The Sony PlayStation - just the facts (A article written in 2007)
The Sony PlayStation is a video
game console of the fifth generation, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment
in the mid-1990s. The original PlayStation was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation
series of console & hand-held game devices, which has included successor consoles
& upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PS with tools & instructions
to program PS games & applications), PSone (a smaller version of the original),
PocketStation (a handheld which enhances PS games & acts as a memory card),
PlayStation 2, a revised, slimline PS2, PlayStation Portable (a handheld gaming
console), PSX (Japan only) (a media center, DVR & DVD recorder based on the
PS2), & PlayStation 3. By March 2005, the PlayStation/PSone had shipped a
total of over 100.49 million units, becoming the first home console to ever reach
the 100 million mark.
An original PlayStation control pad. This model
was later replaced by the Dual Analog, & then the DualShock.The first conceptions
of the PlayStation date back to 1986. Nintendo had been attempting to work with
disk technology since the Famicom, but the medium had problems. Its rewritable
magnetic nature could be easily erased (thus leading to a lack of durability),
& the disks were a piracy danger. Consequently, when details of CDROM/XA (an
extension of the CD-ROM format that combines compressed audio, visual & computer
data, allowing all to be accessed simultaneously) came out, Nintendo was interested.
CDROM/XA was being simultaneously developed by Sony & Philips. Nintendo approached
Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "SNES-CD". A
contract was struck, & work began. Nintendo's choice of Sony was due to a
prior dealing: Ken Kutaragi, the person who would later be dubbed "The Father
of PlayStation", was the individual who had sold Nintendo on using the Sony
SPC-700 processor for use as the eight-channel ADPCM sound synthesis set in the
Super Famicom/SNES console through an impressive demonstration of the processor's
capabilities.
Sony also planned to develop another, Nintendo compatible, Sony-branded console, but one which would be more of a home entertainment system playing both Super Nintendo cartridges & a new CD format which Sony would design. This was also to be the format used in SNES-CD discs, giving a large degree of control to Sony despite Nintendo's leading position in the video gaming market.
In 1989, the SNES-CD was to be announced at the June Consumer Electronics Show (CES). However, when Hiroshi Yamauchi read the original 1988 contract between Sony & Nintendo, he realized that the earlier agreement essentially handed Sony complete control over any & all titles written on the SNESCD-ROM format. Yamauchi was furious; deeming the contract totally unacceptable, he secretly cancelled all plans for the joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment. Indeed, instead of announcing their partnership, at 9 am the day of the CES, Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln stepped onto the stage & revealed that they were now allied with Philips, & were planning on abandoning all the previous work Nintendo & Sony had accomplished. Lincoln & Minoru Arakawa had, unbeknownst to Sony, flown to Philips headquarters in Europe & formed an alliance of a decidedly different nature—one that would give Nintendo total control over its licenses on Philips machines.
The 9am CES announcement was a complete shock. Not only was
it a complete surprise to the show goers (Sony had only just the previous night
been optimistically showing off the joint project under the "Play Station"
brand), but it was seen by many in the Japanese business community as a massive
betrayal: a Japanese company snubbing another Japan-based company in favor of
a European one was considered absolutely unthinkable in Japanese business.
After the collapse of the joint project, Sony considered halting their research, but ultimately the company decided to use what they had developed so far & make it into a complete, stand alone console. This led to Nintendo filing a lawsuit claiming breach of contract & attempted, in U.S. federal court, to obtain an injunction against the release of the PlayStation, on the grounds that Nintendo owned the name[citation needed]. The federal judge presiding over the case denied the injunction. Thus, in October 1991, the first incarnation of the new Sony PlayStation was revealed; it is theorized that only 200 or so of these machines were ever produced.
By the end of 1992, Sony & Nintendo reached a deal whereby
the "Sony Play Station" would still have a port for SNES games, but
Nintendo would own the rights & receive the bulk of the profits from the games,
& the SNES would continue to use the Sony-designed audio chip. However, at
this point, Sony realized that the SNES technology was getting long in the tooth,
& the next generation of console gaming was around the corner: work began
in early 1993 on reworking the "Play Station" concept to target a new
generation of hardware & software; as part of this process the SNES cartridge
port was dropped, the space between the names was removed, & the PlayStation
was born.
