The First In a Long Line
Of Loved Consoles
The Sony PlayStation was the first console to be produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and is without a doubt one of the most successful consoles ever, being the very first console to sell over 100 million units world wide.
The History of the PlayStation
The history of the PlayStation starts all the way back in 1986, eight years before its launch in Japan, where the console was first released. Nintendo was searching for an alternative to the cartridge format. Disks were no good due to the ease of which it was to erase and pirate them. Eventually, word of a new CD-ROM extension reached Nintendo’s ears. This specification, called, CD-ROM/XA (CD-ROM Extended Architecture), allowed the storage of many different types of data, such as audio, video, graphics, and data, to be stored on a single disc. It was being developed by Sony, Philips, and Microsoft. Nintendo chose Sony because of Ken Kutaragi, who, through a very impressive demonstration, convinced them to use a Sony sound chip in the SNES. So it was that Sony would develop a CD-ROM add-on, temporarily titled SNES-CD. Why did it never come to light?
Part of it was that Sony would develop their own, Sony-brand console. This console would not only play SNES-CDs, but also Super Nintendo cartridges. The deal was to be announced at the June Consumer Electronics Show in 1989. However, the announcement made at 9:00 AM during the CES did not announce the partnership between Sony and Nintendo. It announced a partnership between Philips and Nintendo! Nintendo’s chairman, Howard Lincoln, and president, Hiroshi Yamauchi had flown to Philips’s headquarters to agree to a contract that was similar to the one with Sony, with one major difference. With the original 1988 contract between Nintendo and Sony, Sony would have absolute control over all titles written in the SNES-CD format! This is what sparked Nintendo’s change of partners and was the major difference in Nintendo’s contract with Philips.
Everyone attending was shocked. Not only was it one of the largest betrayals in Japanese history, but it was unthinkable that Nintendo would turn to a European company over a fellow Japanese company. Such a thing was just not done in Japan.
Sony almost gave up on the game console realm after this, but they decided to try to make something of the disaster. Taking what they already had, they wanted to go one step further and make the console stand-alone. Some time later, Sony and Nintendo came to a deal whereby the Sony Play Station (with the space) would include a port for SNES games, but Nintendo would not only own the rights to the games, but would also get a bulk of the profits as long as Nintendo used Sony’s sound processor for the SNES. Fortunately for them, Sony realized that Nintendo’s technology was getting rather old. So, drop the SNES port, redesign the console for the next generation, and squeeze the words a little closer together and voila. The PlayStation.
Advertising Works!
Sony had a number of notable ad campaigns. Playing off the fact that they were a complete unknown in the video game industry many people did not know what to expect. As such, Sony used a number of ads were quite ambiguous. Two of those worth mentioning were “Enos Lives” and “U R Note”. The red ‘e’ in each of these symbolized ‘ready’. “Enos Lives” meant “Ready Ninth of September” about the time of the PlayStation’s North American launch. Switching the ‘e’ in the other ad campaign left it as “U R Not Ready”. These ad campaigns led to many discussions between gamers and led to great interest in newcomer Sony’s console.
The Games of Champions
In its 11 year run, a vast number of excellent games across nearly every genre were released for the PlayStation. For RPGs there was the extremely popular Final Fantasy series, especially Final Fantasy VII. Racing fans were ecstatic about games like Gran Turismo and Wipeout. In the action-adventure corner there were much raved about titles like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro series. Many other popular titles were Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, Legacy of Kain, Tekken, Tomb Raider, Legend of Dragoon, and Ridge Racer. There are many, many other wonderful games out there – too many to list here, surely.
The PlayStation Lives On
Though the PlayStation is now outdated, its successors have already been released. The wildly popular PlayStation 2 has sold more units than even the PlayStation and is capable of playing nearly all of the PlayStation’s titles. And now Sony’s current console, the PlayStation 3, has been released and brings the power of home consoles to a whole new level, and you still have the ability to play both your old PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games! The PlayStation has even gone to the handheld console market with the PSP, which has the capability of playing PlayStation titles, with the use of custom firmware. Through these successors to the PlayStation name, the system still lives on, even though the man many consider to be its father, Ken Kutaragi, has since been made to retire by Sony.
What is in store for the PlayStation line, we don’t yet know, and without the father of the series, no one is quite sure what will happen.
