??? I just used the term "PS3 fans" to describe a whole bunch of people "barking all sorts of menaces (massive defection, trolling, etc.)" on gametrailers...

Wasn't that obvious ?

Here's what really happened between Sony and Nintendo.

The first conceptions of the PlayStation date back to 1986. Nintendo had been attempting to work with disc technology since the Famicom, but the medium had problems. Its rewritable magnetic nature could be easily erased (thus leading to a lack of durability), and the discs were a copyright infringement danger. Consequently, when details of CDROM/XA (an extension of the CD-ROM format that combines compressed audio, visual and computer data, allowing all to be accessed simultaneously) came out, Nintendo was interested. CD-ROM/XA was being simultaneously developed by Sony and Philips. Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "SNES-CD". A contract was signed, and work began. Nintendo's choice of Sony was due to a prior dealing: Ken Kutaragi, the person who would later be dubbed "The Father of PlayStation", was the individual who had sold Nintendo on using the Sony SPC-700 processor for use as the eight-channel ADPCM sound synthesis set in the Super Famicom/SNES console through an impressive demonstration of the processor's capabilities.

Sony also planned to develop another, Nintendo compatible, Sony-branded console, but one which would be more of a home entertainment system playing both Super Nintendo cartridges and a new CD format which Sony would design. This was also to be the format used in SNES-CD discs, giving a large degree of control to Sony despite Nintendo's leading position in the video gaming market.

The SNES-CD was to be announced at the June 1991 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). However, when Hiroshi Yamauchi read the original 1988 contract between Sony and Nintendo, he realized that the earlier agreement essentially handed Sony complete control over any and all titles written on the SNES CD-ROM format. Yamauchi decided that the contract was totally unacceptable and he secretly canceled all plans for the joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment. Instead of announcing a partnership between Sony and Nintendo, at 9 a.m. the day of the CES, Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln stepped onto the stage and revealed that Nintendo was now allied with Philips, and Nintendo was planning on abandoning all the previous work Nintendo and Sony had accomplished. Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa had, unbeknown to Sony, flown to Philips headquarters in Europe and formed an alliance of a decidedly different nature—one that would give Nintendo total control over its licenses on Philips machines.

After the collapse of the joint project, Sony considered halting their research, but ultimately the company decided to use what they had developed so far and make it into a complete, stand alone console. As a result, Nintendo filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and attempted, in U.S. federal court, to obtain an injunction against the release of the PlayStation, on the grounds that Nintendo owned the name. The federal judge presiding over the case denied the injunction and, in October 1991, the first incarnation of the new Sony PlayStation was revealed. However, it is theorized that only 200 or so of these machines were ever produced.

By the end of 1992, Sony and Nintendo reached a deal whereby the "Sony Play Station" would still have a port for SNES games, but Nintendo would own the rights and receive the bulk of the profits from the games, and the SNES would continue to use the Sony-designed audio chip. However, Sony decided in early 1993 to begin reworking the "Play Station" concept to target a new generation of hardware and software. As part of this process the SNES cartridge port was dropped and the space between the names was removed.

So there you have it, yes, nintendo should have looked at the contract in more detail but the bottom line is that Nintendo were already a LEGENDARY gaming company and sony were just some PUNK company whos only claim to fame at the time was the DAMN WALKMAN.

Who the hell do sony think they are? It was nintendo who hired sony afterall yet sony like the snakes they are drew up a contract that would hand naming rights to them.

Great article .

This is the world of the PS3 ......a lot of hate when you are outside and a terrific machine full of bells and whistles once you are inside .The people "outside" ,though ,keep hating and hating ...and now that their former arguements (600 bucks ,Blu Ray will fail like UMD ,no games ,online not 1/10th of Live ) dont hold any water they are trying to go for the nuclear bomb .....Sony will stop manufacturing the PS3 due to poor sales.With 20 million sold in 2 years and despite seeing Sony is increasing their first party projects.Sure guys ,have fun with your hallucinations .

So now a 1986-1991 run with the NES  makes for legendary status ....and Sony who among others produced the MSX standard (japanese computer from wich most of the so called Nes classic as Castlevania ,Metal Gear ,Gradius ,etc comes ) back in 1984 was just a punk company .

Keep dreaming boy .

(1) Ok, that does give him credit for something. But then, what else did he do? Design the playstation machines. The ps1 has a crappy disk drive. The ps2 also has a crappy disk drive, was not as powerful as the competition and even more expensive than it and was complicated to develop for. The ps3 has a wonderful disk drive compared to its previous iterations (finally Ken, you finally figured it out in just 10 years), but is complicated to develop for and it's design made it too expensive. I think the playstation brand was very successful due to many factors but not because of the hardware in itself. I only see Ken as a bad designer compared to the other console's designers. Ohhh... and he is also really arrogant.

(2) This was mainly because of nintendo's arrogance at the time. Not because of their split.

(3) Just do it like me and don't support any company. They all lie to get your money.

@ Ronster316

If you quote a large piece of text like this, please make this clear and credit the original source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation#History

IMO make sure additional personal comments are easily distinguished from the quote.

2009 ... year of the PS3.

"And just because I feel as if I should have the disclaimer (it's sad, but it's probably necessary), I'll go play some Gears 2 now. It rocks the house...even if it is the only Xbox 360 exclusive that I really need." - That line is key.

The only thing I don't understand is how all of the pro 360 arguments changed from "we have the games/the best line-up" to "we have more sales".

It doesn't put it in all those words, but they play down the articles out there with small arguments. Let's look at it:

Despite all of this internet forums and especially US media are heating up again with their FUD and misinformation, the PS3 is DOOMED!

Internet forums is one thing, but specially the US media? FUD and misinformation? You might find some examples of this out there, but I don't think this is the norm. Actually, they sometimes exagerate on their titles to call people's attention, but you have to read the content and it is not misinformation whatsoever. They are informed. But I agree with them (and you) that the ps3 is not doomed.

But the article does the worst here:

Ok, ok, ok... come on... what? Really?

And then what comes next is just the worst:

If you know logic, then you know that the truth is that there is no logic whatsoever in this statement.

Ahhh, yes. The ps3 got many awards for great games. It had a great 2008 lineup. But his "we have to assume" part is just ridiculous. This guy should really take a course in logical statements and conclusions. The articles he mentions are not about games, but about sales compared to the competition and sony's financial situation. Nice way to miss the point of his argument.

So yeah, I still think this is a fanboy rant and that they put those articles in the same bag. No facts? Logical conclusion is jealousy? I expected much better from an article with this title.

Ok, my apologies go out to the all knowing wikipedia for not crediting them, i pasted that info in to a mail a long time ago and forgot the source i got it from, hell , i even say "google search playstation prototype" in my sig because i have info on sony from loads of diffrent sources, funny how now that i have mentioned that article that all the sony fanboys have suddenly gone silent.