The PlayStation Turns 20

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 3, 2014 @04:24AM from the and-now-you-feel-old dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The 3rd of December marks an auspicious date in gaming history: 20 years ago today, the very first PlayStation went on sale in Japan. In that time, Sony has successfully muscled its way into the gaming scene, and seen off a few rivals as well. In a new retrospective, a writer looks back at how Sony's console series has changed gaming, from introducing the DVD and the Blu-ray disc to innovations like the second screen PocketStation and the still untapped power of Remote Play and Gaikai game streaming.

101 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I will never buy from Sony by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:28 · Score: 1, Funny

Coming in 3.. 2.. 1..
Nor will I illegally download any of their products
Coming in 10**100.. 10**100-1... 10**100-2..
1. Re:I will never buy from Sony by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:13 · Score: 0
  
  Fuck that, I sold off my entire library of PlayStation games years ago and downloaded pretty much every game ever made for the system. ePSXe is a far better "console" than the PlayStation ever was.
"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 04:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

innovations like the second screen PocketStation
Not only was PocketStation released after Sega's VMU, it doesn't even function as a second screen. Both devices plug into the memory card slot, but while the Dreamcast's memory card slot is in the controller (which makes the screen usable while playing games), the PlayStation's memory card slot is in the console.

Nice try attempting to rewrite history in Sony's favor.
1. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 04:38 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Added bonus from the actual article:
  
  18) Introduced touch controls on a console controller Mobile gaming has clearly had some form of influence over the latest generation of consoles, and it’s most evident with the PS4’s DualShock 4, which includes a touchpad on the face for swiping and pointing with your fingers, and who knows what else in the future.
  Yes, PS4 was the first console with touch controls on the controller. There definitely wasn't a system released a year before with a controller based around a 6" touchscreen. Definitely not.
2. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  I love how most of the points start off with "Sure, XXXX may have been first to to YYYY, but..." You'd almost think Sony invented moving goalposts.
3. Re:"second screen" innovation by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 04:43 · Score: 2
  
  Heck, if you count portable consoles, the PS4 wasn't even the first *Sony* console to have touch controls.
4. Re:"second screen" innovation by RivenAleem · 2014-12-03 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  I know I may sound like sound like a defensive fanboy, but they said "introduced bluray and dvd (were those sony first?), and also brought out innovations such as second screen etc"
  That like denying that the iPod was innovative, or the iPhone, just because it wasn't first. Does an innovation require no prior existence of anything similar? Can version 2 be an innovation? Can I be innovative by creating a better more or more efficient coffee machine? It might not be the first ever coffee machine, but it might have improvements that make it more popular than the current ones.
  Are you being just a little overzealous in finding something bad about Sony? Why work so hard when there's so many easier failings of theirs to pick from and rehash?
  #rootkit #sonyhacking
5. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  The PocketStation doesn't even function as a second screen, since you can't make use of it while playing a game on the PlayStation. (In contrast, the Sega VMU is in the controller, so you can actually see it while playing.)
6. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 05:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  This is more a criticism of the terrible article, not Sony themselves. There's all sorts of other errors in the article, e.g. assertions that HDMI is required for HD (it isn't) and that Bluray holds 33 GB (dual-layer discs hold 50), plus mentioning that PS3 online play is free while conveniently leaving out the fact that PS4 online play isn't.
  
  ...and now I look at who wrote the article: Red Bull. Definitely a reliable go-to source for video game news.
7. Re:"second screen" innovation by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 05:55 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  introduced bluray and dvd (were those sony first?)
  Yes, Sony has been consistently in front on optical media. The PS was the first successful console with CD-ROM, the PS2 was the first console to have DVD (GameCube had a proprietary disc format, Dreamcast had CD-ROM with a more capable proprietary disc format. XBox could do DVD but came out after PS2 and unlike the PS2 wouldn't play video DVDs out of the box--you had to buy the special controller). PS3 was the only console of its generation to have BluRay (Wii had yet again a proprietary format, and the XBox 360 had a DVD out of the box, with an HD-DVD add-on drive that flopped completely).
8. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:12 · Score: 0
  
  You...do...realize that PS4 and most all electronics don't have display port, right? HDMI is still basically mandatory for HD. Sure, you can get HD with a DVI port - again, not something any console has - or by using expensive and ridiculously unnecessary adapters, or you could grab a 5 dollar HDMI cord from amazon and take care of it
9. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 06:36 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I was actually referring to component video (YPbPr) and VGA, the former of which was supported by all 7th generation consoles, and the latter supported by Xbox 360, some older consoles (Dreamcast), and pretty much all PCs manufactured since the late 1980s. Believe it or not, it *is* possible to get HD using analog video connections.
  
