So I’m not going to post too much opinion here, as I’ve already posted quite a bit in my GTA IV article, but I thought I’d let some people see this, and maybe they can crawl out of my rectum and take a reality check.

Currently, as of SDK 1.60, the PS3 operating system takes up 52 MB of main memory and 32 MB of graphics memory (84 MB total). As a comparison, the Xbox 360 still only uses 32 MB of shared memory for all its system utilities.

As of SDK 1.60, developers can use standard PS3 message dialogs at no extra cost. The standard on-screen keyboard still requires 7MB of memory.

The various utilities providing saving, loading, and reading off the hard disk now require no more than 5MB of memory to be used.

8MB of memory is required for the online startup utility. This includes both supporting online play, and is a requirement for any of the other Network Platform (NP) utilities. There are several NP utilities, but we will only address the most important one next.

Full support of the NP Friend List utility is currently a staggering 24MB of extra memory (on top of the 8MB needed for the startup). This utility provides the support of the NP friend’s list, allowing players to add, remove, block and communicate with their friends along with the corresponding GUI interface. The extraneous demand on memory has been met with with concern from developers. Since this is just the first iteration of the utility, Sony has vowed to reduce the memory impact of the utility to something more manageable (20MB is the rumored target for the next major release expected in late May – early June).

And finally, in case you missed it:

These are not rumors. We have confirmed this information with several sources, developers working with Sony hardware. As of SDK 1.60, these memory requirements are correct. The 1.70 SDK has been available for two weeks now, but we have been unable to confirm whether any of the memory requirements have changed. As a general rule, odd-numbered releases are minor updates. We expect any new major changes to accompany the 1.80 release.

Before people have an embolism, there is good news here. These memory numbers are improved over previous versions of the OS, which means that A) there is likely still room for Sony to trim the fat in their software and get things to more manageable levels and B) that they are actively doing so, which means games will in fact have a more robust, trim system to work in as time goes on.

-Aegies