The U.S. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has awarded an Emmy to Sony's PlayStation console. The console won the Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media award for its work on 3D polygon-based games. Sony's PlayStation has been sitting comfortably on the top of the gaming market for the past decade, refusing to be dethroned by rivals that include U.S. software giant Microsoft and a pioneer in gaming, Nintendo.
The PS1 and PS2 consoles, while used, explain easily why this Emmy was awarded. At the times when both were released, they set new standards and didn't fail to impress gamers. However, can the PlayStation name remain dominant for another decade? We are now on the verge of a console war which consists of three major players, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Within the next year, the three companies (beginning with Microsoft in November 2005) will release their next generation gaming consoles to the world.
Sony is hoping to re-create past PlayStation success with the PS3 console while Microsoft is preparing to release the Xbox 360 console with the hope of taking the success away from the PlayStation name. Nintendo will release it's Revolution console and has promised it wont fail to impress with the games that will be released for the console. Between Sony and Microsoft though is where most of the battle lies.
Both went together once before and Sony ultimately won that battle, but perhaps only because the Xbox was a year late to the starting line. Microsoft has faith in a "first mover advantage" and believes that it will give the Xbox 360 a major advantage over the PS3 in the console war. Nevertheless, this Emmy awarded to Sony does prove that Sony PlayStation has huge credibility behind it; will the first mover advantage of a few months be enough for Microsoft to dethrone PlayStation?
While Bill Gates ponders on that question, Sony was honored to receive this award. Ken Kutaragi, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment said the award was an honor and the success of the PlayStation had gone beyond his wildest dreams. "When the concept for PlayStation was in its infancy in the early 1990s, we had a dream to elevate the quality of computer graphics from a 2D-based environment to a rich, realistic 3D experience," he said. "At the same time, we intended to bring in a new form of entertainment through the living room in a manner that would allow people all over the world to enjoy the pleasures of interactive entertainment."
Source:
BBC News
