Sony's PlayStation 1 first came into development in 1988 during the decade of the almighty CD-ROM. With Sony leading the technological future of entertainment, it joined a Dutch company named 'Philips' at producing the CD-ROM/XA, an addition to the CD-ROM format that compressed audio and video information together with the use of extra work from computers. From this advancement, Sony's passion for innovation made them hungry for something bigger, something better.
In 1988 Nintendo were dominating the Video game universe with the NES and not with much competition either. It was then Sony decided to partner with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM advancement for the Super NES to be released in 1989. It was Sony's chance to join this new world and create something new and who else better than with the world's leading Video game company, the almighty Nintendo. However, with such control of the contract, Sony had a tight grip over the regulations made between themselves and Nintendo. With that, the lead Nintendo President 'Hiroshi Yamauchi' cancelled the contract and developed a new partnership with 'Philips' and made the the CD-1.
It was then Sony took the technology they had developed with Nintendo and decided to make their own gaming machine. The Sony PlayStation was primarily supposed to be a multi format machine, capable of playing both CD-ROM and Nintendo cartridges. However, with the CD-ROM format controlling the future of technological entertainment, the idea was ditched so that the 'PlayStation' could be a more dedicated gaming machine, pushing the boundaries of it's format into a new realm of video entertainment. Sony knew how competitive the gaming market was in terms of successful software titles, so it was an imminent decision to partner up with various other parts of the business, such as Sony Music and Columbia Pictures to develop ideas where games could evolve. Using advanced software with the strong R3000 processor and CPU hardware in the PlayStation, Sony began visualizing the future of gaming to be a machine aimed for older, more serious gamers. It was with that thought, that 3-Dimensional gaming took the reins and thus pushed Sony to form partnerships with third party video game developers. Such company's as NAMCO, Williams and Konami (resulting to the powerful Tekken, Mortal Kombat III and Ridge Racer) proved perfect in order to gain recognition and proof that Sony were serious with their new product. Using the powerful new hardware of the Playstation, boasting to the companies that they're games would change forever.
In early December 1994, Sony's PlayStation was released in Japan alongside the game release of the almighty 'Ridge Racer'. Renamed the PS1-X after removing the compatible NES cartridge slot that was available in earlier models of the PlayStation. The wise move to make the console solely for it's gaming purpose. On the IGN blog, staff stated 'Steve Race said in Next Generation magazine, "We designed the PlayStation to be the best game player we could possibly make. Games really are multimedia, no matter what we want to call it. The conclusion is that the PlayStation is a multimedia machine that is positioned as the ultimate game player."
Following it's immediate success, By March 31, 2005, the PlayStation shipped a total of 102.49 million units, becoming the first video game console to sell 100 million units. It was then on May 11th 1995, at the E3 (The Electronic Entertainment Expo) event unveiled the PlayStation in Los Angeles, America. Rumored a staggering $4 billion dollar display, including performances by Michael Jackson and booths showing off Namco's Tekken and Ridge Racer. Following from the success in Japan, The Sony PlayStation launched in the US on September the 9th 1995 followed by 17 included games retailing at an overly price of $299. Although pretty expensive, it still lead behind it's competitor the 'Sega Saturn' and had sold out across numerous parts of the country. With the launch of the PlayStation in Japan, it hit a huge 1 million machines sold. By the release of the console in the US in to 1996, the record shot to 7 million units sold. With that success, Sony dropped the price making it even more attractive to consumers and especially better than any other existing gaming machine.
Links:
. http://uk.psx.ign.com/articles/060/060188p1.html
. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_playstation.htm
. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation#PlayStation
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