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[IGN] How the PlayStation Changed Everything

Sony’s PlayStation wasn’t just a console. It was the revolution that began the modern era of video games. This is the story of how its legacy began, told by two former Sony presidents; Andrew House, one of the original minds behind the PlayStation’s groundbreaking marketing who rose to CEO status; and Shawn Layden, who helped developers bring some of PlayStation's most beloved games to life for over 20 years. Here's how the PlayStation changed everything.
 

RagnarokIV

Member
Sony don't give a #### about any of that. No proper backwards compatibility, letting old series die while chasing GAAS.
Sony don't care about their legacy, so we shouldn't either.

Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.
 

Three

Member
Sony Imagesoft were already in games which I think gave them at least some experience in what made cartridges bad for publishers/developers and showed what opportunity they had with the PS.
 
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Pelta88

Member
I commend IGN for the nostalgia love.

oscars-kate-winslet.gif
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
Sony wasn't really unexperienced in gaming though, they did publish games already. But its ridiculous how Nintendo still chose to use cartridges, their fear of piracy must've been extreme as business wise its completely stupid. They and Sega basically gave Sony a free pass.
 

ManaByte

Member
Sony wasn't really unexperienced in gaming though, they did publish games already. But its ridiculous how Nintendo still chose to use cartridges, their fear of piracy must've been extreme as business wise its completely stupid. They and Sega basically gave Sony a free pass.
It wasn’t a fear of piracy, but a loss of money by not controlling the format. Even when Nintendo went to discs, they used a proprietary format they controlled.
 

RCU005

Member
Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.

In a way, I agree.

Sony became so much different since the PS3 slim. In some aspects for the better and others for the worse.

The success of the PS4 made them worse, IMO. Not necessarily arrogant as they were with the success of the PS2, but as if they are another company. This generation they have been out of touch. Whereas with PS4 and the second half of the PS3 they used to be much more closer to fans and did many things to please them.
 

Unknown?

Member
Sony don't give a #### about any of that. No proper backwards compatibility, letting old series die while chasing GAAS.
Sony don't care about their legacy, so we shouldn't either.

Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.
They aren't chasing gas more than any other genre. FUD... Elmer FUD!
 
You just had to be there. Going from the 2D era to PS1 and then PS2 eras in 6 years is something we'll never see again. People just have no idea.
Final Fantasy VI and Gran Turismo 3 came out 7 years apart. Let that sink in.

Sony just had such an incredible start on the console business. They knew exactly what they were doing and were doing it right with developers, consumers, multiple decisions with huge publishers like Squaresoft from day one. In a way they made consoles cool to an audience that previously saw videogames as something for kids only.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
Sony don't give a #### about any of that. No proper backwards compatibility, letting old series die while chasing GAAS.
Sony don't care about their legacy, so we shouldn't either.

Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.
Times change.

You say the last good Playstation was PS3, yet it was Playstation worst gen and PS4 was the second best selling console of all time.
PS5 is following PS4, despite a pandemic and supply constraints and it's crushing Xbox in it's strongest markets.

People should ditch the nostalgia and get with the times.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
You just had to be there. Going from the 2D era to PS1 and then PS2 eras in 6 years is something we'll never see again. People just have no idea.
Final Fantasy VI and Gran Turismo 3 came out 7 years apart. Let that sink in.

Sony just had such an incredible start on the console business. They knew exactly what they were doing and were doing it right with developers, consumers, multiple decisions with huge publishers like Squaresoft from day one. In a way they made consoles cool to an audience that previously saw videogames as something for kids only.

Polyphony released 3 full GT games between 1998 (or dec 1997 in Japan) and 2001.

But what about Square?

FFVII 1997
FFVIII 1999
FFIX 2000

And not only this, but Square also released PE, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Vagrant story, SaGa Frontier 1 and 2 and more (I know I skip some legendary games now) inbetween these 3. Square's PS1 run is to me the best third party run of all time.

Its just crazy how fast games surfaced back then, though i am aware todays games are far bigger and usually extended with DLC.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
PS1 era was the best time to be a gamer holy shit. Near perfect 3D arcade ports, an absolute explosion of new IPs, tons of experimentation and innovation, and if you were a JRPG fan like me, you could barely even keep up with all the kickass JRPGs that came out at such a rapid pace.
 

SenkiDala

Member
Polyphony released 3 full GT games between 1998 (or dec 1997 in Japan) and 2001.

But what about Square?

FFVII 1997
FFVIII 1999
FFIX 2000

And not only this, but Square also released PE, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Vagrant story, SaGa Frontier 1 and 2 and more (I know I skip some legendary games now) inbetween these 3. Square's PS1 run is to me the best third party run of all time.

Its just crazy how fast games surfaced back then, though i am aware todays games are far bigger and usually extended with DLC.
In fact it depends how you see it, no current games are bigger than FFVII for exemple (or VIII or IX) or even Xenogears. Proof is they need 3 games to keep the scale of FFVII with modern graphics. the world of FFXVI, the places you explore in that game, are barely covering 10% of any FF from the Square PS1 era.
 

Ivan

Member
It is unbelievable how everything came together in a perfect way... You see the design, it looked like something from the future in the best possible way, you turn it on and you get the the coolest boot screen ever made. Like it was trying to tell you that it is a serous gaming machine.

I remember how good the controller looked and felt, it was perfect after snes which was perfect too. Other official peripherals - also fantastic. Memory cards were pain in the ass, but they looked awesome too.

