1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to text Time, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and today we are 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: going to pick up where we left off with the 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: episode about the birth of the PlayStation. And here is 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: the story so far. I covered in that recent episode 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 1: how Ken Kutaragi, the so called father of the PlayStation, 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: had to develop Sony's first video game console essentially out 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: of view of the company's board members, who are more 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 1: keen on pursuing a collaboration with Nintendo at the time. 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: But the Nintendo partnership never produced a consumer product, and 13 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if there were ever any working 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: prototypes that came out of this project, because Nintendo kind 15 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:01,959 Speaker 1: of kill hold it all off without ever making an 16 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,839 Speaker 1: official announcement about the program being canceled. Kutaragi was confident 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: that Sony could build a CD ROM based video game 18 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: system as opposed to Nintendo's cartridge based system that would 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: not just compete, but would outperform the competition. Now, it 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: almost wasn't called the PlayStation, by the way, Kutaragi wanted 21 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: to call it that. In fact, that was the name 22 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: of the proposed Nintendo and Sony peripheral for the Supernintendo, 23 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: though at that time that version of the PlayStation was 24 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: two words play station, and Kutaragi wanted to create a 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: game console called PlayStation one word big P big S. 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: When Sony CEO Norrio Oga gave the thumbs up, it 27 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: was going to be called PlayStation. Sony had already even 28 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: registered the name. Everything was ready to go, but as 29 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: a courtesy, they brought the idea to the founder of Sony, 30 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: Akio Morita. This is sort of a very traditional approach 31 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: in jeb and Theese business. It was a sign of 32 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: respect to the founder. Now, Marita loved the idea of 33 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: the video game console. He liked the idea of getting 34 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: into that industry, and everything was great, except he hated 35 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: the name, and he said that they should change it. 36 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: So reluctantly they began to search for a new name, 37 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: and then a couple of months later, Marita sadly suffered 38 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: a severe stroke and it was bad enough to keep 39 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: him from returning to work. The team hadn't found a 40 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,239 Speaker 1: new name at that point, and everything was already ready 41 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: to go under the PlayStation name so Oga. The CEO 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: quietly kind of gave the go ahead for them to 43 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: stick with that name after all. One thing I didn't 44 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: really cover in the previous episode was how Kutaragi came 45 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: across to his superiors and his subordinates. Stubborn would probably 46 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: be a good adjective to use, traditional another good adjective, 47 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: aggressive is another one. Shigeyo Maruyama said in interviews that 48 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: while he was a manager at the time and Kutaragi 49 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: was an engineer at the time, Kutaragi would sometimes treat 50 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: Shigeyo like he was the subordinate. At one point, angry 51 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: that Shigeo wasn't doing whatever it was that Kutaragi wanted done, 52 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: Kutaragi said that Shigeo should quit, and according to Shigeyo, 53 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: who seemed pretty good natured about the whole thing, Kutaragi 54 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: was like a temperamental artist who didn't believe in apologizing 55 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: even if he knew he was the one in the wrong. 56 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: So he's definitely a visionary, but he also sounds like 57 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 1: the kind of guy I wouldn't really want to work with. 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: Kutaragi also encountered issues when he tried to work with 59 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: his counterparts in the United States. He was in charge 60 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: of the Sony PlayStation project, a huge deal. However, that 61 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: wasn't reflected in his official title, which was more or 62 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: less like assistant manager. The business hierarchy in Japan is 63 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: really rigid. Companies have strict rules in place that limit 64 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: when someone could be even eligible to apply for a 65 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: position with a larger title. So while Kutaragi was leading 66 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: the PlayStation efforts and his decisions were the ones that 67 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: completely guided the development of that console, his title was 68 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: translated into assistant manager essentially, and that meant that his 69 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: US counterparts weren't really listening to him. I mean, why 70 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: would they. They were all executives, right, They had big, 71 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: important titles. And now I should add that does not 72 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: necessarily reflect a person's capability, or their wisdom, or their 73 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: knowledge or anything like that. But titles are sometimes seen 74 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: as more important than those qualities because because humans are 75 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: silly creatures I guess anyway, Kutaragi would eventually resort to 76 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: using more grandiose titles in English on his business cards 77 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: because as US counterparts couldn't read his real title, which 78 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: was printed in Japanese, so his real title would say 79 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: assistant manager in Japanese, but he might have senior vice 80 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,160 Speaker 1: president or something listed as his title in English. And 81 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: I include this story simply because it points out a 82 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: cultural divide between Japan and the United States, and it's 83 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: one that a lot of people have to figure out 84 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: how to work around and through whenever they're producing collaborative projects. 85 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: And it's not you know, it's not an outlier. This 86 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: is something that lots of companies deal with, but I 87 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: thought it was an interesting story. In the United States, 88 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: the PlayStation would debut at the very first Electronic Entertainment 89 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: Expo or E three, way back in nine at E 90 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: three number one. Here in twenty the latest E three 91 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: has been canceled, and there's a big question mark over 92 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: the future of the the the event and whether or 93 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: not it will make a return in twenty one, we 94 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:53,799 Speaker 1: don't know. But at three, the PlayStation made a huge impact, 95 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: and it didn't hurt that it was up against some 96 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: some kind of shaky competition. You had the extreme misfire 97 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: on Nintendo's part, for example, the much maligned Virtual Boy. 98 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: So the buzz about the PlayStation was really powerful leading 99 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: up to its launch in the United States, it already 100 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: launched in Japan at that point. Now these days, we'd 101 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: refer to that first PlayStation as being one of the 102 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: consoles in the fifth generation of home video game consoles, 103 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: and a word on that. It's a bit tricky to 104 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: apply terms like generation to video game consoles, largely because 105 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: each company has its own release dates and some technologies 106 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: overlapped between generations. But generally speaking, the generation designation tends 107 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 1: to apply to the capabilities of the consoles. The first 108 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 1: generation included dedicated game systems like the Odyssey, you know, 109 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: stuff where you could play Pong, and it was hard 110 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: coded on the hardware itself. In other words, you couldn't 111 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: play other games. It was literally the game that was 112 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:59,280 Speaker 1: coded onto the circuitry of the console. The second generation 113 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: of video game consoles included slightly more sophisticated game systems 114 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: like the at twenty. These are game systems that could 115 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: accept things like cartridges, so you weren't stuck with that 116 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: single title. You could actually switch that out by by 117 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: pulling the cartridge out and putting a different cartridge. In 118 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: the original Nintendo Entertainment System, or the Famicom as it 119 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: was known, in Japan would belong to the third generation 120 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: of video game consoles that's also known as the eight 121 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: bit era, and I talked about eight bit and sixteen 122 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: bit uh in the last episode, the Super Nintendo and 123 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: the consoles like the Turbographics sixteen and Sega Genesis. In 124 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: other words, the sixteen bit systems were in the fourth generation. 