SONY PLAYSTATION 4 : CURRENT CONSOLE

WHITE GLACIER PS4

Sony developed their fourth generation of home gaming console, Sony PlayStation 4 in 2012. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 during a press conference on February 20, 2013, then the first released was on November 15, 2013 in North America and continued the released on November 29, 2013 in Europe, South America and Australia and worldwide. Before the launch of PlayStation 4, many consumers thought PS3 had become the greater home game console but after the release of PlayStation 4, everything changed. Why I said so?

JET BLACK PS4

                                          

Because PS4 console featured an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Built around the x86-64 architecture, with a theoretical peak performance of 1.84 , Teraflops AMD stated that the processor was the "most powerful" APU they had developed to date. Therefore, PlayStation 4 also increased emphasis on social interaction and integration with another devices and services, including the ability to play games off console to PlayStation Vita and supported to its own Sony hand phone Xperia. Plus the ability to stream online gameplay, or to friends with the ability for them to control gameplay remotely (Share Play).

               

                                                              

                                                 SPECIAL EDITION DESIGN OF PS4 CONSOLES

DUALSHOCK 4

Moreover, the joystick Dualshock 4 for PS4  is rather different than the PS3 joystick because the current controller improved the buttons, analog sticks and an integrated touchpad among other changes. Sony provided two colors for the console which are 'White glacier' and 'Jet Black' for normal set. Afterwards, Sony also produced limited edition design consoles such as batman Arkham knight, Starwars, Uncharted, Killzone, and much more. During the launch of PlayStation 4, the sales increased rapidly and later on, in January 2016, for about more 30.2 million PS4 units have been sold to worldwide. PS4 was stated as the highest and fastest sales among the other companies game console as the price was rather affordable and the design has the unique shape that possibly attracted the consumer as well as the game production by Sony that requested from the consumers.

The video below show the preview regarding the PS4 console:

RESOURCES:

• https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/about/theplaystationstory/
• http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/03/04/playstation-4-is-sonys-fastest-selling-console/
• http://www.techinsider.io/playstation-4-just-made-history-2015-11
• http://www.ibtimes.com/ps4-vs-xbox-one-sony-has-sold-302-million-playstation-4-consoles-nearly-double-2199807

SECOND GENERATION OF SONY HANDHELD CONSOLE "PLAYSTATION VITA"

Second generation of Sony handheld console
PlayStation Vita (PS Vita)

In 2011, Sony introduced the second generation of handheld game console the PlayStation Vita officially abbreviated PS Vita. Sony came up with the idea due the successor to the PlayStation Portable as part of the PlayStation brand of gaming devices. The handheld game console was released on December 17, 2011 in Japan then continued in North America and other countries on February 22, 2012. The first design of the original model of handheld was the PCH-1000 series that included with 2 analog sticks, a 5 inch 130 mm OLED multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, and supports with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and optional 3G. Sony also changed the internal component in the device where the PS Vita featured a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor and additionally combined with a quad-core SGX543MP graphics processing units as well as Live Area software as its main user interface, which supersedes the XrossMediaBar. In 2013, Sony made some improvements to the device in featuring better battery life, more internal storage capacity and also making the size slimmer and lighter than the old model. So, this redesigned handheld game consoled known as PS Vita model, the PCH-2000 series. Hence, to make it more interesting handheld game console, Sony expedited the launching of PlayStation TV that could connects the PS Vita with the its TV screen so that consumers could play them better and everywhere without obstacles. So, the improvements seemed to be superb as the device itself facilitated the consumer to play online games with friends, Facebook, twitter and so on by using Wi-Fi connection instead of purchasing internet to do certain thing. Plus, PS Vita also had similar graphics with PS3 as both contributed better visual to the consumers. Therefore, PS Vita put many applications such as twitter, facebook, foursquare skype that absolutely help the consumers to share, connects and whatsoever with friends through the device.

PLAYSTATION 3 : A NEW ERA OF GAMING CONSOLE

PlayStation 3 versions

The successor of PlayStation 2 has brought huge impact to Sony Computer Entertainment. Due to that, the company unveiled the third generation of PlayStation which was PlayStation 3 in 2005. The third console reset the bar for the entertainment by utilizing a combination of Cell and RSX™ processors, a state of the art Blu-ray disc player and a preinstalled hard disk drive (HDD) that provided 160 GB, 250 GB, 320 GB and 500 GB. the expand of hard-drive allowed the consumers to install many things inside of the console such as pictures, movies, games, and music and saved games as well. The first console of PlayStation 3 in 2005 equipped with basic input and outputs ports that included 6 USB ports used to recharge wireless controller of Dual shock 3 and 2 HDMI ports that allowed consumers to played the games in better graphic 1080i and 1080p display and 3 Ethernet ports. But the next redesigned console of PlayStation 3, Sony changed the ports into 4 USB ports and 1 HMDI port and 1 Ethernet port as the company excuses in reducing the costs. The console also introduced new internet access which was PlayStation Network that consent consumers to play online worldwide, purchase games and update future firmware. The launched of PlayStation network (PSN) IN 2006 PSN has evolved into a true online entertainment hub with more than 90 million registered accounts worldwide and continues to grow with tons of great new content and services, delivering a seamless connected gaming and entertainment experience across multiple devices and platforms. PSN delivered more ways to instantly play, watch, stream, listen, chat and share, offering the best in games, TV and movies, sports and music. PSN also offers PlayStation Plus, a subscription services that allowed users to get the most out of their PS3 console by offering subscribers free games, huge discounts and great exclusives. These technological advancements coupled with its all-in-one entertainment solution made PlayStation 3 the most advanced computer system, which served as a platform to enjoy next generation games and the best in home console of entertainment on the market.

