Console Development Question submitted by (05 July 1999) | Return to The Archives

| If a tree's falling in the forest, and there's no-one there to hear it, and I was planning on applying to be a developper for a console (say, PS or PS2), what kinda of stuff (experience, demos, $$) should I garner in order to put forth a suitable application? |

| Unless you happen to be the president of SquareSoft or Rare using a different email address, you can write off the PSX2 for a while. :) The PSX dev kits are still hard to come by. Depending on which level you get, I have heard they cost between $7,000 and $15,000 US. Im widening this a little as I haven't asked about prices myself, but the levels of the system that I have heard of is that one system (that costs more) has a component to use your CDROM drive to run the dev station off of, instead of trying to simulate it using your HD. The dev stations, at least a while ago, were run off of P75s or P90s.
You will also need a publisher to back you for Sony to take you seriously, and its important to keep in mind that you are not really buying a Dev Kit for this price, you are licensing it. So you cant legally buy one off of a company that is going out of business or a guy you know who has one.
Your best bet is to get a working relationship with a publisher who does PSX development, and get a deal to make a PSX game for them, and then you'll be able to get a dev kit. And avoid falling trees...
Response provided by Geoff Howland

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