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SvennoJ on 16 July 2025
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pokoko said:
Otter said:

I do think people are attributing too much to playstation...

A lot of that "cool" was just games evolving into something which isn't just 2D Sprites. Playstation was a fresh new comer and as the more consumer friendly/dev friendly device definitely were at the forefront of making that cool a reality... But IMO a lot of it would of happened on N64 & subsequently the Dreamcast.

I mostly agree with you, which is why I emphasized Final Fantasy 7.  As I said before, it would have happened eventually.

We do still need to acknowledge that the PS1 was the perfect device for it, though.  Being CD based allowed it to play audio CDs, which was a big deal at the time, and they absolutely killed it with some of the advertisements.  I think the brand image of Sony itself helped a lot.

Their competitors were also making the wrong choices.  I don't see the N64 having the same effect on public perception.  I was a Nintendo fan at the time and I remember being resentful about Sony's ads, but I wasn't going to admit that to anyone back then.  It was specifically the FF7 tv commercial that pushed me over and made me pick the PS1. 

The Dreamcast, however, is a huge "what-if".  Amazingly cool console.

Yep. Sony were the cool electronics to have at that time. Sony walkman, Sony stereos, Sony CD. Sony was still synonymous with the best audio equipment to have. So advertising PS1 as also a CD player worked great.

Dreamcast could have been so much more. Fond memories but couldn't stand up to ps/ps2's popularity (and grabbing of 3rd parties). Without Sony who knows what Dreamcast could have grown into. And perhaps the MS-Sega partnership would have continued, which would have gotten us faster to online gaming before HD. PC was way ahead with online gaming for a long time. Dreamcast's 56k modem could have been so much more with MS backing.