20 years of PlayStation - "At least I can say... I've lived"

Seems about time we saw this video again!

I love the sounds at the beginning of that, especially Gran Turismo's 3,2,1 sound and Tekken 2' new challenger tune

Yep, but the best bit is when it all transitions to the PS4 at the end and you realise how far we have come!

The original PlayStation was ace and I've had a lot of fun with my PS, PS3 and PS4 consoles, but it'd be a bit of a stretch to suggest that Sony invented/saved gaming.

Atari dominated with the VCS/2600 in the late 70s and early 80s, before computers then ruled in UK/Europe and the NES exploded in America and Japan. The Sega and Nintendo battles in the early 90s were tremendous fun, too. Sony did bring a sense of "cool" to gaming with the PlayStation; their advertising made it okay to say that you played games. The CD format, although not new, was fresh to most gamers and the rise of polygons brought a sense of technological advancement to gaming.

I sometimes wonder if a single format would bring about easier access to gaming or even better games, but really I feel that competitiveness is critical. It's good to have these companies "battling" each other as it raises standards and encourages innovation.

One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

If they allowed gamers to buy second hand games and didn't impose DRM and was a powerful machine I still wouldn't buy it as they already monopolise one industry and would hate for them to monopolise another.

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

If they allowed gamers to buy second hand games and didn't impose DRM and was a powerful machine I still wouldn't buy it as they already monopolise one industry and would hate for them to monopolise another.

So you support a one console future as long as it is not a monopoly?

Rather than that, developers and publishers should decide what the standard is, and hardware manufacturers can each produce their own interpretation.

Similar to the 3DO model it would better reflect the video and music industry.

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

If they allowed gamers to buy second hand games and didn't impose DRM and was a powerful machine I still wouldn't buy it as they already monopolise one industry and would hate for them to monopolise another.

So you support a one console future as long as it is not a monopoly?

As long as it has the Sony PlayStation logo on it.

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

If they allowed gamers to buy second hand games and didn't impose DRM and was a powerful machine I still wouldn't buy it as they already monopolise one industry and would hate for them to monopolise another.

So you support a one console future as long as it is not a monopoly?

As long as it has the Sony PlayStation logo on it.

I thought so.

HSH28 wrote:

suzzopher wrote:Unless you define mobile games as modern gaming then blame the DS and Wii.

That's a bit of a cheap shot.

Not sure how that was a cheap shot, I love both systems, they have amazing games, but they really were the precursor to the throw away tat that makes up a large part of mobile gaming....not to say there are no good games on mobile, Pac-Man 256 might be my game of the year.

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:

Moggy wrote:

gamerforever wrote:One console would be great and then the developers can fight it out - far too many crap games sell well.

What if the one console (to rule them all) was made by Microsoft and was called the Xbox?

If they allowed gamers to buy second hand games and didn't impose DRM and was a powerful machine I still wouldn't buy it as they already monopolise one industry and would hate for them to monopolise another.

So you support a one console future as long as it is not a monopoly?

As long as it has the Sony PlayStation logo on it.

I thought so.

No point lying.

NickSCFC wrote:Rather than that, developers and publishers should decide what the standard is, and hardware manufacturers can each produce their own interpretation.

Similar to the 3DO model it would better reflect the video and music industry.

I'm intrigued by that idea. It worked for VHS, CD, DVD and blu-ray... albeit they are, of course, less technical than a games machine. I always liked the approach of the MSX machines although they never really took off. Perhaps having a unified standard could work but then maybe that presents a barrier to hardware innovation. Hmmn... it's interesting but I can't yet see it coming to fruition.

jawafour wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Rather than that, developers and publishers should decide what the standard is, and hardware manufacturers can each produce their own interpretation.

Similar to the 3DO model it would better reflect the video and music industry.

I'm intrigued by that idea. It worked for VHS, CD, DVD and blu-ray... albeit they are, of course, less technical than a games machine. I always liked the approach of the MSX machines although they never really took off. Perhaps having a unified standard could work but then maybe that presents a barrier to hardware innovation. Hmmn... it's interesting but I can't yet see it coming to fruition.

Steam Box?

The state of these last few pages Some embarrassing stuff from Shenmue 1 and Shenmue 2. I mean WTF is this:

gamerforever wrote:The current industry it most definitely is. If nintendo and sega battled it out we would have given up gaming years ago.

Oh yeah because games weren't popular before then Jesus wept

NickSCFC wrote:To be fair to Apple, the smartphone industry wasn't heading anywhere. If it were left to Microsoft, Blackberry and Symbian it would probably still be a niche market.

jawafour wrote:I'm intrigued by that idea. It worked for VHS, CD, DVD and blu-ray... albeit they are, of course, less technical than a games machine. I always liked the approach of the MSX machines although they never really took off. Perhaps having a unified standard could work but then maybe that presents a barrier to hardware innovation. Hmmn... it's interesting but I can't yet see it coming to fruition.

We already have it.

Except most PC games don't run properly on most PCs. It's a strawberry floating minefield to the average consumer.

NickSCFC wrote:Except most PC games don't run properly on most PCs. It's a strawberry floating minefield to the average consumer.

True. About 15 years ago I thought someone would do something clever like define a PC gaming spec that would be fixed for 4 years. Games would then be developed for this spec and everyone who bought into the spec knew they would have up to 4 years without need to upgrade.

suzzopher wrote:Steam Box?

Death's Head wrote:

PC

True, guys - the PC is great for having a standard format that can be expanded, although I have to say that I agree with Nick on this aspect:

NickSCFC wrote:...It's a strawberry floating minefield to the average consumer.

The MSX devices were technically very similar and they could each run any MSX game (well, bar the advances from MSX 2 of course). It was like, say, any DVD player could play any DVD. I guess that the disparity in technology complexity and cost could be an issue, though. But then... DVD players were expensive at first but plenty of manufacturers made 'em.

A bigger barrier is probably that none of the current big three console manufacturers would want to risk "giving up" their share of the market. I can't see that any of them would agree a standard... although pehaps each of them may see a potential in creating a single operating system for cosoles that could then be licensed to other manufacturers?