Launch The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3,
1994, the United States on September 9, 1995, Europe on September 29, 1995, &
Asia-Pacific in November 1995. In America, Sony enjoyed a very successful launch
with titles of almost every genre including Battle Arena Toshinden, Twisted Metal,
Warhawk, Philosoma, & Ridge Racer. Almost all of Sony's & Namco's launch
titles went on to produce numerous sequels.
The launch price in the American market was US$299.00, a price point later used by its successor, the PlayStation 2. The PlayStation was also able to generate interest with a unique series of advertising campaigns. Many of the ads released at the time of launch were full of ambiguous content which had many gamers rabidly debating their meanings. The most well-known launch ads include the "Enos Lives" campaign, & the "U R Not e" ads (the "e" in "U R Not e" was always colored in red, to symbolize the word "ready", & the "Enos" meant "ready Ninth Of September", the U.S. launch date). The Enos ad could also be read as Sony written backward with phonetic sound of "E" replacing the "y". It is believed that these ads were an attempt to play off the gaming public's suspicion towards Sony as an unknown, untested entity in the video game market. The PlayStation 3 slogan, "PLAY B3YOND", resembles this slogan, as the 3 is red.
Well known titles on the PlayStation include
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo,
Grand Theft Auto, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , Metal Gear Solid, Parasite Eve,
Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Spyro The Dragon, ISS Soccer,
Tekken, Tomb Raider, Twisted Metal, & Wipeout. The very last game for the
system was FIFA Football 2005. As of May 18, 2004, Sony has shipped 100 million
PlayStation & PSone consoles throughout the world. As of September 2006, 7,902
software titles have been released worldwide (counting games released in multiple
regions as separate titles) with cumulative software shipment of 961 million units.
The PlayStation logo was designed by Manabu Sakamoto, who also designed the logo
for Sony's VAIO computer products. Production run Having lasted over 11 years,
the PlayStation has enjoyed one of the longest production runs in the videogame
industry. On March 23, 2006, Sony announced the end of production.
The PlayStation went through a number of variants during its production run, each accompanied by a change in the part number. From an external perspective, the most notable change was the gradual reduction in the number of external connectors on the unit. This started very early on—the original Japanese launch units (SCPH-1000) had an S-Video port, which was removed on the next release. This also led to the strange situation where the US & European launch units had the same part number series (SCPH-100x) as the Japanese launch units, but had different hardware (Rev. C silicon & no S-Video port)—they were the same as the Japanese SCPH-3000, so for consistency should have been SCPH-3001 & SCPH-3002 (this numbering was used for the Yaroze machines, which were based on the same hardware & numbered DTL-H3000, DTL-H3001, & DTL-H3002). This series of machines had a reputation for CD drive problems—the optical pickup sled was made of thermoplastic, & eventually developed wear spots that moved the laser into a position where it was no longer parallel with the CD surface—a modification was made that replaced the sled with a die-cast one with hard nylon inserts, which corrected the problem.
With the release of the next series (SCPH-500x), the numbers moved back into sync. A number of changes were made to the unit internally (CD drive relocated, shielding simplified, PSU wiring simplified) & the RCA jacks & RFU power connectors were removed from the rear panel. This series also contained the SCPH-550x & SCPH-555x units, but these appear to have been bundle changes rather than actual hardware revisions.
These were followed by the SCPH-700x & SCHP-750x series—they are externally identical to the SCPH-500x machines, but have internal changes made to reduce manufacturing costs (for example, the system RAM went from 4 chips to 1, & the CD controller went from 3 chips to 1).
The final revision to the original PlayStation was the SCPH-900x series—these had the same hardware as the SCPH-750x machines with the exception of the removal of the parallel port & a slight reduction in the size of the PCB. The removal of the paralllel port was probably partly because no official add-on had ever been released for it, & partly because it was being used to connect cheat cartridges that could be used to defeat the copy protection.
The PSone was based on substantially the same hardware as the SCPH-750x & 900x, but had the serial port deleted, the controller / memory card ports moved to the main PCB & the power supply replaced with a DC-DC converter that was also on the main PCB.
With the early units, many gamers experienced skipping full-motion video or dreaded physical "ticking" noises coming from their PlayStations. The problem appears to have come from poorly placed vents leading to overheating in some environments—the plastic moldings inside the console would warp very slightly & create knock-on effects with the laser assembly. The solution was to ensure the console was sat on a surface which dissipated heat efficiently in a well vented area, or raise the unit up slightly by propping something at its edges. A common fix for already affected consoles was to turn the PlayStation sideways or upside-down (thereby using gravity to cancel the effects of the warped interior) although some gamers smacked the lid of the PlayStation to make a game load or work.
