Sony’s home gaming console that launched a dynasty.
It’s been a while since I’ve written about video games – nearly two years ago I wrote “Therapeutic Gaming” – but with Sony PlayStation turning 30 this week and my affinity with their gaming consoles over the years, I thought I’d join in the celebration and indulge in a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
The idea for this week’s article actually came from my favourite gaming channel on YouTube who I’ve followed for a dozen years or so, “PlayStation Access”, where they discussed some of their favourite memories on their podcast (which is the official podcast of PlayStation UK). A quick shoutout to Rob, Dave, Nath, Rosie and Alex (and everyone else behind the scenes) for their continued great work entertaining myself and their millions of subscribers on a weekly basis.
“Since its launch the original PlayStation went on to sell 102 million units.”
Japan was always at the forefront of the electronics revolution, Sony being one of those companies, and by the mid 90’s the home entertainment war was raging on like no tomorrow as more and more people began to enjoy what was previously only available outside the home (or to the wealthy).
I was originally a Sega man, my cousin was a Nintendo man, so before our first PlayStation we already had a Mega-Drive (I & II) and a Saturn in the household. However, in the summer of ’98, “Father Christmas” delivered a tremendous gift that year. It didn’t faze me in the slightest that the console had already been out for four years (three in Australia because that’s how the world rolled back in those days). We had two games – Colin McRae Rally and Shane Warne Cricket ’99 – and boy did they get extensively played. Both games still rank highly to this day. Half an hour on weeknights, an hour on weekends, and asking for permission – the kids these days wouldn’t cope!
If I wasn’t gaming with my brother, I was gaming by myself, which suited me fine. I understand most people’s youth gaming stories involved going around friends houses / playing with friends, but for me this wasn’t the case. Growing up in a small country town, we were always playing sport or riding BMX bikes or some other shenanigans, be it with friends or family, so gaming was more viewed as a quiet/relaxing “me time” activity, if you will. No surprise then for my penchant in single-player games, and the idea of multiplayer being “local” and only my brother. Even now, online multiplayer doesn’t really do it for me, but thankfully the internet is better than what it was.
By the time Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 came out a couple of years later, along with Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 the following year, both riding the wave of action/extreme sports of the late 90’s, early 00’s, that my brother and I were both heavily into. Even MX2002 was a really solid Motocross game that saw extensive use. One of the big reasons for the success of these games was that they all had killer soundtracks, so you just wanted to keep playing them anyway, it just felt good jamming away nailing big trick after big trick, and for the most part you couldn’t hear these songs anywhere else unless they came on the radio or you were fortunate enough to find a CD with them on it. It was also during this time that the successor to the original PlayStation launched, aptly abbreviated to “PS2”, and the rest they say is history.
“The PS2 is the highest selling console of all-time at 160 million units.”
Talk about taking the ball and running with it, the meteoric success of the PS2 is staggering even by today’s standards. For comparison, about 60 million PS5s have been sold since it launched in 2020 and look how massive the gaming industry is now, granted it hasn’t been out as long. It honestly felt like a new world of possibilities had been opened up, along with the technological advancements; 480p, what sorcery is this? Memory card with 8x the storage, my god!
The PS2 era was arguably my favourite era of gaming. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been etched into my DNA. Need for Speed: Underground, Underground 2 and Most Wanted are more than just memories (Most Wanted nailed the sweet spot between tuning and running from the police). Gran Turismo had continued to grow by leaps and bounds with GT2 (original PS) and GT4 (PS2) being the only two my brother and I 100% completed, and in my opinion are the best two in the series (bring back an extensive car list and endurance racing Polyphony Digital, are you listening?!).
So many other cool games to highlight like the Bond games Nightfire and Everything or Nothing, and even smaller titles like Smuggler’s Run 2: Hostile Territory, which provided endless hours of entertainment just messing around. However, I don’t want this to be just a catalogue of everything that came out, so I’ll stop it here.
PS3 and Assassin’s Creed helped to fill the void of wanting to be a part of something bigger than myself and my growing philosophical curiosity and interest in history. I even built a shrine of sorts, adorned by images and quotes printed off from the early part of the series. I also loved collecting the statues, I loved the detail in them. Obviously, the soundtracks are just beautiful, Jesper Kyd did an amazing job, and I continue to listen to them regularly today. Once again, it was second entry (AC II) that blew me away – I seem to have an affinity for the number 2 haha. The original Last of Us did things I didn’t realise games could do, and it will forever be one of my greatest gaming experiences.
