How Sony ᵃˡᵐᵒˢᵗ ruined the PlayStation

[@pattyoneill91]

I tried to go get eggs at the store the other day but the OIL CRISIS OF THE 1970'S totally stopped me.

[@Stopinvadingmyhardware]

I tried to enjoy Valentine’s Day, but I’m homeless and my Mother was murdered on Valentine’s Day.

[@alex.g7317]

@@Stopinvadingmyhardwarebest Valentine’s Day

[@HeadsetHistorian]

I can't get over how good your new videos are. Easily some of the best content on youtube.

[@lazyreader4089]

yayay

[@Anteksanteri]

Yeah this is one of the few channels in my 10 years of watching youtube that I have been consistently checking for new videos on. Oh and only on the new videos even though I was a fan of the old ones as well.

[@devtekve1396]

Maybe F4mi has something to do with that? 😍😍😍

[@dgpsf]

💯

[@MrGamelover23]

Agreed.

[@mineland8220]

These documentaries have been pretty fun to watch. Kudos to everyone who worked on them, theyre nice

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

you are headed for war kid🤣🤣

[@Pwnz0rServer2009]

@@SaraMorgan-ym6ue wut

[@jefgirdler7232]

The kickass soundtracks for various PS1 games after finding out they were tightly connected to Sony Music now makes a lot more sense. Ridge Racer Type 4 and Ape Escape come to mind. Spyro, et al

[@pro-storm4951]

Ape Escape had some wicked drum and bass tracks

[@jefgirdler7232]

@@pro-storm4951 that opening video theme (and honestly the new game/continue load screen theme) get stuck in my head like every other day

[@MostlyPennyCat]

I believe Wipeout 2097 tops that particular chart

[@twenty-fifth420]

I know I am a nitpicking biased nerd, but also Final Fantasy. I don’t know crap about hardware, but the music for NES and SNES vs PS1 is like night vs day difference. I love both, but I also grew up listening to FF music as MP3 just because lol.

[@karelpipa]

Namco had their own sound team. Not connected to sony music

[@legiran9564]

This video deserves 2 sequels. How Sony almost ruined the Playstation 3 and part 3 how Sony ruined the Playstation Vita.

[@LowSpecGamer]

If it performs well my co-writer has been itching to do a whole Sony saga

[@redcomn]

It's ps triple my dude

[@dondraper4438]

@@redcomn Shieeeeeeeet, that's my PSTriple. I ain't got no time for that Wii. Come on.

[@Snowpanel]

@@LowSpecGamer yes please!

[@redcomn]

@@dondraper4438 Wii dildo, dunno bout chu but that sheet ain't ballin.

[@xployalist]

Great video. Sony Music being heavily involved explains why the PS1 has such good onboard audio equipment like the DAC.

[@nickwallette6201]

The SPC700 was pretty sweet too, it just had next to no RAM to work with, so the samples were to audio what the Game Boy Camera was to photography.

[@stevenclark2188]

Also how music on the Super Nintendo sounded like an MT-32 instead of an Adlib or Tandy.

[@MrDmoney156]

@@stevenclark2188 maybe a little closer to Soundblaster Pro

[@Imagine_Breaker]

Amazing video, coming here from f4mi's channel, this and intel's history video were amazing, it's so cool to be able to see these big companies in a time when they were just newbies trying desperately to enter a new market.

[@LowSpecGamer]

F4mi is tremendously talented

[@lukecwolf]

F4mi is an absolute treasure hidden in the algorithm

[@lain6889]

This is the type of history we need in textbooks.

[@SCHMALLZZZ]

Publishing would be too expensive.

[@poisonsnivy6439]

The big push on cd’s was a great move on sony’s part, the DAC on launch model PlayStations are actually borderline audiophile-tier so they still make as a fantastic CD player

[@SianaGearz]

The DAC in the launch model is pedestrian grade, budget stuff, an AK4309. At 84db THD+N and a DR of 90db, reaching short of CD's DR of 96db, it can be said to provide approximately 14-15 bits of effective resolution. It was a competent implementation, but not anyhow earth shattering, a Discman would have similar gear in it, and actual HiFi rackgear was on another level entirely. And it isn't uncommon of audiophiles to swoon over random pieces of flawed gear. The ear is a terrible instrument, auditory memory is very faulty and easily influenced by unrelated stimuli.