Sony then released a version dubbed "Dual Shock", which included a controller with 2 analog thumbsticks & a built in force-feedback feature.
Another version that was colored blue (as opposed to regular console units that were grey in color) was available to game developers & select press. Later versions of this were colored green—on a technical level, these units were almost identical to the retail units, but had a different CD controller in them that did not require the region code found on all pressed disks, since they were intended to be used with CD-R media for debugging—this also allowed the use of discs from different regions, but this was not officially supported, & different debug stations existed for each region. The two different color cases were not cosmetic—the original blue debug station (DTL-H100x, DTL-H110x) contained "Revision B" silicon, the same as the early retail units (these units had silicon errata that needed software workarounds), the green units (DTL-H120x) had Rev. C hardware. As part of the required tests, you had to test your title on both. Contrary to popular belief, the RAM was the same as the retail units at 2MB. The firmware was nearly identical—the only significant change was that debug printf()s got sent to the serial port if the title didn't open it for communications—this used a DTL-H3050 serial cable (the same as the one used for the Yaroze).
A white version was also produced that had the ability to play VCDs—this was only sold in Asia, since that format never really caught on anywere else. From a developer perspective, the white PSX could be treated exactly like any other NTSC:J PlayStation.
Hacks A number of these units appeared on the secondary market (at generally high prices), & were popular because they would run games from any region & CD-R copies, which tended to result them in commanding high prices. All the blue units tend to have CD problems, but the DTL-H110x units (with an external PSU block) are significantly more reliable than the original DTL-H100x ones.
The installation of a modchip allowed the PlayStation's capabilities to be expanded, & several options were made available. By the end of the system's life cycle almost anyone with minimal soldering experience was able to realize the modification of the console. Such a modification allowed the playing of games from other regions, such as PAL titles on a NTSC console, or allowed the ability to play illicit copies of original games without restriction. Modchips allows the playing of games recorded on a regular CD-R. This created a wave of games developed without official approval using free GNU compiler tools, as well as the illegal reproduction of original discs. With the introduction of such devices the console was very attractive to programmers & pirates alike.
Individuals that insisted on creating copies of games that would play as their original counterparts faced many issues at the time, as the discs that were produced by Sony were designed to be difficult to copy—and impossible to copy on recordable media. Not only did the original discs have a specific black tint to them, they were mastered with a specific wobble in the leadin—when amplified & sliced this contained a 4 character sequence that was checked by the CD-ROM drives mechacon chip, & the drive would only accept the disk if it was correct (this string varied depending on the region of the disk—"SCEI" for NTSC:J machines, "SCEA" for NTSC:U/C machines, "SCEE" for PAL machines & "SCEW" for the Net Yaroze). Since the tracking pattern is pressed into the disc at the time of manufacture & CD-Rs have a clean spiral, this cannot be reproduced on a CD-ROM recorder. Some companies (notably Datel) did manage to produce discs that booted on unmodifed retail units, but this was beyond the average pirate. The other issue was that most PC drives used Mode 1 or Mode 2/Form 1 (2048 bytes/sector) & the PSX used a mixed-mode format with most data in Mode 2/Form 1 & streaming audio/video data in Mode 2/Form 2—which a lot CD-R drives at the time could not handle well. Even after accurate copies were made, you still needed a modchip to send the correct code to the CD controller to enable the disc to be read (if a disk failed the security checks, it could be played as an audio CD, but the CD controller would reject any attempt at data transfers from it).
The creation & mass-production of these inexpensive modchips, coupled with their ease of installation, marked the beginning of widespread console videogame piracy. Coincidentally, CD-ROM burners were made available around this time. Prior to the PlayStation, the reproduction of copyrighted material for gaming consoles was restricted to either enthusiasts with exceptional technical ability, or others that had access to CD manufacturers. With this console, amateurs could replicate anything Sony was producing for a mere fraction of the MSRP.
