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FOR PLAYSTATION FANS across Europe, today’s a big day as they finally get their hands on the Playstation 4. Both it and the Xbox One are released in time for the Christmas season and will battle it out for a place in people’s living rooms.
Yet the Playstation has come a long way since it first arrived on our shores in 1995. To mark the arrival of the PS4, we take a look back at the consoles, the games and advertisements that came before it.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Release date: September 1995
Sold: 102.49 million worldwide
Specs:
CPU: 32-bit (33mhz)
GPU: 32-bit (33mhz)
System RAM: 2mb
Video RAM: 1mb
Resolution: 640×480
Media: CD-ROM
If you want to pinpoint the birth of the original Playstation, you may be surprised to learn that it was Nintendo that got Sony into the console market. Wanting to compete against Sega – who brought out the ill-fated Sega CD at the time – it experimented with bringing a CD add-on to the Super Nintendo and worked with Sony. After that deal fell through, Sony decided to go it alone and the rest is history.
The Playstation became one of the most influential consoles released and opened up gaming to a new audience. This was thanks to a large number of quality titles appearing on it such as Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider, Wipeout, Silent Hill, Tekken, Driver, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid. The console was so popular that even after the PS2 arrived, games were still being developed for it until 2006.
Best selling games
Figures given are number of copies shipped worldwide. Also included are figures for both sequels and prequels on the same console.
Gran Turismo (10.85 million)
Its sequel Gran Turismo 2 sold 9.37 millon.
(Video: MrYASSER111/YouTube)
Final Fantasy VII (10 million)
Its sequels FF VIII and IX sold 8.15 million and 5.3 million respectively
(Video: ROFLSoup/YouTube)
Tomb Raider 2 (8 million)
The original Tomb Raider sold 7 million.
(Video: cubex55/YouTube)
Metal Gear Solid (7 million)
(Video: Marek Šterbinský/YouTube)
Crash Bandicoot (6.8 million)
(Video: cubex55/YouTube)
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Release date: March 2000
Sold: 155 million worldwide
Specs:
CPU: 128-bit (299mhz)
GPU: ‘Graphics Synthesizer’ (147mhz)
System RAM: 32mb
Video RAM: 4mb
Resolution: 720×480 for SD, 1280×720 for HD
Media: 4.7 GB DVD
Building upon the success of the Playstation wasn’t going to be an easy task, but the PS2 not only surpassed its predecessor but became the most successful Playstation model released. Seeing off challenges from both Nintendo’s Gamecube and Sega’s Dreamcast, the latter ended up leaving the console market entirely, it dominated the console market until it made way for the PS3.
Best Selling Games
Figures given are number of copies shipped worldwide. Also included are figures for both sequels and prequels on the same console.
GTA: San Andreas (17.33 million)
GTA: Vice City sold 9.61 million while GTA III sold 7.9 million
(Video: Moiz009/YouTube)
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (14.89 million)
Gran Turismo 4 sold 10.76 million
(Video: Tomsas1roed/YouTube)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million)
(Video: SneakingFox/YouTube)
Final Fantasy X (6.6 million)
FF XII saw 5.2 million copies shipped.
(Video: Playstation/YouTube)
Kingdom Hearts (5.9 million)
(Video: cubex55/YouTube)
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Release date: March 2007
Sold: 80 million worldwide
Specs:
CPU: ‘Cell’ (3.2ghz)
GPU: ‘Reality Synthesizer’ (500mhz)
System RAM: 256mb (3.2ghz)
Video RAM: 256mb
Resolution: 720×480 for SD, 1280×720 and 1920×1080 for HD
Media: 25gb BD,
The Playstation 3 faced a number of obstacles when it launched. A high price and strong competitors in the form of the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii meant that it didn’t have quite the impact it would have liked. While it didn’t get off to the strongest start, thanks to titles like The Last of Us, the God of War series and GTA V, it still kept up the momentum Sony had with the PS2.
Best Selling Games
Figures given are number of copies shipped worldwide. Also included are figures for both sequels and prequels on the same console.
Gran Turismo 5 (10.66 million)
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue sold 5.35 million
(Video: Hostilenemy/YouTube)
GTA V (7 million)
GTA 4 sold 2.73 million
(Video: GameNewsOfficial/YouTube)
God of War III (5.1 million)
The God of War collection sold 2.4 million.