[@Aquatarkus96]

@@SianaGearz The ear is a terrible instrument, but that means you can discard 2 bits of sample depth and most people listening won't notice ;) As to why this is even a thing in the first place, I would hesitate to blame the traditional stereotype of audiophiles who spend $15,000 on speaker cables. They never struck me as the kind of people to respect gaming as an art or even hobby, much less give consoles the time of day as serious contenders against their precious high end gear they spent so much money on. They already have a preconception that it's worse, and proving that preconception wrong would be a blow to their pride and make them look stupid, so they would have little reason to even investigate the audio capabilities of the PlayStation in a serious manner. No, this is a rumor I think is birthed from people with a casual interest in audio, and have memories of the PlayStation specifically from their younger days. Compared to whatever stone age 1980s era players that might have been kicking around the living rooms of middle class America in the early 1990s, I could see a Playstation sounding better. Imagine some couple buys an early CD player for their living room in the 80s, then never buy another because they're freaking expensive and good enough. They have kids, and then eventually get a Playstation. That would be the first new CD player in the living room, and if little Timmy or Tammy is observant and curious, they might end up noticing small differences in how their music sounds on their PlayStation compared to Mom & Dad's old CD player. Maybe the Playstation just has a hotter output than the CD player (or something something broken pre emphasis...who knows?) so it is perceived as sounding better by consequence. Over time these memories get distorted (as you said, auditory memory is very faulty after all) by people with little technical understanding of what they're actually talking about and eventually make their way on the internet.

[@Twisted_Logic]

Sony has always been the one major console manufacturer that I never got into. Really interesting hearing their end of the story. I often wonder what would've happened had Nintendo not stabbed Sony in the back in favor of Phillips

[@TheyCallMeMrMaybe]

From the sounds of it, Sony would've been deep into a partnership with Nintendo, but I feel a buyout would have been eventual given how much bigger of a company Sony was/is than Nintendo.

[@ShadyPaperclips]

The gaming industry would be in a different place tham it is today. Microsoft would've never got into consoles, Nintendo would still be the biggest console maker and Sega would probably still be making consoles too

[@mohammedganai9636]

@@ShadyPaperclips Sony would have hurt Nintendo even worse, what with them getting the royalty money.

[@primus711]

Its simple Nintendo was just looking for someone to make a cdrom addon Not someone to basically take over their business So ofcourse you bail out It was inevitable it was gonna happen regardless

[@ShadyPaperclips]

@@mohammedganai9636 Nintendo could've still ended their business agreement in amicable terms, it was their betrayal that compelled Sony to enter the console business. Had something like that not happened and Sony execs would just cancel the project altogether

[@dbrokensoul]

I remember I followed this channel for the fun technicals 'hack' to run game on low-end PC. So when I saw this amazing video, I was surprised. This is so well-made and so fun to follow. Not a simple retelling of history, but also presented in a fun and entertaining way. I'm gonna trace back and see how much amazing video I missed.

[@I.____.....__...__]

Yup, Nintendo stabbed both Atari and Sony in the back (and probably others as well), but only Sony managed to bounce back from Nintendo's betrayal and successfully bite them back.

[@LowSpecGamer]

Check my GameBoy video, they also had an incident with Citizen!

[@mohammedganai9636]

Sony almost pulled a Daniel Plainview (the "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!" moment) on Nintendo. The contract would have hurt Nintendo big time, costing them their royalties, and Sony would likely have went their own way afterwards.

[@andersjepsen1309]

Oh yeah, you forgot this in my back last time we met. *Stabs front*

[@johntheblindman]

Nintendo screwed Sony by not splitting the license with them (similar contract as Sony and Philips on the CD license). Nintendo screwed Square on the development of SuperMarioRPG by taking the game away from them at the end and dubbing it a "developer" project hence they received no publishing fund. Big N's excuse was they weren't doing it right. Nintendo screwed Namco on the NES licensing fees. When NES hit the US who was still hurting from the console crash, no devs wanted to work on it. They gave Namco favorable licensing deal to port their very popular arcade games like Ms Pacman. After the NES hit it big they jacked up the terms. Sony, Namco and Square teamed together to release the Playstation. The box stated "Powered by Namco" and had pics of a dozen titles. Namco used the PS1 board in their arcade machine a year before release. Square convinced 20+ JRPG developers (Enix being the big one) to jump over to the Playstation platform.

[@niks660097]

Kutaragi's father is one in a million a real angel, those are the dying words every son/daughter would give everything to hear, and never forget until death..

[@FinFET]

Amazing video! Never imagined that the PlayStation history was so thrilling!

