![Net-Yaroze-Full-Sdk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Net-Yaroze-Full-Sdk.jpg)
The is a
development kit
A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific to ...
for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
. It was a promotion by
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
to
computer programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as ana ...
hobbyists which launched in June 1996 in Japan
and in 1997 in other countries. It was originally called "Net Yarouze", but was changed to "Net Yaroze" in late 1996. ''Yarōze'' means "Let's do it together".
Conceived by PlayStation creator
Ken Kutaragi
is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman. He is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the video game division of Sony Corporation, and current president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. He is known ...
and priced at around $750
US, the Net Yaroze (DTL-H300x) package contained a special black-colored
debugging
In computer programming and software development, debugging is the process of finding and resolving '' bugs'' (defects or problems that prevent correct operation) within computer programs, software, or systems.
Debugging tactics can involve in ...
PlayStation unit, a serial cable for connecting the console to a personal computer, and a CD containing PlayStation development tools.
[IGN UK, "Net Yaroze", ] The user has to provide a personal computer (an
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
or
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
;
NEC PC-9801
The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more th ...
was also supported in Japan) to write the computer code, compile it, and send the program to the PlayStation.
The Net Yaroze was neither the first nor only official consumer console development kit. The PC-Engine
Develo predates it, and the
WonderWitch
The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released ...
followed it. The
GP32
The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the South Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea and distributed in some parts of Europe.
History
The GP32 was shown at E3 in 1999, 2000, 2001 ...
can run user programs out of the box. Finally, many earlier consoles (
Astrocade
The ''Bally'' ''Astrocade'' (also known as ''Bally Arcade'' or initially as ''Bally ABA-1000'') is a second-generation home video game console and simple computer system designed by a team at Midway, at that time the videogame division of Bally. ...
,
Famicom
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
) offered limited programming capabilities with
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
dialects. Net Yaroze had no direct successors on subsequent PlayStation platforms, but Sony's
Linux for PlayStation 2
Linux for PlayStation 2 (or PS2 Linux) is a kit released by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2002 that allows the PlayStation 2 console to be used as a personal computer. It included a Linux-based operating system, a USB keyboard and mouse, a VGA a ...
and YA-BASIC offered a similar feature to hobbyists and amateur developers on the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
console.
Contents
The Net Yaroze kit contains the following items:
*The Net Yaroze PlayStation console, which is identical to a standard PlayStation console except that it has different boot ROMs, lacks a
regional lockout
A regional lockout (or region coding) is a class of digital rights management preventing the use of a certain product or service, such as multimedia or a hardware device, outside a certain region or territory. A regional lockout may be enforced ...
, uses a different encryption scheme, and is black.
*2 PlayStation controllers (black matte texture)
*The Net Yaroze key disc, required to boot programs which were loaded from a PC.
*The Access Card, a
dongle
A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.
In computing, the term was initially synonym ...
which must be placed in memory card port 1 in order to boot programs which were loaded from a PC.
*A CD-ROM containing development tools. The tools included vary according to version, but invariably include a
C compiler
This page is intended to list all current compilers, compiler generators, interpreters, translators, tool foundations, assemblers, automatable command line interfaces ( shells), etc.
Ada Compilers
ALGOL 60 compilers
ALGOL 68 compilers
cf. ...
, a compiler assembler, a
linker
Linker or linkers may refer to:
Computing
* Linker (computing), a computer program that takes one or more object files generated by a compiler or generated by an assembler and links them with libraries, generating an executable program or shar ...
, a debugger, tools for converting graphic and sound files to PlayStation format, and programming libraries.
*The Communications Cable, a special serial cable used to link the console and the computer.
*"Start Up Guide", "Library Reference", and "User's Guide" manuals. These document the programming libraries and PlayStation-specific development, but do not give instructions on how to program; the Net Yaroze kit assumes the user has basic programming knowledge.
Versions
Though it lacked regional lockout, the Net Yaroze console exists in three variations: one for Japan, one for North America and one for Europe and Australia. The Europe/Australia version boots in
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
mode, while the others boot in
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
mode. There are further differences between the Japanese kit and the others; the manuals are in Japanese, the software for Japanese PCs is included, and the discs and access card sticker have different printing. The Japanese version is sometimes unofficially referred to as DTL-3000 rather than DTL-H3000.
