SolveYourProblem Article Series: Sony Playstation, TV's & Other Products
What's So Cool About Sony?
The
Original Sony Playstation
The history of the Sony PlayStation is a unique one. The concepts
behind the now hugely popular video game console were founded
in 1988. During that year, Sony teamed up with Nintendo to
help them with ideas for their Super Nintendo game, which
was soon to be released. The two companies had planned on
having an attachment to the Super Nintendo called the Super
Disc. The Super Disc was going to be an innovative CD-ROM
addition to the Nintendo console. However, because Sony and
Nintendo broke up their collaboration before the Super Disc
was complete, it was never part of the Super Nintendo release
Sony thought the concept of a CD-ROM driven video game was
a good one. For that reason they took decided to use an altered
version of the Super Disc to create their own console in early
1990. A Sony engineer named Ken Kutaragi headed the research
team for this project. Kutaragi is also responsible for naming
the console. He envisioned computers for work being workstations
and those for games should be play stations. In 1991 Sony launched
the original Sony Playststion (PS1).
The
PlayStation was first released in Japan in December 1994. The North American and European launch followed it in September
1995.
The original Sony PlayStation; ironically, could only play
Super Nintendo cartridges. This first version of this console
was used to read music, video and computer compact discs as
well as play Super Nintendo games. Only 200 replicas of the
original Sony PlayStation was manufactured and sold by Sony.
They marketed it as a multi purpose entertainment console,
not putting much emphasis on its video game technology.
In 1992 Nintendo and Sony attempted to join forces again for
the mainstream PlayStation release. However, the two companies
did not see eye to eye. Nintendo still wanted the Playststion
to be compatible with its Super Nintendo console and simply
be an “add on” to its already popular unit. Sony envisioned
a standalone video game system. The difference in business
visions caused the companies to part ways once again, permitting
Sony to go forward with their plans.
In 1994, a new console was released by Sony called the PlayStation
X (PSX). This unit was no longer compatible with Nintendo cartridges
it required CD-ROM based games. This console was not marketed
as multimedia entertainments devise rather an innovative video
game console.
Unlike the systems that came before it, the PlayStation model
was intended to enhance video games from their 2 dimensional
status into a three dimensional venue. It wanted video game
players to be impressed with detailed game environments. Furthermore,
Sony wanted players to be able to explore and navigate in the
virtual gaming environment its games would provide.
The public w3as fascinated by the original
Playststion and it won huge praise and countless awards.
For example, in the
1990’s it won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Technology
and Advanced New Media category presented by the U.S. National
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Sony sales broke records. By the time it released its PlayStation
2, Sony had sold over 50 million original PlayStations worldwide.
Most experts will agree that Sony’s video game success is amazing.
At the time it entered the market there were already two established
companies: Nintendo and Sega. Sony blew the competition out
of the water. To this day PlayStation still generates more
revenue for Sony than all of their other electronics combined.
The success of Sony in the video gaming world is due in part
to the utilization of Sony’s monster budget to back the launch
of PlayStation.
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SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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