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139-520: Ken Kutaragi ( 久夛良木 健 , Kutaragi Ken , born 2 August 1950) is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman. He is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the video game division of Sony Group Corporation , and current president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. He is known as "The Father of the PlayStation ", as he oversaw the development of the original console and its successors and spinoffs, including

278-766: A Chartered Engineer . Engineering technology graduates with can earn an MS degree in engineering technology, engineering, engineering management, construction management, or a National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited Master of Architecture degree. These degrees are also offered online or through distance-learning programs at various universities, both nationally and internationally, which allows individuals to continue working full-time while earning an advanced degree. Engineering technologists are more likely to work in testing, fabrication/construction or fieldwork, while engineers generally focus more on conceptual design and product development, with considerable overlap (e.g., testing and fabrication are often integral to

417-478: A Famicom and realized the potential that existed within video games. At that particular time, Sony's executives had no interest in video games. Thus, when Nintendo expressed the need for a sound chip for its upcoming new 16-bit system, Kutaragi accepted the offer. Working in secret, he designed the chip, the SPC700 . When they found out, Sony's executives were furious. Only with Sony CEO Norio Ohga 's approval

556-913: A debugger . SN Systems produced development kits for future PlayStation systems, including the PlayStation 2 and was bought out by Sony in 2005. Sony strived to make game production as streamlined and inclusive as possible, in contrast to the relatively isolated approach of Sega and Nintendo. Phil Harrison , representative director of SCEE, believed that Sony's emphasis on developer assistance reduced most time-consuming aspects of development. As well as providing programming libraries , SCE headquarters in London, California, and Tokyo housed technical support teams that could work closely with third-party developers if needed. Sony did not favor its own over non-Sony products, unlike Nintendo; Peter Molyneux of Bullfrog Productions admired Sony's open-handed approach to software developers and lauded their decision to use PCs as

695-763: A BS degree in engineering at schools with programs accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), about two-thirds of the states accept BS degrees in engineering technology accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) of the ABET, in order to become licensed as professional engineers . States have different requirements as to

834-604: A CD-ROM-based machine called the Sega Multimedia Entertainment System, but their board of directors in Tokyo vetoed the idea when American CEO Tom Kalinske presented them the proposal. Kalinske recalled them saying: "That's a stupid idea, Sony doesn't know how to make hardware. They don't know how to make software either. Why would we want to do this?" Sony halted their research, but decided to develop what it had developed with Nintendo and Sega into

973-696: A Sega console. Bleem! were subsequently forced to shut down in November 2001. Sony was aware that using CDs for game distribution could have left games vulnerable to piracy , due to the growing popularity of CD-R and optical disc drives with burning capability. To preclude illegal copying, a proprietary process for PlayStation disc manufacturing was developed that, in conjunction with an augmented optical drive in Tiger H/E assembly, prevented burned copies of games from booting on an unmodified console. Specifically, all genuine PlayStation discs were printed with

1112-465: A child rather than playing with them. This curiosity carried from childhood, leading him as a teenager to learn the intricacies of electronics. Eventually, in fact, his love of electronics led to him enrolling in University of Electro-Communications , where he acquired an Electronics degree in the 1970s. Immediately after graduation, Kutaragi began working for Sony in their digital research labs in

1251-671: A console based on the SNES. Despite the tumultuous events at the 1991 CES, negotiations between Nintendo and Sony were still ongoing. A deal was proposed: the Play Station would still have a port for SNES games, on the condition that it would still use Kutaragi's audio chip and that Nintendo would own the rights and receive the bulk of the profits. Roughly two hundred prototype machines were created, and some software entered development. Many within Sony were still opposed to their involvement in

1390-481: A conventional D-pad ), a pair of shoulder buttons on both sides, Start and Select buttons in the centre, and four face buttons consisting of simple geometric shapes: a green triangle, red circle, blue cross, and a pink square ( [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] ). Rather than depicting traditionally used letters or numbers onto its buttons, the PlayStation controller established

1529-452: A conventional disc drive; however, the disc drive could not detect the wobble frequency (therefore duplicating the discs omitting it), since the laser pickup system of any optical disc drive would interpret this wobble as an oscillation of the disc surface and compensate for it in the reading process. As the disc authenticity was only verified during booting , this copy protection system could be circumvented by swapping any genuine disc with

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1668-850: A course load of 2400–3000 hours, usually completed within two years, full-time, or 3.5–4 years, part-time, at vocational colleges. As of 31 January 2012, state-certified engineers, state-certified business managers and state-certified designers are at level 6-bachelor in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), equivalent to a bachelor's degree. As such, the engineering technologist constitutes an advanced entry qualification for German universities and in principle permits entry into any undergraduate academic-degree program. The qualifications are listed in EU Directives as recognised, regulated professions in Germany and

1807-413: A data-replay system. Nintendo cartridges were expensive to manufacture, and the company controlled all production, prioritizing its own games, while inexpensive compact disc manufacturing occurred at dozens of locations around the world. The PlayStation's architecture and interconnectability with PCs was beneficial to many software developers. The use of the programming language C proved useful during

1946-540: A development platform, remarking that "[it was] like being released from jail in terms of the freedom you have". Another strategy that helped attract software developers was the PlayStation's use of the CD-ROM format instead of traditional cartridges . In contrast to other disc-reading consoles such as the 3DO, the PlayStation could quickly generate and synthesise data from the CD since it was an image-generation system, rather than

2085-523: A device called the " Play Station ". Eventually, the partnership between Sony and Nintendo faltered due to licensing disagreements, but Kutaragi and Sony continued to develop their own console. He wanted to utilize Sony's access to the latest technology in creating the most powerful home console available, unlike Nintendo, which used primitive, outdated technology to create their consoles. He also noticed that Nintendo focused mainly on children, so he wanted Sony's console to target older adult gamers, as he felt it

2224-580: A lack of usage. The PlayStation uses a proprietary video compression unit, MDEC, which is integrated into the CPU and allows for the presentation of full motion video at a higher quality than other consoles of its generation. Unusual for the time, the PlayStation lacks a dedicated 2D graphics processor; 2D elements are instead calculated as polygons by the Geometry Transfer Engine (GTE) so that they can be processed and displayed on screen by

2363-577: A maximum colour depth of 16.7 million true colours with 32 levels of transparency and unlimited colour look-up tables . The PlayStation can output composite , S-Video or RGB video signals through its AV Multi connector (with older models also having RCA connectors for composite), displaying resolutions from 256×224 to 640×480 pixels . Different games can use different resolutions. Earlier models also had proprietary parallel and serial ports that could be used to connect accessories or multiple consoles together; these were later removed due to

