Have some Nintendo Playstation eyecandy.

[Anime-niac]

This looks pretty sweet, too bad it didn't become official.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/06/nintendo-playstation-is-real-and-it-works/

[te72]

You know, I'm grateful that things worked out the way they did. If we hadn't had the Nintendo / Sony split, we never would have had the PS1 / N64 competition in the gaming market. Who else would have been making games if not for the rivalry between the big N and Sony?

[aloram]

You know, I'm grateful that things worked out the way they did. If we hadn't had the Nintendo / Sony split, we never would have had the PS1 / N64 competition in the gaming market. Who else would have been making games if not for the rivalry between the big N and Sony?

It would have stayed more of a "Sega vs. Nintendo" market, at least for a little while. Sega would have done things differently with the Saturn if it hadn't been for Sony. For one, the Saturn was originally going to be quite a different machine than what it became, but Sega changed it in response to the design of the Playstation. Had Sony never entered the market, perhaps Square wouldn't have jumped ship and Final Fantasy VII would have been a Nintendo 64 title, as originally planned. Basically, everything would worked out very differently.

Here's some more info:

"Seeing the Sony threat on the horizon like a polygonal T-Rex (which is probably the demo that scared Sega execs in the first place), Sega changed the design of the Saturn. Not by creating a dedicated 3D machine. No, it added a second processor to work alongside that magnificent 2D circuitry. The result, in theory, was an even more powerful machine. But in practice, this unusually complex architecture was disastrous. It was just too difficult to get good results for the majority of developers."

http://www.gamesradar.com/sega-saturn-turns-20-its-not-shit-as-you-think/

[Kain]

It would have stayed more of a "Sega vs. Nintendo" market, at least for a little while. Sega would have done things differently with the Saturn if it hadn't been for Sony. For one, the Saturn was originally going to be quite a different machine than what it became, but Sega changed it in response to the design of the Playstation. Had Sony never entered the market, perhaps Square wouldn't have jumped ship and Final Fantasy VII would have been a Nintendo 64 title, as originally planned. Basically, everything would worked out very differently.

Here's some more info:

"Seeing the Sony threat on the horizon like a polygonal T-Rex (which is probably the demo that scared Sega execs in the first place), Sega changed the design of the Saturn. Not by creating a dedicated 3D machine. No, it added a second processor to work alongside that magnificent 2D circuitry. The result, in theory, was an even more powerful machine. But in practice, this unusually complex architecture was disastrous. It was just too difficult to get good results for the majority of developers."

http://www.gamesradar.com/sega-saturn-turns-20-its-not-shit-as-you-think/

Sure we can say that, but would it have been the same game? sure it might have had some of the characters and somethings that are similar to the final product but i'd say i wouldn't have been the same game at all. Also would the N64 have been the same machine had Sony not released the Playstation and so on? We can speculate on so many levels as to what could have happened and so forth,

As far as Saturn goes that is true. In The book Rise And Fall Of SEGA the saturn is well documented, it is a great read. However, the Sega CD was already on the market and the 32X was pretty much on it's way, and they were leaving a bad taste in the mouths of developers already. i still believe that the downfall of SEGA during this period was inevitable, i don't think they would have lost as much money as they ultimately did but nonetheless they would have operated just a little better and maybe longer.

A lot of people forget that Sony pretty much really had nothing like Sega and Nintendo. No Mario, No Sonic, No Castlevania, No Mega Man and other well known franchises that were appearing on the Sega and Nintendo consoles as well as others. They earned the people's hard earned cash and rewarded the people with it. Between 1995-1998 Sony had it all. Great platformers, Multiplayer games, Sports, Fighting, And those great RPG's. Sure some games also appeared on other consoles, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider were also on the Saturn, in 3 years to earn the trust and reward the gamer is something special. MGS, Symphony Of The Night, Crash Bandicoot, Twisted Metal, Gran Turismo,, Spyro, FFVII, Tekken 3, Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain and the list goes on, N64 was great during this time as well, but for a company like sony to come along and give quality titles on it's console like they did was amazing. At the end of the day, it worked out for almost everybody. Great games across all platforms during this period and to this day great games all around and one hell of a thing when Sony came to play. Gave us more and it made for better games, and it hurt our wallets but worth it.

