It was during the 1990s that the Sony Corporation entered into the video gaming industry. This was the time that marked the release of the Sony PlayStation. The Sony PlayStation was a fifth generation gaming console, and would set the ball rolling for one of the most popular game console series ever released. The PlayStation spun off several different game consoles, from the standard PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 models, to some consoles and handhelds that most people just never knew about. These handhelds included things like the Net Yaroze, the Pocket Station, and even the PSX.
The inception of the Sony PlayStation can actually be dated back as far as 1986. Sony had been working with Nintendo to create this technology for a game system. Unfortunately there were several issues with the system. Not to mention the fact that Nintendo had both Sony and Philips simultaneously developing the same unit. Nintendo expected to call this unit SNES-CD which meant the Super Nintendo Entertainment System CD version. Nintendo then decided to drop the CD format and stick with the basic cartridge, but in doing so, they had given Sony almost complete control over the design. This eventually gave the Sony Corporation, a lead in the video gaming industry.
Nintendo first announced this new unit in 1989, but when Hiroshi Yamauchi went over the details of the contract, he had realised that Nintendo had actually given Sony control of not only the design and development but also the titles of the games as well. He was furious over this and secretly altered plans for this joint operation. Sony had formed an alliance with Philips to protect the companies from Nintendo's possible outrage.
By the next morning, when the Nintendo representatives had planned on announcing their new system, Sony had announced theirs as well. Sony had a right to do this because they did have contractual control over the design. However, in an unwritten rule between Japanese corporations, Sony had broken one of the largest which was the betrayal of a Japanese company in favour of a foreign company.
Sony had thought about stopping the research, but after realising how important the concept was, they decided to go ahead with the production. This led to a lawsuit between Nintendo and the Sony Corporation in which an out-of-court settlement was agreed upon, but unfortunately with the next generation of gaming consoles coming out just around the corner, he decided to drop the space between play and station and that seen the launch of the first Sony PlayStation in 1994.
The PlayStation has gone through various upgrades and revisions, as well as several modified units becoming available. Even the game HFL was made to expand the capabilities of the Sony PlayStation, which would allow a person to play a Sony PlayStation game that was recorded on a normal CD-R. This led to several unofficial games being developed for the Sony PlayStation, as well as the illegal reproduction and piracy of several games.
These pirates had an incredible obstacle to overcome, due to the black tinting of the PlayStation's games. What this meant was that it was almost impossible to copy the game using your standard CD-R. On top of this, the average PC CD-RW drive uses either mode 1 or mode 2. The Sony PlayStation games actually use a mix of both modes 1 and mode 2. So, what would happen is that the games were unplayable. Eventually, as the CD-RW's got better, the piracy of the Sony PlayStation games would also get easier. Nowadays, these mod chips are available around the world at a low cost, and coupled with the latest and greatest CD-ROMs, pirated PlayStation games are becoming more prevalent.
Original Authors: Gobel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/05/2008
