Edge Magazine has posted a fascinating retrospective on the birth of the PlayStation, which tells the now-legendary tale with a generous helping of insider anecdotes and near-miss product concepts.
Nothing major in the familiar arc of the story has changed: An ill-fated Nintendo partnership inspired a few spurned execs to push for Sony’s entry into the gaming industry—an ambition that wasn’t met with much enthusiasm by Sony’s traditionalist leaders. They relented, Sony mounted their dramatic war against Sega, and you know the rest.
The most interesting part of this story is what didn’t happen, like the wildly different branding concepts, or the equally varying controller concepts. Did you know that the PSX almost shipped with a controller that wouldn’t cause repetitive stress injuries to anyone with adult-sized hands? Me neither! [Edge via Crunchgear]