[aloram]

Good insights, Kain. Thanks.

[te72]

"Seeing the Sony threat on the horizon like a polygonal T-Rex (which is probably the demo that scared Sega execs in the first place), Sega changed the design of the Saturn. Not by creating a dedicated 3D machine. No, it added a second processor to work alongside that magnificent 2D circuitry. The result, in theory, was an even more powerful machine. But in practice, this unusually complex architecture was disastrous. It was just too difficult to get good results for the majority of developers."

Does anyone else here have the demo disk that this is referencing? Still have mine, it was a developer demo, full of basically test animations that were rendered by the PS1 in real time. Came with the early PS1's, although I dunno how long they included them with the console. Funny I still remember that dino demo...

Also Kain, the success of the Playstation pretty much saved Sony as a company, to my understanding. They still dabble in a variety of electronics, but they've had their slumps to suffer through, and have been able to lean on the PS brand to carry them through the rough economies.

[aloram]

Thanks for the input, te82. Here's the dinosaur you mentioned:

[Kain]

Does anyone else here have the demo disk that this is referencing? Still have mine, it was a developer demo, full of basically test animations that were rendered by the PS1 in real time. Came with the early PS1's, although I dunno how long they included them with the console. Funny I still remember that dino demo...

Also Kain, the success of the Playstation pretty much saved Sony as a company, to my understanding. They still dabble in a variety of electronics, but they've had their slumps to suffer through, and have been able to lean on the PS brand to carry them through the rough economies.

I don't know if Saved is the right term. When i think of a company being saved i think of IBM and Lou Gerstner taking over. IBM in the early 90's was on the brink of going extinct until Lou came and took over. He came from a Tobacco and Food company. Obviously IBM is a different beast and a different field but he saved them. Sure IBM is one of the best and well know companies in the world and the thought of them going out was huge back in the day. Just need someone to come in and give a new approach. Not saying everything he did was right but it saved the Big Blue. Yes Sony like any company tried different things and the big loss for sony was the VHS and Betamax war. As far Playstation goes obviously it helped the company really well. I don't think sony was in any severe financial nightmare like i mentioned IBM, i'm sure they had sluggish sales and not meeting the quota on some things and making the expected profits for a small period, no different than any other company. But that's far from being on the brink of extinction. Not to mention Playstation was a gamble, a big one, because as i mentioned before they had no games, or well known mascots that you can quickly identify with the system. And above all else it costs Millions to start and make a console. Also when the Playstation lunched it was perceived as it's own thing rather than a Sony machine. Sure like any company who is either making big money, or losing just a little or losing a lot of money they all want to stumble and come across the next big thing that will reward them well. And Sony hit the jackpot with the Playstation. Nintendo had problems with the N64, great console some of my favorites are on it as well but compared to the original Playstation it was not even close. And then the Gamecube, once again didn't do well compared to the arrival of the Xbox and the PS2 juggernaut. They came back with the Wii, and that helped them out really well. At the same time the Game Boy color, the Game Boy Advance and the eventual DS helped Nintendo really well during the time their main console sales were sluggish. Sony does however need something now. The last several years haven't been kind to them.

[te72]

Perhaps it was after the first few years of the PS that Sony was having financial troubles that I am thinking of. Could have sworn that the PS is what kept them afloat as a company. Perhaps after the ipod launch took a bite (pardon the pun, really not intended) out of the sales of the walkman?

Also, what are you thinking Sony needs now? I haven't picked one up myself, but the PS4 seems to be doing quite well, and I probably know just as many, if not more people, who own the PS3 compared to the 360.

[Kain]

Perhaps it was after the first few years of the PS that Sony was having financial troubles that I am thinking of. Could have sworn that the PS is what kept them afloat as a company. Perhaps after the ipod launch took a bite (pardon the pun, really not intended) out of the sales of the walkman?