2502-451: A membership organization that issues Certified Member certifications to engineering technicians and engineering technologists. Professional engineers are issued Registered Member certification. The United Kingdom has a decades-long tradition of producing engineering technologists via the apprenticeship system. UK engineering technologists have always been designated as "engineers", which in the UK

2641-572: A music visualisation function called SoundScope. This function, as well as a memory card manager, is accessed by starting the console without either inserting a game or closing the CD tray, thereby accessing a graphical user interface (GUI) for the PlayStation BIOS. The GUI for the PS One and PlayStation differ depending on the firmware version: the original PlayStation GUI had a dark blue background with rainbow graffiti used as buttons, while

2780-686: A mutual recognition agreement called the Sydney Accord , which represents an understanding that the academic credentials of engineering technologists will be recognized in all signatory states. The recognition given engineering technologists under the Sydney Accord can be compared to the Washington Accord for engineers and the Dublin Accord for engineering technicians . The Engineering Technologist Mobility Forum (ETMF)

2919-402: A new CD format named the "Super Disc", which Sony would design. Under the agreement, Sony would retain sole international rights to every Super Disc game, giving them a large degree of control despite Nintendo's leading position in the video game market. Furthermore, Sony would also be the sole benefactor of licensing related to music and film software that it had been aggressively pursuing as

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3058-418: A number of alternative ways to achieve IEng status for those that do not have the necessary qualifications for applicants, but who can clearly show they have achieved the same level as those with qualifications, including: The engineering technologist (state-certified technician; German : Staatlich geprüfter Techniker ) are vocational (non-academic) qualifications at the tertiary level in Germany. The degree

3197-610: A press conference on May 10, 1994, although the price and release dates had not been disclosed yet. Sony released the PlayStation in Japan on 3 December 1994, a week after the release of the Sega Saturn , at a price of ¥ 39,800 . Sales in Japan began with a "stunning" success with long queues in shops. Ohga later recalled that he realized how important PlayStation had become for Sony when friends and relatives begged for consoles for their children. PlayStation sold 100,000 units on

3336-488: A proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been secretly working on which played games with immersive 3D graphics. Kutaragi was confident that his LSI chip could accommodate one million logic gates , which exceeded the capabilities of Sony's semiconductor division at the time. Despite gaining Ohga's enthusiasm, there remained opposition from a majority present at the meeting. Older Sony executives also opposed it, who saw Nintendo and Sega as "toy" manufacturers. The opposers felt

3475-528: A secondary application. The Play Station was to be announced at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas . However, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was wary of Sony's increasing leverage at this point and deemed the original 1988 contract unacceptable upon realising it essentially handed Sony control over all games written on the SNES CD-ROM format. Although Nintendo was dominant in

3614-422: A series of negotiations, Sony acquired initial support from Namco , Konami , and Williams Entertainment , as well as 250 other development teams in Japan alone. Namco in particular was interested in developing for PlayStation since Namco rivalled Sega in the arcade market. Attaining these companies secured influential games such as Ridge Racer (1993) and Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Ridge Racer being one of

3753-406: A small printing plant in the city. As Kutaragi grew into childhood, they actively encouraged the young boy to explore his mechanical abilities in the plant, and he worked after school there. Aside from his duties in his parents' factory, Kutaragi was a studious, high-level student; he was often described as a "straight-A student." Kutaragi always had the desire to "tinker", often taking apart toys as

3892-487: A small section of deliberate irregular data, which the PlayStation's optical pick-up was capable of detecting and decoding . Consoles would not boot game discs without a specific wobble frequency contained in the data of the disc pregap sector (the same system was also used to encode discs' regional lock-outs ). This signal was within Red Book CD tolerances, so PlayStation discs' actual content could still be read by

4031-404: A smaller, redesigned version of the original PlayStation. It was the highest-selling console through the end of the year, outselling all other consoles—including the PlayStation 2. In 2002, Sony released a 5-inch (130 mm) LCD screen add-on for the PS One, referred to as the "Combo pack". It also included a car cigarette lighter adaptor adding an extra layer of portability. Production of

4170-561: A subsidiary of the main Sony group, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project. The involvement of SMEJ proved crucial to the PlayStation's early development as the process of manufacturing games on CD-ROM format was similar to that used for audio CDs, with which Sony's music division had considerable experience. While at SMEJ, Kutaragi worked with Epic/Sony Records founder Shigeo Maruyama and Akira Sato; both later became vice presidents of

4309-477: A trademark which would be incorporated heavily into the PlayStation brand. Teiyu Goto, the designer of the original PlayStation controller, said that the circle and cross represent "yes" and "no", respectively (though this layout is reversed in Western versions); the triangle symbolises a point of view and the square is equated to a sheet of paper to be used to access menus. The European and North American models of

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4448-528: Is an international forum held by signatories of the Sydney Accord to explore mutual recognition for experienced engineering technologists and to remove artificial barriers to the free movement and practice of engineering technologists amongst their countries. ETMF can be compared to the Engineers Mobility Forum (EMF) for engineers. Graduates acquiring an associate degree, or lower, typically find careers as engineering technicians. According to

4587-719: Is currently recognized by CHEA: The Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering (ATMAE). CHEA recognizes ATMAE for accrediting associate, baccalaureate, and master's degree programs in technology, applied technology, engineering technology, and technology-related disciplines delivered by national or regional accredited institutions in the United States. As of March 2019, ABET withdrew from CHEA recognition The National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET) awards certification at two levels, depending on work experience:

4726-684: Is governed by the framework agreement of trade and technical schools (resolution of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the states in the Federal Republic of Germany of 7 November 2002 in its respective applicable version) and is recognised by all states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is awarded after passing state examinations at state or state-recognised technical school or academies ( German : Fachschule/Fachakademie ). Through

4865-445: Is primarily involved with the management, operation, and maintenance of computer systems and networks, along with an application of technology in diverse fields such as architecture , engineering, graphic design , telecommunications , computer science , and network security . An engineering technologist is also expected to have had some coursework in ethics . In 2001, Professional organizations from different countries have signed

5004-534: Is protected by civil law. Prior to the title "incorporated engineer", UK technologists were known as "technician engineers" a designation introduced in the 1960s. In the United Kingdom, an incorporated engineer is accepted as a "professional engineer", registered by the EngC , although the term "professional engineer" has no legal meaning in the UK and there are no restrictions on the practice. In fact, anyone in