125 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: And now that brings us up to the fifth generation 126 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: where the PlayStation would belong, and that was the thirty 127 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: two bit era. Other consoles that belonged to that same 128 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: generation included the Nintendo sixty four and the Sega Saturn. Now. 129 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: I mentioned at the end of the previous PlayStation episode 130 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: that in North America and Particul Killer there was a 131 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: heavy emphasis on three D graphics. In general, the evolution 132 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: into the era of three D graphics was one of 133 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: the defining features for the fifth generation of video game 134 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: consoles as a whole. Some systems, like the PlayStation were 135 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: in better shape when it came to a three D 136 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: graphics option. The CD ROM drive allowed game developers to 137 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: make bigger, more complicated games than they could on Nintendo's 138 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: old cartridge based sixty four. Now, don't get me wrong, 139 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: that does not necessarily mean that games were automatically better 140 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:35,839 Speaker 1: on one system versus the other. I owned both the 141 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: PS one and an in sixty four, and in general 142 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: I preferred the Nintendo console. But to be fair, I 143 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: didn't own a ton of games on either system, so 144 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: my experience was really limited. I did have some killer 145 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,079 Speaker 1: games on the n sixty four, like Golden I and 146 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 1: some w c W and at the time old WWF 147 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: wrestling games. Also the extremely cheeky Conquer is Bad for day. 148 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:05,359 Speaker 1: Things like that and those won me over over the PlayStation. 149 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: But again, I didn't have a lot of PlayStation titles, 150 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: and I was definitely in the minority on this one. Now, 151 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: let me be clear, the PlayStation has no shortage of 152 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: great games. Far from it. It has an enormous game library, 153 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: and that's thanks in large part to Sony's general practice 154 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: of supporting a video game console even into the life 155 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: cycle of its successor. I'll talk more about that in 156 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: this episode. So it's not unusual to find new game 157 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: titles coming out for a console that is a generation 158 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: behind the most current console on the market. But I'm 159 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: getting ahead of myself. One interesting behind the scenes fact 160 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 1: about the PlayStation is how Sony CEO norio Oga, decided 161 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,439 Speaker 1: to position it from a company standpoint, like what division 162 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: would it actually be produced under. He was worried that 163 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: if the Sony Corporation was the sole producer of this, 164 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: if it was under that label, then it wouldn't do 165 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,839 Speaker 1: very well because Sony wasn't known for video games, so 166 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: he was worried that no one would pay attention. He 167 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: actually designated it as a joint venture between the Sony 168 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: Corporation that is the main brand, and Sony Music. I mean, 169 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: I guess the thing did have a CD ROM drive 170 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: so you could play music CD s on it, so 171 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: I suppose that's close enough. One huge advantage Sony had 172 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: over Nintendo was because of Nintendo's stubborn insistence on sticking 173 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: with that cartridge format. Well, cartridge based games loaded faster, 174 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: and they were harder to pirate. They were also harder 175 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: to produce, and they were a pain and that took 176 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: us to make. In other words, if you were a developer. 177 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: But developing a game for a CD ROM based system 178 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: simplified things a lot, and so Sony attracted way more 179 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: third party developers to its platform. Nintendo was producing amazing 180 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: first party and second party content, but found it more 181 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: challenging to get third party companies to sign on. This 182 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: also meant that the Sony PlayStation would serve as the 183 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: foundation for some exclusive agreements between Sony and various video 184 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: game developers, or at least specific franchises, and those franchises 185 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: would help define the console's place in video game history. 186 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: That place, by the way, is pretty high up there. 187 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: Oh and Sony also acquired a game developer company of 188 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: its own. It was a game company called Psygnosis, which 189 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: was mostly famous for a series of games called Lemmings, 190 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: where you try and lead a group of limings across 191 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: a dangerous environment, and you assign different abilities to lemmings 192 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: in order to get as many of them across as possible. 193 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: It's an adorable strategy game and I highly recommend you 194 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: check it out if you've never played a Limmings game, 195 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: there's tons of them out there anyway. Psygnosis would become 196 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 1: Sony Interactive Entertainment, which would become the internal video game 197 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: developer division at Sony. Now the PlayStation would go on 198 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: to become the top selling console from the fifth generation 199 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: of consoles. It's sold more than three hundred thousand units 200 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: in the first thirty days, with a nine scent sell 201 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: through rate, meaning that Sony was selling nearly all of 202 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: its inventory in stock. In fact, for a while, it 203 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: held the title as the top selling video game console 204 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: of all time, and it was the first to hit 205 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: one hundred million units sold, which isn't bad for a 206 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: clandestine project that initially did not have the support of 207 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: the company's board of directors. Kutaragi's ambition was not limited 208 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:38,559 Speaker 1: to creating a video game console, though. He told Shuji Utsumi, 209 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: one of the engineers who worked on the design of 210 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: the PlayStation, that his ultimate goal was to create not 211 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: just a video game system, but an entire operating system 212 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 1: upon which all sorts of stuff could be built. So 213 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 1: he saw the console as a type of specialized computer, 214 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: and that developing for the console should be similar to 215 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: developing for other personal computers. He said he wanted the 216 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: PlayStation to be more modeled after Microsoft's approach to business 217 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: rather than Nintendo's or Sega's, And keep in mind Microsoft 218 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: didn't have a console at this point, so he's really 219 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: talking about the productivity approach. One thing that Sony did 220 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: and that a lot of companies do, was that they 221 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: region locked video game consoles, So this means Sony would 222 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 1: include some firmware in region specific models of the PlayStation, 223 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: So a Japanese PlayStation console would have this coded into 224 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: the firmware, and a United States console would have a 225 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: different region code coded into its hardware, and that would 226 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: mean that you could only play the games that were 227 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: produced and marketed for the region you were in, or 228 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: for the region that the console was from, but not 229 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: for other regions. So if you were in the US 230 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: and you bought a US PlayStation, you couldn't just get 231 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: a copy of a Japanese title and slap it into 232 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: your con soul and have it work. The games were 233 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: region locked, so you'd be forced to either wait for 234 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: the company to eventually produce an American localized version of 235 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: whatever game you wanted to play, which might not ever happen, 236 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: or give up. And this comes down to companies making 237 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: bets on which games are going to work well within 238 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: certain regions, and the prevailing philosophy is that due to 239 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: cultural differences, some titles just will not appeal to certain audiences, 240 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: so it's not worth the trouble to go through the 241 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: development and localization to make a version for that region. 