The PlayStation 3 is a video game console developed and marketed by Sony. It is the third home gaming console developed by Sony and competes with Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 in the video game console market. The PlayStation 3 features wireless peripheral connectivity via Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity, High Definition and standard video output, and Blu-Ray playback.

Recent sales of the PlayStation 3 have increased since the introduction of a slimmer model of the system in September of 2009. Sony reported that 2.4 million PlayStation 3 systems were sold in the first quarter of 2010, compared to just 1.1 million in 2009.http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/hardware-gaming/playstation-3-perks-up-profits-with-doubled-sales-for-sony/?news=123

One of the main features of the PlayStation 3 is its Blu-Ray drive. It is the first video game console to use one, which allows it to play Blu-Ray movie discs. What's more, since Blu-ray discs can hold substantially more data than DVDs, games for the PS3 can potentially be much richer, larger and longer.http://us.playstation.com/ps3/features/ps_ps3_bluray.html

Another feature of the PS3 is its connectivity with another Sony Console, the PlayStation Portable. Using the hand-held console, users can remotely control, view, or play any games or movies in the PS3 via wireless LAN or even from remote locations via the Internet.http://www.psxextreme.com/feature/134.html

The PS3 also boasts a gaming network similar to Xbox 360's Xbox Live, the aptly titled PlayStation Network. Unlike Xbox Live, however, players on the Playstation Network can play games online without paying a subscription fee.

A service, named Playstation Home, which is a part of the PSN (Playstation Network) was officially announced by Phil Harrison on March 7, 2007, during his keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference and was originally scheduled for a global public release in October 2007.http://kotaku.com/242332/gdc07-sony-unveils-home Playstation Home allows users of the Playstation Network to create avatars, and participate in a similar world to Second Life. Third parties are always adding more locations to Home in which the player can interact with. The Open Beta was released on December 11, 2008.

Trophies was introduced due to fan demand. It is an aspect of the Playstation Network that is similar to Achievements on Xbox Live. Many past games have been updated to support trophies but some remain with no trophy support. Nearly all PS3 new PS3 games contain trophy support. The trophy system consists of four trophy types: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Platinum trophies are only available on non-PSN downloadable games and can only be acquired once all other trophies for that game are done.