Playstation (Brand)

The Playstation name is given to a family of consoles developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, it is also the name given to the Super Famicom CD hybrid prototype developed Sony in partnership with Nintendo.

Play Station

In response to Sega developing the MegaCD/GenesisCD, Nintendo partnered themselves with Sony in order to create their own CD drive for their system, SNESCD; the partnership would also develop a cartridge/CD SNES hybrid named Play Station. However due to an earlier contract that stated SONY would be entitled to the lions share of profits, Nintendo dissolved the partnership and steered away from the disc based console market after the disastrous uptake of many of the fifth generation disc based systems (they didn’t release a disk based system until the Gamecube.) Some prototype models of the hybrid Play Station are owned by collectors.

Playstation

Although at the time Sony were reluctant to enter the console market, Ken Kutaragi pushed Sony to develop the then abandoned Playstation console under codenamed PSX (a name that would be later given to a Sony developed, Emotion Engine powered media centre). During the development the console change from the older 16 bit 5A22 processor to Sony’s own 32 bit R3051 processor. A smaller model, PSOne, followed a few years later.

The Playstation was also known for taking a different marketing strategy. Where as consoles in the past were marketed towards teens, the Playstation was marketed towards the 18-30 demographic; the system was featured heavily in nightclubs.

The Sony Playstation went on to become the eventual winner of the fifth generation console wars; Nintendo’s own contribution the Ultra64/Nintendo64 had a small, but strong following, as did the Sega Saturn despite customers losing confidence in Sega consoles after a series of flops (The SEGACD, 32X, NOMAD).

Other consoles from this era include the Panasonic 3DO, Philips Cdi, Amiga CD32 and Atari’s Jaguar, over saturation on the market, poor marketing and high price range, these consoles are often considered flops.

Playstation 2

After the success of the original system, Sony developed the Playstation 2. A 64bit Emotion Engine based system (often erroneously stated as being 128bit). The big selling point for the new model was the addition of a DVD drive, as well as the ability to play the older system’s software.

Other features include online play and the ability to install Linux on the PS2 Hard Drive peripheral. However, Sony didn’t push these features from the start of the systems run. These features were to become the big selling point for Microsoft’s first console, the XBOX.

To date, the PS2 is biggest selling console of all time.

Other consoles from the sixth generation console era include Sega’s Dreamcast, Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Gamecube.

PSP

After the development of the PS2, Sony entered the handheld console market with the PSP. Nintendo had at that time domineered the handheld market, seeing off Neo Geo, Atari and Sega releases. The PSP is based on the MIPS R4000 processor and features an onboard RAM of 32MB (PSP-1000) and 64MB (PSP-2000). A third model based on the original architecture (PSP-3000) is due to be released in October.

The PSP has backwards compatibility with PSOne software (through the PS3), Skype functionality (PSP-2000 & PSP-3000 only), online radio, media center, web browser and PS3 functionality, its weak point is its lack of quality titles and poor support from its first party developers. The ability to play UMD movies, although a big selling point at first, became a hindrance after many movie studios refused to support the feature.

Despite this the PSP often outsells the rival console, Nintendo DS.

Playstation 3

The PS3 is a Cell processor based multi-media gaming system with a Blu-Ray optical drive, online, functionality,

It also has the ability to add off the shelf peripherals, such as 2.5 SATA HDD, Bluetooth headsets and third party controllers. It also has the ability to install Linux (notably Yellow Dog Linux) through its XMB menu. Older version of the PS3 had the ability to play the older PS2 software, but due the cost of production and the fact that the emulation (software and hardware) was often laden with bugs, Sony have disabled the ability to play the older PS2 software, although they still support the ability to play PSOne games.

Other features include, Trophy Support, and video chat, email, instant messenger through the Playstation Network and the ability to record live TV (with add-on).

However, due to the lack of AAA software, high price and the much delayed Playstation Home, the system in third place in the seventh generation console wars, behind Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Playstation 4

In September 2008, Sony released details of another Cell based system to third party developers [1]. The initial date for release according to Sony is 2011.