242 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: Why do it if you're just gonna waste money. No 243 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: one's going to play it anyway. That's the that's the philosophy. 244 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: And there are a lot of Japanese RPG or role 245 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: playing games that fall into that category, and there is 246 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: a healthy fan base for Japanese RPGs that are outside 247 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: of Japan. A lot of people outside Japan love those 248 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: games and so they find it very frustrating when these 249 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: games are region locked. Now, my manufacturers of cartridge based 250 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: systems could use the physical connectors between a cartridge and 251 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,400 Speaker 1: a console to do this, so they can make consoles 252 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,480 Speaker 1: for one region, and the cartridges for that one region 253 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: a specific size that will not fit into the consoles 254 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: that are made for another region. So if you've got 255 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: a Japanese cartridge for a US console, you wouldn't even 256 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: be able to physically plug it in because they wouldn't 257 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: match up. So that was something that cartridge makers could do. 258 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: But c d s are universal, right, they can fit 259 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: into any CD player. There's thankfully not a huge variation 260 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: in sizes and shapes of c d s. There's a 261 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: little variation, but not much, so typically you can take 262 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: any c D and put it into any CD player, 263 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: but it won't necessarily work because of that region locking 264 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: I was talking about. Sony solution was to create a 265 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: special pit. So if you if you were to take 266 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: a c D and take a microscope and look at 267 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: the surface of a c D, you would see the 268 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: that surface, the surface that the laser actually reads, has 269 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: a series of bumps and pits in it, and that's 270 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: actually where the data is, you know, that's the representation 271 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: of those zeros and ones, that digital information. And this 272 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: was a special pit that was at a depth that 273 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: was beyond what a typical laser burner could do. So 274 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: if you had a consumer grade c D burner, it 275 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: would not be able to make a pit of this 276 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: particular size on the c D. And that meant that 277 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: you could encode things on CDs that could be picked 278 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: up by specific region locked consoles, and it wouldn't allow 279 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: things to play. So if you put a Japanese c 280 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: D into an American console, the location of that pit 281 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: would give away that it wasn't the right kind of 282 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: c D for that console and it wouldn't play for you. 283 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: So it's a way of preventing people from playing. It 284 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: was also kind of a copy protection approach. So they 285 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: did make a small tactical error with this particular strategy, 286 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: and by that I mean a huge tactical error. I'll 287 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: explain more in a moment, but first let's take a 288 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: quick break. So what was that error that Sony made. 289 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: You know they had created this region locking copy protection system. 290 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: It was reliant upon the pit on a c D 291 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: and a special region locked key that's hard coded into 292 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: the consoles. Well, what Sony did was they included in 293 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:44,120 Speaker 1: the original PlayStation a pair of parallel input output ports 294 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,680 Speaker 1: and these reports that were meant to serve as a 295 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: way to connect peripherals to the PlayStation. The idea being 296 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: that further down the line, Sony might create something that 297 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: would augment the PlayStation's abilities in some way, but you 298 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: would have to connect it to the system somehow, and 299 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: the way you would do it is through one of 300 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: these ports. Now, not a lot of official Sony peripherals 301 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: were ever actually produced, but some were pitched like a 302 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: v c D player. V c D s are video 303 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: compression discs. You can think of them as sort of 304 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 1: a predecessor to DVD s. They're essentially video c D s, 305 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: but for you to store video on the c D 306 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:24,439 Speaker 1: really have to compress it or it has to be 307 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 1: super short, because the CD has a limited amount of 308 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:29,880 Speaker 1: data it can hold, and video takes up a lot 309 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: of data. So typically you end up with video that's 310 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 1: compressed so much that the quality is not exactly spectacular. Anyway, 311 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,400 Speaker 1: the only PlayStation ones that I know about that could 312 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: actually support v c D playback were sold in Japan. 313 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: I don't think there were any that were sold outside 314 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,640 Speaker 1: of Japan that had that capability, but I could be wrong. Anyway, 315 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: third party companies looked at those parallel ports and they 316 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: saw an opportunity. Some of those third party companies produced 317 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: devices that players could plug into a PlayStation and those 318 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: devices would bypass region locking. So if you were in 319 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: the United States and you got one of these devices, 320 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: you could plug it into your PlayStation and then you 321 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: could get a Japanese game, put it in your system, 322 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: and you could play games from Japan. Uh those games 323 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: would probably be in Japanese, there might not be any 324 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: translation there. It might be a little bit of a 325 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,879 Speaker 1: language barrier, but you would sidestep the region locking you 326 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 1: would get access to those games. There were some companies 327 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: that offered up versions of this hardware that were specifically 328 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 1: meant to let you play pirated games on a PlayStation. 329 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: So these were peripherals that got around copy protection and 330 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: region locking. Later, Sony would revise the design of the 331 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: PlayStation and remove the parallel ports, which forced gamers to 332 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,479 Speaker 1: go an extra step. So what people started doing at 333 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: that point was they made these little micro chips that 334 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: are called mod chips. They essentially did the same thing 335 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: as those plug in devices would do, but you know 336 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: those plug in devices, you would just attach those to 337 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: a parallel port. For a mod chip to work, you 338 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: would have to open up your PlayStation, take out the 339 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: circuit board inside the PlayStation, and then solder the mod 340 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: ship to a specific location on that circuit board, thus 341 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: potentially damaging your your PlayStation as a result, and then 342 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: reinstall it and then it would work in a way 343 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: very similar to those plug ins. So if you knew 344 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: what you were doing, you could get around this region 345 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: locking and copy protection, but it wasn't for the faint 346 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: at heart. Now, I'm not crazy about the concept of 347 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: region locking in general, and I think, particularly in the 348 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: age of streaming, it shouldn't be as big a deal 349 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: as it is, although I also don't have to comb 350 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,360 Speaker 1: through licensing contracts that are a hundred pages long, so 351 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: different regions of different agreements in place. It is very complicated. 