  The fact that PS4 only has HDMI doesn't mean it's not possible to get HD using other video interfaces.
10. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 06:38 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Clarification: The fact that PS4 only has HDMI doesn't mean it's not possible to get HD using other video interfaces on *other* devices, e.g. the PS3.
11. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 07:51 · Score: 0
  
  Wii had a proprietary logical filesystem, but the media was still a bog-standard UDF DVD.
  Actually, so was the Gamecube disk format. Plain ol' UDF on DVD. Gamecube didn't even do anything special with the logical filesystem, either. It just used an outside-in tracking sequence, while most disk readers use inside-out. If an inside-out reader tries to read an outside-in disk, it will encounter a "blank" disk at the center and not read any further. Meanwhile, most outside-in readers will fully read the entire sequence to detect which kind of disk it's reading. I'd also guess this is why the Gamecube used small disks. Less disk to read means both less detection time at startup and lower seek times during gameplay.
  Some old (pre-1990) CD players used to do the same thing. It caused huge headaches with green-book and white-book data and hybrid audio/data CD's, and most manufacturers stopped making them work that way. Tracking direction is not written into either the CD or the DVD spec, or even the HD-DVD extension. Sony finally pinned it down with Blu-ray, inside-out is a required implementation detail. Finally.
12. Re:"second screen" innovation by pr0fessor · 2014-12-03 08:02 · Score: 1
  
  Wasn't Turbo Graphix the first successful CD game console in like 1990 only to later get beaten down by sega genesis and snes?
13. Re:"second screen" innovation by Ralph+Wiggam · 2014-12-03 08:19 · Score: 1
  
  I love the old saying "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
14. Re:"second screen" innovation by HAKdragon · 2014-12-03 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  The Turbo Graphix-16 (Called the "PC Engine" in Japan) used small "HuCards" for games. The TurboGrafx-CD (PC Engine CD in Japan) was a CD add-on that allowed games to be played off of CDs. There was the Turbo Duo which was a combination unit.
  
  --
  "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
15. Re:"second screen" innovation by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 08:26 · Score: 1
  
  Turbo Graphix had a CD add-on (the Genesis had one as well). They sold 500,000 of the CD units, which doesn't seem very successful to me.
16. Re:"second screen" innovation by GerbilSoft · 2014-12-03 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  GameCube and Wii discs don't use UDF or this "outside-in" recording method. The physical format is identical to DVD; what's changed is the logical sector format. http://debugmo.de/2008/11/anat... has an analysis of the GameCube format; Wii is similar.
  
  The filesystem is also completely proprietary. http://hitmen.c02.at/files/yag... has a description of GameCube discs; http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_Di... has Wii discs. (Wii discs are similar to GameCube, but it supports multiple partitions and offsets are multiples of 4 in order to address a full 8 GB dual-layer DVD using 32-bit values.)
  
  The reason why most people think GameCube and Wii discs are written "backwards" is because the disc mastering tools deliberately pad the beginning of the disc with filler data in order to push the actual data towards the outer edge of the disc. This is because the CAV drives used in GameCube and Wii are able to read data faster if they're closer to the outer edge.
17. Re:"second screen" innovation by pr0fessor · 2014-12-03 08:42 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not a huge gamer but when I was in highschool I worked at a fast food place and a few gamers would take over the TV in the break room to play the turbo graphix on their lunch hour. I didn't know a lot of people that had them but I did know three and I grew up in kansas.
18. Re:"second screen" innovation by ArcadeMan · 2014-12-03 08:55 · Score: 2
  
  Wouldn't the numeric keypad with overlays of the Intellivision controllers count as "touch controls"?
  
  --
  Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
19. Re:"second screen" innovation by UnknownSoldier · 2014-12-03 09:27 · Score: 1
  
  > unlike the PS2 wouldn't play video DVDs out of the box--you had to buy the special controller
  FALSE. You _could_ use the gamepad to play videos. I know because I was doing this back in 2002.
20. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:44 · Score: 0
  
  Turbo Touch 360 for the Sayga Genesis, son.
21. Re:"second screen" innovation by vux984 · 2014-12-03 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  Wouldn't the numeric keypad with overlays of the Intellivision controllers count as "touch controls"?
  If that counts as "touch controls", then so would a keyboard.
  In other words: No.
22. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:59 · Score: 0
  
  LOL! The TurboGrafx-16 was a complete failure. In Japan the PC Engine was popular, but not the CD add-on.
23. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 10:01 · Score: 0
  
  No you couldn't and no you weren't. The remote control (sold separately) was REQUIRED to play DVDs on the Xbox. You are a fucking lying sack of shit.
24. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 10:07 · Score: 0
  
  Sega Genesis? Don't you mean Sega Mega Drive?
25. Re:"second screen" innovation by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 13:19 · Score: 1
  
