Your No:1 Playstation Nest

Playstation 2 Games

2007-09-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

The PS2's brand strength has led to strong third-party support for the system. Although the system's launch titles were unimpressive in 2000, the Christmas season of 2001 saw the release of several best-selling and critically acclaimed games. These games helped the PS2 maintain and extend its lead in the video game console market, despite increased competition from the launches of the Microsoft Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube. In several cases, Sony made exclusivity deals with publishers in order to preempt its competitors.

Critically acclaimed games on the PS2 include the Grand Theft Auto series, several entries in the Final Fantasy series, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, the Devil May Cry series, four SSXs , the Ace Combat series, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Gran Turismo 4, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs, the Sly Cooper trilogy, Ape Escape, the Splinter Cell series, the Jak and Daxter series, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, the God of War series, Champions of Norrath, Champions: Return to Arms, five Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games, seven Tony Hawk games, the WWE SmackDown! series, and the Ratchet and Clank series. The PS2 has also been the home to many music games, such as the latest Dance Dance Revolution games and the guitar controller-based Guitar Hero series.

At the end of 2006, 8,571 PS2 titles had been released worldwide (4,745 in Asia, 1,375 in North America, and 2,451 in Europe),accounting for cumulative production shipments of 1.205 billion units.

Playstation 2 History

2007-09-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

Only a few million people had obtained consoles by the end of 2000 due to manufacturing delays.The PS2 was so popular after its release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves.Another popular option was purchasing the console online through auction websites such as eBay. The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility, selling over 900,000 units in the first weekend in Japan. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation — another major selling point over the competition. Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers.

A notable piece of advertising for the PS2 launch was accompanied by the popular "PS9" television commercial. 9 was to be the epitome of development, which the PS2 was the next step on the way towards. The ad also presaged the development of a portable PlayStation (first released in Japan on December 12, 2004).

Many analysts predicted a close three-way matchup between the PS2 and competitors Microsoft's Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (which was the cheapest of the three consoles and had an open market of games); however, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season maintained sales momentum and held off the PS2s rivals.

Although Sony, unlike Sega with its Dreamcast, placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first years, that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox. Sony adapted in late 2002 to compete with Microsoft, with several online first–party titles released alongside it, such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs to show its active support for Internet play. Sony also advertised heavily, and its online model had the support of Electronic Arts. Although Sony and Nintendo both started out late, and although both followed a decentralized model of online gaming where the responsibility is up to the developer to provide the servers, Sony's attempt made online gaming a major selling point of the PS2.

In September 2004, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the best-selling game during the 2004 holiday season), Sony revealed a new, smaller PS2 (see Hardware revisions). In preparation for the launch of a new, slimmer PS2 model (SCPH-70000; also known unofficially as the "PStwo"), Sony stopped making the older PS2 model (SCPH-5000x) during the summer of 2004 to let the distribution channel empty its stock of the units. After an apparent manufacturing issue caused some initial slowdown in producing the new unit, Sony reportedly underestimated demand, caused in part by shortages between the time the old units were cleared out and the new units were ready. The issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK. During one week in November, British sales totaled 6,000 units — compared to 70,000 units a few weeks prior. There were shortages in more than 1700 stores in North America on the day before Christmas

PlayStation 2

2007-09-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

The PlayStation 2 (プレイステーション2, Pureisutēshon Tsū?, abbreviated "PS2") is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the successful PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was released subsequently after a year in Japan.

Released little more than a year after the Sega Dreamcast and a year before its main competitors Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, the PS2 is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles. As of March 2007, 117.89 million PS2 units have been shipped worldwide.

List of Sony Greatest Hits games

2007-04-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

These are PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable games that have been made Greatest Hits games in the US by Sony. GH titles are referred to as "Green Label" for PlayStation games and "Red Label" for PS2 and PSP titles.

