The Reality Co-Processor as it was known, was developed by SGI for Nintendo. The GPU was also considerably more advanced. The processor, for example, was also a MIPS based unit but more advanced using the MIPS III architecture (as opposed to the MIPS I in the PlayStation’s cpu) and was fully 64bit. The end result was a strange combination of good and bad hardware. Nintendo’s strategy was to strike back with superior hardware which at least on paper, they did.
With such a monumental task ahead of them, it’s no surprise that the N64 was released a full two years after the Saturn and PlayStation. Given Nintendo’s abrupt break from their partnership with Sony they had to completely redo their future console strategy. However graphical problems would remain to plague the PlayStation throughout it’s life in spite of developer’s best efforts.
Some of these issues were resolved with the PlayStation Performance Analyzer. Due to the primitive nature of its GPU the PlayStation suffered from z-ordering issues as well as annoying texture “jiggle”. The PlayStation did however have limitations. Gran Turismo 2 featured impressive graphics, a real soundtrack and FMV sequences. Whatever actually happened we do know that at CES 1991 Sony was showing off their partnership with Nintendo for the SNES CD attachment when Nintendo Chairman Howard Lincoln came on stage for the keynote speech and announced a new partnership with Phillips, completely disregarding prior agreements with Sony and publicly embarrassing them. The second version states that Sony intended to make the PlayStation from the get go and wanted it to also be compatible with SNES cartridges. The first states that Sony was merely making the CD addon for the SNES/Super Famicom and Nintendo was put off by how much control Sony wanted. Now at this point the story gets a little foggy, there are two popular versions to this. Nintendo followed Sega’s lead and contacted Sony to help develop such a solution. The story begins in the late 1980’s with Nintendo attempting to create an effective disc based solution for their home consoles. The multimedia capabilities of the PlayStation introduced a new aspect of gaming that many now take for granted. For the first time since the 1980’s video game consoles once again became truly revolutionary in their capabilities and feature sets.
For those who are old enough to remember the rivalry was fought on the battleground of 3D graphics. The Nintendo 64 and the Sony PlayStation one of the best revenge sagas in video game history. Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of in-depth hardware based articles that will hopefully serve to educate gamer’s on the inner workings of consoles Introduction
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