In another timeline some of you right now may have had the Nintendo PS4 sitting under your TV, had Nintendo and Sony parting ways on the original Nintendo PlayStation prototype never occurred. It did and the 200 prototypes of the Nintendo PlayStation pretty much disappeared, until one re-emerged. Current owner Terry Diebold found it in his possession after buying it as part of a bankruptcy sale of the company Advanta where former Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson worked after departing Sony.
The prototype has gone to auction and we thought we’d check-in on where the bids are currently at. With 17 days still to go the Nintendo PlayStation as a bid of $350,000 on it.
The buyer will also have to pay a 20% Buyer’s Premium fee on top of the final bid price, so the actual bid right now sits at $420,000. Of course, the Nintendo PlayStation has no compatible games but this prototype has had some repairs done to it so it can play music CDs with a little screen displaying what song is being played, and there’s a headphone jack. Imagine carrying this around as a portable CD player.
“It’s the first time this prototype has ever been offered at public auction before,” Heritage Auctions consignment director Valarie McLeckie told Polygon. “Nintendo and Sony are arguably two of the biggest competitors in video games today. It’s just a little baffling to some to see Nintendo and Sony sharing the same console — and that it has the namesake of the PlayStation itself.”
This is a legitimate piece of gaming history and it is likely the price will go up. Apparently, Diebold once turned down an offer $1.2 million so whether this time around he will be willing to part for a lower price should the bids stay below that number remain to be seen. Check back in just over two weeks when we’ll report on the final bid and the outcome.
Source: Heritage Auctions
camdaz
I’m waiting until the final hours before placing my bid.