  FALSE. You _could_ use the gamepad to play videos. I know because I was doing this back in 2002.
  TRUE. I know this because I just went to my Xbox and tried loading a video DVD into it. Just like always, this is what said, verbatim:
  "You need to connect the DVD Playback Kit receiver to a controller port to watch movies. Remove the disc to continue."
26. Re:"second screen" innovation by UnknownSoldier · 2014-12-04 10:37 · Score: 1
  
  You are confused about the context.
  PS2: Plays DVD out of the box
  XBox: Required the remote control.
27. Re:"second screen" innovation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-07 09:07 · Score: 0
  
  Then why did you say you were playing DVDs on the Xbox without the special kit? This is what you responded to:
  
  > unlike the PS2 [the Xbox] wouldn't play video DVDs out of the box--you had to buy the special controller
It's also a story about vendor lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:32 · Score: 0, Troll

Some of my favorite games (although they're on PS2) still can't be played on modern PC because of the successfull Sony lock-in.
1. Re:It's also a story about vendor lock-in by tepples · 2014-12-03 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  Are they first-party or otherwise? If otherwise, have you written to the publisher's support department and asked when the PC port is coming out?
2. Re:It's also a story about vendor lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:43 · Score: 1
  
  Have you tried PCSX2?
3. Re:It's also a story about vendor lock-in by Hamsterdan · 2014-12-03 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  PCSX2 requires a lot of horsepower for some games (ie: some of them are unplayable even with a Core2duo running at 3.8)
  
  --
  I've got better things to do tonight than die.
4. Re:It's also a story about vendor lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-04 05:51 · Score: 0
  
  That's because a C2D is an ancient piece of crap. Every single PS2 game I've tried on PCSX2 on my i7 @ 2.4GHz has worked flawlessly with all graphical settings maxed, including later titles like Shadow of the Colossus. Using PCSX2, I can make PS2 games look better than PS3 games.
It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:41 · Score: 0

The only real reason to celebrate the Playstation is that it dramatically increased the average age of gamers, which is definitely a positive thing. Until the early '90s, videogames were considered toys for kids, which is also proven by the huge number of platform games at that time, now a rarity. Sony focused on an older public, encouraged third parties to develop more mature games (first-person shooters, etc...) and it worked. Now the average age of gamers is above 30, it's a hugely bigger market, and there's a wider choice of games that people can play until they are senile cretins.
P.S.: Among the reason to celebrate Sony, the second article says: "It gave us dual thumbsticks". Except that the real innovation was to introduce ONE thumbstick, and it was done by Nintendo with the N64 controller. Whatever...
1. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:50 · Score: 0
  
  If we're going to split hairs and go back to who first successfully marketed the x-y joystick, then it must be the Atari 5200 controller (plus keypad).
2. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 04:51 · Score: 1
  
  P.S.: Among the reason to celebrate Sony, the second article says: "It gave us dual thumbsticks". Except that the real innovation was to introduce ONE thumbstick, and it was done by Nintendo with the N64 controller. Whatever...
  While the single thumbstick was certainly an advance, I don't think you can sell dual thumbsticks short--it was a big advance. Being able to work two sticks at once (often one as character control and one as camera control) made a big difference.
  The funny part is, they didn't expect it to be. The second thumbstick was added only because the designers thought it made the controller look more balanced.
3. Re:It increased gamers' average age by ProzacPatient · 2014-12-03 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  Except that the real innovation was to introduce ONE thumbstick, and it was done by Nintendo with the N64 controller. Whatever...
  I'm not really sure what Nintendo was thinking but I'm pretty sure the N64 controller was designed for three armed aliens. It was really awkward to use for video games that made full use of all the buttons on the controller because since the majority of games made use of the thumbstick and trigger half of the controller would be inaccessible at any given time.
4. Re:It increased gamers' average age by __aaclcg7560 · 2014-12-03 04:58 · Score: 2
  
  The only real reason to celebrate the Playstation is that it dramatically increased the average age of gamers, which is definitely a positive thing.
  All those 10-year-olds in the 1990's who got a Playstation for Christmas are now playing video games in their 30's. Yeah, whatever. I got an Atari 2600 in the 1980's and I'm still playing video games in my 40's. We played our video games with ONE JOYSTICK and ONE RED BUTTON!
5. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Immerman · 2014-12-03 05:13 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yeah. Great. Now instead of having all sorts of interesting platformers, side-scollers, RPGs, etc, etc, etc. with a wide range of innovative and interesting gameplay mechanics, I can now choose between 10,000 slightly different versions of "run around shooting people in 3D" with various different graphics slapped on. What progress.
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
6. Re:It increased gamers' average age by rogoshen1 · 2014-12-03 05:19 · Score: 2
  
  Did it really increase the gamer's age? or is that just a function of.. time?
  I'm 32. I got an NES in 2nd grade at age 7. After playing video games for so many years, buying a PS4 or Xbox doesn't seem that outlandish.
  But to a to a 32 year old back in 198x (or earlier for atari, etc) -- lacking that familiarity with video games and not spending gobs of their formative years zombifying themselves in front of a console, would they have been quite as inclined to purchase an NES or atari?
  Sure the games are less kid oriented now, but that's only part of it.
7. Re:It increased gamers' average age by jtownatpunk.net · 2014-12-03 05:36 · Score: 1
  
  And it wasn't proportional.
8. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Hamsterdan · 2014-12-03 06:02 · Score: 1
  
  In other words, people who grew up with consoles are still buying them...
  