5143-415: Is used to describe the entire range of skilled workers and professionals, from tradespeople through to the highly educated Chartered Engineer . In fact up until the 1960s professional engineers in the UK were often referred to as "Technologists" to distinguish them from scientists, technicians, and craftsmen. The modern term for an engineering technologist is "incorporated engineer" (IEng), although since 2000

5282-580: The Atari Jaguar and 3DO suffered low sales due to a lack of developer support, prompting Sony to redouble their efforts in gaining the endorsement of arcade-savvy developers. A team from Epic Sony visited more than a hundred companies throughout Japan in May ;1993 in hopes of attracting game creators with the PlayStation's technological appeal. Sony found that many disliked Nintendo's practices, such as favoring its own games over others. Through

5421-684: The Dual Analog Controller , was revealed to the public in a small glass booth at the 1996 PlayStation Expo in Japan, and released in April 1997 to coincide with the Japanese releases of analogue-capable games Tobal 2 and Bushido Blade . In addition to the two analogue sticks (which also introduced two new buttons mapped to clicking in the analogue sticks), the Dual Analog controller features an "Analog" button and LED beneath

5560-532: The PS1/PS one or its codename PSX ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment . It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994 followed by North America on 9 September 1995, Europe on 29 September 1995, and other regions following thereafter. As a fifth-generation console , the PlayStation primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn . Sony began developing

5699-738: The PlayStation 2 , PlayStation Portable , and the PlayStation 3 . He departed Sony in 2007, a year after the PlayStation 3 was released. He had also designed the sound processor for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . With Sony, he designed the VLSI chip which works in conjunction with the PS1's RISC CPU to handle the graphics rendering. Kutaragi was born in Tokyo , Japan. His parents, although not wealthy by Japanese standards, still managed to own their own business,

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5838-509: The PlayStation 2 , which Kutaragi announced would feature a graphics processor designed to push more raw polygons than any console in history, effectively rivalling most supercomputers. The PlayStation continued to sell strongly at the turn of the new millennium: in June 2000, Sony released the PSOne, a smaller, redesigned variant which went on to outsell all other consoles in that year, including

5977-727: The PocketStation is a memory card peripheral which acts as a miniature personal digital assistant . The device features a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD), infrared communication capability, a real-time clock, built-in flash memory, and sound capability. Sharing similarities with the Dreamcast's VMU peripheral, the PocketStation was typically distributed with certain PlayStation games, enhancing them with added features. The PocketStation proved popular in Japan, selling over five million units. Sony planned to release

6116-464: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) through a demonstration of the processor's capabilities. His willingness to work with Nintendo derived from both his admiration of the Famicom and conviction in video game consoles becoming the main home-use entertainment systems. Although Kutaragi was nearly fired because he worked with Nintendo without Sony's knowledge, president Norio Ohga recognised

6255-695: The Vectrex ; instead of relying on binary eight-way switches, the controller detects minute angular changes through the entire range of motion. The stick also features a thumb-operated digital hat switch on the right joystick, corresponding to the traditional D-pad, and used for instances when simple digital movements were necessary. The Analog Joystick sold poorly in Japan due to its high cost and cumbersome size. The increasing popularity of 3D games prompted Sony to add analogue sticks to its controller design to give users more freedom over their movements in virtual 3D environments. The first official analogue controller,

6394-542: The following generation , at one point holding a 65% market share with 100 million units shipped. Kutaragi was recognized by many financial and technological publications for this success, most notably when he was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2004 in TIME magazine and the " Gutenberg of Video Games". In 1997 Kutaragi was appointed CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, and accordingly moved to California . Since 1997, Kutaragi had been favoured to become

6533-405: The "Start" and "Select" buttons which toggles analogue functionality on or off. The controller also features rumble support , though Sony decided that haptic feedback would be removed from all overseas iterations before the United States release. A Sony spokesman stated that the feature was removed for "manufacturing reasons", although rumours circulated that Nintendo had attempted to legally block

6672-599: The "cop2" 3D and matrix math coprocessor on the same die to provide the necessary speed to render complex 3D graphics. The role of the separate GPU chip is to draw 2D polygons and apply shading and textures to them: the rasterisation stage of the graphics pipeline. Sony's custom 16- bit sound chip supports ADPCM sources with up to 24 sound channels and offers a sampling rate of up to 44.1  kHz and MIDI sequencing. It features 2 MB of main RAM , with an additional 1 MB being allocated to video memory . The PlayStation has

6811-458: The 1950s and 1960s, some post-secondary institutions in the U.S. and Canada began offering degrees in engineering technology, focusing on applied study rather than the more theoretical studies required for engineering degrees. The focus on applied study addressed a need within the scientific, manufacturing, and engineering communities, as well as other industries, for professionals with hands-on and applications-based engineering knowledge. Depending on

6950-569: The 3.5 megabyte restriction. Kutaragi said that while it would have been easy to double the amount of RAM for the PlayStation, the development team refrained from doing so to keep the retail cost down. Kutaragi saw the biggest challenge in developing the system to be balancing the conflicting goals of high performance, low cost, and being easy to program for, and felt he and his team were successful in this regard. Its technical specifications were finalised in 1993 and its design during 1994. The PlayStation name and its final design were confirmed during

7089-628: The Associate Engineering Technologist (AT) and the Certified Engineering Technologist (CT). ATMAE awards two levels of certification in technology management: Certified Technology Manager (CTM) and Certified Senior Technology Manager (CSTM). ATMAE also awards two levels of certification of manufacturing specialist: Certified Manufacturing Specialist (CMS) and Certified Senior Manufacturing Specialist (CSMS). In 2020, ATMAE announced offering

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7228-581: The Certified Controls Engineer (CCE) and Certified Senior Controls Engineer (CSCE) professional certifications. While the CTM, CMS, and CCE certifications are obtained through examination, the CSTM, CSMS and CSCE require industry experience and continuous improvement via the obtainment of professional development units (PDUs). The American Society of Certified Engineering Technicians (ASCET) is

7367-545: The EU. Annexes C and D were added to Council Directive 92/51/EEC as a second general system for the recognition of professional education and training to supplement Directive 89/48/EEC. Institutions involved included the federal government (in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology ), EU Standing Conference and Economic Ministerial Meeting of Countries,

