Send PM | Track
Shnazzyone
 
Role: Contributor
Score: 33160
CRank: (8)
Bubbles: (4)
Tracked by: 7 users
Ignored by: 25 users
Gender: -
Location: -
Website:
 
 
 
Game History 101: True story of The Playstation and why Nintendo deserves some Cred.
115 days 4 hours ago | by: Shnazzyone
Ever  take a good hard look at  your Playstation controller? Yes, you may have spent hours with this 16 button and two joystick devise but it has some similarities that few really notice. Namely that this controller shares a basic button pattern with a pinnacle of game evolution. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

The “revolution” in gaming  many children of the 90’s praise is using a controller setup from 1991. Some might  call me a liar. This image should sufficiently illustrate the similarities before you are too quick to dismiss this.  Thusly why I illustrated below.



MY GAWD!!!  That SNES controller has an erection!!!


“Surely just a coincidence!” Someone might exclaim. Well!  There is an very interesting piece of information  that helps to explain this. Once upon a time Nintendo  was considering CD for their follow up to the first NES.  Back in the late 80’s the tech intrigued them.  Nintendo as usual was planning ahead. Realizing CD-ROM potential before even Sega or the Panasonic  had even caught on. They consulted Philips and Sony on an SNES that used CD-ROM discs instead of cartridges.

 “SNES-CD” was meant to be something to upgrade their wildly popular 16-bit System. While not abandon it. Philips and Sony both wooed The big N at. In the end Sony showed a little more. This Edge SONY had was not just that they were a fellow Japanese company... NO NO NO. Legend tells of  Sony fanboy hero, Ken Kutaragi,  creating a presentation for what their SPC-700 processor tech could do.  SONY is well known for their incredible presentations and this must have wowed Nintendo quite a bit because Nintendo announced their partnership in their next endeavor in CES 1991. When the SNES-CD was announced along side the release of SNES in the US.



Hiroshi Yamauchi circa 1987
*Artists rendering*



Unfortunately during the span between 1988 and 1991 Nintendo’s CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi, had failed to read their contract with SONY all the way. Apparently their was a Evil little clause Sony hid in that fine print. Basically it gave sony not just a little but ALL rights to every game or franchise made for the SNES-CD.  Sony could have owned Mario... yup... how weird is that?

Angered by Sony’s dirty tactics Hiroshi decided to drop the contract deeming it “Unacceptable”. Nintendo was not losing the most beloved licenses in history due to some sneaky wording and it was broke off.

Nintendo  then foolishly struck out and tried to move the project to Philips.  Sneaking behind Sony’s back, the jilted lover joined forces with a competitor totally abandoning every bit of support for their SNES-CD project with Sony. They just made sure they would have ownership over all games they made on the Philips machine.

Together more issues arose between Philips and Nintendo. Essentially Nintendo did the same thing to Philips as they did to Sony when their R&D department came up with the N64. Of course it was this treacherous relationship resulted in the blackest hole in the Nintendo game library. The Notorious CD-i Zelda titles and a number of awful Mario titles.




Item 1... A rough breakup letter from Philips to Nintendo.

Meanwhile  Sony was left with a near done R&D project of their own. Nintendo left them holding the bag. So with as good as sony was at tech they must have figured they could do better. They were already ahead of the game (no pun intended) on the technology. Compact Disks were easily the future. More storage and cheaper production costs meant it should really be done. But Sega had inferior processors and Nintendo was staying on it’s cart marketing. They decided to finish it up and present the world with the Play Station .

Nintendo actually  tried in vain to sue Sony out of releasing the Play Station on the grounds that Nintendo came up with the name.  This wasn’t enough for the judge it would seem and Sony released it’s first Playstation under the name Play Station. Apparently their is alot of difference that can exist in a space. One of those differences was an actual SNES cart slot. The first ever PS had an SNES slot in it.

I tried in vain to find a picture of this crazy devise showing the twisted amalgamation of sony and Nintendo eloquently embodied in a prototype. Few of these machines exist and it seems even less of the actual pictures exist as well. Even on the internets home of all bizarre info (including the research for this blog).  The meanest bit was Nintendo had the upper hand on this machine.  Nintendo owned the rights to franchises and games for the devise. Sony could use the port for SNES carts and Nintendo got to keep the tech from sony that made the audio in our favorite SNES titles sound so damn good. (opera scene in FFVI anyone?).