But you had to be there as early as late '95. and '96...that's when it felt truly out of this world. 3D games existed on PC for very limited userbase, but this impact was something else. You see that every game is a new concept, basically. Even the shitty games were interesting just to look at.

And in it's early days it was THE gaming system, not even PC could do such things with ease.

We got "serious" looking games for the first time on consoles, from FMVs to menu design, color palette...everything felt much more mature.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
In fact it depends how you see it, no current games are bigger than FFVII for exemple (or VIII or IX) or even Xenogears. Proof is they need 3 games to keep the scale of FFVII with modern graphics. the world of FFXVI, the places you explore in that game, are barely covering 10% of any FF from the Square PS1 era.

True but each FFVII chapter will be a 40 hour game ofcourse. In case of Part 1 this was debatable, I think its being stretched out too much, but Part 2 should cover the world travel part and hopefully feels less padded out.

They can easily downgrade the scale and visuals and release FF at higher pace, but they choose not to. Unfortunate, I think, because i'd rather have something that looks less flashy but at least has more game in it. I wouldn't mind it if FFXVI looked graphically like FFXIV with the trade off that its more engaging in terms of RPG mechanics, and sequels could be released at higher pace. After all, FFXIV sees feature complete expansions with full stories every 2 years.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
Ultra nostalgia overload. What a time it was to be there seeing all happen.
It was pretty damn good. That Wipeout/Loaded demo disc that came with it?
l0F5hJZ.gif


Wipeout, what a game that was! Nothing has really come close to that 1st game, the pumping weird japanese sounding techno (even though most was from english producers..), the futuristic feel of something.. futuristic, man, good times! Back when MTV was awsome and you'd be up at 2am and hear that one of the tracks was on MTV fresh or some such, it was all great..

When I think back to those days of gaming in comparison to now you really do get a feeling of just how stagnated it's all become. There is practically nothing thats pushing any boundaries nowdays, even from Sony who blew us away back then.

Playstation 1, cracking console. I still play most of those games even today 🫡

 

Dis

Member
Sony don't give a #### about any of that. No proper backwards compatibility, letting old series die while chasing GAAS.
Sony don't care about their legacy, so we shouldn't either.

Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.

Nooo they killed it in PS4 gen.
None of that chastity shit Microsoft tried on us. Incredible shows, affordable console, incredible games. Remember that E3 2015 prior to Shinji Hashimoto FF7 PSXpierence troll? That was WILD.

Yes we dont have PS3 BC. But we have PS4 BC on PS5.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
What people don't realize because both the PS2 and PS3 were polar opposites is how easy it was to develop for the PSX. That is one big reason it got so many big games so fast at the begining. Compared to everything else at the time is was a breeze to get a demo up and running.
add that to a pretty brilliant designed set of cpu and gpu to run the thing. Basically it was all up to marketing at that point as the hardware couldn't have been a better mix of low cost but with high performance and features.
 
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RagnarokIV

Member
Oh that last showcase, where their biggest game was a GAAS Spider-Man, or shall we perhaps just call it GAAS-MAN?
Their biggest game is an Ubisoft template. Spider-Man is an ubisoft game just like Ghost Of Tsushima. How about Ubi-Man?

edit: forgot Horizon is another ubi game.
 
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Trogdor1123

Member
Is this like some kind of internet meme I’m not familiar with?
Sony don't give a #### about any of that. No proper backwards compatibility, letting old series die while chasing GAAS.
Sony don't care about their legacy, so we shouldn't either.

Last good one was the original PLAYSTATION 3 (Spider-Man font) once they went ps3 (gay font) they lost their way.
 

SHA

Member
You mean the ps1 and 2, ps2 competition was pc, it's mentioned on the Xbox commentary video in the last year, their exclusives were convenient for casuals in a good way, cause pc games are usually more complex, second and third party games were second to none, they're better at telling stories where pc games usually compromised in few screen shots with text, the experience was definitely shocking and unusual, you saw metal gear solid, this game as well as other ps games are unique and it has every cause that changed the industry.
 
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nial

Gold Member
Seething at Sony just a few posts in? Jeez, I know it's been a rough decade, but it's not that deep...
 
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T0minator

Member
Andrew House & Sean Layden

Two execs that weren't just all talk. Three types of execs current and future execs should strive and aspire to be.
 

aclar00

Member
Back when Sony was amazing and the console industry wasn’t just sequels and remakes.

The hobby was in a much better place back then.

Didnt tons of games have sequels?

Capcom had a shit ton during the PS1 and PS2 eras....Resident Evil, Onimusha, Dino Crises, Various Street Fighters and im sure more.

There were like 3 Twisted Metals on PS1 alone, 2 Xtreme games, Multiple Final Fantasies, 3 Crash Bandicoots , like 4 Tomb Raiders...
 
Who here was there at the launch?
Because boy, that was a magical time.

Reading about the Super Nintendo CD and Sony collaboration in 10th grade (1993) to owning a PlayStation at launch after graduation (1995) happened at such a break neck sped, that I can’t even explain it.
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
nolan north retro replay GIF

I remember it being released and really wanting one after seeing it at my aunties house. I got one a few months later, I always remember this game “pandemonium” she played and it was so bizarre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemonium!_(video_game)

It was a fantastic machine and I can remember my hometown the piracy was rife after a short while with the pen trick, but it wasn’t until I seen GTA3 on PS2 that I was astonished, looking back now it’s so quaint really, but it was groundbreaking at the time. Simpler times.
 
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