[@kaitlyn__L]

Another fun instalment! I knew about Sony Music’s involvement in the design philosophy, but didn’t know a lot else about this (such as the 3D engine being based on work they did for broadcast)! One minor nitpick though, the Famicom never used FM synthesis. The FDS sound system is often incorrectly called FM, but that is not true either. But like I said, that’s very minor. It’s absolutely true that the PCM sample-based hardware in the SNES was vastly superior, even compared to the software audio layers in the N64 and GameCube. It’s so strange to me that digital was second-class in Sony, even after they helped invent PCM audio codecs (such as those boxes which output to videotape) and the CD! I guess inertia goes a long way…

[@LowSpecGamer]

Ha! Thanks for the correction. The one piece of technical info I did not throughly double check and turns out to be wrong. It happens. Do you have a better source for what would be more accurate? I was VERY surprised about the Sony Music thing, I never heard about their involvement and it does sound like they were the soul of the PS in more ways than one. On the analog culture: I was very surprised too. But during the final month of work of this video I showed it to a friend of mine who worked in Sony Games for years and I was very surprised when he told me the analog culture is still a thing. Company culture inertia is very difficult to change unless you change all the head executives.

[@Curt_Sampson]

@@LowSpecGamer Your best source for understanding Famicom audio (which, incidentally, _did_ include PCM playback) is probably chapter 7, "A203," of _I Am Error_ by Nathan Altice (MIT Press, 2015). While this goes into a lot more detail than you'd want to include in your videos, it's focused not just on the technical details but how those details influenced the artists who were making the music and sound effects for games on that console. In fact, I recommend that for any console you want to discuss you get the appropriate book from MIT's Platform Studies series. This will not only help you to understand the technology, but show you how the particular technological advances and limitations informed and moulded the developer, artist, business and consumer communities around the console. I really cannot recommend these books strongly enough; they're utterly brilliant. Most systems have plenty of sources of technical details for programmers, but few (if any) others even attempt to contextualise these within how these systems were thought about, programmed and used. The major advance that the PlayStation achieved in game audio and music was not so much about PCM itself, but that the massive amount of storage offered by the CD-ROM made it possible and even common to use _recorded_ (as opposed to _synthesized_) audio for the entire game's soundtrack, leading to our situation today where the soundtrack is most frequently an orchestral (or similar) recording, rather than the "MIDI style" of a synthesised soundtrack. Famicom games could do this kind of thing to a very limited degree, but the relatively large amount of processing power needed to do this on the Famicom and the comparatively small amount of cartridge memory available to store PCM audio generally limited it to title screens and the like.

[@OhadLutzky]

...not only that, but the original NES actually supported PCM samples (...one at a time though), used quite prominently e.g. in Super Mario Bros 3.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@Curt_Sampson oh, I just saw these. Thank you for answering in my stead! Yours is much more complete than mine would’ve been anyway - all I know is the FDS used a type of wave-table synthesis and would’ve just linked to a sound-chip wiki which discusses the minutiae of the sound chips in different Famicom games carts.

[@enetheru]

The sidequest is so far the only strategy that has successfully gotten me to watch people on nebula. Good job.

[@MatthewCobalt]

As much as I hate overbearing corporations, it’s good to see how a conglomerate would leverage every aspect of the Company into creating an innovative product and aggressive business strategies.

[@diegov1743]

When consumer electronics was actually about innovation and not screwing over the consumer

[@cattysplat]

Nintendo's aggressive monopoly lead to a lot of complacency. Nintendo 64 as a cartridge system in 1996 shows just how out of touch they were, not having a disk system until 2001 with the Gamecube!

[@adafrost6276]

@@cattysplat Nintendo even managed to screw that up with those tiny discs that made the drive incompatible with multimedia like the PS2 and Xbox could.

[@Ozzianman]

@@adafrost6276 And even with the Wii it could not play DVD.

[@Abel-Alvarez]

@@Ozzianman None of Nintendo's consoles play DVDs or CDs for like movies n stuff. They really take the "game conosle" name alittle too seriously.

[@RockOrso2]

This is probably one of the most fun tech channels I've watched, appreciate the change of vision of your channel.

[@FunkyM217]

Profit margins. I had wondered. Sony went from "Zero to Hero, in no time flat", to quote the song. I'd never have imagined it was off of the profit margins. But hey, the rest is history.

[@LowSpecGamer]

That is the part that was most fascinating to me of the book, and I have never seen anyone talk about it

[@NuttachaiTipprasert]

@@LowSpecGamer FR. This is the first time I have ever heard this only from your channel. Splendid work on your research.