352 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: In concept. It's simple technologically, it's simple to stream something 353 00:20:55,080 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: to all different regions, but more on the procedure rural side, 354 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: the legal side, it's way more complicated anyway. I don't 355 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: care for copy protection that punishes legitimate customers either. So 356 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: if people and Sony has been really bad about this 357 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,520 Speaker 1: in the past, if people or companies put in copy 358 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,479 Speaker 1: protection that makes it harder to enjoy the stuff you 359 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: legally purchased, that's bad. It actually encourages piracy because people 360 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: will go an extra step to bypass the bad stuff 361 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 1: in order to get to what they want, and then 362 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: they essentially make it freely available for everyone else, or 363 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: very frequently that happens. So this is not a black 364 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: and white kind of topic. I'm not saying all copy 365 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: protection is good and all piracy is completely unjustified. I 366 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: don't think piracy in most cases is justified, but every 367 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 1: now and then you come across a case where it's 368 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: really hard to argue against it, especially if you're talking 369 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,640 Speaker 1: about copy protection that could potentially be harmful. Sony had 370 00:21:55,680 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: a CD based copy protection that ended up creating a 371 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: backdoor vulnerability in a computer. If you were to put 372 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: the CD into a PC, that for example, would be 373 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: a terrible, terrible thing to do. It was a terrible 374 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: thing to do, and it's the sort of thing where 375 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: I would say, yes, absolutely break that copy protection, because 376 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: it's breaking your computer otherwise. Anyway, this meant that the 377 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: original PlayStation would be the target of bootleggers of I 378 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: P pirates and folks trading or buying games outside the 379 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: approved regions. Kudaragi denied that this was a big issue, 380 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: even though it was undeniably happening, but that might have 381 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: been because he was already thinking about the PlayStation two, 382 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: which would take a slightly different approach to copy protection 383 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: and eliminate some of the strategies that folks were using 384 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: during the PlayStation one, So he was already looking ahead 385 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: and not so much concerned with what was happening at 386 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 1: that moment. So one interesting thing about the mod chip 387 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: culture is that it launched a sort of seesaw battle 388 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: between companies like Sony and the mod or hacker Commune City. 389 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 1: Sony would make a change to the PlayStation, cutting off 390 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: options for maters. The mats would then refine their approach 391 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: and try something new. So, for example, early mod chips, 392 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: when you soldered them into a circuit board, they were 393 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,160 Speaker 1: always on, so if you powered the PlayStation, the mod 394 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: chip would also get power. But that gave Sony the 395 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 1: chance to create some code that would do sort of 396 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: a sweep and scan for the presence of mod chips, 397 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: and if the system detected that there was a mod 398 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: chip in place, then it would prevent the games from loading. 399 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: So then the maters had to go in and build 400 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,360 Speaker 1: extra chips that would sort of put the mod chip 401 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: in stealth mode. It would deactivate it during the sweep 402 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: and then reactivate it when the sweep was done, which 403 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: sounds a lot to me like the system Volkswagen had 404 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: in place for their diesel engine cars where it would 405 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: turn off some of the the output of the engine 406 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 1: whenever it was in an emissions testing mode, and it 407 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 1: would go back into full blast once the emissions testing 408 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: mode was over. It's very similar to that anyway. One 409 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: other things Sony tried to do to fight piracy had 410 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: to do with the discs themselves. So if you take 411 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,439 Speaker 1: a PS one disc and you turn it over, so 412 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: you're looking at the label at the first part, and 413 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: you turn it over to look at the business side. 414 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: You know, the side where the data is actually encoded. 415 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: If it's an official PS one game disc, you'll see 416 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: that that side is black. And the thought was that 417 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: if you, as a gamer, were to see a PlayStation 418 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: one disc that wasn't black on the underside, you would 419 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: know immediately that you were actually looking at a pirated copy. 420 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: You weren't looking at an official game. You were looking 421 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,639 Speaker 1: at something that someone had illegally produced, and that you 422 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,680 Speaker 1: would perhaps no better than to go down that dark, 423 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 1: dark road and thus consign yourself to a life of 424 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: video game crime. I guess. Secondly, there was a general 425 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,639 Speaker 1: belief that this black coding would foil pirates, and the 426 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,960 Speaker 1: assumption was that the average c D DREW drive would 427 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: not be able to rip data off the black side 428 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: of a disk, which might have been true for really 429 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: early CD drives like the really old ones, but by 430 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: the time the PlayStation came out, most drives were precise 431 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: enough that that black coating did not present any kind 432 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: of challenge. You could totally rip data off of a 433 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:25,159 Speaker 1: Sony PlayStation disc. Big games on the original PlayStation included Spiro, 434 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 1: The Dragon, Castlevania, Symphony of the Night, Silent Hill, Metal 435 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:35,360 Speaker 1: Gear Solid, That's a huge one, tomb Raider, Dead or Alive, Resideval, 436 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: and Taken. Those were all big, big games with the 437 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 1: original PlayStation. In April n nearly three years after the 438 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,959 Speaker 1: PlayStation had debuted in Japan and two after it arrived 439 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: in the United States, Sony would release the dual analog 440 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: controller in North America and other Western markets, and this 441 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: was the first PlayStation controller to feature two thumbsticks. You 442 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: still had the four directional buttons on one side of 443 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: the controller, and you had the four action buttons on 444 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: the opposite side of the controller, but in between those 445 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 1: two and set a little below them, were two thumbsticks. 446 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:13,919 Speaker 1: So it was this controller that would actually turn me 447 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: off of PlayStation for a really long time because I 448 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: always felt that this particular controller was really awkward to hold. 449 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: It was just a little too cramped, too small, um 450 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,879 Speaker 1: so I felt that if I played any game for 451 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,640 Speaker 1: more than twenty minutes, my hands would just seize up. 452 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: But the thumbsticks did add a lot of versatility to 453 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: the PlayStation, and it opened up opportunities for developers to 454 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: make new types of games to take advantage of those 455 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 1: two thumbsticks. So, for example, you could have one thumbstick 456 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: controller character while the second one controlled the camera angle. 