22 Key Moments From PS3 History

PS3 is getting older but the gaming industry is getting fresher as everyone waits in anticipation to begin a new chapter of gaming. Both Microsoft and Sony have showed their next-gen console and both of them would be available this holiday to finally put to end months of teasers and jaw-breaking revelations. Gamers would be able to get firsthand experience of the hotly anticipated next-gen gaming consoles.

In 2006, the PlayStation 3 was released and allot of things happened down the road. Let us take a break and reflect on the journey of the PlayStation 3.

May 2005 – Sony teases PlayStation 3 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The name of the next Sony super system was PS3 or PlayStation 3. Killzone 2, a first-person shooter for the PlayStation 3 was also announced with jaw-breaking graphics.

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July 2006 – If you want a PS3 get another Job. “For consumers to think to themselves ‘I will work more hours to buy one’. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.” – Ken Kutaragi affirmed on a Japanese economic website Toyo Keizai.

September 2006 – Sony PlayStation 3 is delayed to March 2007 on all PAL Regions. Sony cited shortages of Blu-ray materials are the primary cause of the delay. This ultimately gave more momentum to the Xbox 360.

November 2006 – The first ever PS3 was released in Japan, the 60 GB version retailed at 59,800 Yen. It was the first gaming device to use Blu-ray Disc as its primary storage medium.

November 2006 – PlayStation Network was launched to rival the popular Xbox Live and remain a shadow of itself for most part of its existence. PSN started matching Xbox Live feature for feature in 2010 and has greatly improved over the years.

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March 2007 – Sony confirms 6 million PS3’s have been shipped worldwide. Sales were behind expectation and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was gaining more momentum. The PlayStation brand which the company had relied on didn’t do enough as a cheaper alternative was available on store-shelves all over the world. PS3 shipped at $599 in North America while UK gamers were slammed with a price tag of £425.

April 2007 – Ken Kutaragi the father of PlayStation resigns from executive role at Sony. He became part of Sony in 1975 and was the brain behind the success of the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Industry myth has it that achieving similar feat with the PS3 eluded the PlayStation creator hence his premature resignation.

November 2007 – Sony dumps support for Sixaxis controller and introduces Dualshock 3 as an automatic replacement for the PlayStation 3 console. Sony was able to implement the much awaited “rumble” feature available in previous versions of the controller after a lengthy legal battle between Sony and Immersion finally came to an end.

December 2008 – Stereoscopic 3D announced for the PS3. Blitz games confirmed it was bringing 3D gaming and movies viewing to the PS3. One month later, Wipeout HD and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue were tested in 3D at the Consumer Electronic Show. The technology was indeed promising and signified a better hope for the future.

December 2008 – PlayStation Home is launched. PS Home is a virtual 3D social gaming platform. It is accessible on the PS3’s XMB. Membership is free and requires a PSN account. PlayStation Home still looks like a flop as it almost non-existent in the mind of gamers.

August 2009 – Sony officially announced the PS3 CECH-2000 model; a ‘slim’ version of the original PS3. Sony said it would consume lesser power and was equally less nosy that the original PlayStation 3.

September 2009 – PS3 is rebranded with the release of PS3 CECH-2000 model. The “Spider-Man font” logo was changed from the capitalized PLAYSTATION 3 to a more traditional PlayStation- and PlayStation 2-like ‘PlayStation 3’ logo with “PS3” imprinted on the console. The boot screen of all consoles changed from “Sony Computer Entertainment” to “PS3, PlayStation 3”. All new cover art and packaging of games was also changed.

Credit: Pixelatedgeek

September 2009 – Sony hires Kevin Butler to push the new $299 PS3 with the “It Only Does Everything” ad campaign. The new ad campaign worked like a charm as it exposed all the hidden features of the PS3.

September 2009 – Sony celebrates over 600 million downloads from the PlayStation Store worldwide.

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December 2009 – The U.S. Dept. of Defense announced plans to buy an additional 2,200 PS3s to complement a military supercomputer cluster running on 336 PS3 systems.

January 2010 – The PS3 showed its power with Zipper Interactive hotly anticipated game MAG. The game went ahead to received an award from Guinness World Records as “Most Players in a Console FPS” with 256 players.

September 2010 – Sony releases PlayStation Move. Sony said the new PlayStation Move motion and navigation controller will deliver a whole new entertainment experience on PS3.

January 2011 – PS3 hacked by Geohot. PS3’s root key was published online, which allowed the PS3 to run pirated apps and games.

May 2012 – Sony Engineers meets with PS3 hacker Geohot to explore what went wrong and possibly learn how to avoid similar feat with the PS4.

September 2012 – A new super slim PS3 is officially announced. Available in 12 GB and 500 GB, it was indeed a milestone reached and a technological marvel. Stacking the much debated PS3 power into a super slim shell was simply fantastic.

November 2012 – Sony announced that cumulative sales of the PS3 reached 70 million worldwide – six years after it launched in November 2006.

May 2013 – PS3 overtakes the Xbox 360 in worldwide sales.

Despite all odds, Sony makes a mark with the PS3, launched at a $100 bill more than the Xbox 360 and suffering mediocre sales coupled with the one year head-start of the Xbox 360, Sony’s PS3 was all but destined for doom! This is 2013 and the story seems a little bit different. This is the PlayStation 3, this is the history and this signifies the end of the road of an exciting gaming generation. It is hoped that next-gen brings all the promises and not excluding jaw-breaking revelations that would keep the excitement of gamers all over the world in fresh state.

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