  --
  I've got better things to do tonight than die.
9. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:24 · Score: 0
  
  Not really, otherwise the WiiU wouldn't be a flop, by coincidence the only console whose games are still '90s style. Not that there isn't demand for those games, but they are definitely not enough for today's older gamers. Which proves AC's point.
10. Re:It increased gamers' average age by TheCastro1689 · 2014-12-03 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  I think it brought older gamers back into the fold. I remember a lot of people buying Playstations that were people that played Mario when it was new.
11. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Dogtanian · 2014-12-03 07:47 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  We played our video games with ONE JOYSTICK and ONE RED BUTTON!
  You had a joystick *and* a button? Luxury! I used to *dream* of having a joystick. I only had a disconnected joystick cable and I'd control it by making the connections with my tongue.
  
  And the button wire was missing. And I didn't have any games. Or a computer.
  
  But you know, I were happy in those days, even though I was poor.
  
  (FWIW, I was still using that type of one-button Atari-format joystick on my Amiga until the mid-90s when the Amiga died altogether as a mainstream format and I was losing interest in games anyway. That was probably the point at which the "classic" one-button 9-pin Atari stick died(?); I don't count the Mega Drive/Genesis controller, as that had three buttons even though it used the 9-pin Atari connector and was sort-of-compatible).
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
12. Re:It increased gamers' average age by __aaclcg7560 · 2014-12-03 09:26 · Score: 1
  
  I had three Commodore 64's for ten years (1984-1994) from middle school through college. Unlike the always breaking joysticks I had for the Atari 2600, I had a single third-party joystick with the red button on top for the entire ten years. Mid-1990's was when Pentium PCs became more affordable and widespread. I switched to keyboard and mouse on the PC to play Doom.
13. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 10:15 · Score: 0
  
  What a strange thing to say. There has never been more variety in gaming as there is now.
14. Re:It increased gamers' average age by CronoCloud · 2014-12-03 10:52 · Score: 1
  
  I switched to keyboard and mouse on the PC to play Doom.
  Must have been Doom95. Classic 1993 DOOM doesn't have mouse support.
15. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Immerman · 2014-12-03 12:43 · Score: 1
  
  On the PS4 now versus the Nintendo or Atari then? Not even close.
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
16. Re:It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-04 05:57 · Score: 0
  
  Among the reason to celebrate Sony, the second article says: "It gave us dual thumbsticks". Except that the real innovation was to introduce ONE thumbstick, and it was done by Nintendo with the N64 controller. Whatever...
  Wrong. Go see the Vectrex. Nintendo wasn't even the first with a d-pad, that was Intellivision. Sony's dual analog sticks were an actual advancement, N64's single analog stick was not.
17. Re:It increased gamers' average age by DrGamez · 2014-12-04 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  I hear this complaint a lot but I am wondering what games actually required the entire control stick at once? There was never any indication that you were supposed to hold all three "prongs" at once, no N64 game had you attempt this, and the manual even instructed that you'd be using the controller in one of two ways.
  Normally you'd either use the Dpad and L button, or analogue stick and Z button. You gained no more buttons depending on the position of your left hand.
18. Re: It increased gamers' average age by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-04 23:16 · Score: 0
  
  It does. Very few people used it. Maybe not initial but patched has mouse support for left right and it made players who used it unbeatable. Duke3d has mouse support as well. You need to configure those in the setup program.
19. Re:It increased gamers' average age by drsquare · 2014-12-06 09:28 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah there are no interesting platformers and sidescrollers like Super Mario 3D World, Shovel Knight, Super Meat Boy, no interesting RPGs like Dark Souls or Skyrim, and if you think there are no innovative gameplay mechanics then you must have stopped playing games years ago. I could name a hundred innovative games released in the last five years alone.
  Sick of these old farts 'oh it were better in my day'. Yeah better when you had an Atari with 4000 space games that consisted of pressing a button to shoot a pixel at aliens.
Holy fandom, Batman! by damn_registrars · 2014-12-03 04:41 · Score: 3, Insightful

innovations like the second screen PocketStation and the still untapped power of Remote Play and Gaikai game streaming.
The PocketStation was never released outside Japan and most playstation owners have likely never even heard of it, let alone have made use of it. And when you go in to "still untapped power", you venture deep into slashvertisement territory.