7506-472: The GPU. Whilst running, the GPU can also generate a total of 4,000 sprites and 180,000 polygons per second, in addition to 360,000 per second flat-shaded . The PlayStation went through a number of variants during its production run. Externally, the most notable change was the gradual reduction in the number of external connectors from the rear of the unit. This started with the original Japanese launch units;

7645-775: The German Chamber of Crafts, the Confederation of German Employers' Associations , German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Confederation of German Trade Unions , and the Federal Institute for Vocational Application. These government institutions agreed on a common position regarding the implementation of the EQF and a German qualifications framework (DQR). European Union law and other documents considered to be public include: PlayStation (console) The PlayStation (abbreviated as PS , commonly known as

7784-579: The January ;1994 CES in Las Vegas , Beveridge and Day presented their prototype of the condensed development kit, which could run on an ordinary personal computer with two extension boards. Impressed, Sony decided to abandon their plans for a workstation-based development system in favour of SN Systems's, thus securing a cheaper and more efficient method for designing software. An order of over 600 systems followed, and SN Systems supplied Sony with additional software such as an assembler , linker , and

7923-647: The LCD "Combo Pack" ceased in 2004, when the popularity of the PlayStation began to wane in markets outside Japan. A total of 28.15 million PS One units had been sold by the time it was discontinued in March 2006. Three iterations of the PlayStation's controller were released over the console's lifespan. The first controller, the PlayStation controller , was released alongside the PlayStation in December 1994. It features four individual directional buttons (as opposed to

8062-459: The PlayStation 2. The combined successes of both PlayStation consoles led to Sega retiring the Dreamcast in 2001, and abandoning the console business entirely. The PlayStation was eventually discontinued on 23 March 2006—over eleven years after its release, and less than a year before the debut of the PlayStation 3 . The main microprocessor is a 32-bit LSI R3000 CPU with a clock rate of 33.86 MHz and 30 MIPS . Its CPU relies heavily on

8201-432: The PlayStation after a failed venture with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the early 1990s. The console was primarily designed by Ken Kutaragi and Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan, while additional development was outsourced in the United Kingdom. An emphasis on 3D polygon graphics was placed at the forefront of the console's design. PlayStation game production

8340-459: The PlayStation and Saturn had been on the market for nearly two years, the competition between them was still "very close", and neither console had led in sales for any meaningful length of time. By 1998, Sega, encouraged by their declining market share and significant financial losses, launched the Dreamcast as a last-ditch attempt to stay in the industry. Although its launch was successful,

8479-471: The PlayStation led to him heading up the development of successor consoles, the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 . The commercial success of the PlayStation franchise makes Sony Computer Entertainment the most profitable business division of Sony. Despite being an upstart in the console market against veterans Nintendo and Sega , the first PlayStation displaced them both to become the most popular console of that era. The PlayStation 2 extended Sony's lead in

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8618-508: The PlayStation on 23 March 2006—over eleven years after it had been released, and less than a year before the debut of the PlayStation 3 . More than 4,000 PlayStation games were released, with cumulative sales of 962 million units. The PlayStation signalled Sony's rise to power in the video game industry . It received acclaim and sold strongly; in less than a decade, it became the first computer entertainment platform to ship over 100 million units. Its use of compact discs heralded

8757-416: The PlayStation when it is not in use, as the system draws in a small amount of power (and therefore heat) even when turned off. The first batch of PlayStations use a KSM-440AAM laser unit, whose case and movable parts are all built out of plastic. Over time, the plastic lens sled rail wears out—usually unevenly—due to friction. The placement of the laser unit close to the power supply accelerates wear, due to

8896-477: The PlayStation's release in Europe and North America. Ian Hetherington , Psygnosis' co-founder, was disappointed after receiving early builds of the PlayStation and recalled that the console "was not fit for purpose" until his team got involved with it. Hetherington frequently clashed with Sony executives over broader ideas; at one point it was suggested that a television with a built-in PlayStation be produced. In

9035-594: The PlayStation's release, with the arcade release of Tekken in September 1994. Despite securing the support of various Japanese studios, Sony had no developers of their own by the time the PlayStation was in development. This changed in 1993 when Sony acquired the Liverpudlian company Psygnosis (later renamed SCE Liverpool) for US$ 48 million, securing their first in-house development team. The acquisition meant that Sony could have more launch games ready for

9174-425: The PlayStation, Molyneux observed that its MIPS processor was not "quite as bullish" compared to that of a fast PC and said that it took his team two weeks to port their PC code to the PlayStation development kits and another fortnight to achieve a four-fold speed increase. An engineer from Ocean Software , one of Europe's largest game developers at the time, thought that allocating RAM was a challenging aspect given

9313-565: The SCPH-1000, released on 3 December 1994, was the only model that had an S-Video port, as it was removed from the next model. Subsequent models saw a reduction in number of parallel ports, with the final version only retaining one serial port. Sony marketed a development kit for amateur developers known as the Net Yaroze (meaning "Let's do it together" in Japanese ). It was launched in June 1996 in Japan, and following public interest,

9452-487: The SNES and Mega Drive from the fourth generation still outsold it. Sony reported that the attach rate of sold games and consoles was four to one. To meet increasing demand, Sony chartered jumbo jets and ramped up production in Europe and North America. By early 1996, the PlayStation had grossed $ 2 billion (equivalent to $ 3.885 billion 2023) from worldwide hardware and software sales. By late 1996, sales in Europe totalled 2.2 million units, including 700,000 in

9591-491: The SPC-700 sound processor for the SNES, Nintendo contracted Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "Play Station" or " SNES-CD ". The PlayStation name had already been trademarked by Yamaha, but Nobuyuki Idei liked it so much that he agreed to acquire it for an undisclosed sum rather than search for an alternative. Sony was keen to obtain a foothold in the rapidly expanding video game market. Having been

9730-532: The Saturn had released early in the United States to gain an advantage over the PlayStation, the surprise launch upset many retailers who were not informed in time, harming sales. Some retailers such as KB Toys responded by dropping the Saturn entirely. The PlayStation went on sale in North America on 9 September 1995. It sold more units within two days than the Saturn had in five months, with almost all of

9869-435: The Sony brand would be tarnished if associated with the console, which they considered a "toy". Since Sony had no experience in game development, it had to rely on the support of third-party game developers . This was in contrast to Sega and Nintendo, which had versatile and well-equipped in-house software divisions for their arcade games and could easily port successful games to their home consoles. Recent consoles like

