Advancement of game consoles

In 1995, the PlayStation console was launched. The hype around the launch and the fact that the machine could produce incredible 3D graphics for the time and output CD quality music meant the console was an instant success. Whereas developers for the PC would have to worry about hardware fragmentation, with the PlayStation all consoles had a standard set of specifications. There was a vibrant console modification scene that set about getting the PlayStation to run programs it wasn't intended to via chipping, a process that involved soldering chips on to the main PlayStation circuit board to circumvent its copy protection schemes. While Sony tried to clamp down on console modification by releasing new hardware revisions, they also acknowledged that there was a real desire to program for their machine.