I know there are tons of Sony fanboys here on slashdot, but this is a bit absurd.

--
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
1. Re:Holy fandom, Batman! by Narishma · 2014-12-03 06:52 · Score: 1
  
  I know there are tons of Sony fanboys here on slashdot, but this is a bit absurd.
  Did you mean anti-Sony fanboys? I've certainly never seen anybody here in Slashdot say anything positive about Sony.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
2. Re:Holy fandom, Batman! by damn_registrars · 2014-12-03 07:22 · Score: 0
  
  I know there are tons of Sony fanboys here on slashdot, but this is a bit absurd.
  Did you mean anti-Sony fanboys? I've certainly never seen anybody here in Slashdot say anything positive about Sony.
  What was this article but something positive about Sony? That said, if you haven't seen a Sony fanboy here yet, you haven't been around long enough. They're out there, believe me. I've been around long enough to encounter Sony, Microsoft, and Toyota fanboys here (sometimes all in one week). The only fanboys who are not allowed here are fanboys of President Obama or any other well-known democratic politician from the US.
  
  --
  Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
3. Re:Holy fandom, Batman! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 10:40 · Score: 0
  
  The only fanboys who are not allowed here are fanboys of President Obama or any other well-known democratic politician from the US.
  You must be new here, they definitely exist
no by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:53 · Score: 0

To celebrate you can overpay 100 dollars for a poor attempt at making the system and controllers look more like the PSX. The system would be fine, if the light bar only showed bright orangered.
The controller looks incredibly bad.
REDBULL . COM Yeah I trust them for gaming news. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 04:54 · Score: 0

Seriously, this "article" is a load of crap. Nice click bait. Fuck you Slashdot.
saved everything by slashmydots · 2014-12-03 04:55 · Score: 1

This was shortly after the NES and partially Atari completely ruined everything. Companies thought they could put out anything that was vaguely a game, regardless of quality and fun level, and people would buy it. There were more bad Atari games than the NES but still, there were some real tragedies from no-name startup companies that instantly bankrupted them. When the Playstation came out, they enforced better standards and suddenly game makers realized games couldn't suck. This was just in time for the whole world to start considering video games a fad and collapsing the entire market.
1. Re:saved everything by __aaclcg7560 · 2014-12-03 05:04 · Score: 2
  
  Companies thought they could put out anything that was vaguely a game, regardless of quality and fun level, and people would buy it.
  Having worked in the video game industry for six years, nothing has changed.
2. Re:saved everything by slashmydots · 2014-12-03 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  Not exactly. Maybe for mobile but these days you spend $50 million, hire foreigners to do everything hard, make a deal with McDonalds and Doritos, bribe review companies, launch at midnight, and use early adopters as free beta testers or your game fails.
3. Re:saved everything by __aaclcg7560 · 2014-12-03 05:41 · Score: 1
  
  When the Hollywood and video game convergence was popular prior to the dot com bust, Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder) made their video games available on ALL platforms (Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube/GameBoy Advance, PC, and Sony PlayStation 2). As a lead video game tester, I told management that the PS2 ports to the GameCube weren't going to fly with Nintendo. They didn't believe me until Nintendo pushed back and even demanded the cancellation of some titles. Most of these titles were great on one or two platforms, but bombed on the other platforms.
4. Re:saved everything by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:21 · Score: 0
  
  You do realize NES did not ruin anything.
  What you're referring to is the market crash of 1983 which happened when every company possible started spamming horrible games made with no budgets in 2 weeks (like ET) onto the Atari and charging full price for them. This peaked with Atari, when there was so much garbage being released on the console that the market imploded.
  NES didn't release in America until 1985. While it had some stupid games, it was nowhere near the level of Atari.
5. Re:saved everything by ganjadude · 2014-12-03 06:39 · Score: 1
  
  nintendo single handedly changed things because they were the ones who enforced quality controls on the NES where atari simply let whoever make whatever. I think you are need to look into the NES quality seal
  
  --
  have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
6. Re:saved everything by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 07:04 · Score: 0
  
  And nothing like seeing your friend's prepubescent brother running around the house in his Fruit of the Looms screaming: "I want to play Nintendo!".
7. Re:saved everything by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 07:44 · Score: 0
  
  Are you kidding? The NES is the one that improved the market over the early '80s video game crash. If anything, the PlayStation moved the market a bit closer to cheap pump-and-dump titles thanks to the low price of CD media (check out some Barbie PSX games or the Olsen Twins). Of course, there were still great games on the PlayStation, so it was a more of best-of-everything market dominator.
8. Re:saved everything by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:24 · Score: 0
  
  That Seal meant NOTHING
  For as much as I love the NES there was a lot of complete garbage on that system that bore the "seal of quality"
  I curse you to play Ghostbusters, Super Pitfall & Milon's Secret Castle for EVER
9. Re:saved everything by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 13:39 · Score: 1
  
  As bad as they were, the pirate games that managed to sneak under the wire were worse. I curse *you* to play Bible Adventures and Action 52!
Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by NotDrWho · 2014-12-03 04:59 · Score: 1, Insightful

I generally hate any game products from Japanese countries, since they're such nationalistic/xenophobic and conformist society (Japan always gets all the releases first, every game is on-rails with the same lame anime style, and so on). But I did buy a PS1 (because I hate Nintendo even more than Sony) and a PS4 (because MS made all the wrong moves in the early days of the XboxOne). So that says SOMETHING about the quality of their consoles.

