The PlayStation (プレイステーション Pureisutēshon, officially abbreviated PS) brand is a series of video game consoles created and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Spanning the fifth, sixth, and seventh generations of video gaming, the brand was first introduced on December 3, 1994 in Japan.[1] The brand consists of a total of three consoles, a media center, an online service, a line of controllers and a handheld as well as multiple magazines.
The first console in the series, the PlayStation, was the first video game console to ship 100 million units after 9 years and 6 months of its initial launch.[2] While its successor,PlayStation 2, is the best-selling console to date having reached over 150 million units sold as of January 31, 2011.[3] Sony's current console, PlayStation 3, has sold over 47.9 million consoles worldwide as of December 31, 2010.[4] The first handheld game console in the PlayStation series, PlayStation Portable (PSP), has sold a total of 67.8 million units worldwide as of February 25, 2011.[5] The Next Generation Portable, an upcoming handheld being developed by Sony as a successor to the PlayStation Portable, it is set to be released in 2011.
Other hardware released as part of the PlayStation series include the PSX, a digital video recorder which was integrated with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, though it was short lived due to its high price and was never released outside of Japan as well as a Sony Braviatelevision set which has a PlayStation 2 integrated. The main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series is the DualShock which is a line of vibration-feedback gamepad having sold 28 million controllers as on June 28, 2008.[6] The PlayStation Move for the PlayStation 3 is the brand's first foray into the motion gaming industry.
The PlayStation Network is an online service with over 69 million users worldwide (as of January 25, 2011).[7] It comprises an online virtual market, the PlayStation Store, which allows the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia, a subscription-based online service known as PlayStation Plusand a social gaming networking service called PlayStation Home, which has over 14 million users worldwide.[8] PlayStation Suite is an upcoming software framework that is aimed to provide PlayStation content cross-platform and cross-devices, currently only Android and the Next Generation Portable devices are supported. Content set to be released under the framework consist of only original PlayStation games currently.[9]
Current generation PlayStation products also use the XrossMediaBar which is an award winning graphical user interface.[10] A new touchscreen-based user interface called LiveArea is being designed for the Next Generation Portable, which integrates social networking elements into the interface. Additionally, PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation 3 consoles also featured support for Linux-based Operating Systems, though this has since been discontinued. The series has also been known for its numerous marketing campaigns, such as the It Only Does Everything commercials in the United States.
The series also has a strong lineup of first-party titles due to Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, a group of fifteen first-party developers owned by Sony Computer Entertainment which are dedicated to developing first party games for the series. In addition the series also features various budget re-releases of titles by Sony with different names for each region; these include the Greatest Hits, Platinum andThe Best ranges of titles.
PlayStation was the brainchild of Ken Kutaragi, a Sony executive who had just come out of his hardware engineering division at that time and would later be dubbed as "The Father of the PlayStation".[11][12]
The console's origins date back to 1986 where it was originally a joint project between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom/SNES console.[13]
The PlayStation made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991 when Sony revealed its console, a Super Famicom/SNESwith a built-in CD-ROM drive (that incorporated Green Book technology or CDi). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology.[14]
The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies.
The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing of the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo.[14]
At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended on May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music, a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of DVD)