By this stage and the launch of the PS4, I’m in my mid 20’s, and naturally the inevitable “when will you grow out of it? / stop playing kids games” starts creeping in. Not from my parents, they never had an issue, but just a general societal judgement. The sentiment is still here to this day, but in some cases less, in some cases more, but you can subvert it easier thanks largely to the internet.
The PS4 era produced arguably my two greatest gaming experiences: The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption II. The immersion by way of the world, the lore, the soundtracks was at a level not dreamed of even by my child self. The exploration, the variety, the life-like nature, the way it responded to you…just phenomenal. The Witcher is not even my genre of choice nor had I played a role-playing game (RPG) before, but man am I glad I persevered, and I’ve yet to see a game more detailed than RDR II. I was also late to the Uncharted series, namely from playing too much Assassin’s Creed, but I managed to experience the man, the myth, the legend Nathan Drake collection, the PS4 remaster of the first three games (Drake’s Fortune, Among Thieves and Drake’s Deception), just in time before the launch of A Thief’s End. Indiana Jones on steroids is an apt analogy!
Little at the time did I know how much remasters and remakes were going to play a part in the gaming industry. A number of gaming series had been rebooted, and successfully, like the Tomb Raider resurrection in 2013, but I wrote about it here and discussed the greater problem of creativity originality and power of nostalgia.
This segues nicely into the PS5 era which, in my opinion, has largely been underwhelming and full of remasters and remakes and PS5 upgraded games, as opposed to new games. I’m really grateful I waited to play the PS5 version of Cyberpunk 2077 as the previous generation consoles just didn’t really have the hardware to run it properly, and the game wasn’t launched a finished product (for many reasons which I won’t go into here). Still, it has had one of the best redemption arcs, outside of No Man’s Sky, that a game can have and is now widely revered as it should be.
Over the years, the main gaming shift I’ve noticed is that it’s gone from being just a fun activity with a main focus on gameplay, into these all-encompassing visual spectacles that can consume your entire life, for better or worse.
Much like cricket, I’m afraid that the joy I derive from it will cease at some point. It’s not so much the thing in itself, I miss what it used to mean to me. It’s rare for me now to get excited about a new game coming out, and for the most part I don’t really feel I’m the target audience for a lot of them. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never really thought of myself as a “gamer”, and I still don’t – there’s so much about gaming that doesn’t fit me and what I’m about.
I find myself frequently nowadays doing more virtual photography than actual gaming. I game less than I used to, nothing uncommon for a man in his mid 30’s, and I play fewer games although for longer. Of the few I do play, I’ll play through once only or stick to my favourites and play them through again (and again). Sometimes, I can’t help but feel I’m searching for a long-lost love, but that which only appears in ghost form. Sometimes, I feel it's like I’m in loveless marriage, together out of habit with the best years behind us and the reason why we’re together tis but a distant memory (a bit dramatic, but hopefully the analogy is clear). In recent months, most of my time gaming has been whilst chatting with people, almost as if to say if I wasn’t chatting to them, I wouldn’t have been gaming.
I’ve turned a celebration into something morbidly depressing haha sorry about that, story of my life with such a melancholic nature. So, what does the future hold? Where are we headed? Outside of GTA VI. Has my love of gaming transformed? Is it less passionate, but more consolidated? I would tend to agree. Am I searching for a feeling that no longer exists? Possibly. Maybe, I need to stop looking for it, and then I will find it again.
I have no idea what PlayStation will be like in another 30 years, if they’ll be around at all. Perhaps we’ll have a chip implanted into our heads like an inescapable virtual reality. Perhaps people will date their gaming consoles similar to Joaquin Phoenix in the movie “Her” with an operating system. People are suggesting the PS6 will have 8K and 120fps, but how much more do we really need? Pretty and smooth only gets you so far. I’m interested to see the next generation of characters and narratives to carry the gaming community forward because that is what matters.
Thank you, Sony PlayStation, for the tremendous memories and experiences over the past 30 years. I will always remain grateful for having you as a part of my life, and may the good times continue.
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