A version of the PlayStation called the Net Yaroze was also produced. It was more expensive than the original PlayStation, colored black instead of the usual gray, & most importantly, came with tools & instructions that allowed a user to be able to program PlayStation games & applications without the need for a full developer suite, which cost many times the amount of a PlayStation & was only available to approved video game developers. Naturally, the Net Yaroze lacked many of the features the full developer suite provided. Programmers were also limited by the 2 MB of total game space that Net Yaroze allowed. That means the entire game had to be crammed into the 2 MB of system RAM. The user couldn't officially make actual game discs. The amount of space may seem small, but games like Ridge Racer ran entirely from the system RAM (except for the streamed music tracks). It was unique in that it was the only officially retailed Sony PlayStation with no regional lockout; it would play games from any territory.
The PSone (also PSOne, PS one, or PS1), launched in 2000, is Sony's smaller (and redesigned) version of its PlayStation video game console. The PSone is about one-third smaller than the original PlayStation (38mm × 193 mm × 144 mm versus 45 mm × 260 mm × 185 mm). It was released in July 7, 2000, & went on to outsell all other consoles—including Sony's own brand-new PlayStation 2—throughout the remainder of the year. Sony also released a small LCD screen & an adaptor to power the unit for use in cars. The PSone is fully compatible with all PlayStation software. The PlayStation is now officially abbreviated as the "PS1" or "PSone," although many people still abbreviate it "PS" or "PSX". There were three differences between the "PSone" & the original, the first one being cosmetic change to the console, the second one was the home menu's Graphical User Interface, & the third being added protection against the mod-chip by changing the internal layout & making previous-generation mod-chip devices unusable. The PSone also lacks the original PlayStation's serial port, which allowed multiple consoles to be hooked up for multi-TV multiplayer. The serial port could also be used for an external mod-chip, which may have been why it was removed, although size-constraints may also be to blame.
Summary of PlayStation
models Model number Design Issues BIOS Separate Audio & composite Video output
Separate S-Video output Parallel port Serial port
SCPH-1000 Original Low quality
CD-ROM, Japan only ?? ("grey") Yes Yes Yes Yes
SCPH-1001 Original
Low quality CD-ROM, NTSC U/C ?? ("grey") Yes No Yes Yes
SCPH-300x
Original Low quality CD-ROM ?? ("grey") Yes No Yes Yes
SCPH-750x
Slightly modified original (2) - ?? ("grey") No No Yes Yes
SCPH-900x
Slightly modified original (2) - ?? ("blue") No No No Yes
SCPH-10x
PSone - ?? ("white") No No No No
The x denotes region. 0 is Japan (Japanese boot ROM, NTSC:J region, NTSC Video, 100V PSU) 1 is USA/Canada (English boot ROM, NTSC:U/C region, NTSC Video, 110V PSU) 2 is Europe/PAL (English boot ROM, PAL region, PAL Video, 220V PSU) 3 is Asia (English boor ROM, NTSC:J region, NTSC video, 220V PSU). (2) Button labels text "Power" & "Open" replaced with symbols
Summary of PlayStation Models
Model Number BIOS Version Approximate BIOS Date Region Separate Audio & composite
Video output Separate S-Video output Parallel port Serial port
SCPH-1000 Unknown
Unknown Japan (NTSC) Yes Yes Yes Yes
SCPH-3000 Unknown Unknown Japan (NTSC)
Yes No Yes Yes
SCPH-5000 2.2 12/04/95 Japan (NTSC)
DTL-H3000 Japan (NTSC)
Yes No Yes Yes
DTL-H3001 US (NTSC) Yes No Yes Yes
DTL-H3002 Europe (PAL)
Yes No Yes Yes
SCPH-5000 2.2 12/04/95 Japan (NTSC)
SCPH-5500 3.0 09/09/96
Japan (NTSC)
SCPH-5501 3.0 Unknown US (NTSC) No No Yes Yes
SCPH-5502 3.0
01/06/97 Europe (PAL)
SCPH-5552 3.0 01/06/97 Europe (PAL)
SCPH-7000 4.0
08/18/97 Japan (NTSC)
SCPH-7001 4.1 12/16/97 US (NTSC) No No Yes Yes
SCPH-7003
3.0 11/18/96 US (NTSC)
SCPH-7501 4.1 Unknown US (NTSC) No No Yes Yes
SCPH-7502
4.1 12/16/97 Europe (PAL) No No Yes Yes
SCPH-9001 4.1 ??/??/98 US (NTSC) No
No No Yes
SCPH-101 4.5 05/25/00 US (NTSC) No No No No
SCPH-102 4.5 Unknown
Europe (PAL) No No No No
The OK & Cancel buttons on most of the Japanese PlayStation's games are reversed in their American & European releases. In Japan, the Circle button (maru, right) is universally used as the OK button, while the X button (batsu, wrong) is used as the Cancel one. American & European releases have the X button as the OK button, while the Circle or the Triangle buttons are used as the Cancel ones. However, a few games such as Squaresoft's Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VII, & Final Fantasy Tactics, & Konami's Metal Gear Solid, have the buttons remain in the same Japanese configuration in their American & European releases. These Japanese button layouts still apply to newer PlayStation consoles, such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) & PlayStation 2.
