All of us nineties kids have probably played Super Mario or Tetris back when the video game consoles were still producing 8 to 16 bit graphics and honestly those games were all that and a bag of chips but we all know what made the 90’s such a memorable time for the video game industry. Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania all these amazing games came out during the 90’s and all of them have since become gigantic franchises in their own right but none of them would have ever been made if not for the emergence of the PlayStation. 
In the early 90’s an up and coming brand of technology entertainment known as SONY was looking to compete with video game giants Nintendo and Sega by creating the PlayStation, a new console with features not seen in other consoles at the time, Sony was not the first to use the CD as the medium for their games to be played but they were the ones who seemed to make it all work. The use of the CD was revolutionary because at the time the medium for playing games was a cartridge, the limited size of content available to a cartridge was not enough for other developers which is why the use of the CD became so popular. Not only did they have more memory to work with they were also cheaper which is why the Playstation is hailed as the cartridge killer. They also came up with the memory card, back in the day the only way to save your game was to input a password but with the memory card all that hassle was thrown away. These improvements were so off the heasy, most kids had to pick their jaws up from the floor after seeing the PlayStation in action and I must admit that I was one of those kids. Because of this not only did Sony compete with Nintendo and Sega but they completely blew them out of the water by being the number 1 console of the 90’s.
The Playstation would sit atop the throne of video game consoles for years to come producing gigantic video game hits such as Xenogears, Resident Evil and Tekken which to this day are still considered to be ground breaking and used as the blue print for most games we see today. Sony’s number one machine would continue to sell until the coming of the new millennia wherein the Playstation was dethroned by its successor the aptly named Playstation 2, better than the playstation in every way but similar in the sense that just like the original would set the bar for its industry by being the gaming console with the most number of units sold and still has a record that stands up to this day.
Today, Sony has brought out its 3rd generation console once again a numbered console named the Playstation 3 which has countless performance capabilities that are top notch with some not even being game related such as watching DVDs or surfing the internet. Sony still continues to expand to this day and is continuing to be successful with their Playstation brand.
Though times have changed and video games look even better today, we can’t really forget how awesome the 90’s were because if you were like me then a little gray box gave you enough fun to last you a life time and the cool cats of today wouldn’t be enjoying their 3rd generation consoles if it wasn’t for the Playstation one and all it did for gamingkind.
Catch you all on the flipside,
Victor Lopez
Image Sources:
*Untitled photo of Sony Playstation 1. Retrieved July 2, 2011,
From http://www.hifigeek.com/2006/07/23/playstation-1/
*Untitled photo of Sony Playstation 3. Retrieved July 2,2011,
From http://www.gamechy.com/2011/04/16/playstation-3-shipments-reach-50-million/
*Untitled photo of Sony Playstation 2. Retrieved July 2,2011
From http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/sony-playstation-2/4505-10109_7-30012264.html
*Untitled photo of sony logo. Retrieved July 2,2011
From http://www.afterdawn.com/news/index.cfm/2004/05/
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