PlayStation 3 in the context of Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video (HDTV 720p and 1080p). The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The name refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs, resulting in an increased capacity.

The polycarbonate disc is 12 centimetres (4+3⁄4 inches) in diameter and 1.2 millimetres (1⁄16 inch) thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Conventional (or "pre-BDXL") Blu-ray discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual-layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple-layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple-layer discs (128 GB) are available for BDXL re-writer drives.

The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft, being the successor to the original Xbox and the second console in the Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV in a program titled MTV Presents Xbox: The Next Generation Revealed on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). As a seventh-generation console, it primarily competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

The Xbox 360's online service, Xbox Live, was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the console's lifetime. Available in free and subscription-based varieties, Xbox Live allows users to play games online; download games (through Xbox Live Arcade) and game demos; purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video portals; and access third-party content services through media streaming applications. In addition to online multimedia features, it allows users to stream media from local PCs. Several peripherals have been released, including wireless controllers, expanded hard drive storage, and the Kinect motion sensing camera. The release of these additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia, turning it into a hub for living-room computing entertainment.

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. It was developed by Dolby, AT&T, Fraunhofer and Sony, originally as part of the MPEG-2 specification but later improved under MPEG-4. AAC was designed to be the successor of the MP3 format (MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) and generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 at the same bit rate. AAC encoded audio files are typically packaged in an MP4 container most commonly using the filename extension .m4a.

The basic profile of AAC (both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2) is called AAC-LC (Low Complexity). It is widely supported in the industry and has been adopted as the default or standard audio format on products including Apple's iTunes Store, Nintendo's Wii, DSi and 3DS and Sony's PlayStation 3. It is also further supported on various other devices and software such as iPhone, iPod, PlayStation Portable and Vita, PlayStation 5, Android and older cell phones, digital audio players like Sony Walkman and SanDisk Clip, media players such as VLC, Winamp and Windows Media Player, various in-dash car audio systems, and is used on Spotify, Google Nest, Amazon Alexa. Apple Music, YouTube and also YouTube Music streaming services. AAC has been further extended into HE-AAC (High Efficiency, or AAC+), which improves efficiency over AAC-LC. Another variant is AAC-LD (Low Delay).

PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM. PowerPC, as an evolving instruction set, has been named Power ISA since 2006, while the old name lives on as a trademark for some implementations of Power Architecture–based processors.

Originally intended for personal computers, the architecture is well known for being used by Apple's desktop and laptop lines from 1994 until 2006, and in several videogame consoles including Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Nintendo's GameCube, Wii, and Wii U. PowerPC was also used for the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on Mars and a variety of satellites. It has since become a niche architecture for personal computers, particularly with AmigaOS 4 implementations, but remains popular for embedded systems.

The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in Europe, South America, and Australia, and on February 22, 2014, in Japan. A console of the eighth generation, it competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch.

Moving away from the more complex Cell microarchitecture of its predecessor, the console features an APU from AMD built upon the x86-64 architecture, which can theoretically peak at 1.84 teraflops; AMD stated that it was the "most powerful" APU it had developed to date. The PlayStation 4 places an increased emphasis on social interaction and integration with other devices and services, including the ability to play games off-console on PlayStation Vita and other supported devices ("Remote Play"), the ability to stream gameplay online or to friends, with them controlling gameplay remotely ("Share Play"). The console's controller was also redesigned and improved over the PlayStation 3, with updated buttons and analog sticks, and an integrated touchpad among other changes. The console also supports HDR10 high-dynamic-range video and playback of 4K resolution multimedia.

PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital distribution service for users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via PlayStation Network.

The store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games, add-on content, playable demos, themes and game/movie trailers.

The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduced new technologies. The Xbox 360 offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks. Some Wii controllers could be moved about to control in-game actions, which enabled players to simulate real-world actions through movement during gameplay. By this generation, video game consoles had become an important part of the global IT infrastructure; it is estimated that video game consoles represented 25% of the world's general-purpose computational power in 2007.

Joining Nintendo in releasing motion devices and software, Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation Move in September 2010, which featured motion-sensing gaming similar to that of the Wii. In November 2010, Microsoft released Kinect for use with the Xbox 360. Kinect did not use controllers, instead using cameras to capture the player's body motion and using that to direct gameplay, effectively making the players act as the "controllers". Having sold eight million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device".

The Wii (/wiː/ WEE) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube, and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.

The Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, focused on appealing to a broader audience through innovative gameplay, rather than competing with Microsoft and Sony on raw computational power. Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led development, which was initially codenamed Revolution. The Wii emphasized new forms of interaction, particularly through its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which featured motion-tracking controls and could recognize gestures and function as a pointing device. The Wii was Nintendo's first console with native Internet connectivity, enabling online gaming and digital distribution via the Wii Shop Channel. It also supported wireless connectivity with the handheld Nintendo DS console for select games. Early models were backward-compatible with GameCube games and accessories. Nintendo later released cheaper versions: the RVL-101, without GameCube compatibility, and the Wii Mini, which removed features such as online connectivity and SD card storage.

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is a vehicular soccer video game for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in North America in October 2008, and in Europe in February 2009. The campaign mode of the game is made up of a series of varied mini-games, and tournaments against AI that can only be played in single-player mode. A sequel, titled Rocket League, was released in July of 2015.

Ken Kutaragi (久夛良木 健, Kutaragi Ken; born 2 August 1950) is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman, currently president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. Formerly the chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game division of Sony, Kutaragi is known as "The Father of the PlayStation" having overseen the development of the original console and its successors and spinoffs until departing the company in 2007, shortly after the PlayStation 3 was released.

Kutaragi had also designed the sound processor for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. With Sony, he designed the VLSI chip that works in conjunction with the PS1's RISC CPU to handle the graphics rendering.

Call of Duty 3 is a 2006 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the third major installment in the Call of Duty series. It was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. It was a launch title for the PlayStation 3 and Wii in North America, Europe and Australia. It is also the only major installment to not release on PC.

The game received positive reviews on release and received several awards and nominations. Retrospective assessments have been more negative, with critics criticizing the game for lacking in innovation following its predecessors, although some noted the game featured elements that would be incorporated into later games in the series. Call of Duty 3 has placed low in lists ranking the series' games.