"That's 'Service Games', Sonny...": A Brief History of Companies and Their Names: Part 2

How are these men related? They're the founders of Sony, and a MS Engineer.
It gets better, just read the article.

First off, I'd like to apologize for the long delays in the release of this article. Technical and physical difficulties kept it from being released on time, however I have enjoyed writing, and rewriting this article, and I hope that you too will enjoy these brief segments on video game companies, their names and their histories. Without further delay, I present part 2 of "That's 'Service Games', Sonny...": A Brief History of Companies and Their Names. 

Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, kicking it old school. 

Sony

Founded May 7, 1946, by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, Sony was originally named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (TTK), which, as you can see, was quite a mouthful. Originally an audio and telecommunications company Sony started life making tape recorders and radios; specializing in musical and audio instruments. Introducing innovation and smart design into the products they have created, Sony has managed to make its name a household term the world over, and change the electronics industry as we now know it. Becoming a household name is a story in and of itself though.

Changing names was a good call. I studied Japanese and I still have no idea how to
pronounce that name.  

As mentioned above Sony's original name, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, was quite a mouthful, and also not exactly a confidence inspiring name in western markets in the late 40's-early 50's; especially considering the sentiment in the United States towards Japan post World War II. Around 1953, in the quest to expand TTK's corporate reach into western markets as well as expand their product line, Akio Morita first visited the United States. During this visit Morita discovered that his companies name, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, and it's acronym "Totsuko", were hard to pronounce by the native English speaking population of the United States of America. After toying with the title for a bit the name Sony was settled on as a replacement for the TTK branding. Derived from a a combination of the words "Sonus", Latin for tone or sound, and the American slang word "Sonny", a popular term at the time for something of "small size, or a youthful boy"source; the first Sony branded products were released in 1955. 

For those of you who don't understand what this is, think of it as an iPod that you have no control over. 

During these visits Morita would also sign agreements and licenses to use transistors in TTK/Sony product, marking the beginnings of the company's quest to to innovate and dominate the audio market. The use of transistors enabled TTK/Sony to make pocket-sized transistor radios, and while they were not the first transistor radios created, TTK/Sony's models would quickly become the most popular in the world. The Sony brand of products became so well recognized that the parent company changed its name solely to Sony by 1958, removing all traces of the TTK branding from their lineup. 

I have no joke that can compete with this picture for hilarity.

As their radios exploded on the scene Sony used their new found success and money to expand the company, with research and development focused on providing new and improved products. Sony’s wild success in popularizing transistor radios worldwide would be only a small mark in a long lasting trend for the company. Over the years Sony has created and pioneered many different formats. From flops like Betamax, to the everyday Compact Disc (CD) and Blu-ray Disc (BD), Sony has had a major hand in the way we view, listen and interact with the world on a day-to-day basis. 

The release of a CD puking SNES by Nintendo/Sony may have
destroyed space/time as we know it. Good call Nintendo.

Sony's entry into the video game industry is an interesting one, and one heavily intertwined with Nintendo. To detail it all would take an article in itself, if not an entire book, however, it can be summed up that in the very early nineties Sony and Nintendo were working together to make a CD peripheral for the Super Nintendo. During development of the "SNES-CD" (as it was going to be called), Nintendo had concerns about the amount of control Sony would have over the content and licensing of games to be produced for the peripheral. Deciding to end their initial agreement, Nintendo and Sony parted ways. The end product of this division being Nintendo sticking to a license friendly cartridge format, resulting in the N64; and Sony ultimately taking their technology and reworking it for the next generation of consoles, releasing the PlayStation. A hallmark event in the history of video games and video game consoles. 

One Hundred Fifty Million... Seriously. That's just mind blowing. 

Sony's entry into the video game console market cannot be understated. The PlayStation changed gaming as we know it, opening the format towards a new and different audience, and expanding the video game market worldwide. Though there are many criticisms that have been leveled at Sony during this period, and even currently, their influence on the market is undeniable. Especially considering the PS2 remains the single most popular selling video game console of all time, with over 150 million units sold worldwide.