457 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: Or you could use one to control movement and the 458 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: other to control the direction of a firing weapon like 459 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: Smash TV. Games like MEC Warrior launched with support for 460 00:26:55,520 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: the dual analog controller and helped promote that peripheral. The 461 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: version that appeared in Japan a few months later included 462 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: an additional feature not found in the North American version, 463 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:11,480 Speaker 1: which was vibration. That introduced the world to the first 464 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: dual shock controller, and that gave the controller the ability 465 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:20,239 Speaker 1: to provide haptic feedback, that is, touch based feedback, and 466 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: that's a feature game developers would use in lots of 467 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,919 Speaker 1: inventive ways. You want to indicate that a character in 468 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,640 Speaker 1: a game is anticipating danger when you send a vibration 469 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:30,719 Speaker 1: to the controller and now the player knows something's up. 470 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: Or you want to send feedback when a player's character 471 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: is hit by something in the game, you just buzz 472 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 1: that controller. Now, the duel Shock was not the first 473 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: controller to feature vibration because Nintendo actually released the rumble 474 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: pack for the IN sixty four controller in April of 475 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: that year. That was the same month that the non 476 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: vibrating version of the Sony controller launched in the United States. 477 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: Now the U s would get the upgraded controller in 478 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: n So why was there l A Well, it beats me. 479 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: I have no idea. I've seen a lot of guesses 480 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: as to why, but not a definitive answer. So the 481 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: guesses ranged between two general approaches. There are a few others, 482 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: but these are the two big ones. One is, well, 483 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: Sony needed to get a new controller out because third 484 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,159 Speaker 1: party manufacturers were coming up with their own controllers, and 485 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,880 Speaker 1: Sony wanted to make sure that they were the dominant 486 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: player in that space, but they didn't have the vibration 487 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: version ready when they were needing to get into the 488 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 1: market and compete against the third parties. A similar but 489 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: slightly different approach, the second of the two arguments goes 490 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: that the vibrating controllers were ready that Sony could have 491 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: gone with that model, but it would have meant that 492 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: the controllers would have been more expensive, and thus the 493 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: third party versions that were on the market would undercut Sony, 494 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: and so Sony would just waste money producing controllers no 495 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,959 Speaker 1: one was buying either way. The United States didn't get 496 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: the duel Shock vibrating controller until but once it did, 497 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: that controller would make an enormous difference, and Sony would 498 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: quietly discontinue the non vibrating dual analog version. And while 499 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: the duel Shock would set a standard for PS controllers, 500 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: it didn't necessarily mean every system would debut with a 501 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: vibrating controller at launch. More on that in future episodes. 502 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: So Sony announced the new console, the PlayStation two, in 503 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: nineteen nine, and they launched it in two thousand, but 504 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: the company continued to produce the original PlayStation, or technically 505 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: a redesign of it, called the PS one. It was 506 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: a little smaller than the original console, but otherwise had 507 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: the same features and capabilities as your standard PlayStation. In fact, 508 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:55,120 Speaker 1: Sony kept making the PS one consoles and publishing games 509 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: for the PlayStation one all the way up until two 510 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: thousand six. Now that means that the original PlayStation had 511 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: a lifespan of more than eleven years from the time 512 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: it launched in Japan to the time that Sony discontinued production, 513 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: which is pretty incredible. And it also set a precedent 514 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: for Sony that the company tried to replicate later, and 515 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: in two thousand eighteen, in a nod to the nostalgic 516 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: gamers out there, Sony released the PS Classic, which is 517 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: a console with twenty pre installed PlayStation one games on it. 518 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: It does not have an optical drive, so unlike the 519 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: original PlayStation consoles, this one can't accept disks. You're limited 520 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: to the games that have been hard coded and preloaded 521 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: into the system. While Sony would focus a lot of 522 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: attention on the PS two, the company continued to support 523 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: the original console and it's enormous installed base of gamers 524 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: for many years. But now it's time for us to 525 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: shift our story to the PlayStation two. Specifically, the PlayStation 526 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: two console would be one of the big players, in fact, 527 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: the biggest player in the sixth generation of video game consoles. 528 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: This was what some would call the eight bit era 529 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: of video game consoles. It's also the last time anyone 530 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: would bother describing consoles in as you know, having a 531 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 1: word size of a certain number of bits, because that 532 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: became less important. But this particular generation of consoles included 533 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: not just the PlayStation two, but also the Sega Dreamcast, 534 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: which launched a couple of years before the PlayStation two, 535 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: and to this day it's still one of my favorite 536 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: consoles of all time, but it pretty much fizzled in 537 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: the marketplace. It also includes the Nintendo GameCube in that generation, 538 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: which is one of my least favorite consoles I've ever owned, 539 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: and Microsoft's first foray into the world of video game consoles. 540 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: The original Xbox was also in the sixth generation. The 541 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: Dreamcast was the first one to hit shelves, and it 542 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: did so in Japan in just one year after Sony 543 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: introduced the dual shot controller and two full years before 544 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: the PlayStation two would arrive. So you would think, Sega, 545 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: you've got two full years to establish a gamer base, 546 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: a loyal customer base of gamers. You've got the headstart 547 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: on Sony. Surely you couldn't fail. You'd be wrong. Kudaragi 548 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: again headed up the design process for the sequel to 549 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: the hottest selling video game console up to that point, 550 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: and he was thinking about the PlayStation two pretty early on. 551 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: Essentially during the launch of PlayStation one. He had ideas 552 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: on how to prevent people from circumventing region locking and 553 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: copy of protection. He had ideas about how the system 554 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: should support more advanced features, and he had greater ambitions 555 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 1: as well. It was his hope to establish a type 556 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: of technology that would be transferable to other Sony products. So, 557 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,239 Speaker 1: in other words, he wasn't content in just making the 558 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: best selling game system in the world. He wanted to 559 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: establish a framework upon which many different Sony products could stand. 560 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: He wanted to make a sort of universal set of 561 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: blueprints for basic functionality. I like to think of it 562 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: as kind of the Apple approach with iOS, you know, 563 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: iOS powers, not just the iPhone, but also the iPad 564 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: and as well as some other Apple products. I think 565 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: that Kutaragi wanted to do the same thing and have 566 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: the PlayStation console line sort of serve as the flagship 567 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: for that. The PS two wouldn't quite reach that level 568 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: of ambition, but it would become the top selling home 569 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: console of all time, so I think that's a worthy 570 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: accolade all by itself. One thing the PS two had 571 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 1: that gamers really liked was backwards compatibility. So if you 572 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: had a PS two, you could play most PS one 573 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: games on it in addition to all the PS two titles. 574 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: And this was another big reason why Sony would continue 575 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: to support PS one development even after the law launch 576 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: of the PlayStation two, because new PS one games could 577 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: find a home either with gamers who had not yet 578 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: upgraded to the new console or two gamers who had 579 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 1: a PS two but they still like playing some of 580 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: this stuff that was coming out for the older console. 