The Net Yaroze was only available for purchase by mail order; but Sony also provided it to universities in the UK, France (
EPITA), and Japan.
Additionally, a version of
CodeWarrior
CodeWarrior is an integrated development environment (IDE) published by NXP Semiconductors for editing, compiling, and debugging software for several microcontrollers and microprocessors (Freescale ColdFire, ColdFire+, Kinetis, Qorivva, PX, Free ...
for PlayStation was released for both Windows and Macintosh in October 1996.
LightWave 3D
LightWave 3D is a 3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Car ...
was another consumer-level PlayStation development tool.
The Net Yaroze lacks many of the features the official PlayStation Software Developers Kit provided, such as advanced hardware debugging, special software, certain libraries, and Sony's extensive technical support (including BBS and live telephone support). Dedicated
Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
groups, with access restricted to Net Yaroze members, were maintained by Sony; homepage hosting was also provided. The access was restricted according to the kit's region of origin, which made collaboration between users in different territories impractical.
The Yaroze's primary RAM was the same as the consumer's model (2 megabytes). Game code, graphics, audio samples and run-time libraries were limited to fit in the 2 MB of primary RAM, 1 MB of VRAM, and 0.5 MB of sound RAM, since the Net Yaroze will not play user-burned CDs, a necessary restriction in order to prevent piracy and ensure that the Yaroze program would not compete with the PlayStation's professional software development kit.
This however, was not a problem for licensed developers who owned the official SDK. There are many commercial PlayStation titles (such as ''
Devil Dice
''Devil Dice'' (known in Japan as ''XI'', ) is a puzzle video game developed by Shift exclusively on PlayStation. It was released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan in 1998 and Europe in 1999, and by THQ in North America in 1998. The game is ...
'', originally a Net Yaroze game) that can be entirely RAM-resident, and have been developed with the Net Yaroze, while using the CD strictly to spool Red Book audio (
CD-DA
Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...
).
Games produced
Sony set up an
online forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
where users could share their homemade games, swap programming tips, and ask questions of Sony technical support staff.
Many games made by hobbyists on the Net Yaroze were released on various demo discs that came along with the ''
Official UK PlayStation Magazine
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...
'' (as well as other official PlayStation magazines in PAL regions) from 1997 to 2004. The last ''Official UK PlayStation Magazine'' issue, number 108, featured a compilation with many Net Yaroze games. A promotional disc, limited to a thousand copies and featuring a number of user-developed games, was produced by SCEE and sent to PAL-zone Yaroze owners. This disc can only be played on a Net Yaroze since it requires the access card included with the system to work.
Some of these games were based on arcade classics such as ''
Mr. Do'' and ''
Puzzle Bobble
internationally known as ''Bust-a-Move'', is a 1994 tile-matching puzzle arcade game developed and published by Taito. It is based on the 1986 arcade game ''Bubble Bobble'', featuring characters and themes from that game. Its characteristically ...
'', while others (e.g. ''Time Slip'') were illustrations of a novel concept. The Game Developer UK Competition, organized by
Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government which encourages economic development, enterprise, innovation and investment in business. The body covers the eastern and central parts of Scotland whilst similar ...
in collaboration with the Scottish Games Alliance, Sony and ''
Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'' in 1998, accepted Net Yaroze entries; the overall winner was Chris Chadwick for his game ''Blitter Boy – Operation: Monster Mall''. An updated version of ''Time Slip'' was later released for
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
in February 2011 and Windows in January 2012. Some of the system's developers moved into the games industry; ''Fatal Fantasy'' and ''Terra Incognita'' developer
Mitsuru Kamiyama became director of the ''
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'' is a series of video games within the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise developed by Square Enix. Beginning in 2003 with the game for the GameCube, the series has predominantly been released on Nintendo gaming hardw ...
'' series at Square Enix. Others such as ''Magic Castle'' by Kaiga were pitched to various publishers but went unreleased until it was distributed online in 2021 by one of the original staff members.
References
{{PlayStation
PlayStation (console)
Video game hardware
Video game development software