Also, what are you thinking Sony needs now? I haven't picked one up myself, but the PS4 seems to be doing quite well, and I probably know just as many, if not more people, who own the PS3 compared to the 360.

The PS4 is selling well, the Ps3 and the Xbox 360 are really close, however early on PS3 was sold at a loss a big one. Kind of Ironic that the PS3 came out a decade after the Saturn and pretty much copied their mistakes at launch. The world we live in is totally different. Even the PC sales are down, granted pc's are cheap, and mostly everyone almost has one but people want portability and tablets are the way to go and mostly people want one or the other. They want a Samsung one or a Apple one. Not to mention TV's aren't TV's like they once were. Home market is where Sony was great at, Their TV's were great, the VCR's after they started making them, the Stereos and so on. But the market changed so drastically in the new millennium. And with the arrival of Ipods, and Iphones and the Ipads hard to keep up as a new year brings the basic same thing over and people line up to buy it which makes me sick. At one point Blackberry was on the mountain had a clear insight into the mobility aspect and they lost track and went down. The things people want has been there since the dawn of man obviously but since year 2000 everyone wants it now. Voice control on TV, i never understood the fascination but ok. They want app's on their TV's, They want WiFi, they want credit cards on their phones, because taking it out of your wallet is too much of a hassle. We want a emoji to order pizza, and send a text to do it, because dialing a number of a pizza shop and saying i want a large pepperoni and two sodas is so outdated. Every device needs to be touch screen item almost. And Sony like many other companies who do various other things are in this loop of having to meet these needs of these needy people. PSPGo was junk don't know why they ever released that, and the PSP and Vita great machines but you're selling it to a special market. You're selling it to a gamer. Most people have a smartphone now, kids in elementary school have phones, you go back just 10 years or so ago, maybe 1 in 30 people on the street have a phone. Now anyone you pass has some kind of phone, if not a phone a Tablet. It's crazy. Now phone carriers are buying out your contracts and giving you free smartphones just so you'd come and be their customer and so forth. I remember when they wouldn't give you a 99 cent ringtone for free a 4-5 second part of a song as your ringtone. Now they can buy out your 600 dollar contract, go figure. Maybe sony has something up it's sleeve for 2016, maybe not but as i said when you are a company trying to meet the needs of many people in different needs and are in a tech field in today's day in age is harder. In the 1990's and decades before that was easier but now not really. Especially for a company in a home game console field. Not sounding negative here or like Abe Simpson and hating the times we live in but, it's the truth and the reality.

[te72]

Kain, I totally understand what you mean now. I have an iphone as a work phone, and I can't stand the thing. It does what it wants, when it wants. Boss tried calling me the other day, didn't go through on my end, but he reached my voicemail. I showed him my call list, where his call was nowhere to be found, yet on his end, right there. Trying to type on the thing, is a nightmare. Held vertically the keys are too small and scrunched together. Held horizontally, the phone is a bit wide for my hands, and I can't really see what I'm typing beyond the line I'm on.

Basically my biggest issue with apple is that they refuse to release a finished product. I don't buy things that you're still working on. Imagine if the house I built had plumbing that "sort of" worked...

If Blackberry would release a phone with buttons that weren't so darned tiny, I think I might be on board with them, as I really appreciate their dedication to mobile security.

All in all, I get what you're saying. Sony was on top of the mountain back in the 90's. I had their TV's, VCR (I think?), PS1 and 2, obviously, and my stereo might have been by them as well. Good news is, not EVERYTHING has to be mobile. I'm listening to my music on some pretty sweet Klipsch speakers, and uh... good luck being mobile with those haha. One of the comforts of home, but I don't need everywhere I go to be my home...