[@mohammedganai9636]

Everyone loves an underdog story. The only one who could remotely be considered one in this story would be Ken Kutaragi, and that might be pushing it a little. The contract clause for all final approval and royalty profits from disc based software was simply predatory though, and Sony as a conglomerate with its leverage was by no means the underdog. Nintendo might have been the loser had it went through with the deal. They made the mistakes of not reading the fine print when they first signed the contract for the SNES sound chip back in 1988, and their method of getting out of it. That said, there's one important inaccuracy: the court ordered the companies to go back and make nice, and they renegotiated and created a new form of the SuperDisc that would have been the media of the system, and more favorable terms that would give Nintendo royalties of all 3rd party disc based video games (Sony would get royalties for non-video game software). Sony still went their own way circa '93 after too many disagreements and created the PS One. It's important to surmise that Sony also would have had the possibility of a new media format (SuperDisc in this case) to profit off of, and they've been too happy to attempt so many times with them as primary if not sole proprietors (BetaMax, MiniDisc, UMD, Memory Stick Pro, BluRay). The one time that they succeeded was BluRay vs. HD-DVD, and even that was a pyrrhic victory, since downloads and streaming would take over. And as it turns out, in 1990, Sony released a disc based e-book reader using the intended media, the Sony Data Discman (Sony DD-1EX): forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=215476#p215476

[@AaronOfMpls]

@@mohammedganai9636 Well, MiniDisc was a partial victory if you include Europe and Japan, where it pretty much replaced tapes for portable audio. Prerecorded MiniDiscs still didn't sell well compared CDs ... but people _did_ copy songs to blank MiniDiscs, as a digital successor to mixtapes until MP3 players caught on. Here in North America though, MiniDisc never did catch on. People either stuck with tapes a bit longer, or got portable CD players. ...And got CD burners for their PCs once the cost of both had come down enough.

[@jonathanpusar5931]

It makes a heck of a lot of sense especially working on Consumer Goods. I'm surprised it was accidental rather than intentional. Huge weakness by Nintendo to leave margin so low.

[@JerryFlowersIII]

What a great perspective on the history of Playstation. I've never heard all these details before. It was honestly emotional for me.

[@JerryFlowersIII]

We need a Social Network style movie for the history of Playstation. Where's David Fincher!

[@LowSpecGamer]

If I had 100x the budget this would be the content I would try to make for sure

[@xerzy]

One thing missing is how devs had SUCH AN EASIER TIME with the Playstation. It came out of the box with logically addressed RAM and a C compiler (something only the 32X had before the Saturn/PS1 afaik), assembly was completely optional yet it was plain MIPS (a RISC architecture which was just laughably easy to work with compared to the Saturn's SH-2), the GPU saved a **ton** of dev work despite its conceptual novelty thanks to its high-level instruction set and excellent documentation (…even with the lack of e.g. floating point), AND they could build and test games right away, by plugging it as a card into a PC or connecting through the serial port. It's hard to overstate how much the PlayStation did for the whole industry, honestly, it feels ahead of its time in pretty much everything!

[@SianaGearz]

MIPS easier than SuperH? Nah, they're both VERY good and friendly instruction sets, and of course both families of CPUs have competent and comparable debugging capabilities. The CPUs are more similar than they're different, even sharing the JMP/NOP idiom gotcha from delayed jump, and SH can have performance advantages especially when memory bandwidth constrained. One substantial advantage of MIPS in the Playstation was the COP mechanism where the matrix-vector transform DSP was connected, but this was enabled by SONY manufacturing their own MIPS under license modified rather than using an off-the-shelf chip. SEGA later kinda copied that move by just begging Hitachi to implement something similar in the SH-4 for the Dreamcast and convincing them that automotive nav and headunits would want that in no time, so SEGA could keep using off the shelf chips. The solution in the Saturn with that Samsung DSP is rather crummy in comparison. A massive advantage was the architecture of the system as a whole and the graphic chip as you say, able to work off display lists arranged as a bucket list, rather than getting the data hand-fed as it draws, and the whole system being architecturally much more straightforward with a clear data path, like there's a really clear path to success and achieving high utilisation of the system. As well as betting big on framebuffer and ditching any VDP-like logic entirely, all eggs in one basket but make it fast.

[@johntheblindman]

@@SianaGearzYeah but Sega shoe-horn the 2nd SH processor which required hack to get them both to work simultaneously. That hack came out a year after release.

[@foxdart]

Another excellent slice of history with enough creative licence to help the story flow. Great stuff Alex, as someone who was basically raised by the History Channel/Discovery/NatGeo I can say this piece is totally on point 👍

[@sameerpharma4906]

Crazy to see how big sony still is. Sony, Sony music and PlayStation are still giants at what they do.

[@tu0mas]

These episodes are so high quality I absolutely love them, you're awesome Alex! I have a question though, how is that when you search for information about the Sony DME-9000 on search engines you get no information at all? I'd love to know more about this product!

[@LowSpecGamer]

Ha! I wondered the same. I was super curious. It was a super niche product in a poorly documented time.

[@exinangai2216]

In early day of web, if there exists any mention of DME-9000, it is already gone with the disappearance of bulletin board sys, which require you to dial in to certain number. Plus, DME-9000 isn’t exactly a consumer product.

