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A Look At the Rare Hybrid Console Built By Sony and Nintendo
An anonymous reader writes: Long before Sony and Nintendo were rivals, the two companies were partners for a brief time. In 1988 the duo started work on SNES-CD, a video game media format that was supposed to augment the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher-capacity CDs. In 1991 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space) but it never saw the light of day. Now, more than two decades later, Imgur user DanDiebold has uploaded images of the unreleased console. This particular model (about 200 Play Station prototypes were created) confirms that the system was supposed to be compatible with existing SNES titles as well as titles to be released in the SNES-CD format. In other words, it would have been the world's first hybrid console: game developers and gamers alike would be able to use both SNES cartridges and CDs. If you want to learn more about this particular prototype, check out the following thread on Assembler Games.
Bullshit. The TurboGrafx-16 CD came way before this vaporware.
In 1998 the duo started work on SNES-CD, a video game media format that was supposed to augment the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher-capacity CDs. In 1991 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space) but it never saw the light of day.
I think the first year should read "1988" no?
There have been "hybrid" consoles which take disks (floppies and/or CDs) for YEARS before this. They typically were two-part, with a disk drive which attached to the main console/cartridge part.
They were _very_ common in Asia, but broke every intellectual property law in existence so could never be sold to the mainstream. They got to many countries via underground markets.
There were several variants for SNES, including SuperUFO and I think one called GameDoctor. There was a CD burner/loader for N64 too.
Sony/Nintendo and the mainstream media likes to pretend that something doesn't exist if it doesn't conform to their ideas about intellectual property.
Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space)
In the pictures there is no space between play and station in the name.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
it just is.
Per page 7 of the forum, it appears to be a fake:
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/nintendo-snes-playstation-finally-uncovered.57166/page-7
from a French modder that does custom cases.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
I see even Slashdot isn't immune to getting suckered into posting fake news?
and lame
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
The message board post saying it was a fake was a fake. It was in French and they were joking about how they're so good at making repros that its theirs and its a fake. Except they were joking.
This doesn't prove its real, but I wouldn't be quite so quick to jump to the conclusion that its a fake.
The guy who has it seems to be worried about plugging into the "7.6V" power input, but its pretty obvious that a 7.5V psone power supply will run it just fine.
In cases like this, skepticism is to be expected, but the "proof" that its "fake" was an admitted joke, so lets roll it back to "maybe fake" instead of "definitely fake" until more info comes out.
I'm not really sure what is meant by "the first hybrid console". It isn't the first dedicated games machine to have multiple formats in one box (I believe that honor goes to the Sega Master System) and it isn't the first system to be backwards compatible (I'm pretty sure that was the Atari 7800, but there may have been something earlier). Yes I AM being pedantic.
Getting an article posted on Slashdot recently is as easy as getting to the front page of Reddit. Is anyone even editing submissions anymore?
It's looks real. I haven't seen that device since it was sitting in the design center in Tokyo. Last time I saw it, it was in the Aoyama Twin Building on the 15 floor where we shared offices with Epic Sony which became Sony Music Entertainment). BTW, in the video the guy has since posted, there is a mark on the back that he says looks like a Z or a 5. It7s neither. It's the Japanese character often used as a quality control signoff.