It has been revealed that Sony's game console, the PlayStation, will be featured in NHK's documentary "New Project X: Challengers" (General TV, Saturdays at 8 PM). The October 11th broadcast will be titled "The Mavericks' Game Console Revolution: An Electronics Manufacturer's Move for a New Era," and will feature Ken Kutaragi, the creator of the PlayStation and later president of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), who will look back on the dramatic story surrounding its development.
The program explores behind the scenes of development with themes such as "The unorthodox engineer Kutaragi's sudden jump into the game resulted in the creation of the Super Famicom sound chip, and the birth of the phantom prototype machine by Sony and Nintendo," "But then development was suddenly halted... Amidst a wave of internal criticism, they decided to 'Do it!' to develop their own game machine," "The obstacle to realizing real-time 3DCG: A fateful encounter with Toshiba's semiconductor engineers," and "An electronics manufacturer's game machine, a dearth of software manufacturers: Namco, the pioneer, and the Tyrannosaurus that saved the day." In addition to development leader Kutaragi, SCE founder Shigeo Maruyama and game creator Yozo Sakagami will also appear.
◇Highlights
This is the story of how a Japanese electronics manufacturer changed the world with the development of a video game console. It depicts the fateful encounter between a maverick engineer who dreamed of turning games into entertainment that adults could enjoy, and a semiconductor developer whose work had not seen the light of day for many years. Despite widespread criticism from the industry that it was a reckless endeavor, the company introduced 3D technology and developed an innovative video game console that exudes a sense of realism. Today, video games have become the mainstream of entertainment, surpassing the market size of music and movies. This is the passionate story of those who pioneered the early days of video games.
◇MC's comments
・Yoshio Arima
Once known as the "King of Electronics," Sony has now transformed into a global entertainment company focused on movies, music, and games. The game business is the company's mainstay, and it all began with the development of the PlayStation. Don't miss the passionate days when unknown engineers poured their energy into this revolution!
・Mori Hanako
Games have become a part of our daily lives, but how many people could have envisioned this future 40 years ago? This time, we'll tell the story of a brilliant engineer who calculated this future. It's full of hints for realizing the future you imagine.
