WEBVTT - The Birth of the PlayStation 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to text Up, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey there, and welcome to text Uff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.960 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:22.200 and I love all things tech. And if things sound 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.960 a little differently to you, it's because we are currently 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:32.600 going through our own social distancing program over with the 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.880 studios in Atlanta, So whenever we can, we're recording from home. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.959 So I'm actually recording from home today, which means I'm 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.640 on different equipment. Also means that there could be some 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.919 background noises. You might hear my dog Tim bolt at 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.879 some point, or maybe a train or something because I 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.320 live near train tracks. I will try, if I notice, 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:57.880 to stop speaking so that Tari super producer, can cut 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.920 out anything particularly loud it or distracting, and we can 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.800 just focus on the thing that has remained the most 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:09.200 consistent throughout the entirety of this show. My low bar 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.959 for content quality. I'm kidding, of course, content is always 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.479 most important for me, so let's get to it. So 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:21.160 in December two thousand nineteen, the Sony PlayStation console turned 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:26.280 twenty five years old, and this year that being, we 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.280 anticipate the release of the latest in the line of 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.120 PlayStation's the PlayStation five. In fact, as I was going 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.160 in to record this, the presentation about the PlayStation five 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.720 was just starting to wrap up at what would have 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.880 been the Game's Developer Conference or the Game Developers Conference. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:47.080 I pluralized the wrong word there, but that obviously did 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.920 not actually happen in person because of fears of the 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.800 coronavirus and COVID nineteen, but they did it online. So 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.280 I will talk about PlayStation five a little bit later, 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.480 But first I wanted to talk about the history of 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.840 the place station and how the platform has changed over 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:04.800 the years, and how it's played a big role not 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.440 just in the video game industry, but in tech in general. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.040 And we'll have a few opportunities to talk about some 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.000 specific types of tech along the way to explain how 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:15.919 it works. So my guess is this is going to 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.960 take a few episodes, and our story starts with the 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.119 man credited for making the PlayStation a thing, a guy 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.079 who is often referred to as the father of the PlayStation. 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.960 Ken Kutaragi now Kudaragi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.960 nineteen fifty. His family owned a small printing business and 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.800 Kudaragi was an adept student and became interested in mechanical 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.840 systems early on. That was a curiosity that his family encouraged. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:49.520 Kudaragi enjoyed building simple things like amplifiers, so you know, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:54.040 typical kids stuff. After he progressed through regular schooling, he 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:59.360 enrolled in an electrical engineering program at Dinki Sushin University. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.919 And I'm sure I'm butchering these names, and I apologize 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.519 for that. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:10.680 in nineteen and upon graduation, he joined the Sony Corporation 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.760 as an engineer. According to Kutaragi, he applied to Sony 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.240 specifically because the company had a reputation for giving engineers 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.880 the resources needed to try new things and to be creative, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.680 which is something he really enjoyed. All Right, we're gonna 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.320 skip ahead to the nineteen eighties. So at this point, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.519 Kutaragi has been working for the Sony Corporation for several years, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.919 and now he had a daughter who was into video 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.040 games on the Nintendo Entertainment system. Kutaragi watched his daughter 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.720 playing games and figured that there just might be something 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.440 to this whole video game business. And he saw the 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.800 potential in what was then a niche industry. Now, at 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.640 the time, the Sony Corporation didn't really have any plans 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.160 for making video game consoles or video games in general. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.960 They were a hardware company and they weren't looking to 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.480 get into that industry. Nintendo began working on the successor 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.200 to the Nintendo Entertainment System or in ne e S, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.440 also known as the Famicom in other places. Kutaragi would 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.160 make a move that wasn't universally accepted. He made a 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.000 deal with Nintendo to develop the sound chip for the 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.440 Super in ne e S, also known as the SPC 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:24.200 seven hundred. Now a word about this chip. It's a coprocessor, 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.719 meaning it's similar to a CPU or GPU in some ways. 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.679 The SPC seven hundred is an eight bit chip, meaning 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.359 it can handle a maximum word size of eight bits. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:41.440 Now that means that it can handle data that's of 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.440 eight bits or smaller in size. A bit is a 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.680 binary digit. That means it is a digit that can 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.760 have a value of either zero or one. So this 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.840 processor could handle a unit of data that was up 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.520 to eight of those digits in a row. So you 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.960 could have eight zeros, eight ones, or any combination of 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.679 eight of those those two digits. Modern processors can handle 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.159 units that are thirty two or sixty four bits in size, 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.600 and that might not sound like a big deal, but 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.400 you have to remember that you can use just eight 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.400 bits to represent the numbers zero to two hundred fifty five, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:21.520 so two hundred fifty six different values. With thirty two bits, 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.400 you can represent more than four billion numbers. With sixty 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:30.200 four bits, you can represent more than eighteen quintillion numbers. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.680 So you see very quickly how a larger processor, a 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:40.279 processor with a larger word size capability, can handle much 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.400 more uh information at once, which in turn means that 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.159 you can handle much more complicated processes. That's what it 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.160 really boils down to for us from a user perspective. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.840 So an eight bit processor has a limit to the 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.600 amount of information it can, you know, process. Those limitations 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.720 manifest themselves in different ways. So with a video game console, 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:04.800 you're talking about the stuff like the quality of the 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:09.240 graphics and the sound creating dedicated chips to handle certain 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.760 processes can push back limitations a little bit because you're 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.840 offloading those those rolls off the CPU and onto a coprocessor. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.280 But It can also add to some negative stuff, like 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:22.800 they can add to the amount of heat being generated 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.200 inside the device or how much cost it adds to 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.440 the final product. The goal is to get the most 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.360 bang for your buck from a manufacturing side as well 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.680 as from a consumer side. Now, the processor speed for 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.919 this sound chip was one mega hurts. That means it 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:44.799 could complete one million cycles per second. Hurts is a cycle, 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.320 so a cycle really is sort of a step and instructions. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:52.680 All right, think about a task you might have to do, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.960 and then break that task down into steps. Some tests 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.400 are so simple they only have one step, right, So 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:04.520 if the SPC seven hundred had instructions that all just 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.039 required one step, then that chip would be able to 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:12.400 carry out one million instructions per second. I'm oversimplifying a 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.720 little bit here, but it's just to illustrate a point. 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.960 But now we get to the tricky part. Some instructions 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:22.040 some tasks require more than one step. So you've got 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.920 a million cycles per second, a million steps per second, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:27.640 but you might not be able to carry out one 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.160 million tasks per second because some of those tasks will 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.480 have additional steps. So, in the case of the SPC 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.680 seven hundred, most of the instructions that was carrying out 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.160 had an average of two steps, So really it was 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.600 carrying out about half a million instructions per second, not 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.720 a full million, because again each instruction on average required 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.040 two cycles. So what I just described can actually be 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.640 applied to all sorts of processors, not just the SPC 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.120 seven hundred. So if you've heard terms like the this 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.960 computer's process sessors is three point four gigs. That means 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.440 it's running at a clock speed of three point four 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.880 giga hurts. That means it can do three point four 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.560 billion cycles per second, So it can carry out three 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.960 point four billion steps of instructions every second, but some 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.360 of those instructions might be enormous in the number of 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.960 cycles it requires, so you know, your mileage varies. It 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.720 all depends upon the complexity of what you're running, as 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.560 well as the speed of the processor. If you've heard 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:34.680 the term overclocking, which more typically applies to computers than consoles, 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.440 that refers to the practice of removing some of the 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.079 safeguards on processors so that they can operate at a 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.280 higher clock speed than what they were originally rated for. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.160 So maybe a computer manufacturer comes out with a processor 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.840 that they say is rated for three point two giga hurts, 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.160 but you overclock it so it runs at three point 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.800 four giga hurts. So what you've done is you've removed 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.920 some of those limitations. The processors gonna run faster, also hotter, 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.000 and hopefully we'll be stable enough so that you get 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.160 extra performance out of it. Now, on a related note, 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:14.200 some manufacturers actually build in specific limitations on their on 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.400 their chips, not for safety purposes, but so that they 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.320 can sell the exact same chip in different classes. Right, 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.640 So they might have a a limiter on a chip 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.080 that means it won't run faster than three giga hurts, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.120 and that same chip, but packaged in a different way, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.840 can run at three point two giga hurts, but the 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.720 limitter has been adjusted. Uh. There are companies that do 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.079 this because it saves cash. It saves money on production. 