[@CanIHasThisName]

Ok wow! I didn't know that about the profit margins. I used to live in a small town which had two, maybe three electronics stores and only one of them was selling stuff like TVs. And they had a Playstation not just on display, it was constantly plugged in and you could walk in and play whatever videogame they had in it. There was always a line of kids going home from school who wanted to try it out. Now I actually understand why such a small store had a huge promo for the Playstation.

[@RobotacularRoBob]

This part I am unclear on in this video. I thought playstation famously launched at $299 to counter the Saturn’s $399 price. I have never heard this $399 Playstation angle before.

[@WatashiMachineFullCycle]

Wow I just found this channel and the production quality is off the CHARTS. the clean audio, the easy to follow scripting, the animations and editing... This is really good stuff mate

[@andrekz9138]

1995, I got a PlayStation for Christmas and my life was forever changed. Great seeing this history

[@jimtekkit]

Great times with the PS1, I had two consoles as a kid which was just unreal. It sucks that I eventually gave all that stuff away and don't have them anymore. Playing Gran Turismo 1 with my blue Mad Catz dual force controller was the best.

[@MA-naconitor]

A key element in the PlayStation’s success, was Sony’s will to work with foreign game devs.

[@lefourbe5596]

extremely well done. the core of the story told in with rhytm and accuracy ! animation on point and engaging. You clearly show their goal and we can fell the pressure of the project, the devotion of the heroes you present. you make your content informative as entertaining to me :D. no wonder why you take so long ! it's absolutly worth it

[@AlanPayne.]

Tremendo video viejo! Ojalá sigas haciendo contenido como este aparte de tus videos típicos! Saludos!

[@TheAvinek]

Man too bad youtube algorithm throw your video back. You are making a very good documentary series and I hope more people can found this

[@nuriko6251]

I can't tell how well made this is. I enjoy this kind of animation/documentaries... such an incredible job. Can't wait for the upcoming videos in that genre.

[@clamm9792]

Fantastic video! You've come a long way since the early low spec days. Keep it up!

[@Djou-Karl]

Many of us know the story behind Sony and Nintendo and what would eventually lead up to the PSX. But presented in this format, it reminded me of the Ford versus Ferrari Story that brought the creation of the Ford GT. Great video! This needs your take on the U.S. release of the console! 299

[@yashmishra0318]

Hands down the best PlayStation history video I have ever watched.

[@thisaintart]

The one video behind crash bandicoot is quite good, they hacked the PlayStation disc to squeeze all this additional game elements

[@sherwinfernandes4061]

Great video I love your videos on consoles and handhelds and your presenting style I wish that videos like yours existed for the history of game development Especially hallmark games like Mario 64 or the history of mode 7 in video games or the first ever port of an arcade game to console

[@MrHeythere555]

The PS1 was certainly one of the consoles of all time

[@f4micom]

I think Sony is one of the most companies ever

[@sethpeace9235]

I can confirm this

[@Cryostal]

Metal Gear Solid is one of the games I ever played.

[@BA-vw2kx]

It really is of all time though

[@chrisd6287]

The dual shock is one of the controllers ever invented.

[@tylerbroad9457]

Absolutely and wholeheartedly some of the finest videos I've seen in a while, even if different than what you've posted in the past. Thank you for the time you put into these!

[@picblick]

No matter how often I hear this, the level of badass involved in the first PlayStation is just fascinating!

[@shanesteinhauser9680]

Yeah both NES-era Nintendo and Playstation 1-era Sony were ballsy as hell.

[@mazda9624]

Wow. I didn't even realize this was a LowSpecGamer video until about half way in! I've been subscribed for years, but the algorithm hasn't been kind to your channel, so I haven't been keeping up with you lately. This video was absolutely fantastic and now I need to go through and watch everything I missed

[@finngamer7937]

Great, detailed and entertaining video, got no more words to describe it.

[@alexadelaide]

I can’t believe how many huge developments began “in secret” not just in video games but in the automotive industry as well. The lesson being, don’t listen to your boss, work hard and COME PREPARED

[@johntheblindman]

The original Macintosh was suppose to use a 5.25in floppy drive but the designers hid a Sony employee in the offices as they worked on a driver for Sony's new 3.5 drive. So much work was being done on this driver that they loaded the firmware from the disk inserted. On old Mac if you insert a disk with the file .SONY it will cause it to crash since it cannot load the code. Eventually the company working on the 5.25 driver failed and they demo'd the 3.5 floppy to Jobs.

[@sanikku5]

My god that was one awesome video. Unexpected, but lovely cameo by Caddy there!

[@FrankClark]

this is an amazing story and you are an amazing story teller! i cannot wait to log onto nebula and see your side quest on this!!!

[@Trick-Framed]

I love these videos. They are video game counter parts to history channel. And this was needed DECADES ago. Kudos on cornering this market first! And Kudos to the Side Quests on Nebula!

