The history of video game culture is certainly a muddy one. And while there are more than enough stories of conceptual beginnings, middles, and ends, the early days of the console revolution were as anarchic as we might believe. This Nintendo PlayStation Prototype, for example, is an illustration of a partnership that might have led to an entirely different timeline for gaming history.
In the early 1990s, Nintendo and Sony joined forces to create one of the first consoles in what was to be a long and illustrious partnership between the two monolithic brands. However, after the collaboration was soured, resigned to a shell of its former self, and abandoned by the companies for exclusive endeavors, all of the 200 prototypes were said to have been destroyed. In 1999, the last remaining console, owned by the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment at the time, Olaf Olafsson, was found in a box of old belongings following the liquidation of Advanta, a company that he had joined in 1998. At its top, vintage gaming enthusiasts will instantly recognize the device’s Super NES slot, as well as a CD-ROM drive on the PlayStation’s face, giving it the ability to play both cartridges and discs. Now, the vintage gaming peripheral is heading to auction on February 27, 2020.
