable with my HDMI cable. Very very crisp image and fast frame rate. I'm a little disappointed that Sony didn't include the HDMI cable with the package though. Another very cool thing with Sony is how they really do listen to their customers and have so many cool software updates which btw are all free. They are currently working in-game XMB access for music etc. A few real neat things are remote play for your PSP through the wifi connection directly to the PS3 or through wireless internet from anywhere in the world (yes the PSP does connect to a wireless internet connection and it does come with a browser as well). What this means is that I can have access to and control my PS3 XMB from virtually anywhere in the world if I have my PSP and a wireless internet connection. I can listen to music, watch any trailers, videos, or movies saved on my PS3 HDD and look at any pictures as well. This feature also gives me access to all the saved information I have on my SD and SD mini, MS Pro Duo, or CF which are all plugged into the front of the console. Yes, you have access to video, music or photos from all 3 and also any USB devices such as and ipod or a USB stick or even some cell phones connected through USB. Folder management right from the XMB is also in the works. I can easily move things back and forth between the storage devices and the PS3 HDD using a mouse and keyboard or a PS3 controller including saved game data if I want to back everything up (kind of like a memory card) and format the HDD. Another cool feature is the up scaling of PS2 and DVDs to 1080p. All PS2 games and DVDs are upscale to the highest possible frame rate available through one of the earlier firmware updates. This is a feature that only high end DVD players can achieve. It truly does make a difference in picture quality. This also works for those that aren't fortunate enough to own a 1080p TV. Hook up your console with the best possible cables (component for 1080i and HDMI for 1080p) and you will see the difference even on just a regular HDTV with max 1080i resolution. The down side to developing for the PS3 is that it takes longer to do it. That's why games are taking a little longer to come out. Resistance (btw the best most fluent first person shooter game yet with the smartest AI) for example is a 22GB game where a 360 game like Gears of war is only 8GB which is max capacity for a DVD. This is also why it takes a bit longer to load the game unless you got the games that you can put right onto the HDD. You still need the disk to play the game, but the loading time is almost instantaneous. The downside is that this is not available with all PS3 games yet. You can hook up the PS3 wirelessly without having to buy extra hardware for it and NO you don't have to pay to play online. There is also a feature which was added onto one of the earlier firmware updates which allows you search for media servers to stream video and music right from your computer wirelessly kind of like the 360. I like this because it saves me from connecting my computer to my home theatre to use it for music throughout the house since my PS# is already connected to it. Remember remote play? Well you can stream media from your computer directly to your PSP through remote play to anywhere if you got the wireless internet access. The remote play feature, btw can also be used with a lot of the PS3 games as an extra map or rear view mirror etc. I don't know how easy this is to to on the 360 or even if it's possible but on the PS3 you can take a 200GB laptop (2.5") HDD and replace it with the 20 or the 60 that the system comes with. It's as easy as swapping them That's it the HDD That's stock is only a 5400RPM if im not mistaking but the PS3 can handle up to a 7200RPM. As far as Linux is concerned, I really like it. I have Yellow Dog partitioned on my PS3 (which btw is a joke for anyone to install just google it) and it is a very easy OS to use. I'm actually using it right now. It's very basic and that's it's biggest downside but you can still browse the net with Firefox (full fecebook access, email, etc). It's biggest drawback is compatibility. You can't get flash for it yet and it doesn't unzip some folders. It's definitely not a gaming OS by any means but I find it so in handy when I want to do this sort of stuff right from my couch. another drawback is that you can only use it if you have a 720p TV or higher. You have access to all the media drives on it though which is kind of cool for emailing photos, video, or just facebook use. It does not however use the full power of the processor and it can't take advantage of Blu Ray or Blue Tooth either. You got to switch back to the PS3 for that and if you need to view something in Flash. The coolest thing about it is that it's almost impossible to get a virus on it. Another cool thing with it is that you have what they call Gaim on it. This allows you to use your msn, Yahoo, ICQ, etc messengers. It's very easy to use and you have almost all the bells and whistles that you get with live messenger except of course you cant get a virus ex: one of my friends had a virus that sent you this link as soon as they logged in and they told me after I had opened the link that it's a virus and not too open it but of course it was too late and Linux of course is still running fine. Going back and forth between PS3 and the other OS is very quick and easy. It's like starting a computer. There is also another version of Linux called Fedora Core 5 which has much better compatibility then Yellow Dog and is used on regular computers more as well but I couldn't get it to work and it bothers me because I've seen it done. You can get both for free again just by digging through a few forums or even just going through Linux for the Yellow Dog version which they offer as a free download. To sum it up, the PS3 is an unbelievable home entertainment package and with sony actually listening to what we have to say, they are coming out with free awesome firmware updates to improve the system even more and they've got much more of them then the Wii and 360 put together. It can do everything that the 360 can but better and much more. As far as Playstation Home goes, I personally am not part of the bata trial so I don't know how it works but I have looked it up and it's due for release this fall. I think the concept is cool, just don't want it to end up like a geek central. It can't really be compared to the Wii since that's a console all by itself but never the less a fun machine as well. If anyone's debating which on to go for the decision should just be that much easier to make now. I apologies if I missed something important and let me know if you catch it. The same goes for the grammar or spelling errors since it is 3am here.

Personal Rating out of 10:

1.)PS3 *********
2.)Wii ******
3.)360 *****

[DaddyO @ Aug 25th 2007 12:45PM]

Having owned all three consoles (XBox360, Wii and PS3) I have to say the PS3 is the bee's knee's.

Took the plunge and spen my cash three days ago and have already sold the 360. Its no longer needed.. The PS3 is the daddy of the consoles.
I dont know why theres so much rubbish written about it. I read round the internet before my purchase and was almost convinced that it wasn't a viable purchase and I'd be wasting my cash. However after firing it up with Motorstorm then Resistance and downloading the GT HD "FREE" game I was hooked. Thats before getting it to connect to the PC to stream video's, music and pictures, watching my first BlueRay film and installing linux.

So if your dithering about the purchase, dither no more! Go out and get it... Its far cheaper than the 360 when you add everything up. (Console + HD Player + Chargers for controllers + Free On-line Play + Media server + Linux Machine + Web browser + DVD upscaller + PS2 + PS1 + ITS SILENT IN OPERATION!!!! No more sounding like I'm in a wind tunnel as with the 360!...