The PlayStation is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, in North America on 9 September 1995, in Europe on 29 September 1995, and in Australia on 15 November 1995. As a fifth-generation console, the PlayStation primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn.
NBA ShootOut is a series of basketball video games based on the NBA and released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. It was one of Sony's first-party sports franchises for the PlayStation, along with NHL FaceOff, NFL GameDay, NCAA GameBreaker and ESPN Extreme Games. The first two entries, released in 1996 and 1997, were developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's British in-house development team. Later entries were developed by 989 Sports, including NBA ShootOut 2000, the only game in the series to be released for Microsoft Windows.
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 11, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, and is the first handheld installment in the PlayStation line of consoles. As a seventh generation console, the PSP competed with the Nintendo DS.
The history of video game consoles, both home and handheld, began in the 1970s. The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, first conceived by Ralph H. Baer in 1966. Handheld consoles originated from electro-mechanical games that used mechanical controls and light-emitting diodes (LED) as visual indicators. Handheld electronic games had replaced the mechanical controls with electronic and digital components, and with the introduction of Liquid-crystal display (LCD) to create video-like screens with programmable pixels, systems like the Microvision and the Game & Watch became the first handheld video game consoles.
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American multinational video game and digital entertainment company of Sony. Jointly established by two subsidiaries in 2016, it primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game consoles and products. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments.
ESPN National Hockey Night is a multiplatform traditional ice hockey simulation video game for the Super NES, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and personal computers with MS-DOS capabilities.
NHL 97 is an ice hockey video game by EA Sports. It was released in 1996 and was the successor to NHL 96. It is the sixth installment of the NHL series and the first to be released on both PlayStation and Saturn. A Panasonic M2 version was in development and slated to be one of the launch titles for it, but never happened due to the cancellation of the system.
NHL 98 is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada. It was released in 1997 and was the successor to NHL 97. It was the last installment of the NHL series to be released on the SNES, Sega Genesis, or Sega Saturn. It is based on the 1997-98 NHL season.
Gran Turismo is a 1997 racing simulation video game developed by Japan Studio's Polys Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It was directed by Kazunori Yamauchi and produced by Shuhei Yoshida. It is the first game in the Gran Turismo series.
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a division of Sony.
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 30 November 2000. It is the successor to the PlayStation, as well as the second installment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth-generation console, it competed with Nintendo's GameCube, Sega's Dreamcast, and Microsoft's Xbox. It is the best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155 million units worldwide, nearly triple the combined sales of its competing consoles.
NHL FaceOff is a video game series published by Sony Computer Entertainment and based on the National Hockey League. Originally released for the PlayStation, the game spawned many sequels for both the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, with the last one being released in 2002. It was one of the original SCEA sports games series for the PlayStation, along with NBA ShootOut, NFL GameDay, NCAA GameBreaker and ESPN Extreme Games. The first game was released in North America in 1995. The game featured multiplayer.
NFL GameDay is the first video game in the NFL GameDay series of American football video games, and was released in 1995 on the PlayStation video game console as a competitor to the Madden NFL football game series. It was developed by Sony Interactive Studios America and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
NHL FaceOff 98 is a video game developed by Killer Game and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America for the PlayStation. It's part of the NHL FaceOff series, and was the first installment to use polygonal players.
NHL FaceOff 2003 is an ice hockey video game made by SolWorks and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, released on the PlayStation 2. It features then-Colorado Avalanche defenceman Rob Blake on its cover. Mike Emrick and Darren Pang return from the game's predecessor, NHL FaceOff 2001, to provide commentary.
NHL Powerplay '96 is a video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Windows.
NHL FaceOff '97 is an ice hockey video game developed by Killer Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the second game in the NHL FaceOff series.
NHL FaceOff 2001 is an ice hockey video game developed by SolWorks for PlayStation and by 989 Sports for PlayStation 2, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America for both games in 2000–2001. On the cover is then-Toronto Maple Leafs player Curtis Joseph.
In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and general marketing around their consoles. While console manufacturers are generally always trying to out-perform other manufacturers in sales, these console wars engage in more direct tactics to compare their offerings directly against their competitors or to disparage the competition in contrast to their own, and thus the marketing efforts have tended to escalate in back-and-forth pushes.
In the video game industry, the market for home video game consoles has frequently been segmented into generations, grouping consoles that are considered to have shared in a competitive marketspace. Since the first home consoles in 1972, there have been nine defined home console generations.
