Why did Sony use the Cell processor in the PS3?

[rubido]

I find it funny when someone talks about a game using only 30% of the "theoretical power" of the ps3 like if 100% is achievable. I guess I am not going to waste my time trying to explain parallel processing speedup and algorithms to a target audience that will just ignore everything I am saying basically because they don't want to hear it. Whoever understands this knows that it is not possible. Specially with the way that each core processes information, which makes the gap between its theoretical performance to usable performance larger.

Anyway, my first point in this is that the Cell processor is less than ideal for gaming. If I could guess, the 360 might even be more powerful than the ps3 on the long run. But this is just a guess and should not be taken so seriously. I am not investing my time to discover their true potential and it doesn't even matter. They both have a lot of power.

If I could guess why the cell was used for the ps3, I would say 2 reasons. The main one is for bragging rights. They wanted to show theoretical power specs to get hype. The second one is because they weren't just interested in gaming. They were interested in the media integration. The cell has enough power and versatility to solve any problem that could show up.

I am not saying that the cell is underpowered. But for gaming, I believe that it was a bad choice for a processor. Not that it is bad. But because it could be so much better and cheaper.

Everyone knows why the blueray was chosen. The format war with hd-dvd. So not much needs to be said.

I also believe that Sony's statement about the 5 million people buying the ps3 even without games was an insult to its user base. I see no other reason for this than stating that its users are drones and a failed attempt to hype the system. This does not mean that ps3 users are drones. But it was what sony said in that statement. Is there any sony fan here that can tell me that they are proud sony made that statement?