The Sony Playstation console has come leaps and bounds since its first arrival in 1994
As with many things technology continually gets older and outdated and is replaced by something new and something better. With the ever expanding computing power of technoloogy these days we consider how did we live before without it, now we expect something better with every new piece of technology released.
Until the arrival of the PlayStation, cartridges were the norm - and their reign over the video game industry was never challenged nor questioned. The CD provided significant increases to storage space, allowing better video and sound production.
How ever this was a double edge sword as this also opened the market up to piracy which was one of the biggest issues associated with Sony and Playstation one and still continues to this day.
The next big step for Sony was the Playstation 2 which was released in the year 2000 with a complete makeover.
This release was probably one of the most anticipated as it took the market by storm and was a hard act to follow and established a dedicated fan base.
It was marketed not only for avid gamers but as a music player and dvd player more like a home entertainment system, it brought them our of the bedroom and into the loungeroom.
The PlayStation 2's biggest strength was undoubtedly its vast game library, which gave it the edge over competing consoles from Sega, Nintendo and Microsoft. The Playstation 2 took games to great heights for example Grand Theft Auto (2004) which has sold over 17 million units to date.
Much like the original PlayStation console, the PS2 suffered greatly due to piracy. Events repeated themselves almost exactly when a mod-chip was developed for PS2 that allowed users to play 'backup' versions of games, which could be copied straight from an original game disc or simply downloaded and burned onto a DVD.
The next big release for Sony only 6 years later is the Playstation 3 (2006/2007)
The Playstation 3 was marketed as a premium piece of hardware that was more of an entertainment hub than a games console. Although the Ps3 was a huge advancement in entertainment and gaming the release was disappointing due to the price bracket.
As Sony released different versions the price came down and its potential is really starting to take off with a system that is also a gaming hub, blue ray DVD player, music player, photo viewer, and the ability to be able to network into the local area connections has really seen this hardware take off and will be in use for quite a while.
Joshua Bamback
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