[badinsults]

I'm not so sure that Sony can afford to bring out a successor to the PS4. Yes, the system is selling alright globally, but I would say that the console gaming market in Japan is pretty much dead. The investors here are going to be wondering what exactly Sony can do to reinvigorate that. Meanwhile, the big game makers in Japan are migrating to mobile phone games, or getting out of the games business altogether to get to the lucrative pachinko market. The Playstation propped up Sony during the early 2000s as the other components of the consumer electronics market dropped out (they eventually dumped their computer division to Lenovo). I think it is pretty telling that pretty much all the PS4 games in the top selling charts during the New Years holiday (probably the biggest shopping week of the year) are western developed games.

[RobertDuncan]

I wonder what would gaming be like right now. But one thing I do like is that back in the days the psx was untouchable period. It had so many wonderful is like crash bandicoot,parappa the rapper, and many more. Besides arcade fighters and the nes/snes the psx made reading game magazines really fun and entertaining.

[RobertDuncan]

The PS4 is selling well, the Ps3 and the Xbox 360 are really close, however early on PS3 was sold at a loss a big one. Kind of Ironic that the PS3 came out a decade after the Saturn and pretty much copied their mistakes at launch. The world we live in is totally different. Even the PC sales are down, granted pc's are cheap, and mostly everyone almost has one but people want portability and tablets are the way to go and mostly people want one or the other. They want a Samsung one or a Apple one. Not to mention TV's aren't TV's like they once were. Home market is where Sony was great at, Their TV's were great, the VCR's after they started making them, the Stereos and so on. But the market changed so drastically in the new millennium. And with the arrival of Ipods, and Iphones and the Ipads hard to keep up as a new year brings the basic same thing over and people line up to buy it which makes me sick. At one point Blackberry was on the mountain had a clear insight into the mobility aspect and they lost track and went down. The things people want has been there since the dawn of man obviously but since year 2000 everyone wants it now. Voice control on TV, i never understood the fascination but ok. They want app's on their TV's, They want WiFi, they want credit cards on their phones, because taking it out of your wallet is too much of a hassle. We want a emoji to order pizza, and send a text to do it, because dialing a number of a pizza shop and saying i want a large pepperoni and two sodas is so outdated. Every device needs to be touch screen item almost. And Sony like many other companies who do various other things are in this loop of having to meet these needs of these needy people. PSPGo was junk don't know why they ever released that, and the PSP and Vita great machines but you're selling it to a special market. You're selling it to a gamer. Most people have a smartphone now, kids in elementary school have phones, you go back just 10 years or so ago, maybe 1 in 30 people on the street have a phone. Now anyone you pass has some kind of phone, if not a phone a Tablet. It's crazy. Now phone carriers are buying out your contracts and giving you free smartphones just so you'd come and be their customer and so forth. I remember when they wouldn't give you a 99 cent ringtone for free a 4-5 second part of a song as your ringtone. Now they can buy out your 600 dollar contract, go figure. Maybe sony has something up it's sleeve for 2016, maybe not but as i said when you are a company trying to meet the needs of many people in different needs and are in a tech field in today's day in age is harder. In the 1990's and decades before that was easier but now not really. Especially for a company in a home game console field. Not sounding negative here or like Abe Simpson and hating the times we live in but, it's the truth and the reality.

Agree I don't think using digital credit is a good idea. I wonder will people become social phobes the way technology is isolating us yet at the same time bringing us together. I mean I've seen people walking on the streets who stare at their iPhone to avoid eye contact,same thing at restaurant and other venus. Heck one lady died walking that way not to mention I now see WAY MORE accidents on the streets thanks to texting.

[Kain]

Basically my biggest issue with apple is that they refuse to release a finished product. I don't buy things that you're still working on. Imagine if the house I built had plumbing that "sort of" worked...

That's Apple, kind of Ironic that long time ago Steve Jobs was bashing Microsoft and them making mediocre products and such. I am waiting for the new Iphone, not getting one myself but just watching these folks waiting in line for it for days and watching the news cover it like people are getting a reinvention of the wheel if you will. And when they come out of the Apple store they celebrate like they found the cure for something. No different than most phones i suppose, but it will be a scene.

