Sony Was Developing DualShock Controller With The First PlayStation Built In: The Project Was Cancelled
Credit: Sony
Tom’s Hardware has unearthed documents from a secret, canceled Sony project codenamed PlayStation Puga. The Japanese company created working prototypes of the DualShock gamepad, which physically housed an entire console. The device required only a screen and four AA batteries.
The PlayStation Puga was designed as a local and affordable product. Connecting it to a TV requires a composite video cable, and the device was supposed to be powered by regular AA batteries. The announcement claimed that four AA batteries provided up to 20 hours of battery life.
The console’s hardware is based on a TI OMAP 3530 Arm processor. An emulator was used to run PS1 games, and about ten games were pre-installed on a 4GB memory card. According to Watson, the device was fully functional, but Sony canceled its launch due to licensing issues. Third-party publishers were demanding excessive royalties, and another division of the company was handling royalty payments for its own games. Since the device was planned for a low price, royalties to developers would have been only $0.10 per game sold.
Today, the rare surviving Puga prototypes are considered sacred artifacts for hardware geeks and collectors. They clearly demonstrate that engineers long ago knew how to create beautiful, independent, and self-sufficient hardware, before lawyers and marketers interfered with their profitability charts.
