Playstation 3 Folding@Home client wins Japanese Design Award

The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry has awarded Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) the 'Good Design Gold Award 2008' (otherwise known as the 'G-Mark' award) for its design of the http://folding.stanford.edu/ application for the Playstation 3.

The collaboration of Stanford University (more specifically the Pande Group team) and Sony Computer Entertainment resulted in a Folding@Home client tailored to the PS3 specifications. Optimized specifically to take advantage of the power of the Cell Broadband Engine, the program is the first of it's kind on a games console.

Sighting a highly detailed world map where the location of other users are shown, and with the addition of a detailed protein visualization (powered by the NVIDIA designed RSX GPU), this earned Sony Computer Entertainment and its Folding@Home program the prestigious award which has been given out since 1957 to award outstanding design in industrial and consumer products.

The award jury commented saying:

"Analysis of proteins for the purpose of shedding light on diseases is just one example of solution design for social issues, a stance that indicates the direction that design should take in the future. Motivating the people who will be involved in these studies will be the key to success, but the program functions well as an idea for making participation in this project visible on a global scale."

Masayuki Chatani, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Technology Platform commented on receiving the award on behalf of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. saying:

"It is a great honor to receive the ‘Good Design Gold Award’ for our support for the Folding@home project on PS3, Over 1.5 million PS3 users have participated in the Folding@home project and I truly appreciate their contributions for making this project a success. We will continue our efforts in delivering compelling and original services only possible on the PS3 platform."

Congratulations to Sony Computer Entertainment on it's Good Design Gold Award Achievement. They also picked up 'Good Design' Awards for the PlayStation®Network logo and PlayStation®Store user interface design.

Sources:
Kotaku's report & Vijay Pande's Blog
The following is taken from the official Sony press release:

"The “Good Design Award” is Japan’s
only comprehensive design evaluation and commendation system. This system itself
has its origin in the “Good Design Selection System” instituted by the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry in 1957. This year, over 3000 entries were
made and as a result of first and second screening, 1067 items received “Good
Design Award.” Out of 1067 Good Design Award items, 15 entries received “Good
Design Award Best 15,” which includes 1 “Good Design Grand Award” and 14 “Good
Design Gold Award.”"