[@GrumpyWolfTech]

I'm a life long gamer starting with atari back in the early 80s. The PS1 was the first game console I bought on my own, it is still to this day my favorite console (well tied with the OG xbox), it had so many games. I spent hundreds of hours on Final Fantasy 7, breath of fire 3 and many other JRPGs. It was a great time to be a gamer.

[@Dash64_png]

Yessss!!! I love these vids. Keep em’ coming! (Plus LowSpec said that he had to do PS1 before PS2 after I recommended the PS2 topic, so…. PS2 vid next?)

[@KayvK]

I love this series! Getting a cool new perspective on past technology is amazing, and the drawings are so fun!

[@bjay8295]

Probably my favorite video on your channel, really inspiring. Wouldn't be surprised if you end up making big budget documentaries 10 years from now.

[@Wasabialt]

14:59 first 3D arcade games was I, Robot (1984).

[@Vextrove]

I'm going to go watch all the LowSpecGamer vids on Nebula, I just haven't decided whether to go for $30 annually, or 5$ monthly

[@The_Sofa_King]

Hey man, I absolutely love these videos! Keep it up!

[@l3rvn0]

No mention of the Sega Saturn or Turbografx CD? I was excited to hear about the rumor that the PS1 specs were heavily based on the Saturn.

[@LowSpecGamer]

I found no evidence of that, but the Saturn did change its specs because of the PS announcement. Turbografx might be worth its own video

[@otastorian]

Not the Saturn, but Virtua Fighter. (wall of text incoming) As shown in the video, Kutaragi was a visionary who saw great potential for 3D games, but he received push-back from those around him who didn't. Not just from the corporate suits at Sony who were always breathing down his neck, but also from his new coworkers at Sony Computer Entertainment. The main mental hurdle was understanding what kind of games "3D games" could be. It's kind of hard to imagine now, but they lived in a world where, yeah there were 3D games, but they were very simple projects both in terms of visuals and content. Nintendo still had an uncontested stranglehold on Japan, and all of their most popular games were 2D. Like shown in the video, Shigeo Murayama understood that people would buy the hardware for the software. And while Kutaragi was passionate about 3D tech possibilities, he was unable to (effectively?) a vision of 3D software that would bring people in droves. But then SEGA released Virtua Fighter. LowSpecGamer mentioned that the VF arcade machine was super expensive, but he didn't mention that it was a massive hit on release and would go on to be SEGA's best selling arcade machine of all time. But I think the massive amount of money it made was less important than it's graphics. To put things in perspective, Virtua Racing came out in 1992, and while it was impressive tech wise, it didn't really have a ton going on visually. Especially not compared to hit 2D games from the same year like Sonic 2 and Final Fantasy V. But in Virtua Fighter, you had stuff like dynamic faces, realistic human anatomy, and a variety of martial arts moves and poses all presented using polygons. It also had different stages, camera angles, and lighting effects. It was a truly mind-boggling leap forward in graphics. I think it was that graphical leap and those massive profits that opened the eyes of the SCE employees to Kutaragi's vision. Whether or not that analysis is correct, the fact is that Virtua Fighter made them realize that Kutaragi was correct and that they needed to make a 3D console. Which, ironically, influenced SEGA's console engineers to also go for 3D. Even though VF should have influenced them before anyone else!

[@mohammedganai9636]

Sega and Sony did work on the Genesis/MD followup after the Nintendo falling out but that didn't last either.

[@johntheblindman]

@@mohammedganai9636Yeah because Sega of Japan had a "Not built here" chip on their shoulder. Also stated that Sony knew nothing about video games. That led Sony to buy Psygnosis.

[@josias_99]

Please never stop making these videos, they're way too good!

[@MaxAbramson3]

SONY even approach Tom Kalinske of Sega of America and agreed to go in 50/50 on the new PlayStation. SoA loved the idea and took it to their bosses in Tokyo. Tragically, Sega of Japan had gone insane at this point, rejecting the idea in what Kalinske aptly called, "The worst decision in the history of business." SEGA lost between $5-7 billion from this mistake and nearly went out of business when the PS2 was launched. SONY was a hardware company. SEGA was a software company.

[@JasonJrake]

I have never been a big fan of the games on Sony consoles in general, but they definitely make great hardware for the money. In the late 90s I knew a lot of HiFi Audio geeks who used PS1s as their main audio CD player. The claim was that the D/A convertor microchip was the same as used in dedicated Sony CD players costing much more... similar to how PS2 and PS3 were more cost effective ways of getting a DVD and Blu-ray player.

[@LowSpecGamer]

I had never heard that. That is fascinating. Now I want to research that D/A convertor more deeply.

