"Years" Before We See PS3 Cell's Power

Former PlayStation exec Shuji Utsumi tells Wired that Kutaragi, years before the Xbox was introduced, believed his competitor was Microsoft. "I thought, what is he talking about?" Utsumi says. "Is he nuts? But even before PlayStation was born, he was predicting a big war for the living room." But how different are the next-gen Microsoft and Sony platforms? Epic's Tim Sweeney says double the effort is needed to max out the PLAYSTATION 3. Until then, there's no discernible differences between the two machines. He adds:

The Cell has more theoretical computing power, but it might be years before we see that reflected in actual performance. So it's a fundamental question whether the long-term direction in computing is with architectures like the Cell.
A big part of the PLAYSTATION 3's selling points is not just performance, but promised performance, it seems. And can that, Wired asks, save Sony?

This is the same thing as the PS2. Remember all the promises of using the engines separately for specific purposes? We all know how that turned out. The Cell is a nice chip, but my guess is that there will only be a few games (IF ANY) by the end of its life that utilize the system to its full potential...

First gen PS3 stuff will not be able to compete with the first gen X360 games (at least not until they learn how to harness the Cell), and by the time the PS3 actually reaches the States, the 360 will already be in its 2nd generation of gaming, forcing the PS3 to compete with superior graphics and performance. I’m guessing it will take a while for the PS3 to get a solid lead on the X360 in the performance department. As for the visual, it will catch up but not surpass the 360. Take a look at the GPU’s. One is not better then the other. There just different.