Ducks demo

The Ducks demo was a tech demo that demonstrated the capabilities of the PlayStation 2 at E3 2000 and the PlayStation 3 at E3 2005. In the PlayStation 2 demo, only one duck is shown interacting with the water in the bathtub. In the PlayStation 3 demo, there are many ducks interacting with each other and their environment. A visual representation of the leap in processing abilities from the PlayStation 2 Sony executives promise the PlayStation 3 will deliver.

The 2005 Demo

In the demo, Phil Harrison shows the crowd a small bathtub with some rubber ducks in it. He uses these to demonstrate the real-time water ripples and dynamics. He then uses two toy pirate ships to demonstrate cloth dynamics. To show the Cell's processing power, he adds a huge amount of ducks to the tub (all reacting as they would in real-life, due to the advanced physics engine). Phil comments dryly that "this is only possible with the use of LOD technology, for those of you that don't know, LOD stands for "Lots of Ducks"

The EyeToy

Phil Harrison then invites the creator of EyeToy to show the new technology the PlayStation 3 can use. Plugging a standard PlayStation 2 EyeToy into the PlayStation 3, he picks up two ordinary cups and proceeds to move the cups in a scooping motion, which scoops up the water pictured on screen. (animated and reacting as real water would).

Trivia

The Ducks demo was the basis for Super Rub 'a' Dub which is a downloadable title for the PS3 produced by SCEE.

External links

• 2005 Ducks demo