For a company as usually sure-footed as Sony, it was a bit of a faux pas. The electronics giant marked a decade of PlayStation two weeks ago with full-page ads in Italian newspapers and magazines featuring a smirking young man wearing a “crown of thorns” and the legend “Ten years of Passion”.
On closer inspection the “thorns” turned out to be bits of metal fashioned into the triangle, square, cross and circle of the ubiquitous gaming console, but the Jesus imagery was too close for comfort and the Catholic Church literally put the fear of God into Sony’s marketing people. Sony apologised for the “blasphemy” and the ads were pulled within 24 hours.
The advertising campaign touched a nerve in a country where declining church attendances are a source of concern both within the Vatican and in greater Rome — the Church huffily asked whether Sony would have taken such liberties with Muslim icono-graphy — but it also hinted at the extent of PlayStation’s achievement within 10 short years. It has the sort of consumer profile and brand loyalty that most companies — and several religions — would kill for.
Sony’s entry into the console gaming market in 1994/95 revitalised a flagging industry. The Japanese electronics company was world-renowned for producing quality consumer goods, but several industry analysts at the time were not convinced that the PlayStation would succeed. Sony was originally working with Nintendo, which dominated the industry, on producing a CD player to replace the cartridge player in use at the time. When Sony heard Nintendo had asked Philips to develop something similar, it decided to go it alone. Critics suggested it was a risky move into a field where Sony had little or no experience. It was as though Danish electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen suddenly announced it would produce a remote-controlled toy car: you knew the workmanship would be excellent, but you weren’t quite sure of the point.
The secret of Sony’s success was in two main innovations: the self–contained CD player, which used 32-bit technology and could play CDs with more than 600MB of data as opposed to the 4MB to 5MB using 16-bit that cartridges could hold; and the -company’s willingness to allow third-party software companies to produce games for its console.
The hardware was an enormous technical improvement on the cartridge-players used by its main rivals, Nintendo and Sega, and users were entranced by the 3D graphics, quality sound and ease of use. And by not keeping game-development in-house, Sony ensured that the number of titles available soon outstripped anything on offer on other platforms.
The PlayStation was launched in Japan in December 1994, but had its worldwide release in September 1995. The console soon became a must-have for gamers everywhere. Titles such as Tomb Raider, featuring the cyber world’s first sex symbol, Lara Croft, became top-sellers and spawned cult followings.
Sales of the original unit, known now as the PSX, and its update, the PSOne, topped 100-million and Sony shipped its 90-millionth PlayStation 2 (launched in 2000) in June this year. The PS2’s major innovation was Internet access — side-stepping the need for a PC.
Unlike PC-based games, where developers have kept pace with ever-more-powerful processors forcing gamers to scrutinise the “System requirements” details on a game box to check whether the software will work on their systems, Sony has kept it simple. PlayStation games work on all PSX/PSOne machines, while those marked PlaySation 2 will work on all generations of the PS2.
The third wave, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) was launched last month in most parts of the world, including South Africa, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the brand. As its name suggests, the PSP has its own screen and battery, making it independent of the television set or computer monitor and an electricity source. And, with PS2-quality graphics, built-in wi-fi, Web browser, MP3 and video playback and image viewer, PSP actually stands for “Nintendo beware”. The capability to play music and DVDs as well as access the Internet, makes Sony’s new player an enormous threat to the Gameboy in the portable entertainment market.
It’s going to be an expensive Christmas for many South African parents, who will be expected to stump up R2 500 for the PSP — and R200 plus per game.
Huddles in schoolyards across the country show many parents haven’t even waited for Christmas, proving Sony has another winner on its hands.