Evolution of the Sony PlayStation

PlaySation

With it's launch on December 3, 1994 in Japan, and on September 9, 1995 in North America the PlayStation set the standards for all gaming consoles to come. 100,000 units were pre-ordered before it's launch in America in 1995, by then the PlaySation had sold more than 1 million units in Japan. Games like Battle Arena Toshinden, Twisted Metal, Tekken, Warhak, Air Combat, Philosoma and Ridge Racer covered the favorite genres of players and contributed to making the PlayStation a must buy console for it's time. Most of the launch tile's were soon followed by sequels.

The PlayStation quickly broke numerous records, becoming the first console to ship more than 100 million units and feature a dual analog controller. The dual analog controller allowed players to make more precise movements in a 3D environment. In 2000 the PSOne and data exchange cable was released in Japan, the cable enabled data exchange and download between the console and specific models of mobile phones. Although this was another first for the industry, it failed to take off properly. Sony later released a small LCD screen and power adapter for use in cars, the PSOne was fully compatible with all PlaySation software. By 2004 the PlaySation and PSOne together shipped more than 100 million units and became the first video game console to ship more than 100 million units.

In the first batch of PlaySation units all the movable parts were made out of plastic, which eventually wore out due to friction. Over time the plastic tray wore out unevenly, causing the laser not to point at the CD directly, if that happened games couldn't load. Sony eventually fixed this by replacing the plastic tray with a die-cast metal tray.

11 Years since it's release the PlaySation was discontinued March 23, 2006. Leaving behind a legacy that we'll never forget. Since it's launch in 1994 it shipped 102.49 million units and it's best selling game Gran Turismo shipped 10.85 million units. Other best sellers for the PlaySation included Final Fantasy VII with 9.8 million sales, Gran Turismo 2 with 9.4 million, Final Fantasy VIII with 7.8 million and Tekken 3 with 7.5 million game sold.

PlaySation specs:


CPU/GPU
• 33.9MHz RISC
• 4 KB L1 cache
• 1KB Data cache
• Bandwidth: 132MB per second
Memory
• 2MB Ram
• Bandwidth
Sound
• 512KB Sound Ram
• 16-bit stereo
• 24 audio channels
Overall performance
• 360,000 polygons per second
Supported media
Game:
• PlaySation Optical Disc (700MB)
CD:
•CD, CD-DA, CD-ROM (CD-R supported on later versions)

AV output

• 640x480
Storage
• 128KB removable memory card
Connections
All models:
2x controller ports, 1x AV


PlaySation 2

The development of the PlaySation successor the PlaySation 2 was announced in 1999 and released later that year in Japan. With the PlaySation 2's wide array of new features it was selling fast and reached the 100 million sales in 5 years 9 months 3 years faster than the PlaySation which took 9 years and 6 months. The PS2 was backwards compatible with all PlaySation software and allowed users to watch DVD movies, another big selling point.

The PS2 had a wide array of external hardware to enhance the PS2's gaming experience. The external hardware included a USB camera, dance pads, microphones, guitar controllers, a drum set, light gun, fishing rod and even a chainsaw for use in Resident Evil 4.

In December 2000 there was reports that the FBI and US Customs were investigating a shipment of PS2 consoles to Iraq. Some speculated that the consoles could be modified for use as a long range missile guidance systems for long-range missiles. Since the PS2 units were designated video game systems rumors said this allowed Saddam Hussein to avoid UN sanctions prohibiting sale of computer parts to Iraq.

Sony confirmed on the 26 October 2007 that the PS2 was the best-selling gaming platform with 120 million units sold worldwide. More games were released for the PS2 thus this figure should continue to grow.

PlaySation 2 specs:

CPU
• 300MHz 128-bit Emotion Engine
• 24KB cache
GPU
• 150MHz graphics synthesizer
• 4MBRAM (additional 32MB VRAM also available)
• Bandwidth: 38GB per second
Memory
• 32MB RAMBUS DRAM (400MHz)
• Bandwidth 3.2GB per second
Sound
• Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS
• 48 audio channels
Overall performance

• Up to 75 million polygons per second

PlaySation 3

November 11, 2006 marked the release of the PlaySation 3 in Japan. Sony's PS3 is part of the seventh generation era together with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. With the announcement of the PS3 it looked impressive and Sony was hoping to break previous records set by it's predecessors. The PS3 featured both Blu-ray and the use of the award winning SIXAXIS wireless controller with motion sensor, it also included the first commercial use of the 'cell' processor.


Soon after it's release the PS3 was getting negative reviews mainly due to the high price and lack of quality games. The PS3 quickly moved it's way up lists for game related PR disasters and many other. As more titles was released and it's price coming down the PS3 reviews became more favorable as the PS3 was re-reviewed. When Ars Technica reviewed it for the second time it got a score of 9/10 much better than the 6/10 score given early on.


According to ing.com the estimated production cost of the PS3 was US$805.85 for the 20 GB unit and US$840.35 for the 60 GB model but the consoles were sold for US$499 and US$599 with a estimated loss of US$250 per console. In January 2008 the production cost of the PS3 decreased to an estimated US$400, mainly because of the drop in manufacturing cost, the cell processor moving to the 65nm production proses and the drop in price of Blu-ray hardware.


PlaySation 3 specs:

CPU
3.2Ghz PowerPC Core
7 SPE (3.2GHz each)
512KB L2 cache
GPU
550MHz RSX (NVIDIA)
256MB GDDR 3 Video RAM (700MHz)
Bandwidth: 25BG per second
Sound
Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1,
Dolby Digital 7.1, DTS
320 audio channels (compresses)
Overall performance
2 Teraflops (XBox360: 1 Teraflop)
Supported media
Game: PlaySation 3 BD-ROM (54GB)
PlaySation 2 CD-ROM
PlaySation CD-ROM
Blu-Ray:
DB-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
DVD:
DVD-ROM, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW
CD:
CD, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD HD, VCD
AV output
480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Storage
20-80GB hard drive
USB, SD, MMC
Connections
Basic model:
4x USB, 1x AV, 1X HDMI, 1x optical (digital audio), 1x ethernet
Additional on the premium model: 1x Sony memory stick (Standard/Duo), 1x SD memory, 1x CF memory
Related links:

http://www.playstation.com/

Sources

Guinness World Records 2008, Gamer's edition

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/playstation

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/playstation2

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/playstation3