This is the third video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of gaming consoles.

An important feature that distinguishes the PlayStation 3 from its predecessors is the common service for online games, PlayStation Network, 5, which contrasts with Sony's former policy of relying on game developers for online play. 6 Other important features of the console include its robust multimedia capabilities, 7, connectivity to the PlayStation Portable, 8 and its use of a high-definition optical disc format, Blu-ray Disc, as its main storage medium. 9 PS3 was also the first Blu-ray 2.0-compatible Blu-ray in the market [10].

PlayStation 3 was launched on 11 November 2006 in Japan, 11 November 17, 2006 in North America and South America, 12 and 23 March 2007 in Europe and Oceania. 13 14 Two SKUs were available at launch: a basic model with a 20 GB hard disk drive HDD and a Premium model with a 60GB hard drive and a host of extra features 15 20 GB model was not released in Europe and Australia). 16 Since then several revisions have been made to the console of models available, especially with the launch of a new Slim model in September 2009.