PlayStation 3 User Interface Unveiled

In a discreet presentation, Sony Computer Entertainment's Phil Harrison gave a demonstration of the PlayStation 3 user interface.

At the end of the first day of festivities at this year's Tokyo Game Show, the gaming press was invited to the headquarters of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, where the PlayStation 3 was showcased to attending journalists away from the hustle and bustle of the crowded show floor. During a brief presentation, Phil Harrison unveiled for the first time the user interface for the PlayStation 3, confirming some speculation, and revealing several new details.

As expected, the PlayStation 3 user interface is nearly identical to the menu bar that was developed for the PlayStation Portable. The menu bar includes options for video playback, pictures, music, games and internet functions. Much like the PlayStation Portable, regular updates to the operating system will be required for download, as fixes, optimization and additional features become available. The menu bar also includes a buddy list where online friends are tracked, with colorful smiley faces revealing who's online at any given moment.

The powerful system's 1080p resolution standard was emphasized during a demonstration of the PlayStation 3's image management system. Not only can you display photos full-screen on your plasma and HD sets at 1080p, but you can also turn your images into 3D objects that are rendered on-demand by the console. For instance, the still images can be turned into Polaroid-styled 3D pictures that are strewn throughout the image manager's virtual floor, or dropped into a virtual scrapbook. The PlayStation 3 music player borrows from popular music applications like Windows Media Player or Winamp, and includes a built-in visualization application, so you can turn your fancy display into a colorful lava lamp that pulsates in time with whatever songs you've decided to stick in your playlist.

The browser functionality of the PlayStation 3 user interface was also briefly shown, particularly the ability, much like that in Mozilla Firefox, to display multiple browser windows at a time. With the simple touch of the directional pad, you can shift left and right across multiple screens, each with a different website open.

Well, that's it. The PlayStation 3 user interface will greatly resemble the PSP menu bar, and will include the features you'd expect from a system looking to compete with the Xbox 360, while broadening its applications to include a formidable web browsing tool. Cameras were turned off for this presentation, but stay tuned, as we're sure that the first images of the PS3's user interface will soon be available for the world to see.