Danny:
Jes:
| Culture 6/12/2006 |
It's a double edged sword, being queen of the dorks. On one hand, no one will ever love me.
On the other, I own you all, so love will be ordered.
Ordered on a nightly basis.
This will be a PS1 history lesson, of sorts. As usual, the Danny-did-his-own-research dislaimer.
First of all, where did CD-i come from, and why was a Zelda game on it? Why was that game, by itself, so god-awful it made me cry feces? What ever happened to the SNES CD add-on I saw a picture of in Gamepro? And, how does the birth of Playstation tie in?
Well, it doesn't really. I just want to set up mystery.
Or... does it?
It does.
The first plans for the Playstation began in 1988. Ever since the Famicom (The "NES", for dumb yanks like you and me. [Or just me.]), Nintendo had toyed with the idea of a disc-based game media format. There were, however, problems. Disc media, being rewritable and magnetic, could easily be erased and were more easier...illy pirated. The format was unreliable and too widespread to be safe from piracy. So, when details of a new optical CD format came out, CDROM/XA, which allowed for compressed audio, visual and data, Nintendo decided to have a go.
Nintendo's go was somewhat half-assed.
At the time, both Sony and Philips were already working on the new CD format itself. Nintendo sorta rolled a die and sealed the deal with Sony first.
See, Nintendo had had previous "dealings" with the Sony folk. With Ken Kutaragi, specifically. Ken Kutarugi, now known as the "Father of the Playstation", was the man who pitched the processor for the SNES's sound synthesis. The Sony-owned processor for SNES's sound synthesis.
This meant that Sony had the licenses for the sound chip in the SNES, which also means they had Nintendo by the scrote. Without Sony's dev kit, Nintendo itself could not really make an SNES game easilly. But that matters later.
The original plan was to make a system called the SNES-CD, a system which would run both SNES cartridges and... CDs. Like a Turbo-Duo that might not fail. Despite the name-power lent by Nintendo, and Mario's stronger rep in gaming, the system was to be Sony branded. As well, the CD format itself would be developed by Sony, giving them inordinate control of the system. Sony was to recieve 25% of profits that the system brought in.
The very profits Nintendo was trying to retain with this project, Sony's lawyers had skillfully yoinked.
Sony had the right to control and license all CD-based games for the "Super Disc".
So, the system was unveiled at the 1991 CES. Sony talked all big about their plans and how great the system would be. And hoorah!
Until the next day, Nintendo revealed - before telling Sony itself - that the deal was off. At the CES, revealed. Revealed, right there, like a punch in the pride.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo president, had found the 1988 contract unacceptable. As it became more apparent, over time, that CDROM was the future of gaming, he realized that Nintendo was giving up its very life essense. Absolute license and manufacturing control.
Instead of the expected announcement, in front of a gathered crowd, the Nintendo chairman revealed a new partnership with Phillips instead. And that the Sony deal was cancelled.
And that was the day Playstation died.
Some time back in 1991, a crew from Nintendo had flown to the Netherlands and signed an agreement with Philips. Under the contract, Nintendo would have complete control over licensing the games for a new SNES add-on and Philips would gain the rights to use Nintendo characters in some of their CD-i games. One Mario puzzle game and three god-awful Zelda games came out. Never has a license been so wasted.
So, Sony got annihilated at the 1991 CES. Like I said.
Though Sony was understandably angered by the contract breaking, it was in both Nintendo's and Sony's interests to be friends. After all, the SNES (which was just being released in America) used the Sony sound chip. And the Sony half-done-device played SNES games.
Various demi-credible sources guess that the Philips deal was just for leverage to change the Sony deal. Not that anything changed, really.
Eventually, Nintendo dropped Sony altogether.
Independently, Sony announced the "Play Station" to come out six months before Nintendo/Philip's device. And it still played SNES games.
Geez, can you even imagine a multi-console format? What kind of competition would that bollox make?
And so the SNESCD was revived. By Sony.
In October of 1992, by the time the Sega-CD came out, game publishers were getting tired of having to deal with so many different versions of CD formats. And so Nintendo was approached to make a deal with Sony again, to make an industry standard.
After some negotiation, a deal was reached. A standard CD format was resolved, and licenses were shuffled around again. This time, Nintendo would have complete control over games released for "Play Station" and their own SNESCD machine, while Sony would have control over non-game media for the Play Station.
Music, movies, whatever. Educational titles.
By this time, however, it was becoming clear that the already-produced Sega-CD and NEC CD format consoles were not doing well financially. (Though, god I love my Turbo Duo.) Nintendo stood to make more through cartridge sales than through CDs. And finally, the S-FX chip was created for the SNES cartridge. You know, that addition used in "Star Fox" that let it use 3D graphics on a cartridge. Basically, a chip that pumped cartridge powers. So, now the new CD format had to be even better, to combat with this.
So, reasons against and reasons to delay.
Jesus, can you see where this is going? How do we even have consoles anymore?
So a release date for the Sony/Philips/Nintendo thing's set. Fall 1994. And at the 1993 CES, Nintendo's supposed to show the thing off. But... again, of course, they don't. They show off "Super Mario All-Stars", and some random S-FX'd titles.
Before 1993 ended, it was clear the joint project was cancelled. Again.
Nintendo was now working on the S-FX chip and N64. The SNESCD was obsolete.
So, Sony put its console plans on hold. They say, now, that this experience was a learning one, for their future attack. Like the little green men who penetrate our farmers, a brief forray into another world's turf. They patiently wait for the next gen of consoles, to overthrow all Mario stands for.
To kidnap Squeenix from it's rightful home.
The "PlayStation" (no space) was launched, by Sony of course, in Japan on December 3, 1994 and the USA on September 9, 1995. The only system I never personally owned, really. The SNES port was lost, and according to Sony, no original hardware developed with Nintendo or Philips are anywhere in the Playstation. They started from scratch as a stand-alone system.
"Enos Lives" and "You Are Not E".
You get it, right? Red-E? Ready? Ha.
By Danny
| Comments (2) | ||
are you sure that Puuba isn't your real company?
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check bohnertime pics for the picture. call me if you forgot the password.
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