The family of Sony PlayStation consoles today turns 20!

It would seem that only recently we played in Twisted Metal 2, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and the very first Resident Evil. And it turns out that since the very first console of the PlayStation family, it's been 20 years already!

The game console was born on December 3, 1994 and became the first game console of Sony. Of course, the Japanese were the first to try out a new gaming device. The console reached the US only on September 9, 1995, and in Europe the prefix appeared on twenty days later - on September 29.

The most interesting thing is that this prefix appeared in large part thanks to the company Nintendo. It was for them Sony had to develop a disk drive that runs on CD-carriers. Initially, the development was the console SNES-CD, which was an addition to the 16-bit super Nintendo Entertainment System as an external CD drive stuck in the cartridge slot of the SNES. In return, Sony would be licensed to release its console, compatible with Nintendo games, which would allow them to enter a new market for themselves.

For the first time the SNES-CD was to be shown to the public in 1989. But when the president of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi read the contract between the companies, he was enraged, because he absolutely did not want to grant Sony a license to release the console-clone. Secretly from partners Nintendo canceled the contract, leaving Sony with a bunch of unnecessary developments. Almost immediately, Nintendo entered into a new contract with Philips on more favorable terms for itself than the Japanese business community plunged into horror. Indeed, in the Land of the Rising Sun, the betrayal of one Japanese company by another Japanese company is calculated as the worst possible crime.

Ken Kutaragi, a Sony engineer responsible for developing a new hardware for Nintendo, decided that there was nothing good to disappear and enlisted the support of the management in order to create his own game console based on what had already been developed for an unscrupulous partner in the person of Nintendo. And the Sony PlayStation was born.

Lawyers of Nintendo tried to sue Sony and tried in every possible way to insert sticks into the wheels of developing a new console based on what ultimately was to become SNES-CD. As a result, Sony reworked almost all of the console stuff from scratch, making it much more powerful and better than the original prototype.

The launch of the console was very successful. By the time the console was available for sale in North America, players were available games such as Air Combat, Battle Arena Toshinden, Doom, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, Wipeout, Ridge Racer and others. Price list on the console was $ 299, which in principle was very affordable for consumers of various social classes.

The console was produced for 11 years, and at the time of its removal from production worldwide, more than 102 million boxes were sold with PlayStation and PSOne (reduced console revision, which appeared in 2000). It's safe to say that PlayStation has become a landmark event in the global gaming industry and one of the most successful consoles in the history of their existence. As you know, today the stores can be purchased already the fourth generation of the PlayStation 4 console and it largely repeats the success of the very first console, as only in the first year of life sold almost 15 million consoles.

Today, by the way, in Japan, the award ceremony for the best video games for consoles of the PlayStation family will take place. It will start on Wednesday, December 3, at 10:30 Moscow time. A live event can be viewed on the official website of the event . They say that the organizers will present several new games for the Japanese audience. And, who knows, maybe we will see something of value there. But at once I will warn, that, most likely, translation will be conducted in the Japanese language and there is a risk to understand nothing.

Do not forget that at the end of the week there will be another significant event for the fans of Sony's gaming consoles - the PlayStation Experience conference, in which absolutely amazing will be shown. In the meantime, let us wholeheartedly wish Sony success in these difficult times for the company, because against the backdrop of failures in many segments of the market, the Japanese giant finally decided to give up the main forces for the development of its gaming unit. And personally I just can not but rejoice!

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/games/semejstvu-konsolej-sony-playstation-segodnya-ispolnyaetsya-20-let.html.