It's not hard to believe this will one day be looked back on by archaeologists
wondering who the mysterious god PS was, and why we worshiped him so much. 

Though Sony has had a rough time over the last year or so, they are still in the game, and to sell them short would be foolish. With money, time, and a constant drive towards innovation, Sony looks to be a contender for years to come. 

This picture could be either a late 70's Microsoft company photo,
or a gathering of modern day hipsters. It is really hard to tell.

Microsoft

Microsoft (MS) is ironically far and away the newest player in the video game console market. While MS is only few years younger than Atari, one of the original founders of the video game industry, Microsoft only recently entered the home video game console market. 

Founded April 4th, 1975, by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft's influence and power in the home computer industry is so well documented and known. It would be extremely hard, if not impossible for me to give any information that is not already well documented in this short article. However, a quick overview of their origins won't hurt, and instead of focusing solely on MS I will instead expound on the origins of the Xbox instead. 

Behold the power of the Altair 8800's BLINKING LIGHTS!!

Microsoft was originally founded to sell an interpreter of the programming language BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) for the Altair 8800. Microsoft was also originally called Micro-Soft, stemming from the words microcomputer and software, two products they specialized in. They would quickly shorten the name further to simply Microsoft. Quickly expanding operations and specialties MS entered the Operating System (OS) market in 1980, starting with a unique version of Unix called Xenix. Shortly after the release of Xenix, MS would release DOS (Disk Operating System), changing the computer industry and the fate of PC's forever. While Microsoft has seen its share of lawsuits, public mistakes, and even outright flops, Microsoft is a company that simply doesn't take "no" for an answer.

Like Elvis, the Xbox came from outer space on a mission to destroy American values.
At least I think that's where Elvis came from. 

Origins of the Xbox

Around 1998 while Microsoft was diversifying its holding, four of Microsoft's DirectX engineers (Seamus Blackley, Kevin Bachus, Ted Hase, and Otto Berkes) decided to make a Windows/DirectX based home console-style system. With hopes of competing with the upcoming PS2, and other console rivals such as Sega and Nintendo, they put together a prototype and showed it to Ed Fries, then head of Microsoft's games publishing division. Fries green-lit the "DirectX Box" idea source, and the DirectX Box was soon shortened to simply Xbox. Less than a year after being shown to Ed Fries the first public mention of the Xbox came when it was officially announced at Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 10th, 2000. 

From hipsters to this guy... I'm beginning to see why people
think MS has gone down hill over the last thirty years...

With the release of the Xbox Microsoft took the initiative to bring innovation to the home console market.  The Xbox was the first system to include a built in Hard Disk Drive (HDD), there were optional solid state memory cards, and within the first year MS launched the worlds first highly successful online console gaming service: Xbox Live. Not bad for a company's first foray into the video game console market (not including their involvement in the OS for Sega's Dreamcast).

It actually came with a warning to "lift with the knees, not the back."
Or at least it should have.

While not nearly as popular as its main competitor, the PS2, the Xbox was still quite a success. While the initial release of the Xbox suffered some obstacles and blunders, including an oversized, uncomfortable controller, a delay of the European launch, and failed efforts to expand into Japan/sign Japanese developers to the system, the Xbox would go on to sell over 24 million units worldwide during its lifespan (with approx. 2M sold in Japan). An impressive first effort which helped lay the groundwork for the very successful Xbox 360 (65.8 Million sold as of Jan. '12 source.)

Microsoft has seen a lot of success with the Xbox and its successor the Xbox 360, but it was a battle that was hard won, begrudgingly taken from, and alongside their competitors. Considering the company's deep pockets, and penchant to push forward regardless of difficult beginnings, I think it's safe to say we'll be seeing Microsoft consoles for years to come. 

Did I mention their mountains of cash. Mountains and mountains of cash.
Microsoft will not lose a battle of spending. 

That's it for this installment, but be sure to check back next week for the final segment in this piece where I will discuss Atari, Coleco, and give a brief mention of Activision; the worlds first third party video game developer.

Until next time, Game On.