When Sony introduced the program for PlayStation in 1997, games could become GH titles after selling at least 150,000 copies and being on the market for at least a year.[1] Minimum sales required eventually rose to 250,000.[2] When the program came to PlayStation 2 in 2002, games could become GH titles after selling at least 400,000 copies and being on the market for at least 9 months.[3] Suggested retail prices of GH titles at first were dropped to $24.99, but they now typically retail for $19.99. Third-party publishers, however, can set their own GH prices and are not required to make their games GH titles after passing the minimums. Games that are multi-million sellers may become GH titles much later than 9 months to maximize profits.

In 2006, Sony extended the Greatest Hits program to the PlayStation Portable. [4] To qualify, a title must be on the market for at least 9 months and have sold 250,000 copies or more.

In PAL territories, Sony uses the Platinum range program for best-selling budget games.

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PlayStation 2

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening

Playstation Controversy

2007-02-16T02:46:00.000-08:00

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 and 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 and stopped displaying the ad for forever...

The legacy of gaming console

2007-02-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

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, and 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 and DVDs to store games, citing longer load times and durability issues. It was widely speculated that the company was even more concerned with piracy, given its substantial reliance on licensing and exclusive titles for its revenue.

However, the increasing complexity of games, in content, graphics, and sound, were pushing cartridges to their storage limits and this began to turn off third party developers. Also appealing to publishers was that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense and more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand), and they were able to past the lower costs onto consumers. While one major disadvantage of CDs was piracy, due to the advent of CD burners and mod chips, this ironically became a selling point of the PlayStation.

The success of Sony's PlayStation introduced high-quality sound and longer playing times as top priorities for modern gamers, leaving little choice for competitors but to follow suit.

credits:wikipedia

Sony's successor

2007-02-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

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 and output (memory cards, DVD drive, network, and hard drive). Like its predecessor, the PlayStation 2 is based on hardware developed by Sony themselves.

The next generation of the PlayStation is known as PlayStation 3, or PS3, and has been launched in November 2006 for North America and Japan, and will be launched on the 23rd March 2007 in Europe. Sony has stated the PS3 will also be 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 and 2 games will 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 and playable on the PSP through emulation. Sony hopes to release nearly all PlayStation 1 games on a gradual basis. [5]. However, as of late December 2006, a custom firmware release allows users to play PS1 image files coverted into the PSP's EBOOT format.

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, and 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 and DVDs to store games, citing longer load times and durability issues. It was widely speculated that the company was even more concerned with piracy, given its substantial reliance on licensing and exclusive titles for its revenue. The success of Sony's PlayStation introduced high-quality sound and longer playing times as top priorities for modern gamers, leaving little choice for competitors but to follow suit.

sources:wikipedia.org

The trivial things about PlayStation

2007-02-07T03:23:00.000-08:00

Do you know that the OK and Cancel buttons on most of the Japanese PlayStation's games are reversed in their American and 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 and 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 Sony's/ Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo, Squaresoft's Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy Tactics, and Konami's Metal Gear Solid, have the buttons remain in the same Japanese configuration in their American and European releases. These Japanese button layouts still apply to newer PlayStation consoles, such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and PlayStation 2.

thanks to:wikipedia

PSone a.k.a PlayStation One

2007-02-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

PSone with LCD screen and a DualShock

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,^[3] and 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 and 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" and the original, the first one being cosmetic change to the console, the second one was the home menu's Graphical User Interface, and the third being added protection against the mod-chip by changing the internal layout and 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...

credits: wikipedia.org

Do you know what is Net Yaroze?

2007-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Net Yaroze is 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, and most importantly, came with tools and instructions that allowed a user to be able to program PlayStation games and applications without the need for a full developer suite, which cost many times the amount of a PlayStation and 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.

credits: wikipedia.org

PlayStation early games

2007-01-31T03:26:00.000-08:00

One of PS early games-Metal Gear Solid

Titles

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, Tekken, Tomb Raider, and Wipeout . The very last game for the system was FIFA Football 2005. As of May 18, 2004, Sony has shipped 100 million PlayStation and 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...

source: Wikipedia.org

PlayStation Interesting Facts!