RESOURCES:

• https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/about/theplaystationstory/
• http://www.lazygamer.net/boost/a-brief-history-of-the-playstation-3/
• http://www.winxdvd.com/resource/ps3.htm
• http://www.ibtimes.com.au/advantages-disadvantages-ps3-1273429
• https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-plus/

A HANDHELD CONSOLE : PLAYSTATION PORTABLE (PSP)

PlayStation Portable

 3 years later, Sony made their move to produce portable gaming device to the consumers. The company prioritized for the consumers in giving them benefits in playing games everywhere. So, Sony announced the first portable gaming device which PlayStation Portable or PSP in 2003 and therefore unveiled the device product in Japan on December 12, 2004 and North America On march 24, 2005. It primarily competed with the Nintendo Ds. The PlayStation Portable was more powerful system to be compared with Nintendo Ds where the device encompassed high-end graphics on a handheld while its 4.3 inch screen plus multimedia capabilities such as video player and TV tuner, led the PlayStation Portable a major mobile entertainment device at the time. The handheld gaming device that used an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD) as its primary storage medium. Therefore, in order to stabilize target consumers, Sony did provide many benefits to the consumers such as online, watching video, listening to songs and viewing photos as the improvement. This was to emphasize the device to be more interesting as it was a small handheld console device that acquired many capabilities. In addition, the device facilitated the consumers to carry it everywhere as the size only compatible with handheld. The original PSP model, PSP-1000 was replaced by a slimmer model with design changes PSP-2000 slim in 2007. Another remodeling followed in 2008, PSP-3000, which included a new screen and an inbuilt microphone. A complete redesign, PSP Go, came in 2009, followed by a budget model, PSP-E1000, in 2011.

RESOURCES:

http://digthatbox.com/the_history_of_the_sony_psp.html

THE ORIGINAL PLAYSTATION/ PLAYSTATION ONE AND PLAYSTATION 2 : 1994-2004

Original PlayStation and PlayStation One

PlayStation 2

                                                                                                                     The original PlayStation was designed as one of the fundamental of entertainment. In 1997, Sony ultimately managed to attract many customers to buy the brand’s device where 100,000 units were sold during that period. The Original PlayStation was the first of the ubiquitous console in series of PlayStation. Later on, Sony released their new console called PlayStation One in 2000. The new console seemed to be little different as the physical shape was rather small and lighter than the first PlayStation. However, Sony still remained the same function in the device. In 2000, Sony released their second generation of PlayStation which was PlayStation 2. PlayStation 2 was far beyond the company expectations as the console listed as the most popular console ever in history. With its incredible power and exciting performance and exclusive ability to play both CD and DVD movies, led the consumers to purchase it. Plus, the console also provided Usb port that able for consumers to play online with their mates. The era of PlayStation 2 was unstoppable, making it possible for smooth, lifelike animation to be shown in real time as well as helping to establish DVD as the standard optical disk media format worldwide. Sony also redesigned the console in 2004 into smaller version same goes with the plan that was used in The Original PlayStation. Though, today PlayStation 2 still in memories for gamers as the console device conquered all the other consoles for over decades and enlisted as the top best-selling console that selling for over 155 units in worldwide as of March 2012 and also a software library project to exceed over 1900 games in 2009.

figure 1 : Bar chart of Ps2 success

figure 2 : Bar chart of Ps2 success

RESOURCES:

• http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/4597/Sony-Playstation-2/
• http://www.lazygamer.net/boost/a-brief-history-of-the-playstation-2/
• https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/about/theplaystationstory/

HISTORY OF PLAYSTATION

The first edition of the original PlayStation

PlayStation was designed as a form of entertainment or well known as a series of video game consoles. In 1988, two companies, Sony and Nintendo worked all together in introducing the idea and therefore led them to produce a Super Disc or now we used to call it CD-ROM. The super disc was functioned as CD-ROM attachment that was intended to be part of Nintendo's soon to be released Super Nintendo game. However, the idea was not being conducted well because the companies, Sony and Nintendo separated their own business method from working together as the issue complicated both of the companies themselves in term of trust issue. In addition, The Super Disc was never used from by Nintendo as the company planned was to produce a console that only can be functioned by movement and gesture. The conflict between both explained Sony PlayStation managed to use a modified version of the CD-ROM as the idea in succeeding their plan to produce a console gaming entertainment in 1990. the idea was supported by Ken Kutaragi, the founder of the company Sony Computer Entertainment INC also the executive that contributed so much efforts in using the idea to create the product which is PlayStation in one piece. Because of his success, He was proclaimed as the "The Father of the PlayStation". On December 3, 1994 , Sony launched  their first  console called the Original PlayStation console in Japan. later on released to worldwide in 1995.

RESOURCES :

• http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427138,00.asp
• http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/playstation1.htm
• http://playstationmuseum.com/history/