[@JasonJrake]

@@LowSpecGamer I have no idea if it's true, just that some people believed it enough to spend money 🤑. I'm pretty sure it was earlier models they (believed they) needed, as the chipset was (allegedly) changed overtime, so you had to check model or serial number or something like that. I mention this in case it helps you research the veracity of this claim. Also, I really like your videos. Thank you for making them. I've been gaming since the Atari 800 line of computers and your videos really take me back to the magic I felt for technology when our sci-fi couldn't even predict how much power we would soon be carrying in a laptop or pocket device.

[@freeculture]

There was a time where "consumer" cd players had 14 bit dac and "professional" 16bit but by the 90ies those early ones were fading anyway. A lack of a loading tray (less parts / points of failure) may have helped, and mass production of the units (economy of scale) like some people purchased the later consoles to have a dvd / blueray player back when optical media still mattered.

[@johntheblindman]

The PS2 had DVD feature that were only available in DVD players that cost more than $500. I remember multi-cam was one over them but never seen that feature used except on reference CDs at CBS studios.

[@XeonProductions]

I was shocked to find I wasn't already subscribed to you. I had seen some of your other documentaries in my suggestions, but must have forgot to subscribe. I'm subscribed now though.

[@catfree]

I was complaining about LowSpecGamers new videos but they are growing on me (especially after that 6502 video) I hope to see a video that encourages Programming soon :D

[@martinrincon4169]

I can not believe how good these videos are. Do you have a team?!? Your research is intense. You should make one for Netflix. This is better than 90 % of most documentaries.

[@LowSpecGamer]

I have an excellent team

[@Max-rn3eb]

man. The progression this channel has taken since it's inception is really brilliant, and inspiring. You've made massive leaps and bounds in virtually all areas, scripting research visuals editing voice over, you exude much more confidence and passion, really. These videos are some of the best out there and to know you started with running games on poverty hardware to these masterpieces of tech journalism is mindblowing. Keep it up!

[@GrayBlood1331]

I'm so glad I found this channel! These videos are really entertaining.

[@joetheman74]

Wow. Haven't been back to your channel in a long time. What an amazing difference. Kinda used to like those old videos I could relate to, trying to run games beyond my system specs but then one day I got a real gaming PC and a gaming Laptop and had no need to watch your channel any more. Your new content is AMAZING. I've watched many a KZbinr present this bit of history and this BY FAR is THE BEST and most entertaining video presentation of this story I have ever witnessed. GREAT JOB! SUBSCRIBED!

[@Jan12700]

13:37 For a second i thought that there were Mario for the Playstation xD

[@exinangai2216]

Love the content, especially the way it is presented Comically. 😄 Kudo to the team who produced this episode. Awaiting for next one : the decade long reigme of PS2, the dystocia of PS3. Keep up the good work. Subbed & Liked.

[@ThePlayerWithPaws]

Always loved this story and love this telling of it. Great job to all those involved in these!

[@Denden-kj3rn]

Hope this series takes off soon. Stellar illustration and super entertaining. Keep it up ^^

[@migueducaro]

Maravilloso video, increíble historia, y lo mejor es que los hechos lo demuestran.

[@EpicLPer]

Almost 8 years ago, gods I'm old...

[@MickeyMishra]

you may be the first curator that actually makes me want to sign up for curiositystream and I'm seriously thinking about that after I get my car fixed

[@LowSpecGamer]

We put a lot of work both in the main series and SideQuest so I am to hear that

[@ajax700]

Well, prior to launch they changed the memory from 8 mb to 2 mb. That's a very big memory reduction. Some say Sony was betting the whole company on the Playstation success.

[@zongrog]

Your content is of exceptional quality; informative & entertaining, you have struck a strong balance between history and humor. I find your drawings and animations help to humanize the characters in your lectures. Seeing their emotive expressions makes it easy to empathize with the actual people behind the history.

[@mutalix]

Awesome video based on the history of PlayStation with some based on the amazing read "Revolutionaries at Sony", great book that dives behind the curtain of highs and lows of PlayStation's inception. I'm so grateful Sony decided to get into the gaming industry, they truly were the upgrade the industry needed, in addition they also provide 1/3 of the healthy competition being part of the big 3 in gaming. Excellent video! Can't wait for the sequel coming up, keep the great quality standards!

[@grumpyoldwizard]

A great story, well told. Thanks! I prepaid for the Play Station and on release day/night my son and I went to the store and got the 2nd PlayStation in San Antonio. Great times.

[@seanplace8192]

Another big benefit to the Play Station was how easy it was to program for. While the N64 had better overall processing power; It was difficult to optimize games to take full advantage of it. Ironically, the PS3 had this issue too. It was a very powerful system, but also very difficult to optimize for; Where as the Wii and XB360 were very easy to program for.