2007-01-30T01:42:00.000-08:00

The Sony PlayStation (Japanese pronounciations is: プレイステーション Pureisutēshon^?) 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 PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices, which has included successor machines including the Net Yaroze, PSone (a smaller version of the original), PocketStation, PlayStation 2, a revised, slimline PS2, PlayStation Portable, PSX (Japan only), and 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.

Playstation first launching...

2007-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

An original PlayStation control pad. This model was later replaced by the Dual Analog, and then the DualShock.

The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, the United States on September 9, 1995, Europe on September 29, 1995 and 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, Wipeout and Ridge Racer. Almost all of Sony's and Namco's launch titles went on to produce numerous sequels.

Launched price in the American market: US$ 299.00 [1], a price point later used by its successor, the PlayStation 2.

The PlayStation was also able to generate interest with a unique slew of ad 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, and the "U R Not e" ads (the "e" in "U R Not e" was always colored in red, to symbolize the word "ready", and 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...

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More History...

2007-01-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

Just surfing around the 'Google'...and guess what, found another articles about Sony Playstation history...good to read it (if you're an Otaku) . Here it goes:

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), and the disks were a piracy danger. Consequently, when details of CDROM/XA (an extension of the CD-ROM format that combines compressed audio, visual and computer data, allowing all to be accessed simultaneously) came out, Nintendo was interested. CDROM/XA was being simultaneously developed by Sony and Philips. Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "SNES-CD". A contract was struck, and 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 8 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 and 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 CES . However, when Hiroshi Yamauchi read the original 1988 contract between Sony and Nintendo, he realized that the earlier agreement essentially handed Sony complete control over any and 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 and revealed that they were now allied with Philips, and were planning on abandoning all the previous work Nintendo and Sony had accomplished. Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa had, unbeknownst to Sony, flown to Philips headquarters in Europe and 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 and make it into a complete, stand alone console. This led to Nintendo filing a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and attempted, in U.S. federal court, to obtain an injunction against the release of the Play Station, 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 and Nintendo reached a deal whereby the "Sony Play Station" would still have a port for SNES games, but Nintendo would own the rights and receive the bulk of the profits from the games, and 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, and 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 and software; as part of this process the SNES cartridge port was dropped, the space between the names was removed, and the PlayStation was born...PLAYSTATION
Great history! More to comes...

source: wikipedia.org

The History Begins...

2007-01-25T12:59:00.001-08:00

This is my 1st post on this blog, so i'm gonna tell you some history about where Sony Playstation arise. Playstation is my favorite gaming console so far since years. Now i'm a PS2 owner, hope can buy PS3 soon! Ok! enough talking, straight to the point:-

The history of the Playstation begins in 1988 when Sony and Nintendo were working together to develop the Super Disc. The Super Disc was going to be a CD-ROM attachment that was intended to be part of Nintendo's soon to be released Super Nintendo game. However, Sony and Nintendo parted ways business-wise and the Super Disc was never introduced or used by Nintendo. In 1991, Sony used a modified version of the Super Disk as part of their new game console - the Sony Playstation. Research and development for the PlayStation had began in 1990, headed by Sony engineer, Ken Kutaragi.
Only two hundred models of the first Playstation (that could play Super Nintendo game cartridges) were manufactured by Sony. The original Playstation was designed as a multi-media and multi-purpose entertainment unit. Besides being able to play Super Nintendo games, the Playstation could play audio CDs and could read CDs with computer and video information as well. In 1994, the new PlayStation X (PSX) was released that was no longer compatable with Nintendo game cartridges and only played CD-ROM based games. A smart move that soon made Playstations the best selling game console...

More info to comes...
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Test!!!

2007-01-24T01:54:00.001-08:00

Alive soon!!!