In the end... sony made a bold choice. They decided to nix the SNES cart slot and just release the system with a CD reader and the SPC-700 tech. Sony would strike out on it’s own in the  seas of gaming history. Almost in a nod to the systems roots Sony refused to drop the name for the project. Nintendo birthed the name but Sony took it anyway. With one minor alteration... one little space. Sony’s Play Station became The Sony Playstation.



Ken defends himself on C-span.... this image is for realZ!(not really).


So now you  sony kids know. While Sony might have shaped your little adolescent minds it was ultimately Nintendo who funded the development of your precious game machine in it’s early life. It’s okay if your angry but at least you know the truth. Perhaps now you can stop attacking us poor Nintendo fans since we are both cut from the same cloth. Perhaps now that you know this peace will reign between our kind on this clusterfuck known as N4G.

At least until someone brings up Microsoft that is... go get em slugger!


Sources: Wiki, IGN: History of Playstation

(PS Sorry for the alterations made it in a text editor and didn't expect the complications involved in my simple html :-/

<< Back to Shnazzyone's Blog - Comments(12)


 
| Info | Report
 
Comments(12)
Comment Settings
Showing: 1 - 12 of 12 Comments
Shut this user up Let user speak
Shnazzyone - 116 days ago
PM
Track
Ignore
1 -
sorry to anyone who read this thing between 12:30 am and 1:30 am Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning. I was still fumbling with getting all my goofy Photoshops just right.

EDIT:

Fiddled with this until 2am sunday morn just to make sure it was alright. Hopefully it is.
Agree(1) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
Cajun Chicken - 115 days 3 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
2 -
I knew half of this already. But it is bloody hilarious the way presented.
Agree(1) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
TheBand1t - 115 days 2 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
3 -
This is common knowledge.
Agree(1) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
BaseballFan15 - 115 days 2 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
4 - The way I see it
Sony is the new Nintendo
Microsoft is the new Sega
Agree(1) | Disagree(3) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
Saaking - 115 days 1 hour ago
PM
Track
Ignore
4.1 -
So you admit MS is failing?

Nintendo=Nintendo
Sony=Sony
MS= me to!
Agree(2) | Disagree(6) | Report
Shut this user up Let user speak
Soda Popinsky - 114 days 23 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
4.2 -
Sega never beat Nintendo.
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report
Shut this user up Let user speak
potenquatro - 114 days 22 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
5 - Great read.
I love revisiting history. While this is common knowledge to many gamers, many kids don't know of a time without Sony consoles. I remember when Sony was considered the MS of the industry lol. I however, did not know about Nintendo and Philips ending in such a bad way. It totally makes sense though cause those ZELDA games were horilble. Is that letter from Philips to Nintendo for real?? If it is, that is amazing! Very funny letter, but they obviously failed. Didn't CD-i have a litle analog stick on the pad of the controler. I guess Nintendo jerked them out of that one too lol.

I agree Sony mimicked Nintendo. I also think MS did the same with SEGA and their controler.

EDIT: the earthworm jim soundtrack on SNES was also incredible.
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
Cajun Chicken - 114 days 12 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
6 -
I'd just like to point out, 'Super Kratos Allstars'.
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
TheBand1t - 114 days 12 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
6.1 -
LoL
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report
Shut this user up Let user speak
Wiimaniac - 114 days 5 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
7 -
I don't get it...What point do you want to make with this again? =|

Here you can find more about this event but told from a trusted site: http://www.1up.com/do/featu...
Agree(1) | Disagree(1) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
Shnazzyone - 114 days 2 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
7.1 - Just like to share it for people who don't know.
I was just reading, researching and writing about this a while back. I just finished it and felt I wanted to share. I may not be credible but my sources at the end are. I can add that source if you like. But it's all the same history with minor deeper details. I also had fun with my images.
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report
Shut this user up Let user speak
tolmul - 107 days 15 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
8 -
Thanks for sharing. I think you did a great job!
Agree(1) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Add Comment
Gamer Zone Posting Guidelines
The Gamer Zone is for members who want a more friendly and civilized discussion. This section is heavily moderated by the N4G staff, so leave your fanboyism at the door please. Members who are unable to behave in a mature and respectful manner will be temporarily or permanently restricted from posting in the Gamer Zone. Using words such as Xbots and Sony droids, or other words from the console war vocabulary, is strictly prohibited in this Zone.
Read More...
 
 
You must log in to post comments.
Username:  
Password:  
 
 
About N4G
N4G is a social game news site that covers the game industry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
More Info... | Submit News