[@aliabdelhameed1584]

The secret sauce of the PlayStation stew was simple. A visionary hardware designer that managed to accomplish a lot with so little, experienced businessmen riding the ship, great allocation of company resources and a charismatic CEO at the helm. Many tech giants attempted to break into the game console market such as Phillips, but only one succeeded.

[@NoahStolee]

this is the first time i really have wanted to get nebula. these stories are so well told and i want to hear more!!

[@93nomis]

This is my favourite channel on youtube right now. Not many channels can keep my interest for this long videos! Keep up the good work!

[@LowSpecGamer]

I am glad you think so. The last 2 weeks of any video creation process we spend purely working on improving the flow of each video so it keeps attention going. It is a very meticulous process but it makes me happy to know it is working.

[@Kr-nv5fo]

- I think in decades, not quarters. - You're fired!

[@markschwartz9905]

First time viewer of the channel, just subbed. Well made video, keep it up!

[@jamesburke2759]

Dude your videos are soo good! please keep them up! i like the animation and the way you talk is great. really expressive and story telling.

[@Saxdude26]

This was so good! The play by play of the networking involved in bringing the PSone to the world was super entertaining to watch in this format.

[@theme7363]

beautiful, dude. i knew i recognized this voice but then i saw the channel and like, holy. i hope you love making these

[@jadedheartsz]

I heard it was a similar story with Microsoft, originally Nintendo had tasked them with working on an online service for the Gamecube and MS had agreed but relations between the two broke down and the plan was scrapped with Nintendo doing their own online system and Microsoft decided to build their own console around the work they'd already done for the online service and thus the Xbox was born.

[@edwardbenchmarks]

New videos are great for sure but still I don't understand why did you privatize old videos

[@LowSpecGamer]

They are not privated, you can find them in playlist. Just unlisted.

[@solarstrike33]

Started out as an algorithmic experiment, but now I think LSG 1.0 is probably an old shame to Alex now.

[@LowSpecGamer]

Nope, just the experiment giving better results than expected

[@RandomSime]

I had no idea about the pricing issue. That's gold right there. Just goes to show what can happen when you don't try to max value extraction and squeeze the little guy on every business interaction.

[@spladam3845]

Instant sub, fantastic content and storytelling, thanks. Great guest voice work as well, this was fun.

[@dumboy886]

I watch waaay too much youtube, and I shower in nebula ads. I swear, if you keep teasing cool content like this, I might eventually break.

[@theevilmuppet]

There's a small oversight here. 1. The NES/Famicom was capable of PCM - Nintendo were already very familiar. 2. The NES/Famicom did not use FM synthesis.

[@viddotts44]

Excellent video. I didn't get to watch but a little of it but I listened to the whole thing at work. Even just the audio was entertaining, like an audio drama! Thanks for making this.

[@davidbohm271]

I've seen this story told at least 30 times so far and this version was my favorite. Excellent video 👌

[@LiamDennehy]

@11.42 I swear this cut away to an ad for the Nintendo Switch!

[@anon_y_mousse]

I was drawn in by the Spyro thumbnail, but stayed for the enthralling story.

[@autumnmod]

One of my favorite video genres on KZbin is precisely gaming history, but your take on the genre is really awesome and entertaining to watch, I was hooked from the first couple of minutes!

[@NeoSlashott]

4:41 Ah I have my Yamaha MSX with Road Fighter, Final Justice, Memory and Typing(arabic cartridges) games. The only keyboard console hybrid my dad bought me as a kid. 😍😍 And then Mom bought me a Famicom after the Atari game days. 5:12 nuuuu! 😭😭

[@LowSpecGamer]

Woops! I actually have tremendous respect for the MSX and knew that animation of it on the trash would ruffle some feathers. It was a great format! I just needed to make a visual reference to how quickly Ken's kid made a judgement

[@Chuck_vs._The_Comment_Section]

Back then, the people in charge really struggled to develop or even "be allowed" to publish the project at all, and today the PlayStation division is one of the most important sources of income for Sony.

[@Lardoization90]

Found your stuff, binged it, subbed. Cheers dude!

[@Maelael]

Nintendo *could* have simply said, "Our games and everything we came up with will remain ours, while the same extends to you, agreed?" and Sony accepted, then we would not have gotten the dumpsterfire that was the Phillips CDI.

[@granatengeorg]

I always enjoy the stories being dug up, but that everything needs to be presented like an epic anime faceoff gets somewhat tiring over time imo.

[@LowSpecGamer]

Blame me. I get a kick out of turning everything into something dramatic

[@NuttachaiTipprasert]

Great video as always. I had been hooked while watching this and kept checking the timeline because I seriously didn't want it to end. Keeps up your good work!