Phil Harrison will present an overview of the design, and a give a live demonstration of of Sony's ground breaking Next Generation PlayStation. Mr. Harrison is Vice President of Third Party Relations and Research and Development for Sony Computer Entertainment America.
With over 50 Million units shipped since its introduction in 1994, the original PlayStation game console radically changed the landscape for computer entertainment with the introduction of real-time 3D graphics.
In March of this year, Sony Computer Entertainment announced its Next Generation PlayStation. The machine contains a 128 Bit 300MHZ CPU with an associated FPU, two custom Vector Unit coprocessors, an MPEG2 image processing unit and a unique Graphics Synthesizer, extensive sound processing capabilities, incorporates a DVD disk, uses industry standard IO interfaces, and is backwards compatible with original PlayStation software. The system has a peak floating performance of 6.2 GFLOPS.
About the speaker:
As vice president, third party relations and research & development, Phil Harrison brings more than 10 years of videogame experience to Sony Computer Entertainment America.
Since October 1996, Harrison has been responsible for the day-to-day management of Sony Computer Entertainment America's extensive third party program - licensee relations, product planning and strategic relationships. He also cultivates new technology and business opportunities for the PlayStation brand. Prior to this position, Harrison was a director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Harrison began his tenure with Sony in 1992 as director, product development, Sony Electronic Publishing Ltd. In fact, he was the first employee and founder of Sony's European videogame business, and was known as the European "evangelist" of the PlayStation game console. In 1993 he was assigned to start the PlayStation third party and software development division for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Prior to Sony, Mr. Harrison served as head of product development, Mindscape International Ltd., a division of the U.S-based videogame software company from 1989-1992. He had started his own company in 1987, acting as a consultant for various software developers and publishers in the United Kingdom.
Contact information:
Phil Harrison
Sony Computer Entertainment America
919 East Hillsdale Boulevard
Foster City, California 94404
(650) 655-3552
Phil_Harrison@playstation.sony.com