--
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
1. Re: Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 05:59 · Score: 0
  
  Why the fuck do you think your decision to buy those consoles says anything about anything? What a conceited idiot.
2. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by snookiex · 2014-12-03 06:09 · Score: 2
  
  Well, you should stop hating, it's no good for your heart. I don't buy Sony hardware anymore (except for gaming stuff ) because the quality of their products has decreased dramatically these last years. But I have to admit that the PS (portable and "desktop") is a neat piece of hardware, despite of their stupid content delivery policies and stuff like making proprietary memory cards for the PS Vita. PS is a classical example of good engineering and broken management.
  
  --
  Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
3. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:15 · Score: 0
  
  I believe there's only one Japanese country.
  Japan.
  But I'm not a geographer.
  Anyway, from the rest of your comment, clearly you are an infant.
4. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by ilguido · 2014-12-03 06:15 · Score: 1
  
  I generally hate any game products from Japanese countries, since they're such nationalistic/xenophobic and conformist society (Japan always gets all the releases first, every game is on-rails with the same lame anime style, and so on).
  I think there's irony somewhere in there. Or sarcasm. Or worse.
5. Re: Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by TheCastro1689 · 2014-12-03 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  I'd mod you up, but I commented earlier in this post.
6. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by TheCastro1689 · 2014-12-03 07:27 · Score: 1
  
  Aren't the PS Vita memory cards Sony's duo-sticks or whatever they're called?
7. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  Aren't the PS Vita memory cards Sony's duo-sticks or whatever they're called?
  Nope, that was the PSP. The Vita changed it again; they made it so you had to get a special memory card made solely for the Vita.
8. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by CronoCloud · 2014-12-03 08:13 · Score: 1
  
  They're tiny little things too. They probably went with a Vita only format because you could take the Duo's out of your PSP's and mount them up in a memory card reader (since Sony used them in other devices). Or just hook the PSP itself up since it mounts USB storage. It's trivially easy to copy anything over to it.
  However, nothing reads those Vita cards but Vita's and the playstation TV, and if you hook a Vita up to the PC, you only get limited access, because the transfers are controlled from the Vita end.
9. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 08:16 · Score: 0
  
  Probably a simple misstatement, but Japan is one country. Not sure how to interpret the statement of hating game products from "Japanese countries", as I know of only one Japanese country. :)
10. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:04 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, during WWII there were quite a few Japanese countries.
  But not after we showed them what American know-how can do with the atom.
11. Re: Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 09:17 · Score: 0
  
  Why the fuck do you think your decision to buy those consoles says anything about anything? What a conceited idiot.
  It was important enough to get you to respond.
12. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by Xest · 2014-12-03 23:24 · Score: 1
  
  "But I did buy a PS1 (because I hate Nintendo even more than Sony) and a PS4 (because MS made all the wrong moves in the early days of the XboxOne). So that says SOMETHING about the quality of their consoles."
  No it doesn't. Microsoft making wrong moves pre-release says nothing about their actual released system.
  I have all current gen and last gen consoles. The PS4 has the least polished software and controller, but has the nicest physical console design and best specs. The Xbox One has the most good games, by far the best controller, and a joint best UI with the Wii U, but the Xbox One is physically much to big and ugly. At release the Xbox One was also overpriced relative to performance but now it's often much easier to get it cheaper than the PS4 so offers better value for money at this point just over a year in to the X1/PS4 release.
  The Wii U is different, it's UI is polished, it's games are almost entirely consistently excellent quality, but it's underpowered relative to it's price, and there aren't enough games even though the bulk of what's there is incredibly high quality.
  So they all have their pros and cons, there's nothing inherently high quality about Sony's console, in fact, whilst the Xbox One and PS4 both had far more release issues than they should have I'd argue the PS4 had the lowest quality launch in terms of number and seriousness of defects. Neither were ready for release when they were.
13. Re:Even I bought a PS1 and PS4 by camazotz · 2014-12-08 08:00 · Score: 1
  