Successors PlayStation 2 Sony's successor to the PlayStation is the PlayStation 2, which is backward compatible with its predecessor, in the sense that it can play almost every PlayStation game. This was done by embedding the most important parts of the PSone inside the PlayStation 2 design. Unlike emulators that run on the PC, the PlayStation 2 actually contains the original PlayStation processor, allowing games to run exactly as they do on the PlayStation. For PlayStation 2 games this processor, called the IOP, is used for input & output (memory cards, DVD drive, network, & hard drive). Like its predecessor, the PlayStation 2 is based on hardware developed by Sony themselves. The third generation of the PlayStation is known as the PlayStation 3, or PS3, & was launched on November 11, 2006 in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America, & March 23, 2007 in Europe. The Playstation 3 is backward compatible with all games that were originally made for PlayStation 1 as well as the PlayStation 2. (First-party) PS3 games will not be region-locked, but PlayStation 1 & 2 games still only play on a PS3 console from the same territory. The PlayStation Portable (officially PSP) is a handheld game console first released in late 2004. Despite the name, it is not compatible with PlayStation games; it only runs games developed specifically for the PSP on the UMD format. However, at the PlayStation Briefing conference on March 15, 2006 in Japan, Sony revealed plans for PlayStation 1 games to be downloaded & playable on the PSP through emulation. Sony hopes to release nearly all PlayStation 1 games on a gradual basis. However, as of late December 2006, a custom firmware release allows users to play PS1 image files converted into the PSP's EBOOT format.
Legacy The success of the PlayStation is widely thought to have had some influence on the demise of the cartridge-based home console. While not the first system to utilize an optical disc format, it was the first success story, & ended up going head-to-head with the last major home console to rely on proprietary cartridges - the Nintendo 64.
Nintendo was very public about its skepticism toward using CDs & DVDs to store games, citing longer load times & durability issues. It was widely speculated that the company was even more concerned with piracy, given its substantial reliance on licensing & exclusive titles for its revenue.
However, the increasing complexity of games, in content, graphics, & sound, were pushing cartridges to their storage limits & this began to turn off third party developers. Also appealing to publishers was that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense & more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand), & they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers. While one major disadvantage of CDs was piracy, due to the advent of CD burners & mod chips, this ironically became a selling point of the PlayStation.
The success of Sony's PlayStation introduced high-quality sound & longer playing times as top priorities for modern gamers, leaving little choice for competitors but to follow suit. To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the PlayStation in 2005, Sony Italy released an advertisement portraying a young man wearing a crown of thorns (the thorns being made of triangle, square, circle & cross symbols, the labels on the buttons of PlayStation controllers), on his head. The ad was captioned with "Dieci anni di passione" (In English, this translates to "Ten years of passion.") The ad, assumed to be a takeoff of Mel Gibson's controversial 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ, was met with outrage from the Vatican. Sony apologized & stopped displaying the ad.
Quality of construction
The first batch of PlayStations
used a KSM-440AAM laser unit whose case & all movable parts were completely
made out of plastic. Over time, friction caused the plastic tray to wear out --
usually unevenly. The placement of the laser unit close to the power supply accelerated
wear because of the additional heat, which made the plastic even more vulnerable
to friction. Eventually, the tray would become so worn that the laser no longer
pointed directly at the CD & games would no longer load. Sony eventually fixed
the problem by making the tray out of die-cast metal & placing the laser unit
farther away from the power supply on later models of the PlayStation.
A common — but temporary — fix to the laser problem was to tip the PlayStation on its side. This made the tray "hang" perpendicular to the CD, allowing the PlayStation to read the disc. Unfortunately, friction would continue to wear down the plastic tray & , eventually, the PlayStation would not read the disc. Some units, particularly the early 100x models, would be unable to play FMV or music correctly, resulting in skipping or freezing. In more extreme cases the PlayStation would only work correctly when used upside down The Lonympics great Music selection, great music
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