At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music, a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD).[23]
Released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a seventh generation game console from Sony. It competes with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The PS3 is the first console in the series to introduce the use of motion-sensing technology through its Sixaxis wireless controller. The console also incorporates a Blu-ray Disc player and features high-definition resolution. The PS3 was originally offered with either a 20 GB or 60 GB hard drive, but over the years its capacity increased in increments available up to 500 GB. The PlayStation 3 has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013.[37]
Among the new applications and services, Sony introduced the PlayStation App, allowing PS4 owners to turn smartphones and tablets into a second screen to enhance gameplay.[48] The company also planned to debut PlayStation Now game streaming service, powered by technology from Gaikai.[49][50] By incorporating a share button on the new controller and making it possible to view in-game content being streamed live from friends, Sony planned to place more focus on social gameplay as well.[48] The PlayStation 4 was first released in North America on November 15, 2013. As part of the eighth generation of video game consoles, it competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch.
PlayStation 4 Pro or PS4 Pro for short (originally announced under the codename Neo)[35] was unveiled on September 7, 2016. Its model number is CUH-7000.[170] It is an updated version of the PlayStation 4 with improved hardware, including an upgraded GPU with 4.2 teraflops of processing power, and higher CPU clock. It is designed primarily to enable selected games to be playable at 4K resolution, and improved quality for PlayStation VR. All games are backwards and forward compatible between PS4 and PS4 Pro, but games with optimizations will have improved graphics performance on PS4 Pro. Although capable of streaming 4K video from online sources, PS4 Pro does not support Ultra HD Blu-ray.[171] [172] [173] Additionally the PS4 Pro is the only PS4 model which can remote play at 1080p. The other models are limited to 720p.[174]
The current specifications were released in October 2019.[55] The console uses an 8-core, 16-thread CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture, manufactured on the 7 nanometer process node. The graphics processor is a custom variant of AMD's Navi family using the RDNA microarchitecture, which includes support for hardware acceleration of ray-tracing rendering, enabling real-time ray-traced graphics.[55] The new console ships with a custom SSD storage, as Cerny emphasized the need for fast loading times and larger bandwidth to make games more immersive, as well as to support the required content streaming from disc for 8K resolution.[52] In a second interview with Wired in October 2019, further details of the new hardware were revealed: the console's integrated Blu-ray drive would support 100GB Blu-ray discs[53] and Ultra HD Blu-ray;[56] while a game installation from a disc is mandatory as to take advantage of the SSD, the user will have some fine-grain control of how much they want to have installed, such as only installing the multiplayer components of a game.[53] Sony is developing an improved suspended gameplay state for the PlayStation 5 to consume less energy than the PlayStation 4.[57]
The system's new controller, the DualSense has adaptive triggers that can change the resistance to the player as necessary, such as changing the resistance during the action of pulling an arrow back in a bow in-game.[53] The controller also has strong haptic feedback through voice coil actuators, which together with an improved controller speaker is intended to give better in-game feedback.[53] USB-C connectivity, together with a higher rated battery are other improvements to the new controller.[53]
The PlayStation 5 features a completely revamped user interface.[51] The PlayStation 5 is backwards-compatible with most PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR games, with Cerny stating that the transition to the new console is meant to be a soft one.[52][55] In a later interview, Jim Ryan talked of the PlayStation 5 being able to play "99%" of PlayStation 4 games, an estimate derived from a sample size of "thousands".[58] At CES 2020, Sony unveiled the official logo for the platform.[59]
A 24-inch 1080p PlayStation branded 3D television, officially called the PlayStation 3D Display, was released in late 2011. A feature of this 3D television is SimulView. During multiplayer games, each player will only see their respective screen (in full HD) appear on the television through their respective 3D glasses, instead of seeing a split screen (e.g. player 1 will only see player 1's screen displayed through their 3D glasses).
PlayStation TV, known in Asia as PlayStation Vita TV, is a microconsole and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld. It was announced on September 9, 2013, at a Sony Computer Entertainment Japan presentation. Instead of featuring a display screen, the console connects to a television via HDMI. Users can play using a DualShock 3 controller, although due to the difference in features between the controller and the handheld, certain games are not compatible with PS TV, such as those that are dependent on the system's touch-screen, rear touchpad, microphone or camera. The device is said to be compatible with over 100 Vita games, as well as various digital PlayStation Portable, PlayStation and PC Engine titles. The system supports Remote Play compatibility with the PlayStation 4, allowing players to stream games from the PS4 to a separate TV connected to PS TV, and also allows users to stream content from video services such as Hulu and Niconico, as well as access the PlayStation Store. The system was released in Japan on November 14, 2013, in North America on October 14, 2014, and in Europe and Australasia on November 14, 2014.[130]
PlayStation VR is a virtual reality device that is produced by Sony Computer Entertainment. It features a 5.7 inch 1920x1080 resolution OLED display, and operates at 120 Hz which can eliminate blur and produce a smooth image; the device also has a low latency of less than 18ms.[131] Additionally, it produces two sets of images, one being visible on a TV and one for the headset, and includes 3D audio technology so the player can hear from all angles. The PlayStation VR was released in October 2016.[132]
Each console has a variety of games. The PlayStation 2, PSX and PlayStation 3 exhibit backwards compatibility and can play most of the games released on the original PlayStation. Some of these games can also be played on the PlayStation Portable but they must be purchased and downloaded from a list of PS one Classics from the PlayStation Store. Games released on the PlayStation 2 can currently only be played on the original console as well as the PSX and the early models of the PlayStation 3 which are backwards compatible. The PlayStation 3 has two types of games, those released on Blu-ray Discs and downloadable games from the PlayStation Store. The PlayStation Portable consists of numerous games available on both its physical media, the Universal Media Disc and the Digital Download from the PlayStation Store. However, some games are only available on the UMD while others are only available on the PlayStation Store. The PlayStation Vita consists of games available on both its physical media, the PlayStation Vita card and digital download from the PlayStation Store.
Released in 2006, the PlayStation Network is an online service[140] focusing on online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery. The service is provided and run by Sony Computer Entertainment for use with the PlayStation 3, and was later implemented on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 video game consoles.[141] The service has over 103 million active users monthly (as of December 2019).[13] The Sony Entertainment Network provides other features for users like PlayStation Home, PlayStation Store, and Trophies.
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store uses both physical currency and PlayStation Network Cards. The PlayStation Store's gaming content is updated every Tuesday and offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games, add-on content, playable demos, themes and game and movie trailers. The service is accessible through an icon on the XMB on the PS3 and PSP. The PS3 store can also be accessed on the PSP via a Remote Play connection to the PS3. The PSP store is also available via the PC application, Media Go. As of September 24, 2009, there have been more than 600 million downloads from the PlayStation Store worldwide.[142]
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