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| Sony seeks Worldwide "Living Room" Domination!: by John Nunez |
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Sony Playstation 2
Here we are in the first quarter of 2000 and Sega has again released it's product, the "Dreamcast", before it's competitors but this time it has a few pluses. It was bundled with a modem for Internet surfing and multiplayer capabilities. Another plus was the higher number of games available at the time the system was launched. A few negatives on the Dreamcast are web browser is a bit deficient and as of February 15th. 2000, there are no games available yet that uses the modem for multiplayer purposes. Some developers and probably the industry's biggest and oldest Video Game Developer "Electronic Arts" refused to create games for it. This is partly due to the fact that the Sony's newest console, "Playstation 2", is easily 10x more powerful than the Dreamcast.
Well the time is near and the first few million Playstation 2's will hit the streets in Japan on March 4th. Sony expects to sell 2 Million units in two days. It will continue generating 500,000 units per month through out the rest of the year. Stores in the U.S. have already begun to take pre-orders and I have recently placed my $10 down payment at a local Electronic Boutique. I plan to add more money to it so I will have paid it off and have enough money for a game (Ridge Racer 5) when it is released. The system is estimated to sell for $350.00 dollars but when you factor in the Sony DVD Movie Player, I think it's well worth it. If all goes according to plan Sony will control your living room! This is what Microsoft fears so they have decided to throw their hat in the ring with a product code name "X-Box", specs have not been released. Nintendo has leaked out some info on it's new endevour "Project Dolphin". They will abandon the cartridge format for a DVD drive but it will not be able to play DVD movies. It has partnered with IBM for it's G3 CPUs and with Panasonic who will place the Project Dolphin system into it's DVD Players. As always look for Nintendo to offically release information and screenshots upon the release of Sony's Playstation 2 in March. Expect Project "X-Box" and "Dolphin" to arrive no earlier than March 2001. It's release date is set for March 4th, 2000 in Japan and September 9, 2000 in the USA and Europe. John Nunez (jnunez@brainlink.com) Images |
In
1995, Sony released a Video Game Console, the "Playstation",
in a market that was dominated by two companies, Nintendo and
Sega. The critics had doomed the console because of other failed
products by companies like Panasonic and Phillips. Also Nintendo
had just released the specs of it's new project and it made
the Playstation look inferior. Well it's been five years since
it's release and over 25 million units sold, the Playstation
is the clear leader in the Video Game Console market. Sega's
product in 1995 was called the "Saturn", since it was rushed
to the market and only three games available at the launch it
was almost an instant failure draining Sega's bank account into
the RED. Nintendo released it's console "N64" over a year later
which gave Sony a head start. The year long delay wasn't the
N64's downfall, the fact that Nintendo was still using expensive
cartridges was a key reason. The system is hard and expensive
to develop for plus Nintendo's Developer Support was non-existent
for smaller developers. Nintendo's games were constantly push
back because of development issues, a problem which still plagues
them today. 
This
leads me to the "Playstation 2" and it's capabilities. The amount
of Playstation 2 video clips available on the Internet is staggering.
The quality of it's graphics are on par with Hollywood's Special
Effects Studios and surpass any PC video game board out on the
market. The graphics rival those in Pixar's Toy Story. The first
demonstrations shown by Sony were breathtaking from this geek's
point of view. The smooth curved surfaces on the Ridge Racer
vehicle, the look and motion of the water in a sink and a rubber
ducky swimming around in it. All this being done in realtime
by a few Sony developers who had less than a week to create
the demos. Well it's been months now and all the new previews
look even better. Along with the internal updates that this
system has received one of the Playstation 2's biggest feature
is the ability to play DVD-Movies. Not just any DVD Player,
it's a Sony High End DVP-S770 DVD Player which sells for $600.00
dollars. It also has various ports such as USB for keyboards/mice,
iLink for Digital Cameras, PCMCIA for Ethernet connection for
your DSL or Cable Modem. The joystick can now sense the amount
pressure place on it's buttons, just like a gas pedal in a car.
But finally the system is compatible with most of your current
Playstation 1 titles. Note: Playstation 2 games will not work
on the Playstation 1 console.