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.960 You just make the same chip a whole bunch of times, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.439 you put different limitters on them, and then you can 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.360 sell them for different markets to maximize your profit. But 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.560 it also means that if someone figures out how to 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.640 remove those limitters, they can suddenly get a top of 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.800 the line processor, but for a much lower cost because 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.680 just bought one that had been had the brakes turned on, essentially, 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.880 But let's get back to the SPC seven hundred. That's 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.760 a that's a discussion for a different time. So this 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.880 music chip gave the Super Nintendo a lot more versatility 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.600 when it came to the sounds that it could produce. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.320 It set the stage for a pretty fierce debate in 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.440 gaming circles that pit the Super Nintendo against the Sega 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.480 Genesis or the Sega Mega Drive. For the record, I 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.920 don't care about this fight. I don't back one side 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.360 versus the other. I actually think both systems have their 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.080 strengths and weaknesses, so if you program music that caters 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.600 to the strengths of either one, you could make something 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.000 really cool. So the Genesis wasn't great at all the 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.480 things the Super Nintendo was great at, but then the 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:45.800 same was true the other way. It all depended on 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.160 how you took advantage of the strengths. But back at Sony, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:54.000 Kutaragi's supervisors were none too pleased that they had an 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.880 engineer who had taken the initiative to make this deal 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.880 with Nintendo without their approval, and he was allegedly in 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.600 danger of actually getting fired from Sony, but the CEO 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:09.400 of the company, the CEO of Sony norio Oga, intervened 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.880 and saved Kudaragi's job. He actually said, you know what, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.160 I'm gonna let you finish this. This project and the 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.560 chip was part of what set the Supernintendo apart from 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.000 all the other consoles of that generation. Now, I wouldn't 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.080 go so far as to say the sound chip is 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.840 what sealed the deal as far as the Super Nintendo's 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.840 success story goes, but it definitely played apart and the 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.040 success meant that Kutaragi got a little bit more freedom 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.319 to work on things he thought were interesting and potentially profitable. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.439 Nintendo was really happy too, and with the SPC seven 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.640 hundred setting the foundation, Sony and Nintendo began to explore 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:50.360 a collaborative project related to the Supernintendo. Sony was pitching 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.320 a CD peripheral for the Nintendo system and Nintendo was 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.920 not super keen on this idea. See over at Nintendo, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:03.079 their business model for video game consoles revolved around cartridges, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.679 not disks. Video game cartridges are pretty interesting. A cartridge 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.440 based video game has the game hard coded on the 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.960 cartridge itself. That is the circuitry of the cartridge is 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120 the game. When you insert a cartridge into a video 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:23.200 game console, it connects the cartridges circuit board with a 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.800 sort of motherboard like component in the video game console, 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.640 and that connection allows you to actually have the code 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.319 hard coded on the cartridge run on the computing equipment 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.160 inside the console. This approach has a couple of distinctions 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.000 from stuff like CD ROM based games, and first is 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.160 that a cartridge based game will load really quickly with 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.960 a CD drive. A CD drive has a laser. The 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.880 laser reads the data that's printed on the c D, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.520 but the laser actually first has to scan to the 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.680 right location on a CD in order to read the 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.319 relevant data. That slows things down to it because the 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.400 laser actually has to move to the right location on 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.040 the disc. So typically with a c D game, the 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.480 computer system or video game console will read the game 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.040 information and store some of it into the system's memory. 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.079 Then the player plays the game and is encountering stuff 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.760 that's stored in the memory of the game system or 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.600 the computer, and there's no delay because it's all right 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.000 there in the random access memory or RAM of the 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.800 console or computer. But when you get far enough that 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.920 you're reaching the boundary of the stuff that was stored 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.760 in RAM. Then the system has to go back to 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.840 the c D and look for new information. It's like, oh, well, 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.079 I've I've exhausted all the information in this chapter of 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:43.720 the book. I need to go to the next chapter. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.400 So at that point you typically would encounter a loading screen. 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.520 So if you've ever played a game where you're opening 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.160 a door and then you get a loading screen, it's 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.000 because you've gone as far as you can within the 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.560 amount of memory of that system, and then you're about 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.320 to move in to a new area and that needs 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.520 to get loaded into the system's memory so that you 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.480 can do that. Cartridge games, though, they send all that 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.040 relevant information to a system much faster, so there's not 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.079 really anly loading screens. The game feels much more responsive 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.160 as a result. From a business standpoint, cartridges have one 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:21.080 big advantage over compact discs and that it's really hard 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.920 to pirate a cartridge. If you have a computer with 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.040 a couple of c D drives, you know you've got 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.800 a CD burning drive, then you can potentially bootleg games. 