What has Sony really done for video games?

[HolyPaladin]

Sony likes to toot their own horn by boasting in how much they supposedly have revolutionized the gaming industry, but what have they really done? And no, they aren't even responsible for the move to CDs, since the PSX came from the PS, which was Nintendo's desire to move on to that new form of media. All that Sony has done is make hardware, and there being nothing extraordinary or revolutionary. My question then is: What has Sony really done for video games?

[PhixedDice]

Simple. Nothing revolutionary really. Backwards compatability? Nah.

My answer: Nothing major.

[Michael Bluth]

Wasn't one of the Ataris backwards compadible? And the GameBoys all are...........

I'd have to say that Sony has brought a flood of casual gamers to the gaming scene.

[TheOverlord]

yeah casual gamers that's about it.

[Prince]

Bought a whole new audience, a bunch of casual gamers, made sales much better, made gaming mainstream. Nothing really big on the hardware/software side though.

[Colin™]

They helped to advance gaming, certainly. By becoming so popular, publishers had to work harder to make themselves more known in such a large pool of people.

[JHudy11]

Originally posted by Colin
They helped to advance gaming, certainly. By becoming so popular, publishers had to work harder to make themselves more known in such a large pool of people.

I agree

They've also brought out some of the most popular games onto their system, games that wouldn't have had a home without the PS2.

[TheGreenElf]

They make a home the crappy games so we don't have to. They weren't even the first one into the 128 bit world. I don't know what they've done b/c like you said, console CD's came from Nintendo's idea to originally merge with Sony. The number of gamers hasn't substantially increased since Sony was on the market just b/c their sales are so high. I guess you can say they were the first to bring gaming machines a DVD player...nope nevermind, PC's were.

[dncardman]

They have done nothing very extrodinary.

[[[tavis]]]

I hate Ps2. I do agree they have done hardly anything, but they got the games, they were the adult system when N64 wasn't and they drew those gamers that are now xbox fans..............

[smellslikenintendospirit]

They bestowed universal appeal upon the gaming industry and expanded it greatly.

[Glenn2K4]

PS2 . . changed the image of what a gaming system is and can be

[Karavi]

PS2 really brought a whole new era. And it introduced us to the now next-gen systems... At the time it was released it was the only one with graphics that astounding. It also made people who at one time hated gaming, love it.

You can never really see what it's changed on the outside, though. If you go against PS2 - You're going to have to go against Xbox and GC for the same exact reasons.

[Serene Samus]

^I don't think so.

[Michael Bluth]

Originally posted by Leideia
At the time it was released it was the only one with graphics that astounding.

Dreamcast games looked better than PS2 games for quite some time......

[Prince]

Soul Calibur [DC launch game] > PS2 launch games

the graphics werent good on ps2, until when...Gran Turismo 3, or w/e

[TheGreenElf]

WOW!? I find myself agreeing with Phanty and Prince? There's a change.

[Darkness_Essence]

I agree with Phanty,Prince,and TheGreen Elf.Sony did nothing major to the gaming scene,except the fact that they introduced-either directly,or indirectly piracy at its largest scale.

Before PS1,games that were pirated were limited to certain areas;China,some parts of asia,and little in the USA-as far as i know.

But when Sony came,the magical moment for many poor gamers,and pirated games flooded the market,thus encouraging more casual gamers,and sometimes even none-gamers to purchace a Ps1 over N64,and Saturn,which was really sad.

And before anyone jumps at me with a rocket launcher,i believe piracy was the main reason for the insane popularity of Ps1,and a huge part of ps2,as well.I am not saying it's THE ONLY reason,but i am saying it's the main reason.RPGs,and the dizilion other games that were flooded to the market were another reason,too.

Sony helped instill the idea of quantity over quality,by flooding the market with crappy games in hope that those games draw more and more userbase.If you look at the ps1 games-i am sure they accumulate to 2500 at least,I'm betting not %10 of those were good.

In short,sony did help expand the gamers universe,but they did that on the expense of the quality of games-bar a few-and for that they have my eternal disrespect.

[video game master]

^Very well said! I agree!

[Karavi]

Dreamcast games did look better, however, not many people knew about or liked Dreamcast as a majority. And the original Playstation being quite popular, a lot of people just went straight to PS2 thinking that it was the greatest thing out there, making things quite a bit more popular than what they were originally; which has been said a lot in this thread...

Other than that - I really can't see what it's done on the outside. I've actually never been a big PS2 fan, all I know is what I hear, and I noticed that a lot of people that originally hated gaming started to love it after they picked up a PS2. Albeit, they're usually annoying and frustrating people/fanboys. :p

[Darkness_Essence]

Very good point,Leideia.

BTW,excellent topic,HolyPaladin.

