I'm gonna start this blog strong with a classic tale! The story of Nintendo, and the biggest mistake they ever made since they became a video game company. I'm not talking about a bad game like Hey, Pikmin! or even a failed console like the Virtual Boy. No. I'm talking about how Nintendo once goofed so bad, it led to the creation of Nintendo's biggest rival ever since Sega dropped from the console race.
The Playstation.
Those of you unfamiliar with this story may be confused. "How did Nintendo messing up cause the creation of a totally different console?" Well! Sit down and let little Maddie tell you a tale!
Our story begins with an engineer in Sony by the name of Ken Kutaragi. After seeing his daughter playing games on the Famicom (better out of Japan as the NES), he found himself with an interest in video games. And as those with a new interest do, he began to explore a bit! This exploration leading him to develop an audio chip later named the Sony SPC 700 for Nintendo's then in-development Super Famicom (or SNES outside of Japan) in secret. Eventually, higher-ups found out and their disinterest in the gaming industry at the time led them to be not exactly thrilled with Kutaragi's project. However! Because of the intervention of executive Norio Ohga, Kutaragi got to keep his job and finish development on the chip.
This led to good relations between Nintendo and Sony, which in turn led to them partnering on a whole add-on for the Super Famicom! Basically, Nintendo got a feeling that CDs were the future and cartridges were old-hat (why they later released the Nintendo 64, a cartridge-based console during a generation based entirely around CDs, I'll never know. But that's a story for another day). So, they turned to their ol' pal Ken Kutaragi and the rest of the Sony gang to help them out. Eventually, this led to the Super NES CD-ROM System (or SNES-CD), a CD-based add-on for the SNES that allowed it to play CD games along with cartridges. If you know the Sega CD from the same generation, you get the idea.
Yep! At the very, very last second, Nintendo suddenly pulled the plug on the whole thing, ran off to Phillips for a CD-based add-on, and the SNES-CD and the Nintendo PlayStation were left on the shelves, never to be seen again...
That would be the end of it, but... remember how I mentioned Phillips that bit ago? Well, that add-on didn't really work out either and, like Sony, they decided to make a console of their own.
EDIT: As a commenter pointed out, I goofed. The reason Nintendo pulled the plug at all is because Sony required licensing fees for developing for the thing. They didn't like this, and the add-on was no more.
The Playstation.
Those of you unfamiliar with this story may be confused. "How did Nintendo messing up cause the creation of a totally different console?" Well! Sit down and let little Maddie tell you a tale!
Our story begins with an engineer in Sony by the name of Ken Kutaragi. After seeing his daughter playing games on the Famicom (better out of Japan as the NES), he found himself with an interest in video games. And as those with a new interest do, he began to explore a bit! This exploration leading him to develop an audio chip later named the Sony SPC 700 for Nintendo's then in-development Super Famicom (or SNES outside of Japan) in secret. Eventually, higher-ups found out and their disinterest in the gaming industry at the time led them to be not exactly thrilled with Kutaragi's project. However! Because of the intervention of executive Norio Ohga, Kutaragi got to keep his job and finish development on the chip.
This led to good relations between Nintendo and Sony, which in turn led to them partnering on a whole add-on for the Super Famicom! Basically, Nintendo got a feeling that CDs were the future and cartridges were old-hat (why they later released the Nintendo 64, a cartridge-based console during a generation based entirely around CDs, I'll never know. But that's a story for another day). So, they turned to their ol' pal Ken Kutaragi and the rest of the Sony gang to help them out. Eventually, this led to the Super NES CD-ROM System (or SNES-CD), a CD-based add-on for the SNES that allowed it to play CD games along with cartridges. If you know the Sega CD from the same generation, you get the idea.
Also during this time, Sony got permission to make their own console that essentially combined the SNES and SNES-CD into one need little package. This one had a name some may recognize. Formally, it was known as the Nintendo PlayStation.
So, why isn't Nintendo hailed as the first group to make a CD console, and why is Sony on their own, making their own highly successful products?
Nintendo pulled out.
Needless to say, Sony didn't really appreciate this. In fact, they were pissed! After that, Sony wanted to drop involvement from the gaming industry for good, but Kutaragi managed to convince the others that they could use the technology for their own console as a way of revenge. So they did, and now we have the console that changed the whole generation!
Sony went on to become massively successful with the Playstation line, and Nintendo presumably realized how badly they goofed.
that one didn't turn out so good
EDIT: As a commenter pointed out, I goofed. The reason Nintendo pulled the plug at all is because Sony required licensing fees for developing for the thing. They didn't like this, and the add-on was no more.
Wait, wasn't the reason Nintendo pulled out due to the licensing agreement for the games produced for the SNES CD?
ReplyDeleteIt was! Good catch. Guess that detail slipped my noggin.
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