10008-617: The Sydney Accord as engineering technologists. One of the professional titles recognized by the Washington Accord for engineers in the United Kingdom is the chartered engineer. The incorporated engineer is a professional engineer as recognized by the EngC of the United Kingdom. The European designation, as demonstrated by the prescribed title under 2005/36/EC, is "engineer". The incorporated engineer operates autonomously and directs activities independently. They do not necessarily need

10147-426: The UK can call themselves an "engineer" or "professional engineer" without any qualifications or proven competence in engineering; and most UK skilled trades are sometimes referred to as "professional" or "accredited" engineers. Examples are "Registered Gas Engineer" (gas installer) or "Professional Telephone Engineer" (phone line installer or fault diagnosis). Incorporated engineers are recognized internationally under

10286-433: The UK. Approximately 400 PlayStation games were in development, compared to around 200 games being developed for the Saturn and 60 for the Nintendo 64 . In India, the PlayStation was launched in test market during 1999–2000 across Sony showrooms, selling 100 units. Sony finally launched the console (PS One model) countrywide on 24 January 2002 with the price of Rs 7,990 and 26 games available from start. The PlayStation

10425-422: The United Kingdom by securing listings with independent shop owners as well as prominent High Street chains such as Comet and Argos . Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over 20% of the entire American video game market. From September to the end of 1995, sales in the United States amounted to 800,000 units, giving the PlayStation a commanding lead over the other fifth-generation consoles, though

10564-503: The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics : "Many four-year colleges offer bachelor's degrees in engineering technology and graduates of these programs are hired to work as entry-level engineers or applied engineers, but not technicians." Engineering technicians typically have a two-year associate degree, while engineering technologists have a bachelor's degrees. In Canada, the new occupational category of "technologist"

10703-456: The United States due to the high demand for PlayStation games, increasing their monthly output from 4 million discs to 6.5 million discs. This was necessary because PlayStation sales were running at twice the rate of Saturn sales, and its lead dramatically increased when both consoles dropped in price to $ 199 that year. The PlayStation also outsold the Saturn at a similar ratio in Europe during 1996, with 2.2 million consoles sold in

10842-671: The Vocational Training Modernisation Act (12.12.2019), state-certified engineers are also allowed to hold the title Bachelor Professional in Technik as of 1 January 2020. To be eligible for the engineering technologist examination, candidates must fulfill the following requirements: completion of one of the school systems ( Hauptschule , Realschule , Gymnasium ), an apprenticeship of at least two years duration, one year of completed professional work experience and attendance of an educational program with

10981-451: The additional heat, which makes the plastic more vulnerable to friction. Eventually, one side of the lens sled will become so worn that the laser can tilt, no longer pointing directly at the CD; after this, games will no longer load due to data read errors. Sony fixed the problem by making the sled out of die-cast metal and placing the laser unit further away from the power supply on later PlayStation models. Due to an engineering oversight,

11120-631: The business he created and built in 2007, when he stepped down as executive chairman and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. He has remained at Sony as senior technology advisor. Ken Kutaragi later became president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment, Inc. He also serves on the boards of Kadokawa Group Holdings , Inc., Nojima Corporation, and Rakuten , Inc. In 2009, he became a visiting professor of Ritsumeikan University . In 2020, Kutaragi became CEO of Tokyo-based AI and robotics startup Ascent Robotics, after serving on its Board of Directors since 2018. Although Kutaragi's leadership of consumer electronics

11259-402: The conference stage, who said "$ 299" and left the audience with a round of applause. The attention to the Sony conference was further bolstered by the surprise appearance of Michael Jackson and the showcase of highly anticipated games, including Wipeout (1995), Ridge Racer and Tekken (1994). In addition, Sony announced that no games would be bundled with the console. Although

11398-550: The console's appeal enlarged, Sony's marketing efforts broadened from their earlier focus on mature players to specifically target younger children as well. Shortly after the PlayStation's release in Europe, Sony tasked marketing manager Geoff Glendenning with assessing the desires of a new target audience. Sceptical over Nintendo and Sega's reliance on television campaigns, Glendenning theorised that young adults transitioning from fourth-generation consoles would feel neglected by marketing directed at children and teenagers. Recognising

11537-509: The content business and his success at Sony BMG Music Entertainment resulted in his promotion. Sony Interactive Entertainment, which Kutaragi had been heading since its inception, had a weaker year in 2004 after several years of solid growth. During that same year, Sony's game sales fell to $ 7.5 billion from $ 8.2 billion, and its operating income slid to $ 650 million from $ 1 billion, losing $ 25 million in Q4 of 2004. This can be attributed partially to

11676-639: The copied disc, while modchips could remove the protection system altogether by tricking the console into thinking the wobble is there on the pirated disc. Sony untruthfully suggested in advertisements that discs' unique black undersides played a role in copy protection. In reality, the black plastic used was transparent to any infrared laser and did not itself pose an obstacle to duplicators or computer CD drives, although it may have helped customers distinguish between unofficial and genuine copies. Early PlayStations, particularly early 1000 models, experience skipping full-motion video or physical "ticking" noises from

11815-838: The default controller. Sony released a series of peripherals to add extra layers of functionality to the PlayStation. Such peripherals include memory cards, the PlayStation Mouse , the PlayStation Link Cable , the Multiplayer Adapter (a four-player multitap ), the Memory Drive (a disk drive for 3.5-inch floppy disks ), the GunCon (a light gun ), and the Glasstron (a monoscopic head-mounted display ). Released exclusively in Japan,

11954-575: The distinction that engineers are trained in conceptual skills, to "function as designers", while engineering technologists "apply others' designs". The mathematics and sciences, as well as other technical courses, in engineering technology programs, are taught with more application-based examples, whereas engineering coursework provides a more theoretical foundation in math and science. Moreover, engineering coursework tends to require higher-level mathematics including calculus and calculus-based theoretical science courses, as well as more extensive knowledge of

12093-476: The division that ran the PlayStation business. Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) was jointly established by Sony and SMEJ to handle the company's ventures into the video game industry. On 27 October 1993, Sony publicly announced that it was entering the game console market with the PlayStation. According to Maruyama, there was uncertainty over whether the console should primarily focus on 2D , sprite -based graphics or 3D polygon graphics . After Sony witnessed

12232-449: The early PAL PlayStation and PS One GUI had a grey blocked background with two icons in the middle. PlayStation emulation is versatile and can be run on numerous modern devices. Bleem! was a commercial emulator which was released for IBM-compatible PCs and the Dreamcast in 1999. It was notable for being aggressively marketed during the PlayStation's lifetime, and was the centre of multiple controversial lawsuits filed by Sony. Bleem!