  "But I did buy a PS1 (because I hate Nintendo even more than Sony) and a PS4 (because MS made all the wrong moves in the early days of the XboxOne). So that says SOMETHING about the quality of their consoles."
  No it doesn't. Microsoft making wrong moves pre-release says nothing about their actual released system.
  I have all current gen and last gen consoles. The PS4 has the least polished software and controller, but has the nicest physical console design and best specs. The Xbox One has the most good games, by far the best controller, and a joint best UI with the Wii U, but the Xbox One is physically much to big and ugly. At release the Xbox One was also overpriced relative to performance but now it's often much easier to get it cheaper than the PS4 so offers better value for money at this point just over a year in to the X1/PS4 release.
  The Wii U is different, it's UI is polished, it's games are almost entirely consistently excellent quality, but it's underpowered relative to it's price, and there aren't enough games even though the bulk of what's there is incredibly high quality.
  So they all have their pros and cons, there's nothing inherently high quality about Sony's console, in fact, whilst the Xbox One and PS4 both had far more release issues than they should have I'd argue the PS4 had the lowest quality launch in terms of number and seriousness of defects. Neither were ready for release when they were.
  Which is interesting because as an owner of both the Xbox One and PS4 I tend to feel differently about the two by contrast. The PS4 has a smoother, more polished UI and overall experience, the controllers are more comfortable and the game selection is superior. Xbox One meanwhile feels like it has a UI which tried to innovate and failed to do so (in fairness I do not use Kinect) leading to a rather clunky and hard to navigate bastard offspring of the Windows 8 tile system....something the 360 also suffered from. PS4 just feels like it was designed with goal and that goal was reached and maintained. X1 feels like it's goal got shifted somewhere along the way....multiple times....and the end product does not quite match the expectations.
saved nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 05:23 · Score: 0

Actually the NES did more to enforce quality after the Atari crap-dump and it revived the game market a decade before the PS came along and brought us into the wonderful world of load screens and endless, unskippable FMV cutsceens.
Introduced DVD by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 05:52 · Score: 0

They introduced the DVD to gaming consoles. Along with the loading screen while the game data was read from these slow DVDs and the inability to save your game progress without buying extra memory cards since these could not be written to. DVDs have their advantages (lower cost - although the games still cost the same, higher capacity), but they also have their problems (speed, can't write to them - at least not without making them more expensive).
1. Re:Introduced DVD by Hamsterdan · 2014-12-03 06:07 · Score: 1
  
  You can fit a lot of savegames on a memory card. Besides, Cartridges and optical discs were better since games had to be more or less bug-free. Now with HDDs in consoles they are selling alpha material and patching afterwards.
  
  --
  I've got better things to do tonight than die.
2. Re:Introduced DVD by Rakarra · 2014-12-03 08:20 · Score: 2
  
  You can fit a lot of savegames on a memory card.
  Not on the original PS1 memory card. It was like using floppy disks again, since the official PS1 memory card held 128kB of data, divided into 15 8kB blocks. Many games required more than one block, meaning that if you had a bunch of games that needed to save, and a household with more than one user, you needed a lot of memory cards, or a "super" memory card. I had one which was 2MB I think, divided into 16 128k "pages." Buttons on the memory card itself selected what page was active and would be read by the playstation. I have not-so-fond memories of corrupted memory cards (the non-Sony ones were problematic) and of using the PS1 interface to copy saved game data between cards.
3. Re:Introduced DVD by CronoCloud · 2014-12-03 11:02 · Score: 1
  
  Many games required more than one block
  I wouldn't say many. Most were 1 block, some were 2, more than 2 was uncommon.
  The worst one I have is PSone Diablo. 10 blocks for the actual game save, another block for saved options, and another block for saved characters you weren't currently playing. The second worst one I have is the PS1 Diablo-clone, Darkstone. 6 blocks for a save.
ugh by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:08 · Score: 0

Okay everything in that article is subjective BS.
PS2 lasted 13 years? Yea, no it didn't.
Games were still being made. That's not the same thing as the PS2 lasting halfway through last gen as an actual console anyone cared about. Facts:
PS2 has no hdmi. The only model with built in ethernet is the PS2 slim. It's nearly impossible to use one on a modern TV without horrendously bad image quality - because duh, CRT tvs are dead.
As for the rest, uh, no. Wii U is a "console" and had a touch screen controller first. It's also a better system than PS4, and I got over Nintendo 15 years ago. PS2 basically did none of these things first, or best, and is only being recognized because it's the # 1 selling console in history.
1. Re:ugh by CronoCloud · 2014-12-03 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  The only model with built in ethernet is the PS2 slim.
  If memory serves me correctly, a couple of the later "Fat" PS2 boxes included Network Adapters. That being just before the release of the Slim's
  
  It's nearly impossible to use one on a modern TV without horrendously bad image quality
  Component cables, set the thing for Pb/Cr/Cb output. While most games are 4:3 480i, there are some with 480p or 1080i and/or widescreen modes. Even at 480i, they'll still look nicer over component.
2. Re:ugh by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:54 · Score: 0
  
