PlayStation Creator Dies at aged 81.

[CAG_Theory]

"PLAYSTATION CREATOR"

Former Sony head Norio Ohga has passed away on Saturday aged 81. Ohga was the man who signed off on the development of the original PlayStation, as well as overseeing the commercialisation of the CD.

Ohga was President of Sony for 13 years from 1982. His achievements not only include the CD and the PlayStation, but extend to Sony’s movie business as he oversaw the acquisition of Columbia Pictures in 1989.

His early dealings with the company (then called Tokyo Telecommunications) involved a young university student Ohga sending a letter to the company destined to be Sony suggesting improvements to their “reel-to-reel tape recorder”. The letter impressed the firm, who then hired him as an advisor. His love of music carried through his career. Trained as an Opera singer, Ohga ditched his singing career to go onto develop the first CD.

His love of music also led to Sony purchasing CBS Records and becoming elbow deep in the music recording world.

“It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony’s evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and games, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san’s foresight and vision,” said Sony CEO Howard Stinger in a statement.​

 

[sems4arsenal]

May he Rest in Peace ,made life a tad more entertaining for all of us .

 

[E28]

RIP. Without you our world could be GT less...

 

[Tesla]

We have lost a truly inspirational man. R.I.P.

 

[Robin]

This was a great article from the wall street journal...

TOKYO—Norio Ohga led development of the world's first compact disc and oversaw Sony Corp.'s evolution from a transistor-radio and tape-recorder manufacturer into a consumer-electronics and content giant encompassing music, movies and videogames.

Mr. Ohga, who died Saturday at age 81, was president of Sony for 13 years, starting in 1982, the year that Sony commercialized the CD.

He led Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures in 1989, the biggest purchase ever by a Japanese company at the time. He also signed off on creating the company's PlayStation unit in the early 1990s, which became one of its biggest businesses.

"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and games, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's foresight and vision," said Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer, in a statement.

A native of Numazu, in Shizuoka prefecture, Mr. Ohga was the son of a lumber magnate. He was studying to be a vocalist at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts when he sent a letter suggesting improvements in a newly developed reel-to-reel tape recorder produced by Tokyo Telecommunications.

His insight impressed the company's founders, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, and, in 1953, Mr. Ohga became an adviser and consultant to the company, which would later be renamed Sony. He was trained in Germany as an operatic baritone, but opted to join Sony full time in 1959 instead of pursuing a performing career.

Yet music would remain a major theme of his professional life. Mr. Ohga was a key executive in the development and running of Sony's music business from its early joint venture with, andultimately its acquisition of, CBS Records Inc.

Mr. Ohga also took charge of Sony's design center, where the company's product lines were given sleek black styling that set them apart in the marketplace.

To develop the world's first CD, Mr. Ohga's team pushed for the capacity to store 74 minutes of music–enough for all of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, a close friend of Mr. Ohga, helped introduce the new format and made early recordings on it. The establishment of the CD format opened the door for future optical-disc standards such as DVDs.

A bon vivant who boasted of his cooking and learned to fly a jet plane, Mr. Ohga retained a passion for music after retiring as Sony president in 1995. He was chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he occasionally took the podium. In 2001, he was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage and collapsed while conducting the orchestra in a performance in Beijing. He recovered and returned to Sony before retiring in 2003 as Sony's chairman.

He really oversaw some great boom times at Sony during the golden era when they were at the forefront of tech and also entertainment. If only things were still like that now.

They seem to have really gone downhill in the last decade making very poor decisions, changing CEO's often and loosing loads of money. The PS2 was the thing that kept them going through most of the hard times! Oh and for the record he was not the Playstation creator, he just signed off on it.

In any case he will be missed, I'm glad he managed to indulge in his original passion later on in life. 👍

Robin.

 

[G.T.Ace]

R.I.P. and my condolences to his family and friends.

 

[trangurismo]

Rest in peace, Norio Ohga.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Wasn't sure where to put this, I guess it's relevant to Console & PC Gaming!

http://www.worldleagueracing.com/readarticle.php?id=1303676824

 

[Ddrizle]

Rest in peace Norio Ohga, you will indeed be missed....moment of silence....

 

[Akmuq]

Sad, this man was the person who shaped our lives now. He saw what would be good and it worked. Were still even using CD's today, although we now have our things much better then what he oversaw at Sony, we wouldn't have had these new cool things if he wasn't overseeing the previous hardware. He was great.
Will be missed.
Rest in peace.

 

[Coxis]

This was certainly an influential man, both on the industry, our lives and consumers. RIP.

 

[Spacegoat]

R.I.P, may your legacy never be forgotten.

 

[xXKingJoshXx]

That's sad. R.I.P