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The Sony PlayStation, the PSOne, the PSX or whatever the Hell you called it, there's no
doubt you've encountered this gaming platform in your lifetime. Sony's claim to video game
fame spawning incredibly successful titles including Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, Twisted
Metal and Tekken, as well as being one of the most favourable release platforms for
video game developers everywhere, with its amazing 3D graphics and CD-ROM capabilities,
which even past the launch of its successor the PlayStation 2 were being pushed to its
very limits. In an interesting effort to ever popularise video game development on the PlayStation,
in particular over its rivals such as the Nintendo 64 and SEGA Saturn, Sony marketed
a special variant of the console; with the promise that with a bit of programming knowledge,
a PC or Macintosh computer as well as a dial-up connecion to the Internet, you'd be able to
program your own video games from home. Your own games? This was like a dream come true
to most gamers. I know for a fact when I was younger all I dreamt of was making my own
video games, and Net Yaroze was just that. A sleek, black PlayStation and with the opportunity
to get your game published on the next Demo Disc, what could be better? Well like with
everything there is a catch. The price. Net Yaroze wasn't sold in normal retail outlets
and was available only via mail order. After all, it was no mass market product and appealed
only to budding game designers or those wishing to become game designers. From what I know,
the only places that Sony simply handed out these systems were to universities. I don't
know whether they were used or not. Regardless, the Net Yaroze PlayStation along with its
necessary software, cables for hooking it into your TV, computer, power, a sleek, black
controller and memory card as well as helpful manuals for the C programming language cost
around $750 USD, roughly £480 in the UK. That's some expensive PlayStation, and in
all fairness, it did what it said on the tin, and a lot of fun albeit simple games were
made. The good such as 'Rocks 'n' Gems' and 'Psychon' to games that mocked the very fabric
of good control schemes, such as 'A Dog Tale'. All in all, Net Yaroze wasn't a great success
and never really took off. But what I do know today it maintains a cult following, and despite
not being the first home programmable console, it gave us all a preview of what was to come.
For example being able to run the Linux operating system on video game consoles, like its successor
the PS2. Unfortunately now, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has shut down the Net
Yaroze servers, however mirrors of the original content are out there on the Internet. It
would be interesting, I think, if Net Yaroze titles were re-released for the PlayStation
Store, on PS3 and PlayStation Portable. Check out more content at classicville.co.uk.