Sony PlayStation: the game changer

David Crookes looks at how the first PlayStation turned the gaming world on its head, impacting rival console manufacturers, videogame developers and the perception of games themselves

- David Crookes

In December 1994, it was becoming clear where gaming was heading: straight down the road to the third dimension. Although 3D games had been around for a while DOS titles Wolfenstein 3D and Doom being the most notable - one play of Ridge Racer was all it took to convince larger numbers of gamers that 3D was the future.

Ridge Racer was a launch title for Sony's PlayStation, a console that had made its debut in Japan. As history will attest, this machine forever changed the course of the videogame industry by successfully smashing the longheld Nintendo-Sega duopoly. It drove forward with fresh thinking and a determination to turn the industry on its head. In short, the PlayStation was a game changer.

It could have been so different. Six years earlier, Sony had no desire to become a major player in the console market. Instead, it partnered with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM add-on device for Nintendo's 16-bit SNES called the Play Station (with a space between the words).

Yet when Sony announced the partnership during the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nintendo poured cold water on the deal. It said it had signed a separate arrangement with Philips for a CD-i add-on, and it was later confirmed that the Sony-Nintendo project was off. Understandably annoyed, Sony decided to go it alone with a product that would eventually go head to head with its former partner. The desire for revenge appeared strong.

Ken Kutaragi, who had worked his way up at Sony having started in the company's digital research labs, was tasked with heading the new console project, and the resulting PlayStation emerged with some very impressive stats.

The new console had a 32-bit R3000A processor clocked at just over 33MHz. It could also offer 2MB of RAM and 1MB VRAM, plus 16-bit, 24-channel sound and the ability to play audio CDs. But the PlayStation became much more than a list of technical specifications.

Gaming grows up