PlayStation - The total history

With such an unassailable command of the market, nobody really expected the PlayStation 2 to fail, did they? Well, strange as it may sound, yes, some people did. For a start, no other company had dominated the market across successive generations of hardware. Then there were the hardware shortages that hampered the console's launch in every territory - compounded in the UK when it got caught up in media hype about ‘Rip-off Britain'. And then there were the disappointing post-launch titles. Remember The Bouncer? Remember how it was going to represent a stunning new direction for emotion in games? That was quickly forgotten when the PS2 became the fastest selling console in history, with over 105 million units shipped worldwide by March 31, 2006.
Sony officially unveiled plans for its next generation PlayStation in March 1999. Like its predecessor, it was an impressive piece of kit, featuring, at its heart, the Emotion Engine, a chip optimised for fast graphics processing. It also boasted DVD-playback, backward-compatibility, and a dramatically different case design. It also extended the analogue functionality of the DualShock controller to the face buttons. And it was important to Sony: at the time, the original PlayStation accounted for 40% of the company's revenues.
But the months leading up to the console's launch weren't especially happy ones for Sony. Early previews of games weren't particularly well-received, and development insiders suggested that the system was difficult to code for. It was enough to for some people to have legitimate doubts about Sony's ability to dominate the market a second time.
A special event in 2000 showcased the initial batch of games, but many titles had started life intended for the original PlayStation and it showed, with early highlights restricted to the likes of Dark Cloud, Gran Turismo 2000 (which was eventually cancelled), and Fantavision (which hardly looked like it required the might of the Emotion Engine). Shortly after the event, rumours began to emerge about the difficulty of programming the device, with Capcom's Shinji Mikami pointing to the lack of development tools, and his colleague Keiji Inafune arguing that the machine was so powerful that it was difficult to budget or plan for the new techniques that would be required to program it.
A nine-minute trailer of Metal Gear Solid 2 at E3 later that year offered some respite from all the carping. Raindrops splashed off characters' clothes, bottles shattered and gun casings scattered, to a bombastic Hollywood musical score. More good news emerged at an LA sound stage, where Sony announced a launch date of Oct 26, and a price of $299, just as it had for the original PlayStation. It would launch with 20 games, as the original PS hadn't. But again, the games on the show floor didn't impress, especially as the Dreamcast was just then entering a creativley rich period, producing games like Seaman, Shenmue, and Jet Set Radio