PlayStation: Difference between revisions

{{IndexTropeUseful Notes|wppage=PlayStation (console)}}

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Thus the [['''PlayStation]]''' as we know it was conceived. Sony redesigned the "[[PlayStation]] X" from a fancy CD drive for the SNES into a full-fledged console. Developers were getting excited by 3D gaming, so Kutaragi designed the system with that in mind. He also made sure it was easy to develop for, so programmers could get their 3D system right out the gate. Sony also had, by far, the most developer-friendly license in the industry, with low royalties and no "our console and nobody else's" restrictions. This made the system extremely attractive to developers. Combined with great early sales and the larger profit margin, it attracted many developers, and thus began two generations of [[PlayStation]] dominance.

However, in North America, the [[PlayStation]] had a rocky start. Sony hired a certain [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Bernie Stolar]] as head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, the North American arm responsible for licensing content and developers for the [[PlayStation]]. Stolar's [[Executive Meddling]], specifically vetoing many JRPG localization releases for the [[PlayStation]] in North America and prioritizing sports titles, almost lead to the [[PlayStation]] failing in the market. Sony quickly caught on and booted Stolar and voided his policies. The [[PlayStation]] began to thrive in the US once other game genres began entering the market soon after Stolar's policies were removed, and with the release of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' the rest is history.

Incidentally, only the smaller redesigned models usually display the words "[[PS 1]]"/"[[PS One]]", given that they were released late in the console's lifespan with its successor, the [[PlayStation 2]], on the horizon, thus there was a need to differentiate it from its impending successor. Though Sony has kept the [[PS One]] designation for its downloadable "[[PS One]] Classics" line.

** Nor was it able to do texture ''mapping'' well; due to the use of affine texture mapping (no accounting for perspective) textures generally appear to warp and twitch when the camera moves. Some developers came up with tricks to minimize these effects, but in the main it was just something that [[PlayStation]] owners got used to.

** Finally, despite both the vector unit and rasterizer working with fixed-point mathematics (not as good as an FPU, but much better than nothing), only integers could be passed between the two, leading to the slightly stilted movement of polygons that typify [[PlayStation]] graphics (Watch any slow-moving object and you'll notice how the polygons seem to "snap" to each new position, rather than moving smoothly).

* ''Net Yaroze'': Sony's gift to bedroom programmers all over the world, the Net Yaroze (Yaroze being [[Gratuitous Japanese]] for "Let's do it") was a one-of-a-kind development kit marketed to computer hobbyists as a chance to create their own [[PlayStation]] games. The $750 package included a special region-free black [[PlayStation]] console, manuals, instruction books and software to get users started, although users had to supply their own computers and programming skills to create software for it. Usually these games could be submitted to Sony to be published on the demo discs of Official Playstation Magazine. While most of the games produced with the Net Yaroze were fairly amateurish clones of commercial games such as ''[[Doom]]'', ''[[Bubble Bobble|Puzzle Bobble]]'' and ''[[Pac-Man]]'' (one ''[[Doom]]'' clone going so far as to [[Lampshade Hanging|hang a lampshade on it]] by calling itself ''Clone''), some of them were surprisingly ambitious (such as the Zelda-like RPG ''Terra Incognita''). Although future Sony consoles have not featured similar in-depth homebrew options, it's possible to run distributions of Linux on both the [[PlayStation 2]] and, until a firmware update released after the redesigned model, the [[Play Station 3]], and the demo disc that comes with the [[PlayStation 2]] features a YABasic programming tool.

* ''[[PlayStation]] Mouse'': A peripheral designed for games with mouse-friendly (or required) interfaces, such as [[Real Time Strategy]] games (''[[Command & Conquer]]'' series), [[Point and Click Game|Point & Click]] Adventure games (''[[Broken Sword]]'', ''[[Clock Tower (series)|Clock Tower]]'', ''[[Discworld]]''), or [[FPS]] games (''[[Doom (series)|Final Doom]]'', ''[[Quake II]]''). About 50 games, [[No Export for You|a number of which being Japan-only]], are compatible with the Playstation Mouse. A ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]''-themed [[media:tm_ps1mouse_976.jpg|mouse]] was issued as one of the goods of the ''Tokimeki Memorial 1'' Limited Edition Box.