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.920 You could just take a legitimate c D read it 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.360 and then copy it to as many blank CDs as 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.720 you want using the burner. Companies typically include features that 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:45.040 make this harder to do. They have like piracy protection features, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.960 but typically it's only a matter of time before pirates 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.520 figure out a way around copy protection systems. But with cartridges, 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.040 you can't really do that because you have to manufacture 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:58.560 the cartridge. You have to hard print the game onto 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.600 the circuitry of the cartridge. You could attempt to make 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:06.480 a rom like a code copy of the cartridge, but 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.160 then you also have to have an emulator that ends 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.320 up copying the process of whatever system it was going 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.440 to run on. It's it's a complicated thing, and most 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.120 pirates can't really do it, so that's one big advantage. 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.400 But CDs have their own distinct advantages, and a big 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.440 one is that a CD can hold way more information 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.200 than a cartridge can. So cartridge had around the time 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.960 of the Supernintendo had a maximum capacity of around two 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.280 megabytes of memory. C d s can hold more than 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:38.600 six hundred megabytes of information, so it might load a 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.160 bit more slowly than a cartridge based game, but if 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:44.080 you had a system with really good memory, then you've 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.080 got the capacity to hold enough data for far more 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:54.160 sophisticated games. That sophistication might come out as more rich graphics, sound, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.240 more features, the ability to support some video that kind 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.000 of stuff, stuff that cartridges really aren't do very well. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.560 And c d s are actually way cheaper to manufacture 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.040 than cartridges. So you just start you know, you got 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.040 the code, you just start printing them to c d s. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.920 You don't have to manufacture the circuit boards over and 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.360 over again, so the process is simpler and you're less 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:18.520 likely to encounter manufacturing delays. So Sony, a company that 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.440 had been one of the co inventors of the compact 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.640 disc system, the other one being Phillips, pitched this peripheral 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:29.400 to Nintendo, and at first Nintendo was sort of on board, 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.920 you know, tentatively. Nintendo was feeling a pinch from its 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.600 competitors for the first time since it had debuted the 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.320 original Nintendo And a quick backstory on that. When Nintendo 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.120 was prepping its original Famicom Slash and Into No Entertainment 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.120 System for launch, the home video game industry as a 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.400 whole was in a downward spiral. It was around the 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.960 time of the Great video game Crash of nine three. 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.119 That's when you had a flood of crappy game systems, 0:16:55.480 --> 0:17:00.400 crappy games, some bone headed licensing deals that some other 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:02.880 factors that all combined in a perfect storm to create 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.480 an unsustainable market for games. And the rise of personal 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.080 computers at the same time complicated matters. So the industry 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.600 came crashing down here in the United States and in 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.600 other parts of the world, to a lesser extent in Japan. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.000 And when Nintendo was getting ready to debut the Nintendo 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.960 Entertainment System in these markets, powerhouses that had once dominated 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:29.560 the scene, companies like Atari and Coliko, were in a shambles. 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.760 So for essentially a full generation of the video game 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:38.359 console systems, Nintendo reigned supreme and almost unopposed. But that 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.840 was the eight bit era. The Super Nintendo was a 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.920 sixteen bit system, and it wasn't alone. A company called 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.800 NYC had come out with the Turbo Graphics sixteen and 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.440 had even created a CD drive peripheral for that console. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.719 Is another cartridge based console, but ANBC had already come 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.119 out with a CD based peripheral to add onto the 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.919 base system. This would be the first video game console 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.840 to have a c D rome add on drive, and 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.119 it debuted all the way back in nineteen eight in Japan. 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.560 It also cost six hundred dollars, which was a princely 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.680 sum for a video game peripheral. Even today, that's a lot. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.679 I mean, if you're talking about a VR system, it 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.520 might be around that much, but usually you see peripherals 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.040 that cost less than the base console system, not more. 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.840 And on the horizon was another CD drive peripheral for 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.760 a different system, the Sega Genesis or the Mega Drive. 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.760 They were coming out with a Sega c D peripheral 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.040 and Nintendo was in danger being left behind, so they 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.359 agreed to Sony's proposal. Kudaragi got to work on a 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.400 CD drive that he called the play station to words, 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.080 but in at least one other source, I saw references 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.400 to another name, and that name was Super Disc. Now 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.320 that might have been something that Nintendo was using internally, 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.960 but everywhere else you just see it called the play station. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:00.960 And I think you could see where the story is going, 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.360 but there's a lot more crazy stuff to cover. So 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:08.240 the deal between Sony and Nintendo was never made fully public, 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.760 but there are some things we can glean from various 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.919 interviews and articles, and one of those things is that 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:18.359 Sony had a really favorable deal. Chances are this isn't 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.480 because of Sony's incredible negotiating power, but more because Nintendo 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:26.000 executives were highly skeptical that a CD based system would 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.680 actually sell. Nintendo wanted to make sure that the Super 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:34.720 Nintendo could make substantive claims that it supported technologies similar 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.479 to its competitors, but they were less concerned that those 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.200 technologies actually sold in the market. So Sony was able 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.560 to retain the rights to sell any software on the 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.240 CD based system for Nintendo. I mean, really, they had 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.840 an exclusive deal. They would be the exclusive provider of 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.359 software that would run on this device. So really, what 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.280 the spoils down to is that Sony would be making 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:02.439 a plug in piece of hardware for the Supernintendo, and 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.040 then Sony would be responsible for making the content that 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.040 would run on that plug in and the Supernintendo would 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.040 sort of act like an agnostic computer, not not that 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.880 different from the way PCs do, and the deal would 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.280 mean that Nintendo would take a portion of the revenue 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.600 from the hardware sales, but Sony would get to keep 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.080 all the software revenue because it was the only one 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.640 involved in that it was the company responsible for making it. 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:26.320 And Nintendo had nothing to do with it, And if 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.480 you're familiar with Nintendo, you might think, hey, that sounds 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.880 kind of not like them, and you're right. But at 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.960 the time, during the initial discussions, Sony reps were saying 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.080 that the plan was to only make non gaming applications 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:46.000 for the CD drive peripheral. So you wouldn't be buying 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.480 Sonic The Hedgehog on CD for the Supernintendo because Sony 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:54.280 would not be making games for the machine. Instead, you 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.280 would buy a CD that had an encyclopedia or something 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.840 like that on it. The seed Drive would give the 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.359 Supernintendo more capabilities, but gaming would not be among them. 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.280 At least that was what the various parties agreed to verbally. 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.240 On paper, however, it would be a different story. I'll 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.800 explain more in just a moment, but first let's take 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:26.280 a quick break. Getting back to Nintendo and Sony, the 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.440 contract that was drawn up between these two companies apparently 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.000 didn't expressly forbid Sony from making video games for the 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.320 CD drive. That was what everyone agreed to leading into 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.000 the contract, but the contract itself kind of left that 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.040 stuff out. So legally, Sony could potentially have a way 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.760 to make games, and that would have been a major 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.040 win for Sony. See, Sony would be responsible for that 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.840 hardware and would share revenue with Nintendo for that, but 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.520 on the software side, the video game side, Sony would 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.359 be the sole entity responsible for making those titles, wouldn't 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.000 have to share any money when Nintendo. Sony could potentially 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:07.000 make CD based games for the Supernintendo and keep all 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.320 the dough plus take advantage of all the advantages of 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.159 a c D system. This would be an amazing opportunity. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.080 At the time, Sony had no presence in the video 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:21.600 game industry. They could piggyback off the dominant position Nintendo 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:26.000 was in, so they would benefit from Nintendo's reputation. Meanwhile, 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:28.760 Sony would be making the sweet sweet cash from these 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.960 video games. Now, this is all dependent upon if the 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:36.080 representatives from Sony decided that they wanted to obey the 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.040 letter of the contract but not the spirit of the 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.480 original agreement. And I'm not saying the folks that Sony 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.520 were planning on making an ethically questionable move like that. 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.000 There's no real indication that that was going on. There's 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:52.600 it's it's possible, maybe even probable, but I don't have 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:56.639 any proof of that. However, it must have occurred to 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:00.679 someone at Nintendo that this was a possibility. So Sony 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:02.960 was in the middle of a massive transformation of its 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:05.119 own right around this time. Again, this would be like 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.280 the late nineteen eighties leading into the early nine nineties. 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:11.840 For decades, Sony had only been in the hardware business, 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.480 but starting in around n seven, they began to acquire 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:20.680 media companies, music labels, movie studios, that sort of stuff, 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.840 and it was emerging from this cocoon of being a 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:31.360 hardware caterpillar into a media giant butterfly. And beyond movies 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:34.600 and music and stuff, Sony also created a new subsidiary 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.520