12371-445: The early stages of development as it safeguarded future compatibility of the machine should developers decide to make further hardware revisions. Sony used the free software GNU C compiler, also known as GCC, to guarantee short debugging times as it was already familiar to many programmers. Despite the inherent flexibility, some developers found themselves restricted due to the console's lack of RAM . While working on beta builds of

12510-471: The first day and two million units within six months, although the Saturn outsold the PlayStation in the first few weeks due to the success of Virtua Fighter . By the end of 1994, 300,000 PlayStation units were sold in Japan compared to 500,000 Saturn units. A grey market emerged for PlayStations shipped from Japan to North America and Europe, with buyers of such consoles paying up to £700. "When September 1995 arrived and Sony's Playstation roared out of

12649-505: The game industry was too culturally offbeat and asserted that Sony should remain a central player in the audiovisual industry, where companies were familiar with one another and could conduct "civili[s]ed" business negotiations. After Kutaragi reminded him of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo, Ohga retained the project and became one of Kutaragi's most staunch supporters. Ohga shifted Kutaragi and nine of his team from Sony's main headquarters to Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ),

12788-682: The game industry's transition from cartridges . The PlayStation's success led to a line of successors , beginning with the PlayStation 2 in 2000. In the same year, Sony released a smaller and cheaper model, the PS one. The PlayStation was conceived by Ken Kutaragi , a Sony executive who managed a hardware engineering division and was later dubbed "the Father of the PlayStation". Kutaragi's interest in working with video games stemmed from seeing his daughter play games on Nintendo 's Famicom . Kutaragi convinced Nintendo to use his SPC-700 sound processor in

12927-522: The gate, things immediately felt different than [ sic ] they did with the Saturn launch earlier that year. Sega dropped the Saturn $ 100 to match the Playstation's $ 299 debut price, but sales weren't even close—Playstations flew out the door as fast as we could get them in stock. —Lee Hutchinson of Ars Technica , a Babbage's employee in 1995, recalling how PlayStation preorders greatly outnumbered Saturn sales at his shop. Before

13066-493: The influence early 1990s underground clubbing and rave culture had on young people, especially in the United Kingdom, Glendenning felt that the culture had become mainstream enough to help cultivate PlayStation's emerging identity. Sony partnered with prominent nightclub owners such as Ministry of Sound and festival promoters to organise dedicated PlayStation areas where demonstrations of select games could be tested. Sheffield -based graphic design studio The Designers Republic

13205-418: The initial shipment of 100,000 units sold in advance and shops across the country running out of consoles and accessories. The well-received Ridge Racer contributed to the PlayStation's early success, — with some critics considering it superior to Sega's arcade counterpart Daytona USA (1994) — as did Battle Arena Toshinden (1995). There were over 100,000 pre-orders placed and 17 games available on

13344-493: The institution, associate's or bachelor's degrees are offered, with some institutions also offering advanced degrees in engineering technology. In general, an engineering technologist receives a broad range of applied science and applied mathematics training, as well as the fundamentals of engineering in the student's area of focus. Engineering technology programs typically include instruction in providing support to specific engineering specialties. Information technology

13483-562: The market by the time of the PlayStation's American launch, in comparison to the Saturn's six launch games. The PlayStation released in Europe on 29 September 1995 and in Australia on 15 November 1995. By November it had already outsold the Saturn by three to one in the United Kingdom, where Sony had allocated a £20 million marketing budget during the Christmas season compared to Sega's £4 million. Sony found early success in

13622-406: The mid-1970s. Although at the time it was considered a radical decision, Kutaragi felt that Sony was on the "fast track". He quickly gained a reputation as an excellent problem solver and a forward-thinking engineer, earning that reputation by working on many successful projects, including early liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and digital cameras . In 1983, he was watching his two-year-old son play

13761-426: The months leading up to the PlayStation's launch, Psygnosis had around 500 full-time staff working on games and assisting with software development. The purchase of Psygnosis marked another turning point for the PlayStation as it played a vital role in creating the console's development kits . While Sony had provided MIPS R4000 -based Sony NEWS workstations for PlayStation development, Psygnosis employees disliked

13900-615: The most popular arcade games at the time, and it was already confirmed behind closed doors that it would be the PlayStation's first game by December 1993, despite Namco being a longstanding Nintendo developer. Namco's research managing director Shegeichi Nakamura met with Kutaragi in 1993 to discuss the preliminary PlayStation specifications, with Namco subsequently basing the Namco System 11 arcade board on PlayStation hardware and developing Tekken to compete with Virtua Fighter . The System 11 launched in arcades several months before

14039-462: The natural sciences, which serves to prepare students for research (whether in graduate studies or industrial R&D) as opposed to engineering technology coursework which focuses on algebra , trigonometry , applied calculus, and other courses that are more practical than theoretical in nature and generally have more labs that involve the hands-on application of the topics studied. In the United States, although some states require, without exception,

14178-411: The new console under the alternative branding "PSX" following the negative feedback regarding "PlayStation" in focus group studies. Early advertising prior to the console's launch in North America referenced PSX, but the term was scrapped before launch. The console was not marketed with Sony's name in contrast to Nintendo's consoles. According to Phil Harrison , much of Sony's upper management feared that

14317-560: The new console's ability to utilize redbook audio from the CD-ROM format in its games alongside high quality visuals and gameplay. Wishing to distance the project from the failed enterprise with Nintendo, Sony initially branded the PlayStation the "PlayStation X" (PSX). Sony formed their European division and North American division, known as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), in January and May 1995. The divisions planned to market

14456-459: The next Sony president. He enjoyed a close relationship with Ohga. Ohga's successor Nobuyuki Idei promoted Kutaragi to Deputy Executive President, Sony-Global chief operating officer, and Vice- Chairman in 2003. On 30 November 2006, Kutaragi was replaced as president of Sony Computer Entertainment by Kazuo Hirai , the President of SCE America. In addition to other management changes, Kutaragi

14595-514: The normal route to achieving IEng is with a bachelor's or honors degree in engineering. Modern technical apprenticeships would normally lead to the engineering technician (EngTech) professional qualification and, with further studies at higher apprenticeship level, an IEng. Since 2015, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) has introduced engineering degree (bachelors and masters) apprenticeships. The title "incorporated engineer"

14734-614: The original PlayStation controllers are roughly 10% larger than its Japanese variant, to account for the fact the average person in those regions has larger hands than the average Japanese person. Sony's first analogue gamepad, the PlayStation Analog Joystick (often erroneously referred to as the "Sony Flightstick"), was first released in Japan in April ;1996. Featuring two parallel joysticks, it uses potentiometer technology previously used on consoles such as

