The facts/numbers do not match the author's conclusion. Playstation won, even if it did not in the author's memory.
For comparison purposes that is shown in the following image:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console)#/media/F...
#/media/File:PlayStation-SCPH-1000-with-Controller.png){kind=link}
"But you sell TVs, DVD players, and audio systems, not games consoles, you won't sell any of these"
Well not if we can't demo it we won't!
Despite this being the prevailing attitude at Sony - "don't sell them in shops where people are already spending five figure sums on home entertainment" - it did really well.
The one thing where I think they really missed a trick though, was their 200-disc changers. They had a CD changer and a DVD changer, massive units (we had a DVP-CX850D on demo), that took 200 discs like the name suggests, plugged into your TV and audio system, and you could select which one you wanted to play from an on-screen menu.
I think they really biffed it by not offering that chassis with PS2 guts. Just think, you've got your library of films, audio CDs, and games, all in one unit tucked neatly out of the way. It would have been expensive but it would have blown the market apart.
And, like the CX850, it'd still be about 700 quid on eBay 27 years later.
Does the author live in a parallel universe where Sony didn't completely dominate gen 5 & gen 6 sales?
>The limited amount of storage on the cartridge means that the textures laid over the game’s polygons are blurry and often hideously ugly.
The cartridge storage wasn't the limiting factor here. The problem was the unified RDRAM memory architecture of the N64 which turned out to be too slow for texturing. Instead developers had to use a 4KiB bit of onboard memory which was just too little in hindsight.
Difficult to ascertain. Sales wise of course Sony will sell more. It was N64's 388 worldwide games vs Sony's 4,074 titles. More games than you could possibly try + Lower prices + higher install base will lead to more game sales and frankly I have seen so many more "experimental" titles on Playstation.
Never thought i'd be playing as a beach ball escaping a maze while eating watermelons and listening to egyptian trance but it happened on Playstation.
https://youtu.be/OcaNdzEXch8?t=7
Plus Sony always felt like a "global" console. They expanded the user base to not only non gamers but a truly international audience (latin america, middle east etc.) It was probably the modchips that made it happen but still.
But "winning the console war" is more than just raw sales. For example, of that extremely small 388 titles it is astounding how many of those games have won numerous prestigious awards, were genre defining, moved its genre in a direction that all others copied, or are still cited as one of the best games of all time.
The N64 really laid down an entire historial footprint for the millennial generation despite its significantly smaller sales. I guess a lot of that is down to Nintendo and many of their games demonstrating why they have been in a league of their own. But the console also had superb titles released by third parties as well.
The jump in graphics was massive.
Speaking of graphics, it’s still worth pointing out that the PS2 was the weakest console of its generation in most respects save for its unique data streaming capabilities, but it did beat the GameCube and Xbox by a year. (We aren’t counting the Dreamcast here)
The PS2 sold itself easily with the integrated DVD capability.
The GameCube had very strong capabilities, but I think it was hamstrung by smaller disc capacity and Nintendo’s difficult developer situation. Sony had the customer and they were easy to work with.
I also think from a marketing standpoint, the small size and toy-ish appearance of the GameCube made it look less appealing to older demographics. The controller didn’t look as serious, either, and the C-stick was a dumb move.
Nintendo wouldn’t give in and make the normal standardized controller that we all agree is the end-state until the Switch, although you can’t fault them for the massive success they enjoyed with the Wii.
But in the last Best Buy we visited the person I asked about the launch told me the same as all the other stores we visited before but said “you really want one?” And he pulled out his wallet and started digging into a bunch of papers and gave me a receipt of his own PS2 reservation at another chain (I think it was Electronics Boutique?) and said “keep it, I don’t feel like getting it now I’ll just get one down the road”, he didn’t want any money for it, we insisted profusely, even though his reservation had like 15 dollars already paid. I was so lucky.
That other store was doing a midnight launch, they even had police in the parking lot keeping an eye. Picked up the console with Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, Kessen and a 2nd controller if I recall correctly.
Good times.