581 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: They didn't have to switch between consoles in the meantime, 582 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: right even if you had to play PlayStation one and 583 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,120 Speaker 1: a PlayStation two, but you just hook up the PlayStation 584 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: two to your television because it can play nearly all 585 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: the games of the PS one. Because there were a 586 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: handful of PS one titles that did not work on 587 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: the PS two, you know, like Mortal Kombat Trilogy or 588 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,320 Speaker 1: this was a really big one. Metal gear Solid didn't 589 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: work on some models of the PS two. That was 590 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,719 Speaker 1: a big blow. In addition, during the production span of 591 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 1: the PS two, Sony actually made lots of different versions 592 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: of the PlayStation two. A lot of them were indistinguishable externally, 593 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:55,640 Speaker 1: like you could put the two side by side and 594 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: they would look identical, but inside they'd be slightly different. 595 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: And some of the times those slight differences would mean 596 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 1: that certain games would no longer run on that PS 597 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: two certain PS one games. So the question about whether 598 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: or not you could play any particular PS one game 599 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 1: on a PS two depended on two things. Was it 600 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,320 Speaker 1: one of the titles that just wasn't supported by PS 601 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: two in general? And what model of PS two did 602 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,759 Speaker 1: you have, because it might end up being incompatible with 603 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: a specific PS one title. So it was a little complicated, 604 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:31,799 Speaker 1: but generally speaking, backwards compatibility was really popular and it 605 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: was a lauded feature, and it's one of those things 606 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: that when consoles don't support it, gamers complain because Sony 607 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:44,719 Speaker 1: kind of set this precedent, and gamers loved that. The 608 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,439 Speaker 1: PS two had a new CPU with an unusual name. 609 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:54,520 Speaker 1: Sony called it the Emotion Engine, and the CPU included 610 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,880 Speaker 1: a single core processor, two vp us those are vector 611 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: processing units for graphics, had a memory controller and an 612 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: imaging processing unit or an image processing unit I should say, 613 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 1: or an IPU in other words, and it also had 614 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 1: a direct memory access component or d m a H. 615 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:18,400 Speaker 1: The architecture design meant that a properly optimized game for 616 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: the PS two would have state of the art graphics. 617 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,120 Speaker 1: Not keep in mind we're talking about state of the 618 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: art circuit two thousand here, and that was pretty impressive. 619 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: The chip ran at nearly three hundred mega hurts, which 620 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,879 Speaker 1: is ultra slow by today's standards, but at the time 621 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 1: it was pretty speedy. It had thirty two megabytes of 622 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: RAM plus four megabytes of video memory, and unlike the 623 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 1: original PlayStation, which was white plastic, this one was black 624 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:49,240 Speaker 1: and it featured a dual shock to controller, which refined 625 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: the design of the previous generation's controller, and it became 626 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:56,440 Speaker 1: the real standard from that point forward. I have more 627 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: to say about the PlayStation two in just a moment, 628 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:09,600 Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break. The PS two 629 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,920 Speaker 1: had a memory card expansion slot, It could support forty 630 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: eight channels of audio, had to USB ports, It had 631 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: a FireWire port. Do you guys remember a FireWire? You 632 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,920 Speaker 1: could use that to hook up an an additional drive, 633 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 1: which was required for certain games. There was a Final 634 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: Fantasy game that required an additional component or else you 635 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,000 Speaker 1: just couldn't run it on a standard PS two. The 636 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: PS two also included support for DVD playback, and DVDs 637 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: had been developed between the time the PS one had 638 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: come out and the launch of the PS two, so 639 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,680 Speaker 1: that gave the PS two the capability to serve as 640 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: more than just a game console. It could act as 641 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 1: more of an entertainment center, which would be greatly expanded 642 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,160 Speaker 1: upon by future generations of the consoles. In fact, have 643 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: become a real point of focus for the Xbox line 644 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:02,600 Speaker 1: later that would your tap some gamers who I remember 645 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 1: a certain E three presentation where people were leaving an 646 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: Xbox UH stage event saying why didn't they talk about games? 647 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: It's a game system. But this was sort of the 648 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: beginning of that move to becoming more than a video 649 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,799 Speaker 1: game console. Now, while the PS two had the new 650 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: Emotion Engine CPU, it wasn't an enormous departure from the 651 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:31,160 Speaker 1: PS one's operation. Both processors are risk processors r I 652 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: s C. That stands for reduced instruction set computer, and 653 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,320 Speaker 1: this is where being a console can really pay off 654 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: from sort of an engineering perspective. So if you think 655 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,040 Speaker 1: about it a general purpose computer with a regular CPU, 656 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: it has to be able to do everything pretty well, 657 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,799 Speaker 1: and that includes running all sorts of different software, and 658 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 1: different software required different processes, So that means the processor 659 00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: itself has to be able to run a wide spectrum 660 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: of instructions, but consoles are limited in what they have 661 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: to do. They don't have to do everything, they just 662 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,279 Speaker 1: have to do a subset of things really well. And 663 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,759 Speaker 1: games can come in all sorts of varieties, but the 664 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: instructions all come from the same basic pool. So if 665 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:18,920 Speaker 1: you reduce the variety of instructions that you need to 666 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,000 Speaker 1: carry out, that means you narrow the scope of water 667 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 1: processor has to do, and you simplify things. You rule 668 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 1: out all the stuff that the processor is never going 669 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,840 Speaker 1: to have to handle, and then you optimize the processor 670 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,400 Speaker 1: to handle the stuff that matters a risk. Processor is 671 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:39,200 Speaker 1: capable of multitasking simple instructions. So the combination of running 672 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,520 Speaker 1: programs that consist of simpler tasks as well as the 673 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,360 Speaker 1: ability to multitask means that these processors are really efficient. 674 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:50,200 Speaker 1: That translates to us into speed. There's some other technical 675 00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:52,640 Speaker 1: stuff that we're going to get into, and this is 676 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,359 Speaker 1: where we get super nerdy. But don't worry, I'm going 677 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,560 Speaker 1: to explain some stuff that I think is is really cool. 678 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: It's also relevant p on the PlayStation. But um, this 679 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,359 Speaker 1: is why it gives me my opportunity to totally geek out. 680 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:10,200 Speaker 1: So the PS two has a floating point unit or FPU. 681 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,719 Speaker 1: What is that, Well, it's a special processor that handles 682 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: specific types of complicated mathematic equations. Those usually involve non 683 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,799 Speaker 1: integers numbers that are after a decimal point, and these 684 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: are called floating point operations because the decimal point can 685 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: move or or float depending on the outcome of the calculation. 686 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:37,640 Speaker 1: So the complexity of these numbers creates an enormous challenge 687 00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:40,279 Speaker 1: for the main processor. If it has to handle all 688 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 1: those calculations, it will get bogged down and other stuff 689 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 1: will slow down as a result. So to kind of 690 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,800 Speaker 1: take the pain away for the main processor, you build 691 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,600 Speaker 1: a specific process or a floating point unit designed to 692 00:40:54,680 --> 00:41:00,400 Speaker 1: handle those calculations. Now you've probably heard about flops in computing. 