Agree I don't think using digital credit is a good idea. I wonder will people become social phones the way technology is isolating us yet at the same time bringing us together. I mean I've seen people walking on the streets who stare at their iPhone to avoid eye contact,same thing at restaurant and other venus. Heck one lady died walking that way not to mention I now see WAY MORE accidents on the streets thanks to texting.

I'll tell you myself it's not that long ago that things seem NORMAL if you will. But in the last 10 years or so, we've changed drastically. And not for the good. I'd be in the store and waiting in line with a cart full of things to pay and the person in front of me, is texting away not realizing that they have to pay and so forth. And even when they realize it, they don't stop they have to finish the text. It drives me crazy. I'm not anti technology or anything like that, but sometimes i see my VHS and remember the simpler times. Brings back those great memories.

[te72]

I'm not so sure that Sony can afford to bring out a successor to the PS4. Yes, the system is selling alright globally, but I would say that the console gaming market in Japan is pretty much dead. The investors here are going to be wondering what exactly Sony can do to reinvigorate that. Meanwhile, the big game makers in Japan are migrating to mobile phone games, or getting out of the games business altogether to get to the lucrative pachinko market. The Playstation propped up Sony during the early 2000s as the other components of the consumer electronics market dropped out (they eventually dumped their computer division to Lenovo). I think it is pretty telling that pretty much all the PS4 games in the top selling charts during the New Years holiday (probably the biggest shopping week of the year) are western developed games.

Hate to admit it, but you make a good point here. All the wacky things that made Japanese games fun and quirky are fading out. Not entirely, mind you, but enough that it is noticeable when you mention it.

However, I have to ask, how could they even improve upon what we have in the current generation of consoles? Sure, they could be a little bit more powerful, to compete with the higher end PC, but that is how gaming has ALWAYS been. You either spend 5-10x as much as you would on a console and build a sweet PC, or you just buy a console and enjoy the same experience at 80-90% of the visceral quality.

My point is, the current hardware is ridiculously powerful. Where is the need for a PS5 or Xbox Spin-Me-Round?

That's Apple, kind of Ironic that long time ago Steve Jobs was bashing Microsoft and them making mediocre products and such. I am waiting for the new Iphone, not getting one myself but just watching these folks waiting in line for it for days and watching the news cover it like people are getting a reinvention of the wheel if you will. And when they come out of the Apple store they celebrate like they found the cure for something. No different than most phones i suppose, but it will be a scene.

Haha, you know if I happen to live in an area that had one of those stores, I might go sit outside, set up a frame to look like movie curtains between myself and the store entrance, and eat some popcorn.

"Yay I just bought a product that is half baked, and I get the PRIVILEGE of being the QA department!!!"

[RobertDuncan]

That's Apple, kind of Ironic that long time ago Steve Jobs was bashing Microsoft and them making mediocre products and such. I am waiting for the new Iphone, not getting one myself but just watching these folks waiting in line for it for days and watching the news cover it like people are getting a reinvention of the wheel if you will. And when they come out of the Apple store they celebrate like they found the cure for something. No different than most phones i suppose, but it will be a scene.

I'll tell you myself it's not that long ago that things seem NORMAL if you will. But in the last 10 years or so, we've changed drastically. And not for the good. I'd be in the store and waiting in line with a cart full of things to pay and the person in front of me, is texting away not realizing that they have to pay and so forth. And even when they realize it, they don't stop they have to finish the text. It drives me crazy. I'm not anti technology or anything like that, but sometimes i see my VHS and remember the simpler times. Brings back those great memories.

[RobertDuncan]

Yeah I've actually witness that myself on the checkout lanes. Heck LA use to be dangerous but since technology moved in the streets are quite only because they now took their crimes to the net. With technology making people social phones little by little I wonder how the dating scene will fair. Heck I've heard that on dates people actually talk to each other through text. I think Tokyo Japan is a great microcosm of what will happen here once people are fully immersed in tech. Japanese are shy but polite people for the most part.