Following yesterday's report that a Sony patent was spotted, pointing to a purely software-based solution to the PS2 emulation issue, TheSixthAxis reports that the PS2 emulation issue isn't due to the Emotion Engine, which is already up and running. The problem lies with the Graphics Synthesizer, which now appears to be an obstacle to downloadable PS2 games on the PlayStation Store.

For those who don't know, the Emotion Engine is the chip that Sony designed which acts as the PS2 CPU. The non-backwards compatible PS3s do not have one of these, hence, no PS2 games. According to the patent spotted, Sony is readying the code and the technology to use the Emotion Engine once again.

For the second time running (no pun intended), the Department of Energy's Cell-powered Roadrunner system has once again claimed the top spot in the Top 500 Supercomputers list.

Oh, you'd think the Large Hadron Collider would have made an impact (again, no pun intended) on the list, but nooo, the PS3 chip's advanced - and slightly hybrid-ized - brother is leaving the rest of the competition in the dust.

Since late last year, all PlayStation3 units coming off the manufacturing line sport the more efficient 65nm Cell chip. Now Kazuo Hirai himself has confirmed that by this Fall, the RSX graphics chip will switch over to 65nm as well. More in the full article.

Meep meep. The PlayStation 3's powerful hardware does it again, contributing its powerful Cell Broadband Engine to create the world's fastest supercomputer, er... again. Named the Roadrunner, this new supercomputer runs at speeds exceeding one petaflop - that is, one thousand trillion calculations per second. Let's see Wile E. Coyote try to catch up with that. Watch a mini-documentary of the supercomputer in the full article.

The United States Air Force is conducting a technology assessment of cell processors, and it has been decided that the most attractive offer in the market will be employed - that is, of course, the Sony PlayStation 3 which dons the technology yet sells at reasonable prices. Can't believe it? Hit the jump to learn more.

As consoles get more powerful, they break the boundaries of what they were originally designed for. While they were only limited to games before, they are now lending their power for use in the sciences, from medicine to computing the physics of two black holes colliding. Read more on the role of consoles in the fields of science by going to the full article.

We all knew that Big Blue would come through some day. As Intel preps it's new Penryn 45nm processors for the personal computer market, IBM also takes a stroll down the same reduced die package lane. And at the recent ISSCC, short of International Solid-State Circuits Conference, IBM made their plans known to roll out a 45nm version of the CELL Broadband Engine whose 90nm, 65nm cousins currently power the various Sony PlayStation 3 SKUs.

Less means more. This is the statement that Sony aims to prove true when the company revealed that it will be featuring its new 45 nm Cell processor at the upcoming International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco this February 3 to 7. The new Cell Broadband Engine will be nearly twice as efficient, consuming only around 40% the power compared to its older 65 nm model. Check out the full article for more details.

We know that you are already proud of the Cell Broadband Engine that can be found in PlayStation 3 units. Aside from providing you with the most exciting gameplay experience, the chip is also responsible for bringing about medical breakthroughs.

Today, we learned that Mayo Clinic and IBM decided to collaborate yet again to help improve medical imaging technology. At the heart of this project is the unassuming chip. Know more after the jump!