(Video: VISO Games/YouTube)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4.8 million)
Call of Duty: Black Ops sold 3.2 million, Modern Warfare sold 1.9 million and World at War sold 1.83
(Video: Gamehelper/YouTube)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (3.8 million)
Uncharted 2 also sold 3.8 million while the original sold 2.6 million.
(Video: UNCHARTED/YouTube)
Release date: November 2013
Sold: Unconfirmed (sold one million in 24 hours in the US)
Specs:
CPU: low power x86-64 AMD ‘Jaguar’, 8 cores
GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS
System RAM: 8GB GDDR5
Video RAM: 1GB
Resolution: 720p, 1080p and 1080i
Media: BD x 6 CAV, DVD x 8 CAV
Since it’s only been released today, it’s far too early to say whether the PS4 is going to be a success or not, but the early signs are encouraging. It sold one million consoles in 24 hours in the US and Sony expect to sell 5 million by March, meaning that there are high hopes it will come out on top this generation.
Beyond the 30 launch titles, gamers can look forward to titles like Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, Infamous: Second Son, The Witcher III, Minecraft, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Kingdom Hearts III which are expected to arrive next year.
As great as the games were, the Playstation wouldn’t be as significant as it was if it wasn’t for the numerous advertising campaigns it ran. Since its launch, it’s been responsible for some of the most memorable ad campaigns shown on TV and while some of them didn’t go to plan, there were more than enough ads to make sure the console stuck in your mind.
Double life
(Video: DigThatBoxRETRO/YouTube)
Alien girl
(Video: VideoGameAds/YouTube)
Long live play
(Video: IGN/YouTube)
This is living
(Video: Antonio Hagiu/YouTube)
For the players since 1995
(Video: Playstation Acesss/YouTube)
Playstation 4 ‘Perfect day’
(Video: Playstation/YouTube)
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Did you know that if you stand on the Great Wall of China you can actually see the moon.
Not if he’s in Korea.
Brilliant …. love this sort of story. Will I be able to see it in Newbridge? If so I’ll be out with my jacket and a scarf (bloody well cold up here compared to Cork) and a cuppa to have a look
Wondering the same thing myself Eileen!
Download the iss app to your phone Eileen -I am also in newbridge and its a brilliant app -alarm goes off to let you know when its due to pass -I’ll be out tonight looking up at it -crutches and all
Naas is on the line
The moon being upside down is surely a bigger story!
Vews (and photos) through a telesope are upside down. Same with view through one’s eyes but the brain turns them up “the right way”. Someone just forgot to flip the photo.
There was an experiment years ago where people were given spectacles which showed everything upsidedown. It took a couple of days but eventually their brain adjusted so they could see normally! They had a few more unpleasant days when they stopped using the glasses.
Clear sky over Dublin tonight, is the moving station visable with the human eye?
It’s easily visible with the human eye. To ne honest it looks like a very large shooting star in my opinion. I have used a basic pair of binoculars and made out good detail.
It is extremely bright in the night sky, moving at a fairly fast pace. You can’t miss it.
That is no moon!
I wll tell the kids it’s the Emporers Shuttle arriving :-)
Lol, he’s just here for a look around… We’ll send him packing, probably would like it much like the airwaves adds.
Oh so that’s the moon! Thanks Journal!
Pass the beer nuts please
Do you live in the west? Cloud cover?
That’s my thursday evening sorted so :)
Grand, my boss lives in the moon. I will tell her to have her coins ready so she doesn’t miss this one…
Astronomy Ireland have a page showing where this will be visible here
I’m delighted that the picture above is captioned.
Just saw it passing by. That was very cool! Thanks for the tip off. It was moving a lot faster and much brighter than I thought!
bet ya €5 the clouds come out to watch as well always the same frigging irish weather
I’m so excited!
Will a person not on the line see the station at all ? I remember when the shuttle flew over after launch and most people could see it. What’s different here ?
Thanks Ciara
Clouds in Dublin as per usual. Caught a glimpse but nowhere near the moon.
Stupid cloud about to obscure the moon at 20.48 grrrrr
Got some pics and a video so a very happy camper here.
Cool. Anyone interested space x are the new movers in space exploration and they have some cool ideas if you like these type of things.
Just spent past hour and a bit looking to the sky’s on lovely clear night and didn’t see a thing:( glad didn’t spend good money on that ha
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