It cant have gone unnoticed recently the Sony publicity machine has been winding up to what many are predicting will be the announcement of a new console, the PS4/Orbis. As part of this publicity drive they have started releasing videos showing the
Evolution of Playstation.
The first video covers the original Playstation console...
November 1993 and the massive electronics company Sony created a new division called Sony Computer Entertainment and a little under a year later launched their first gaming console in Japan in the September of 1994. At the time it featured the fastest gaming processor on the market with advanced 3D visuals which helpted with the launch arcade perfect conversion of the launch titles Tekken and Ridge Racer. The saw the 1st million units fly off the shelves in Japan in the first 7 months. Early in the next year Sony Computer Entertainment hit the 1995 E3 show hard with their "You are not ready" campaign keeping demand for the Playstation high fir its US and European launch in September 1995. Soon the controller itself was updated to the Dual Shock design we all know these days.
The next video details the Playstation 2...
With the Playstaion popularity still high having gone through a few facelifts and price cuts. Development of the next console began in March of 1999 Sony aimed even higher with console processing power and introduced the emotion chip. Mainstream PC gaming graphics at this time had begun to overtake the original Playstation so the PS2 when announced it was to be into a much more difficult market. Segas Dreamcast and Microsofts XBOX would beat the PS2 to launch on this generation. But once again by marketing it as much more than a mere gaming console demand was high for the eventual US and EU release of October 2000. So much so that supply problems after the launch meant that consoles were changing hands on ebay at the time for almost $2000. The launch games were considered lacking though as sales were not as quick as with Sony's last console. That all changed though over Christmas 2001 with the launch of Grand Theft Auto and the resulting media storm concerning the content on the game.
The next video (surprisingly) covers the Playstation 3...
For the announcement of the PS3 Sony once more used the power of the E3 conference and in 2005 showed a futuristic console with a boomerang shape controller. Details would remain vague until the 2006 E3 show the real console was eventually shown with cut down specifications such as less hdmi ports. The boomerang controller was now gone and replaced with everyone's favorite the dual shock controller but the bluray drive was still present allowing it to be marketed as an all in one media center type system. Once again supply problems dogged the consoles launch in 2006. But this time it was parts for the bluray drive that held up the european launch until March 2007.
More information on the history of the Playstation can be found
here and for the
PS2 here
So all this begs the question whats coming up from Sony. It seems almost certain to be an announcement of a new console as this is something Microsoft have started to leak details about. Off course as the history shows us what is announced is often different to what will actually go on sale. PS4/Orbis? Its going to have to be pretty impressive when you take into account where PC game graphics are these day. Whatever the outcome we are living in interesting times.
