25 Years Ago Today: A PlayStation Shopping Frenzy - But Would Microsoft's Xbox Make It Obsolete?

25 years ago today on Slashdot...

Hemos linked to a site called Joystick101 describing the
crowd camping out to buy the limited number of just-released PlayStation 2 consoles (and games). '500,000 lucky members of the American gaming public are sneaking a few minutes of playing Madden 2001, Tekken, or Ridge Racer V before school or work...' wrote Joystick101. That same day CmdrTaco posted reports PS2s were selling for over $1,000 on eBay. And then Timothy updated that post to note someone saw one selling for $5,000.

But there was a third PS2 link posted on October 26, 2000... Hemos wrote a post titled 'The PS2 — A Betamax In the Making?' — linking to an article by
Mark Pesce (co-inventor of VRML and, in 1993, an Apple consulting engineer). 'Microsoft promises Xbox will deliver ten times the performance of the PS2,' Pesce wrote, noting Microsoft had partnered with Intel and 'upstart video-chip developer Nvidia':

The strangest thing about this battle of giants is that Microsoft has become a champion of open standards, encouraging developers to write Xbox titles without requiring them to pay any licensing fees. In comparison, Sony charges a minimum of $25,000 for access to the documentation and technology of the PlayStation2, plus a hefty license fee on every game sold. In the video-game industry, the Big Three — Sony, Nintendo, and Sega — sell the hardware at a loss (the PS2 costs nearly the $300 it will retail for) and recover their investment in the stiff licensing fees paid by game developers for the 'key' that allows their software to work on Sony's platform...

Having committed an astounding $500 million to market the Xbox next Christmas, it's clear that Microsoft doesn't mind taking a short-term loss to ensure an eventual win. If Sony's not careful, this could turn into 'Betamax, the Sequel.' Twenty years ago, Sony tightly controlled the titles made available for its technically superior videocassette player — specifically, no adult content — and found themselves quickly locked out of an incredibly lucrative market for adult and family content. If Sony keeps a tight grip on the PS2, they may actually help Microsoft create the new VHS. But even if Sony loses this round (and no one wants to wager which way this battle will turn), they've already set their sights on the PlayStation3, to be released five years from now. Sony promises it will be a thousand times faster than the PS2.

Ironically, Pesce's warning about possible threats to the PS2's longevity was published by online magazine Feed-- which seven months later went out of business.

And this week it was announced that even Microsoft's Halo Campaign Evolved will now be coming to PlayStation 5, with Slashdot publishing six PlayStation-related stories in just the last three months in 2025.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader crunchy_one for suggesting a '25 Years Ago' Slashdot post.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.