5th Generation - PlayStation

The Sony Playsation console was released in Japan in 1994 and to the rest of the world in 1995. The console was priced at around $299. The console's key selling point was it's capabilities regarding 3D graphics in video games. Sony predicted that the future of gaming would consists of 3D generated polygons instead of spirtes and yep, they were right. It was the first console to use CD-Rom technology as it's main form of media storage which was highly efficient money wise and could carry allot of space (650mb). Originally designed to be a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo later cancelled the deal and Sony went ahead and decided to make their own 32Bit console. The controller featured a segmented D-pad on the left that resemble arrows and on the right shaped that are used to label the buttons. The shapes on the buttons are not random chosen and each was designed for their own specific meaning.

• The Triangle button represents a viewpoint or directions
• The Square button represents a document or a menu
• The X button resembled the decision to say No
• The Circle button resembled the decision to say Yes

Eventually this controller was replaced with a Dual-shock controller which consisted of 2 Analog pads as shown below.

The games originally came in long boxes but quickly shifted to the standardized CD cases. The back side of the original Playstation CDs are black for absolutely no reason at all, well to look cool.

The Playstation was a 32Bit system running 3.8mhz with 16million colors and the ability to handle 180,000 texture map and lightning source polygon per second. The most interesting thing about the Playstation was the memory card which you could use to simply save a game, plug the memory cards out of the Playstation go to your friend's house and load the saved game onto his console.The only problem about memory cards where the lack of space they had. Many of the earlier version of Playstation had a problem with over heating and this could be easily remedied by turning the console upside down because the ventilation system was below. Overall the Playstation saw over 2,400 games and it was the first console to sell more than 100 million units being one the most successful consoles in history.

Later the PSOne was released which consisted of a white design console with a smaller less bulkier shape. The newly designed console feature a new Bios system, protection against modchips, no serial port and the reset button was removed.

A compilation of Playstation Commercials which focused on the player's need and it's 3D rendering capabilities.

Bibliography:
Videogamecritic.com, (2015). The Video Game Critic's Sony Playstation Console Review. [online] Available at: http://videogamecritic.com/psinfo.htm [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). PlayStation. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation#PlayStation [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). PlayStation (console). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Engadget, (2011). Sony PlayStation 1st-gen. [online] Available at: http://www.engadget.com/products/sony/playstation/1st-gen/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].