  Component cables, set the thing for Pb/Cr/Cb output. While most games are 4:3 480i, there are some with 480p or 1080i and/or widescreen modes. Even at 480i, they'll still look nicer over component.
  This! If you still have and want to try or were frustrated with your PS2 after trying on a flat screen television, please try this. It's a world of difference. It's still not absolutely perfect (that's why I've kept my Trinitron tube television around) but it's WAY better than composite cables.
3. Re:ugh by CronoCloud · 2014-12-03 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  Another little tidbit is that at one time, Sony was planning on releasing a PS2 badged LCDTV/monitor. IIRC it was a 1080i model, 15" Think they were planning on selling it for $500. I think some of the SCEfoo people on the PS2 Linux forums had them and loved them.
  You can see the thing here: http://www.psu.com/forums/show...
  They showed it off at a few events in 2001, alongside that PS2 running Netscape/AOL. That's the same keyboard/mouse they bundled with the PS2 Linux kits.
4. Re:ugh by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-03 08:17 · Score: 1
  
  PS2 lasted 13 years? Yea, no it didn't.
  Pretty damn close it did. Sony released the PS2 on March 4, 2000. Until January 4, 2013, Sony would sell you a new PS2. Twelve years and 10 months. Close enough.
was going to say exactly this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 06:40 · Score: 0

"I was going to say exactly this."
translates to "+1" in googlese
DieHard Vs. My Playstation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-03 08:37 · Score: 0

In the spirit of the anniversary, I thought I'd post this humorous account of one poor fellow's attempt to order an imported Sony Playstation from DieHard Gamefan magazine in December of 1994. Taken from Usenet and originally posted by Stephen Gravina:
12/07/94
I get my overtime heavy paycheck after three consecutive
70 hour weeks and decide to reward myself with a brand new
Playstation. I don't care how much it costs, I want one in
my hands tomorrow. I call Die Hard ("simply the best in the
business"):
ME: Do you have Playstations in stock?
DIE HARD GUY: We got 'em
ME: You actually have them in stock? I can get one overnighted
for tomorrow?
DIE HARD GUY: Yup.
ME: You're actually looking at one right now? If I asked you
to, you could touch it and describe the sensation?
DIE HARD GUY: Yup.
I give him my credit card info and address and the 800# at my
office. I ask him again, "I WILL get this tomorrow, right?"
"Yup."
Cool.
12/08/94
No UPS today.
No FedEx today.
Phone call:
ME: I ordered a Playstation. You told me you'd ship it yest-
erday, yet I am Playstationless. What's up?
DH: We got a bunch stuck in customs, man. It'll go out tomorrow.
ME: Somebody told me yesterday that he could actually touch one
if I wanted him to.
DH: I don't know about that, they're stuck in customs. It'll
go out tomorrow. [this means I won't actually get it
until Monday 12/14]
ME: FOR SURE it'll go out?
DH: Yup.
OK, shit, I'll just wait till monday. I want that Playstation.
12/09/94
Phone call:
ME: I just wanted to check if the Playstation I ordered is
going out today...
DH: Yup.
ME: It's going out today?
DH: You bet.
ME: I wasn't pre-booking the damn thing. You told me you
had them in stock, so I'm gonna be pissed if it doesn't come.
DH: I know, it'll be in the mail today.
12/10/94-12/11/94 (the weekend)
I am obsessed. I want that Playstation. They have my money.
Give me my Playstation. I clear off some space next to the
television where it will go, fall into a feverish sleep, come
around and repeat the preparations for Monday. Sometimes I
leaf through Next Generation magazine and pretend I'm playing
Motor Toon Grand Prix. Monday comes, but not fast.
12/12/94
It's Playstation day. Mr. UPS man and/or the FedEx chick should
arrive any friggin minute...
No UPS.
No FedEx.
Phone Call:
ME: I'm calling to see if the Playstation I ordered went out
friday?
DH: [CHECKS TO SEE] Nope. That'll go out Wednesday.
20 bad years by Stormwatch · 2014-12-03 10:59 · Score: 0

Playstation: 20 years of the most awful gamepads out there!

--
Circumcision is child abuse.
1. Re:20 bad years by qwak23 · 2014-12-04 14:55 · Score: 1
  
  While in the grand scheme of things, gamepad quality ranks somewhere near the color of socks I am currently wearing, if I had mod points, I would totally mod you up.
Looking back... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-04 17:04 · Score: 0

...to the company that used to publish the best video games in the weird, and now has released OS-locking rootkits, had all its data breached, and had it's previous console repeatedly compromised.
PlayStation 20 years old by VitolLub · 2014-12-05 23:02 · Score: 1

http://www.devbattles.com/en/s...