14873-535: The over-saturation of the video game market and price wars which caused the PS2 to lose the top sales position for a time. Kutaragi has labelled the Xbox 360 as "just an Xbox 1.5" and stated that it was "only going after PlayStation 2". However, SCE Executive Tetsuhiko Yasuda did not consider Microsoft to be a competitor, and has said that they might consider working on games together. In September 2006 Kutaragi admitted that

15012-720: The overall product development process and can involve engineers as well as engineering technologists). Engineering technologists are employed in a wide array of industries and areas including product development, manufacturing and maintenance. They may become managers depending upon the experience and their educational emphasis on management. Entry-level positions relating in various ways to product design , product testing , product development , systems development , field engineering, technical operations, and quality control are common for engineering technologists. Most companies generally make no distinction between engineers and engineering technologists when it comes to hiring. Beginning in

15151-495: The peripheral outside Japan but the release was cancelled, despite receiving promotion in Europe and North America. In addition to playing games, most PlayStation models are equipped to play audio CDs; the Asian model SCPH-5903 can also play Video CDs . Like most CD players, the PlayStation can play songs in a programmed order, shuffle the playback order of the disc and repeat one song or the entire disc. Later PlayStation models use

15290-547: The potential in Kutaragi's chip and decided to keep him as a protégé. The inception of the PlayStation dates back to a 1988 joint venture between Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo had produced floppy disk technology to complement cartridges in the form of the Family Computer Disk System , and wanted to continue this complementary storage strategy for the SNES. Since Sony was already contracted to produce

15429-454: The primary manufacturer of the ill-fated MSX home computer format, Sony had wanted to use their experience in consumer electronics to produce their own video game hardware. Although the initial agreement between Nintendo and Sony was about producing a CD-ROM drive add-on, Sony had also planned to develop a SNES-compatible Sony-branded console. This iteration was intended to be more of a home entertainment system, playing both SNES cartridges and

15568-470: The province, and often require as many classroom hours as a 4-year degree program. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) are at the top of the educational accreditation hierarchy. The U.S. Department of Education acknowledges regional and national accreditation and CHEA recognizes specialty accreditation. One technology accreditation

15707-433: The purpose by a licensed engineering institution. The academic requirements must be accompanied by the appropriate peer-reviewed experience in employment—typically 4 years post qualification. In addition to the experience and academic requirements, the engineering candidate must have three referees (themselves CEng or IEng) who vouch for the performance of the individual being considered for professional recognition. There are

15846-485: The region by the end of the year. Sales figures for PlayStation hardware and software only increased following the launch of the Nintendo 64. Tokunaka speculated that the Nintendo 64 launch had actually helped PlayStation sales by raising public awareness of the gaming market through Nintendo's added marketing efforts. Despite this, the PlayStation took longer to achieve dominance in Japan. Tokunaka said that, even after

15985-485: The release in North America, Sega and Sony presented their consoles at the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on 11 May 1995. At their keynote presentation, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske revealed that its Saturn console would be released immediately to select retailers at a price of $ 399. Next came Sony's turn: Olaf Olafsson , the head of SCEA, summoned Steve Race, the head of development, to

16124-744: The release of the controller outside Japan due to similarities with the Nintendo 64 controller 's Rumble Pak . However, a Nintendo spokesman denied that Nintendo took legal action. Next Generation 's Chris Charla theorized that Sony dropped vibration feedback to keep the price of the controller down. In November 1997, Sony introduced the DualShock controller. Its name derives from its use of two (dual) vibration motors (shock). Unlike its predecessor, its analogue sticks feature textured rubber grips, longer handles, slightly different shoulder buttons and has rumble feedback included as standard on all versions. The DualShock later replaced its predecessors as

16263-429: The shortage of PlayStation 3 consoles to North America and Japan as well as the postponing of the console's debut in Europe put Sony's strength in hardware in decline. Engineering technologist Engineering technologists are more likely than engineers to focus on post-development implementation, product manufacturing, or operation of technology. The American National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) makes

16402-491: The stage and revealed that Nintendo was now allied with Philips and would abandon their work with Sony. Incensed by Nintendo's renouncement, Ohga and Kutaragi decided that Sony would develop their own console. Nintendo's contract-breaking was met with consternation in the Japanese business community, as they had broken an "unwritten law" of native companies not turning against each other in favour of foreign ones. Sony's American branch considered allying with Sega to produce

16541-429: The success of Sega's Virtua Fighter (1993) in Japanese arcades , the direction of the PlayStation became "instantly clear" and 3D polygon graphics became the console's primary focus. SCE president Teruhisa Tokunaka expressed gratitude for Sega's timely release of Virtua Fighter as it proved "just at the right time" that making games with 3D imagery was possible. Maruyama claimed that Sony further wanted to emphasize

16680-475: The support of chartered engineers, because they are often acknowledged as full engineers in the UK (but not in Canada or the U.S.). The United Kingdom incorporated engineer may also contribute to the design of new products and systems. The chartered engineer and incorporated engineer, whilst often undertaking similar roles, are distinct qualifications awarded by the EngC, with Chartered Engineer (CEng) status being

16819-469: The technically superior 128-bit console was unable to subdue Sony's dominance in the industry. Sony still held 60% of the overall video game market share in North America at the end of 1999. Sega's initial confidence in their new console was undermined when Japanese sales were lower than expected, with disgruntled Japanese consumers reportedly returning their Dreamcasts in exchange for PlayStation software. On 2 March 1999, Sony officially revealed details of

16958-536: The terminal engineering qualification. Incorporated engineers currently require an IEng-accredited bachelors or honors degree in engineering (prior to 1997 the B.Sc. and B.Eng. degrees satisfied the academic requirements for "chartered engineer" registration), a Higher National Certificate or diploma, City and Guilds of London Institute higher diploma/full technological cert diploma, or a Foundation Degree in engineering, plus appropriate further learning to degree level, or an NVQ 4 or SVQ 4 qualifications approved for

17097-514: The thought of developing on these expensive workstations and asked Bristol -based SN Systems to create an alternative PC-based development system. Andy Beveridge and Martin Day, owners of SN Systems, had previously supplied development hardware for other consoles such as the Mega Drive , Atari ST , and the SNES. When Psygnosis arranged an audience for SN Systems with Sony's Japanese executives at

