The History of The Sony Playstation: Consoles

The PlayStation 2

The Sony PlayStation 2 was first announced in 1999, boasting new technology and advancements. Although up against it's competitors such as Nintendo's 'Gamecube' and Sega's 'Dreamcast', the PlayStation 2 had more to offer it's loyal consumers. The inclusion of the 'Emotion' engine allowed the machine to be backwards compatible with it's successors software titles. It also included a full DVD player which was the first for any gaming console, making the PS2 a multimedia entertainment system. Alongside that feature, the PS2 introduced a new hardware 'Texture Interpolation' to anti-alias the edges of the graphics, making the visual quality of it's games outstanding. 

Released in Japan early March 2000, October in US and late November for Europe, The PlayStation 2 sold an incredible amount of consoles. Resulting in the machine to sell out all over the world, condemning retailers to increase RRP values in order to hold onto stock. From day 1,  Japan sold 98 million units! being the fastest selling console to date. Even now hitting an impressive 150 million units sold to date.

Although in close competition with Microsoft's release of the 'Xbox', the PlayStation 2 held strong based around it's backwards compatibility and exclusive gaming titles. Such as the Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear solid range.

In 2003, Sony released the slimline version of the PlayStation 2. Complete with a quieter fan, infrared receiver and new dual shock controllers.

 

Technical Specifications:

CPU: 128-bit "Emotion Engine" (300MHz) with multiple co-processors
RAM: 32MB Rambus DRAM, 4MB Video RAM
Graphics: Dedicated graphics synthesizer connected to CPU via 64-bit 1.2GB/s bus
Colors: 16.7 million
Sprites: 18.75 million
Polygons: 66 million per second
Resolution: Variable from 256x224 to 1280x1024 pixels
Sound: 2MB, 48 voice audio with support for Dolby, AC3 and DTS 

The PlayStation 3

Sony's PlayStation 3 was released November 11th, 2006 alongside it's competitors the Nintendo 'Wii' and Microsoft's 'Xbox 360' in their fight to be the console to succeed in the 7th generation of gaming. With the success of the PlayStation 2 multimedia element, the PS3 honed greatly to keep those important assets. Introducing the new Blu-Ray player capable of playing incredible high definition audio and visual graphics. Blu ray disc are capable of holding more data than any other standard disc, making the quality far superior and resistant to scratching. Also including a total of 6 USB and 3 Ethernet ports capable of connecting the machine into modems and other such devices. Built in wireless and HDMI port, with when combined to the Blu Ray technology, leads the PS3 to still be the most visually impressive console in terms of graphic ability. The first PS3 came in different gigabytes of memory, starting from the 40gb to a 60gb, 80gb and a staggering 160gb. Making it more accessible for gamers to take advantage of their multimedia machine, capable of downloading and streaming anything from games, movies to images from their own computer. The first model also had touch sensitive power and eject buttons. However, these often became faulty over time and caused issues within rescuing lost discs etc.

The 40gb PS3 is compatible with previous console titles, from the PS2 right back to the PS1. However, in newer models, this engine was scrapped. I think this was to do with the inclusion of the PSN (PlayStation Network) where gamers can access favorable games and download them to their hard drives. Although that is a better option in terms of reliability, quality and efficiency, I believe Sony should've left PS3 to be backwards compatible. With the PS2 having the largest database of video games to date, it seems bizarre how they would go against it. Another technological advancement for the PS3 was the new 'Sixaxis' Controller featuring a gyroscope motion sensor that enhanced the way gamers could play.

By 2009, Sony released a slimline version of the PS3 that removed the touch sensitive console buttons and included an enormous amount of memory. From the 120gb right up to a 320gb hard drive! It was with that, where the new Dual Shock 3 controller was introduced, removing the Sixaxis technology and providing better L2/R2 triggers. Following alongside it's close competitor the 'Xbox 360' Sony began producing a new piece of technology that would change the way we play games. It is then in 2010, Sony introduce the PlayStation Move. A wireless 3D navigation controller that uses the 'Eyetoy' camera and sensor lights to play games. However, after the release of Microsoft's 'Kinect' for the Xbox, Sony fell behind in terms of technological advancement. The Nintendo Wii already produced the wireless navigation controllers and even produce the 'Wii Motion Plus' which tracks 3D movement similar to the Move controllers. The Kinect is the first of it's kind to feature complete control of a game without any inclusion of controller. It is evident that controller-less gaming will be appear much more popular in the future of our gaming world.

Technical Specifications:

• Dimensions: Approximately 325mm (W) x 98mm (H) x 274mm (D)
• CPU: Cell Broadband Engine
• GPU: RSX
• Main Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM
• Embedded VRAM: 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
• Hard Drive Disk: 2.5” Serial ATA (80 GB HDD)
• Main Input/Output: USB 2.0 (x4), MemoryStick/SD/CompactFlash
• Ethernet: 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T
• Bluetooth: 2.0 (EDR), Wireless Controller (up to 7)
• Wireless Communication: IEEE 802.11 b/g
• Screen Size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
• HDMI: HDMI out – (x1/HDMI)
• Analog: AV MUTLI OUT x1
• Digital Audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL x1)
• Disc Drive: Blu-ray/DVD/CD (read-only)

Links:

. http://www.cyberiapc.com/vgg/sony_ps2.htm

. http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/a/80GBPS3Specs.htm