The system was unlike anything anyone had ever seen at the time. Where Sony’s approach to games was once limited to publishing software of question-able value, largely as a subordinate function to the company’s motion picture arm, PlayStation positioned them as hungry, ruthless leaders. PlayStation could have been just another Jaguar, 3DO, or PC-FX - another costly, aimless failure - but Sony had a clear vision for its new console. The game industry of 1994 was a fractured, fractious mess, with every major player (and several would-be giants) making forays into the post-16-bit world. market 3D graphics presented through polygons had emerged as a clear standard FMV-based adventure games (“Siliwood”) fizzled into obsolescence after a brief bid for attention at the dawn of the CD-ROM era. The three years between Nintendo’s public double-cross and the system’s realisation had seen many changes in the industry: Sega had shattered Nintendo’s hammerlock on the U.S. You can order PlayStation: A Retrospective and the other launch titles in the Press Run imprint on Limited Run’s website.Īfter several years of development, Sony’s re-imagined PlayStation launched in Japan at the end of 1994. However, rather than reading it below, you really should click through this link and see this intro (as well as later pages, including a piece on the original Resident Evil) as they actually appear in the book, because the book is gorgeous and beautifully laid out, full of photos, screenshots, and other artwork. It’s a fascinating read that vividly reminds us just what Sony was jumping into with the original PlayStation, which went toe-to-toe with the Sega Saturn. Not just a glossy look at the console’s greatest hits, in its pages games like the flawed but fascinating Strider 2 get equal consideration alongside the likes of Final Fantasy VII.īelow, I present to you an excerpt from the early pages of PlayStation: A Retrospective, the intro to the book’s section on the console’s launch, in all the glory that Kinja can muster. It combines a knowledgeable historical perspective on the business decisions Sony made that would change the video game landscape forever, with first-hand recollections of many PlayStation games. I’ve had a chance to look through the entire book a bit, and my initial impression is that anyone with a real interest in the history and impact of Sony’s fist console will love it. Originally published in 2011 by Jeremy Parish and the GameSpite Crew to mark the console’s then-15th anniversary, it’s been revised for this new release. It’s important to note that unlike the company’s games, while there may be collector’s editions of books that do sell out, the books themselves aren’t designed to be “limited.” As Limited Run put it in a message to members of the press, “Press Run exists to keep great books in circulation for as long as people want to read them, which means that these publications won’t necessarily sell out - if interest exists, we’ll publish second or even third editions.” The label’s kickoff includes subjects like games on the Virtual Boy, the history of publisher Sunsoft, and a book on the launch and history of the original PlayStation.Ĭalled PlayStation: A Retrospective, we have an excerpt of it below. Limited Run is moving into book publishing with its own imprint, Press Run, headed up by former games journalists Jeremy Parish and Jared Petty, and we’ve got an exclusive excerpt from the label’s first book. Today, however, the company is announcing a new venture, one that strikes me as a logical progression of catering to people who want to see games given the consideration and treatment they deserve. Sometimes, Limited Run gives beloved classic games the deluxe treatment, offering them with accompanying essays that put those games in context, not unlike the Criterion Collection does with films. In our modern digital world, in which many games get download-only releases, the company’s limited edition boxed copies provide a way for fans to enjoy the tactile, tangible pleasure of having a game they love in physical form. Limited Run Games is a business that has found its niche.
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