User blog:SBFW's Linux/Randomness Episode 1: Nintendo and Sony 1988 Collaboration

Welcome to my new Blog Series called Randomness where I talk about interesting stuff I find on the internet. Why else would I call it Randomness!

In today's episode I will be talking about the Nintendo and Sony collaboration in 1988. By the way half of this is from wikipedia so of course there will be trolls in this!

It all started when Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi became interested in working with video games after seeing his daughter play games on Nintendo's Famicom (Also known as NES) video game console. He took on a contract at Sony for developing hardware that would drive the audio subsystem of Nintendo's next console, the Super NES. Kutaragi secretly developed the chip, known as the Sony SPC 700. As Sony was uninterested in the video game business, most of his superiors did not approve of the project, but Kutaragi found support in Sony executive Norio Ohga and the project was allowed to continue. The success of the project spurred Nintendo to enter into a partnership with Sony to develop both a CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES and a Sony-branded console that would play both SNES games, as well as titles released for the new SNES-CD format.

Development of the format started in 1988, when Nintendo signed a contract with Sony to produce a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES. After several years of development, Sony introduced a standalone console at 1991's summer Consumer Electronics Show called the "Play Station." The system was to be compatible with existing SNES titles as well as titles released for the SNES-CD format. However, due to licensing disagreements with Sony, Nintendo announced that it had formed an alliance with Sony's rival Philips to produce the SNES-CD add-on.

However, the two companies conflicted over control of the licensing. Under their agreement, Sony would develop and retain control over the SNES-CD disc format, with Nintendo thus effectively ceding a large amount of control of software licensing to Sony. To counter this, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi sent Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and executive Howard Lincoln to Europe to negotiate a more favorable contract with Philips, Sony's industry rival. At the June 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony announced its SNES-compatible cartridge/CD console, the "Play Station". The next day, Nintendo revealed its partnership with Philips at the show a surprise to the entire audience, including Sony.

While Nintendo and Sony attempted to sort out their differences, approximately two hundred prototypes of the Play Station had been created in various physical forms, and software for the system was being developed. In 1992, a deal was reached allowing Sony to produce SNES-compatible hardware, with Nintendo retaining control and profit over the games, but the two organizations never repaired the rift between them. By the next year, Sony had refocused its efforts on developing its own console for the next generation of consoles. Now that is the end of the original partnership but there is more info about it that wikipedia really messed up! So this one is coming from IGN.

In July 2015, a man found what looked like a SNES-CD console in his attic. But at the time he had no idea what is was so he went to reddit to find out what is was. Then in November 2015 he decided to try booting it up to see if it was the SNES-CD or a fake. He then found out it was working and he was able to play games on it.

So that is pretty much it for today's episode of Randomness!