693 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:04,120 Speaker 1: Now I'm talking about a type of operation. I'm not 694 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: talking about flops like Microsoft Bob, though that was a 695 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,200 Speaker 1: heck of a flop. No flops in this case refer 696 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:14,280 Speaker 1: to the speed with which the FPU can process these calculations. 697 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:18,799 Speaker 1: It actually stands for floating point operations per second. A 698 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:22,360 Speaker 1: giga flop would be one billion of those. The PS 699 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: two's FPU is a six point two giga flop FPU, 700 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:31,320 Speaker 1: so it can perform six point two billion floating point 701 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:35,840 Speaker 1: operations in one second. The PS two has a component 702 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: called the Graphics Synthesizer, which is in charge of stuff 703 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,320 Speaker 1: that includes and I love these terms, guys, strip yourselves 704 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:49,040 Speaker 1: in besier surfacing, alpha channel, UH, perspective correction, MIP mapping. 705 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:51,359 Speaker 1: I swear I didn't make any of these up here. 706 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I'll prove it. We'll go through these. 707 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,319 Speaker 1: So let's start with Besier surfacing. That's a three D 708 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,880 Speaker 1: modeling process, and the whole point of the process and 709 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: it breaks down, how many polygons? How many simple shapes 710 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: do you need to create a three dimensional object within 711 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,520 Speaker 1: a game? Right? Think of something like I don't know 712 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: a car. Well, the more smooth you want that car, 713 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,960 Speaker 1: the more individual tiny little polygons you're going to need 714 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: to represent that car. And Besier servicing bases the number 715 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,280 Speaker 1: on the level of detail necessary to make the object 716 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:31,560 Speaker 1: appear to be smooth to the viewer, and that number 717 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,719 Speaker 1: can change depending upon perspective. The PS two only performs 718 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,919 Speaker 1: these calculations on besier surfaced objects that are in the game, 719 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 1: so not all objects are designated as besier surfaced objects, 720 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: and perspective correction makes the texture map re size at 721 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 1: the same rate as the object that has mapped that 722 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: the texture map appears on. Texture maps are images like 723 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:57,960 Speaker 1: and it's pretty much what it sounds like. Just think 724 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:00,560 Speaker 1: of a texture and then think of a peating that 725 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:04,239 Speaker 1: texture over and over and over across all the surfaces 726 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:06,000 Speaker 1: of an object in order to make it look like 727 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 1: it's made out of whatever that stuff is, like wood 728 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,480 Speaker 1: or stone or I don't know. Dog. For the PS 729 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:15,600 Speaker 1: two has that alpha channel I mentioned, what's that, Well, 730 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,640 Speaker 1: that's to add transparency effects to an object, and it's 731 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:23,160 Speaker 1: a special graphics mode that's used by digital video animation 732 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,240 Speaker 1: and video games. To make this happen, they use twenty 733 00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:32,120 Speaker 1: four bits to define the amounts of red, green, and blue. 734 00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:34,759 Speaker 1: Each of those get eight bits that are needed to 735 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:38,279 Speaker 1: create a specific color, and another eight bits are used 736 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,719 Speaker 1: to create a gray scale mask that acts as a 737 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: separate layer for representing levels of object transparency. The degree 738 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 1: of that transparency is completely determined by how dark the 739 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 1: gray in that alpha channel is. If you make an 740 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: area of that mask dark gray, you can make an 741 00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: object appear to be very transparent, so it can be 742 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 1: like a ghost. If you do light gray, you can 743 00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,560 Speaker 1: create other sorts of effects like water effects or fog effects. 744 00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,000 Speaker 1: What about mip mapping. This is the one that sounds 745 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: the most fake, right, It kind of sounds like the 746 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: noise that the those muppets make on Sesame Street. Mip mapping. 747 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:19,600 Speaker 1: Mip mapping that I lose you all guys, because it's 748 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:22,719 Speaker 1: it's great, it's great character anyway. It's a form of 749 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:27,040 Speaker 1: texture mapping in which different sizes of each texture map 750 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:32,000 Speaker 1: are made. Does that mean Okay? So imagine you've got 751 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: an image that represents a texture, right, it's a it's 752 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,520 Speaker 1: a picture of a cinder block very close up. So 753 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:41,759 Speaker 1: you've got that texture of a cinder block as a picture. Well, 754 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 1: with mip mapping, you have different sizes of that texture image. 755 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:50,440 Speaker 1: And it's so that when you get closer or further 756 00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:54,640 Speaker 1: away from a virtual object in a game, the texture 757 00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:57,960 Speaker 1: that you see will match the distance you're at, so 758 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,680 Speaker 1: it won't look weird like you won't have a close 759 00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:04,240 Speaker 1: up view of that cinder block texture when the cinder 760 00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:08,600 Speaker 1: block is really far away. But here's the problem. You 761 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,319 Speaker 1: can't make a texture map for every possible distance your 762 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:14,879 Speaker 1: character or your point of view will have from a 763 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,839 Speaker 1: virtual object. That's just way too much, right, So if 764 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,399 Speaker 1: we were thinking in terms of feet, which doesn't really 765 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,520 Speaker 1: apply in the virtual world, but just stick with me. 766 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,520 Speaker 1: Let's say that you have texture maps that are equivalent 767 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:30,440 Speaker 1: to being three feet away, six ft away, or twelve 768 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,560 Speaker 1: feet away from the same object, and if you're further 769 00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:35,640 Speaker 1: than twelve feet away, you don't see the texture because 770 00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,000 Speaker 1: you're not you're not close enough to get that detail. 771 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,759 Speaker 1: Your virtual character, let's say that they are nine feet 772 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,400 Speaker 1: away from this object, so they're in between two of 773 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,080 Speaker 1: those image sets, right, the six ft and the and 774 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:50,400 Speaker 1: the twelve feet. So what do you do well with 775 00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,520 Speaker 1: admit mapping. What it does is it takes the values 776 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:57,040 Speaker 1: for six ft and it takes the values of twelve feet, 777 00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:01,320 Speaker 1: runs a mathematic application in order to determine what size 778 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,520 Speaker 1: that texture map should be for nine feet, and then 779 00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:08,040 Speaker 1: displays it on the object. So that way, by having 780 00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:12,680 Speaker 1: a few benchmarks, you can use those benchmarks to estimate 781 00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:17,320 Speaker 1: the right size of that texture map for whatever virtual 782 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:20,279 Speaker 1: distance you are from that object. And it saves a 783 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,239 Speaker 1: lot of memory. You don't have to have, you know, 784 00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:27,120 Speaker 1: an infinite number of different texture maps in order to 785 00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:32,680 Speaker 1: represent objects. You know, realistically and it doesn't compromise too 786 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:35,760 Speaker 1: much on that realistic value, so that way things still 787 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,200 Speaker 1: look good in your game. It's a really clever way 788 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:42,239 Speaker 1: of fixing that problem. And the goal is always to 789 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 1: use the smallest texture map possible given the distance that 790 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,160 Speaker 1: the object is from the viewer, because the smaller the 791 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: texture map, the lower the processing load. So you have 792 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,440 Speaker 1: to have this balance between the size of the texture 793 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:59,680 Speaker 1: map versus the virtual distance of your character to the 794 00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:02,480 Speaker 1: ob checked and also the effect you want to have 795 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:06,320 Speaker 1: because if you're on a close object, small texture maps 796 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:08,680 Speaker 1: create sort of a grainy surface that looks really bad, 797 00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:11,960 Speaker 1: so you want to use larger texture maps when you're close. 