I never owned a Ps1 nor a ps2, and the reason for that is the utter hatred i have for sony;part for mocking Nintendo for many times in their ads back when the Ps1 is just in its infancy,and part because of the way gaming degraded when the ps1 showed on stage with its lackluster 3d graphics,with the exception of great games like Tekken3,and pathetic 2d graphics,with the exception of a few marbles like Castlevania:SotN.

What people need to understand is that everyone here to get their own share of the cake-e.i. money-Sony is,Microsoft is,and certainly Nintendo is,too.But what really makes the difference to me is how they play to earn the green.and so far,Nintendo never played dirty as the others do.That's why i am loyal to them.

I say had it been for the amazing success of the ps1, Ps2 would have never even taken off,with lackluster launch games,and more mediocre games in its first 6 months,some developers leaving ps2 and joining Microsoft-such as Odd World Inhabitatnts,and the ps2 being "A Bitch to program on" and this quote comes straight from the head of Oddworld Inhabitants in E3 2001.Ps2's only saving grace was the success of ps1,and that what made many psfans stick with it,Knowing that better games will eventually come.

All what is said above is my own opinion.I might be wrong,but until proven otherwise,i'll adhere to it :)

video game master
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Registered: Jan 2003
Location: ...With your mom...<--- can you be Vise,somehow??
Posts: 139

[Sendok]

the only thing that i can think that Sony has done was make systems that were made to break-down and bring in more casual gamers.

[Darkness_Essence]

^^ very true,Nayrk.

gamers were never used to faulty system-design,or after-purchace problem as much as they've been since the existence of Ps1.

Perhaps this is yet another service/diservice Sony has gladly made available for gamers.

[LifeForce87]

Well Sony has never had a proper mascot character or even something that they could truly call their own (hmm Crash and Spyro didnt stay for long)...I mean you cannot rely on them to create a franchise that will make people say (insert character here) is the greatest sony character. Sony just doesnt have the lasting influence on its market..it always has to aim for the bigger and better thing which isnt always what its cracked up to be.

[Michael Bluth]

Originally posted by LifeForce
Well Sony has never had a proper mascot character or even something that they could truly call their own (hmm Crash and Spyro didnt stay for long)...I mean you cannot rely on them to create a franchise that will make people say (insert character here) is the greatest sony character. Sony just doesnt have the lasting influence on its market..it always has to aim for the bigger and better thing which isnt always what its cracked up to be.

I think you're going to fit in nicely. :)

[LifeForce87]

I really wish they would wake up and smell the flowers...their market critisizes Nintendo for having child themed game but as of late they have absolutely nothing to offer their targer audience...let alone kids

[BigChops]

Originally posted by smellslikenintendospirit
They bestowed universal appeal upon the gaming industry and expanded it greatly.
Didn't Nintendo do exactly that about 20 years ago?

[Prince]

Pretty much.

[FallenAngel]

Originally posted by TheGreenElf
WOW!? I find myself agreeing with Phanty and Prince? There's a change.
its wierd that when it comes to bashing PS2 the GCN and Xbox fans come together.

[Darkness_Essence]

Very true,Fallen Angel.

On another side note,i liked your old avatar much more than the current one,FA!!

[=NukeBlaze=]

What you say?

-Well as was said the increase the number of fans for games. New fans no less.

- Made less of a game more acceptable. (IE - BARBIE ADVENTURE getting sales at all do to the increase in less Experiance)

-True to point out though as was said...THat if any game company was a huge sucess the results fo the PS2 may follow. This may or may not be true depending on the image of Nintendo verus the image of a more business like Sony and Microsoft. So I guess that it would all depend how the cards fell into place.

- The reson in most cases for Cube and Xbox fans combine would be the fact of that they both share a common goal. M$ and Nintendo share the goal of being 1st. I have seen in other cases where PS2 and Cube fans join sides in hope of removing the new commer Xbox.

-Probelm - This is an arguement that really effects everyone that cares about games....Now the the "True Gammer" is the minority...Will we ge the attention that we used to get when we were the majority? If game "ABC" will sell becuase it is just "OK" in quality..Why push any harder than have to on the game company part? This bussness approach was seen in the PS lack of constuction quality ( First units of the PSX were a fire hazzard, not to mention the "FLip over you PSX to play the Game" trick)

- That is another point that should be looked into as already state by lifeforce. Sony represnts a company that does not have a representitive. They are a faceless seller. The only mascot they have would be thier Logo. Shooting for a new thing that woos the masses may not last long...So if it fails..Who does the comsumer go to next? The next light in the distance of course. The masses are as fickel as the "In thing".


I can only hope that Sony has not made gamming an "IN THING" to the masses so that once they see somthing better or more better , as they would probably put it, they would drop games like a sack of stones.