17236-448: The time, learned of Nintendo's actions two days before the CES was due to begin. Kutaragi telephoned numerous contacts, including Philips, to no avail. On the first day of the CES, Sony announced their partnership with Nintendo and their new console, the Play Station. At 9 am on the next day, in what has been called "the greatest ever betrayal" in the industry, Howard Lincoln stepped onto

17375-426: The unit. The problems stem from poorly placed vents leading to overheating in some environments, causing the plastic mouldings inside the console to warp slightly and create knock-on effects with the laser assembly. The solution is to sit the console on a surface which dissipates heat efficiently in a well vented area or raise the unit up slightly from its resting surface. Sony representatives also recommended unplugging

17514-474: The video game industry, with some resenting Kutaragi for jeopardising the company. Kutaragi remained adamant that Sony not retreat from the growing industry and that a deal with Nintendo would never work. Knowing that it had to take decisive action, Sony severed all ties with Nintendo on 4 May 1992. To determine the fate of the PlayStation project, Ohga chaired a meeting in June 1992, consisting of Kutaragi and several senior Sony board members. Kutaragi unveiled

17653-625: The video game market, Sony possessed a superior research and development department. Wanting to protect Nintendo's existing licensing structure, Yamauchi cancelled all plans for the joint Nintendo–Sony SNES CD attachment without telling Sony. He sent Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa (his son-in-law) and chairman Howard Lincoln to Amsterdam to form a more favourable contract with Dutch conglomerate Philips , Sony's rival. This contract would give Nintendo total control over their licences on all Philips-produced machines. Kutaragi and Nobuyuki Idei , Sony's director of public relations at

17792-542: The years of experience needed to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Professional Engineering (PE) exams. A few states require those sitting for the exams to have a master's degree in engineering. This education model is in line with the educational system in the United Kingdom where an accredited MEng or MSc degree in engineering is required by the Engineering Council (EngC) to be registered as

17931-492: Was Kutaragi able to complete the chip and keep his job. Even while working with Nintendo, within Sony, gaming was still regarded as a fad. Despite this hostile atmosphere to video games, Kutaragi managed to persuade Ohga into working with Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES which would be released alongside a Sony branded console which could play both Super NES cartridges and CD games. These efforts resulted in

18070-406: Was a market not yet tapped by any of the available home consoles. Kutaragi later recalled staying up all night working on the console design for several nights in a row "because our work was so interesting." Despite being considered a risky gamble by other Sony executives, Kutaragi once again had the support of Ohga and several years later the company released the original PlayStation . The success of

18209-789: Was backed by a successful marketing campaign, allowing Sony to gain an early foothold in Europe and North America. Initially, PlayStation demographics were skewed towards adults, but the audience broadened after the first price drop. While the Saturn was positioned towards 18- to 34-year-olds, the PlayStation was initially marketed exclusively towards teenagers. Executives from both Sony and Sega reasoned that because younger players typically looked up to older, more experienced players, advertising targeted at teens and adults would draw them in too. Additionally, Sony found that adults reacted best to advertising aimed at teenagers; Lee Clow surmised that people who started to grow into adulthood regressed and became "17 again" when they played video games. The console

18348-496: Was contracted by Sony to produce promotional materials aimed at a fashionable, club-going audience. Psygnosis' Wipeout in particular became associated with nightclub culture as it was widely featured in venues. By 1997, there were 52 nightclubs in the United Kingdom with dedicated PlayStation rooms. Glendenning recalled that he had discreetly used at least £100,000 a year in slush fund money to invest in impromptu marketing. In 1996, Sony expanded their CD production facilities in

18487-544: Was designed to be streamlined and inclusive, enticing the support of many third-party developers . The console proved popular for its extensive game library, popular franchises, low retail price, and aggressive youth marketing which advertised it as the preferable console for adolescents and adults. Premier PlayStation franchises included Gran Turismo , Crash Bandicoot , Spyro , Tomb Raider , Resident Evil , Metal Gear , Tekken , and Final Fantasy , all of which spawned numerous sequels. Sony ceased production of

18626-881: Was established in the 1960s, in conjunction with an emerging system of community colleges and technical institutes . It was designed to effectively bridge the gap between the increasingly theoretical nature of engineering degrees and the predominantly practical approach of technician and trades programs. Provincial associations may certify individuals as a professional technologist (P.Tech.), certified engineering technologist (C.E.T.), registered engineering technologist (R.E.T.), applied science technologist (AScT), or technologue professionel (T.P.). These provincial associations are constituent members of Technology Professionals Canada (TPC), which accredits technology programs across Canada, through its Technology Accreditation Canada (TAC). Nationally accredited engineering technology programs range from two to three years in length, depending on

18765-575: Was marketed with advertising slogans stylised as "LIVE IN Y [REDACTED] UR W [REDACTED] RLD. PL [REDACTED] Y IN [REDACTED] URS" ( Live in Your World. Play in Ours. ) and "U R NOT E " (red E). The four geometric shapes were derived from the symbols for the four buttons on the controller. Clow thought that by invoking such provocative statements, gamers would respond to the contrary and say " 'Bullshit. Let me show you how ready I am. ' " As

18904-428: Was not successful, analysts also suspect that outgoing Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei had set up Kutaragi to fail, given that both men had a cool working relationship. Idei assigned Kutaragi the tedious task of turning around the consumer division which had already been falling behind competitors such as Samsung in the LCD market. Kutaragi's rival for the top position, Howard Stringer , was given the less difficult assignment of

19043-408: Was programmed in assembly language , which allowed it to emulate PlayStation games with improved visual fidelity, enhanced resolutions, and filtered textures that was not possible on original hardware. Sony sued Bleem! two days after its release, citing copyright infringement and accusing the company of engaging in unfair competition and patent infringement by allowing use of PlayStation BIOSs on

19182-516: Was promoted to chairman of SCEI, and retained his position as chief executive officer of the group. On 26 April 2007, it was announced that Kutaragi would retire and instead take up the role of Honorary Chairman. Taking over his position would be then Hirai, who would eventually be promoted to president and CEO of Sony. On 29 June 2011, following the reshuffling of management, Sony announced that on 28 June 2011, Kutaragi had stepped down as honorary chairman of SCEI. Kutaragi relinquished active management of

19321-422: Was released the next year in other countries. The Net Yaroze allowed hobbyists to create their own games and upload them via an online forum run by Sony. The console was only available to buy through an ordering service and with the necessary documentation and software to program PlayStation games and applications through C programming compilers. On 7 July 2000, Sony released the PS One (stylised as PS one),

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