Did a SUPER RARE Sony-Nintendo PlayStation prototype just pop up online? Possibly, maybe

A precious prototype of what appears to be a Nintendo-Sony Playstation has been paraded online, after the console was discovered languishing in a "box of junk". Youtube Video Dan Diebold uploaded some pictures of the supposed SNES to imgur and said: "My dad worked for a company, apparently one of the guys he used to work …

[Anonymous Coward]

I call fake

Too many inconsistencies, and a desperate attempt at adding credibility by name checking olaf

[ThomH]

Re: I call fake

Can you elaborate? Probably for most of us this merely sounds like an improbable thing, devoid of strong evidence in either direction.

[MrMur]

Re: I call fake

Upvoted. Apart from the PS logo, I would say it is identical. If you look at the video, it seems like there is a cover missing where the cartridge slot is. But crucially, you can see the recess where such a cover would go. Good find.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I call fake

CD logo on the drive, fake aging to the body, desperate attempts to add credibility by vaguely name checking someone involved in the project. Not wanting to power it up...

All the warning signs are there.

[Dave 126]

Fun exercise...

Real or Fake? I can't work it out... The lower front panel is yellowed from exposure to UV light, with less yellowing under the Controller 1 socket, yet the rest of the case hasn't yellowed at all. This doesn't mean that it is definitely a fake - it might be that the yellowed lower front panel was modified by SONY from a production PC CD-ROM fascia, and the rest of the case made by prototyping process... possibly. Still, it's weird.

Apart from this front panel, the rest of the machine externally appears to be identical to the genuine 1990 SONY PlayStation concept, except for the area where the cartridge slots in. This concept was designed by Soichi Tanaka, with a logo designed by Masaaki Omuri.

The first PlayStation that was sold commercially was designed by Teiyu Goto, who later went on to found Sony's VAIO computers. The lilac colour of this PlayStation was to minimise the appearance of the inevitable UV yellowing.

Source for the factual stuff: ISBN 9780789302625

[Henry Wertz 1]

Somebody's going to be rich...

Assuming this is not a fake, looks like someone's going to get a very nice pay day. This seems like just the kind of thing someone will pay big, big bucks for. Lucky! 8-)

[Evil Auditor]

Re: Somebody's going to be rich...

Could you please be a bit more specific who the someone is, who is going to pay big bucks? I have quite some electronic junk too, which I'd like to get rid of....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Somebody's going to be rich...

who is going to pay big bucks?

There is a massive market for unreleased/dev/prototype gaming kit, I personally have made considerable amounts of money selling prototype/beta games and dev kits to collectors over the years.

If you are curious, check out ASSEMblerGames.com where the guy who has this device also posts.

The device appears to be 100% legit, the guy doesn't want to open/power it up himself as it may destroy what might be one of only 3 devices left in the world (the other 2 are in Sony safes)

The "value" of this device is more than just dollars/pounds/yen

[Anonymous Coward]

Let go?

"My dad worked for a company, apparently one of the guys he used to work with, I think his name was Olaf.." Let him go, let him go, can't pay him anymore!

(I'll get my coat now.)

[Martin Summers]

Re: Let go?

Git, I'd gone a good few months without that song in my head.

[applebyJedi]

Did I see a RJ45 on that device? A standard that had only just been invented? Seems dubious to me!

[bpfh]

Where did you see an RJ45 port?

I can see the svideo, a handfull of RCA's and 2 specfic not so say propriatory output ports, nothing RJ like, unless you mean the small rectangular hole below RFU DC out. Seems way too thin to be an RJ45, plus no locking tab cutout. More like a blank for another optional connector.

[wolfetone]

Research El Reg, Research

The Nintendo-Sony get together was referred to as the "Play Station", not the "PlayStation".

Christ sake, it's hardly a small key on the keyboard is the space bar is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yellowing

About the irregular yellowing, that actually made it look more plausable to me

I have loads of old super famicom games, and they do seem to yellow in odd ways, many of them have a perfect front, but the back half of the case is really yellow, with no visible gradient between the two (I often swap the yellow backs with non yellow ones of dirt cheap games), I can't believe people are leaving them face down in direct sunlight, so I can only assume there is some slight difference in the chemicals in the plastic that makes up the two halves.

The lack of a space in the logo is fishy, also, I'm surprised there is so little nintendo branding on the thing, I would have expected both logos on the device.

[Edit] Just looked at the old pic in one of the links, there's no space in the title of that one either, and no apparent nintendo logos, so its starting to look pretty legit to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yellowing

Apparently, Sony were going full Sony, zero Nintendo in the build/design due to their clever trick in contract agreement with Nintendo. Who/when/how the argument started is still disputed, but it was to be 100% Sony royalties, and nothing paid to Nintendo, having little to no Nintendo branding (except the controller? Exception as the contract was "console"?) seems to back up the legitimacy actually. Hmmm.

[Crazy Operations Guy]

Re: Yellowing

Well, the button colors kinda give it away as well. The pictured device is using the SNES controller port type, which used gray and purple buttons. It wasn't until a later version of the SNES when the four-color buttons started appearing on controllers, long after the partnership melted down.

[Daniel Barnes]

Re: Yellowing

Actually, the four colour buttons were there from the start , the purple/lilac buttons you are thinking of came with the NTSC SNES.

[Greg J Preece]

However, Nintendo later reneged on that agreement, much to the chagrin of Sony, which went on to make its own console.

....and kick the shit out of Nintendo's offering. Well done Ninty.