798 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:13,719 Speaker 1: So there's a lot of things you have to take 799 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:17,239 Speaker 1: into consideration, and clearly that needs to happen all on 800 00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:21,200 Speaker 1: an automated side in the background. Now, one day we're 801 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:23,239 Speaker 1: gon we're done with the super technical stuff, by the way, 802 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,120 Speaker 1: so wake up, we're gonna get back into the story here. 803 00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: One day after launching the PS two in Japan, Sony 804 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:35,640 Speaker 1: sold nearly one million units. Now remember the PlayStation one 805 00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:38,240 Speaker 1: sold three hundred thousand units in the first thirty days. 806 00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,080 Speaker 1: The PS two sold nine hundred eighty thousand units one 807 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: day after launch in Japan. That's incredible. The new system 808 00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: costs the same as a DVD player around that time. 809 00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:55,680 Speaker 1: It actually costs around two dars, which was the same 810 00:47:55,719 --> 00:48:00,400 Speaker 1: price tag as the original PlayStation back in one launched 811 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:04,920 Speaker 1: at two. However, when we adjust for inflation, there is 812 00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:07,279 Speaker 1: a difference. If we had just for inflation, it would 813 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:11,560 Speaker 1: mean that a brand new PS two bought with today's dollars, 814 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,680 Speaker 1: if it were the price the same as it was 815 00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:17,360 Speaker 1: back in two thousand, would cost about four d fifty bucks. Today, 816 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:20,880 Speaker 1: a PS one would be more expensive because it came out, 817 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,719 Speaker 1: So if we had just for inflation, that's about five 818 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:29,279 Speaker 1: hundred dollars. Anyway, Since most DVD players cost around three 819 00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:32,600 Speaker 1: hundred dollars or more in two thousand because they were 820 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:36,759 Speaker 1: relatively new technology, it meant that some consumers opted for 821 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:40,719 Speaker 1: a PS two over a standard DVD player because if 822 00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:43,080 Speaker 1: they both cost the same amount, why would you not 823 00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,160 Speaker 1: go and buy the one that also lets you play 824 00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:48,200 Speaker 1: games on it, go and get a DVD player that 825 00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:51,920 Speaker 1: can also play games. It makes sense. Sony had really 826 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:55,720 Speaker 1: positioned the PS two well, and it paid off big time. 827 00:48:56,520 --> 00:49:01,400 Speaker 1: Sales quickly outpaced Sega's Dreamcast system, which again faded away 828 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:04,800 Speaker 1: in two thousand one, which meant that for about half 829 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 1: a year, Sony was the only company that had a 830 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:12,840 Speaker 1: sixth generation console on the market. The Dreamcast was gone, 831 00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:16,239 Speaker 1: and the GameCube and the original Xbox wouldn't come around 832 00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:19,680 Speaker 1: until late two thousand one, So for half of two 833 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:24,320 Speaker 1: thousand one, the PlayStation two was the only game console 834 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:28,600 Speaker 1: in town. Nintendo and Microsoft would be left fighting over 835 00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:32,960 Speaker 1: second place. Microsoft would squeak out a win over Nintendo, 836 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:36,320 Speaker 1: but even if you added the total number of sales 837 00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:39,160 Speaker 1: of the Xbox to the total number of sales of 838 00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:42,480 Speaker 1: the game Cube, you would just hit maybe a third 839 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,800 Speaker 1: of the total sales of the PS two. The PS 840 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: two ultimately sold one hundred fifty five million units. It 841 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,439 Speaker 1: is the best selling home video game console so far. 842 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:58,080 Speaker 1: Sony was able to get really aggressive with its pricing 843 00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:01,160 Speaker 1: as well, because in two thousand two they dropped the 844 00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:05,440 Speaker 1: price tag from two dollars to one dollars in an 845 00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:09,000 Speaker 1: effort to compete more with the GameCube and to undercut 846 00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:14,600 Speaker 1: the Xbox. Now, like the PS one, Sony would continue 847 00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:17,040 Speaker 1: to support the PlayStation two for a really long time. 848 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:20,680 Speaker 1: It launched in two thousand, and Sony would halt production 849 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:24,200 Speaker 1: in late two thousand twelve early two thousand thirteen, which 850 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:27,239 Speaker 1: is pretty phenomenal considering that the PS three came out 851 00:50:27,239 --> 00:50:31,000 Speaker 1: in two thousand six. For like seven years, while the 852 00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:33,640 Speaker 1: PS three was out, Sony was still making PS two's 853 00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:38,520 Speaker 1: and still publishing PS two games. That's amazing. That would 854 00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:41,480 Speaker 1: make the PS two the last of the major sixth 855 00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:45,440 Speaker 1: generation consoles to go out of production. The Dreamcast was 856 00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:48,000 Speaker 1: first made rest in peace because it died in two 857 00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:52,040 Speaker 1: thousand one. The game Cube followed, but lasted until two 858 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,879 Speaker 1: thousand seven. The original Xbox stayed in production until two 859 00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:59,160 Speaker 1: thousand nine, and everyone else had moved on when Sony 860 00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:04,000 Speaker 1: was still supporting PS two. Of course, it was simultaneously producing, promoting, 861 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:06,839 Speaker 1: and selling the PS three. But that's a console we're 862 00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:09,279 Speaker 1: going to talk about in our next episode, and that 863 00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:14,240 Speaker 1: one's really interesting for both good and bad reasons. Something 864 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,680 Speaker 1: else will talk more about in our next episode will 865 00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:21,239 Speaker 1: be online capabilities. So when Sony first launched the PS two, 866 00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:24,839 Speaker 1: that console didn't really have any way to connect online, 867 00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:28,160 Speaker 1: which is interesting because Sega's Dreamcast did have ports that 868 00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:30,319 Speaker 1: lets you connect to the Internet if you wanted to, 869 00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:33,680 Speaker 1: but the PS two didn't have that. It wouldn't be 870 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:38,280 Speaker 1: until Microsoft unveiled the Xbox Live Online feature that Sony 871 00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:41,640 Speaker 1: got really serious about online gaming, and that's when the 872 00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:45,000 Speaker 1: company released an adapter that players could connect to a 873 00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:48,839 Speaker 1: PS two in order to give it online capabilities. Kutaragi 874 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:51,480 Speaker 1: would take this into account when he was working on 875 00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:54,080 Speaker 1: the design for the PS three, which technically he had 876 00:51:54,120 --> 00:51:56,200 Speaker 1: been doing since the launch of the PS two or 877 00:51:56,200 --> 00:52:00,000 Speaker 1: maybe even before that. Like the PS one, Sony would 878 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:03,200 Speaker 1: release redesigns of the PS two, some with smaller and 879 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:07,600 Speaker 1: sleeker form factors. The company also saw some problems meeting demands, 880 00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:09,720 Speaker 1: and not all of those were the fault of Sony's 881 00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:14,400 Speaker 1: manufacturing processes. For example, in the Suez Canal, there was 882 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:17,919 Speaker 1: a Russian oil tanker that got stuck and it ended 883 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,040 Speaker 1: up blocking the passage of a Chinese freight ship that 884 00:52:22,239 --> 00:52:24,960 Speaker 1: was carrying a vital supply of PS two units that 885 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:28,279 Speaker 1: were bound for Britain. There are many British gamers who 886 00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:30,600 Speaker 1: spent many a night wondering when the heck they'd be 887 00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:33,399 Speaker 1: able to get their little mits on a PS two. Well, 888 00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:37,439 Speaker 1: that wraps up this episode about the PlayStation two I'll 889 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:39,200 Speaker 1: have a little bit more to say about the PS 890 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:41,520 Speaker 1: two in our next episode, and then we'll move on 891 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:45,759 Speaker 1: to talk about the PlayStation three and it's innovative and 892 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:52,319 Speaker 1: somewhat difficult CPU system. Uh that had a lot of 893 00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:55,480 Speaker 1: promise and also ended up causing a lot of headaches. 894 00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:57,920 Speaker 1: But I'll explain more about that in our next episode. 895 00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:00,680 Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for a few your episodes 896 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:02,920 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, get in touch with me. You can 897 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,880 Speaker 1: let me know on Twitter or Facebook. We use the 898 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:09,359 Speaker 1: handle tex stuff h s W at both and I'll 899 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:18,000 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an 900 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:21,720 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 901 00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:25,200 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 902 00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:26,840 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.