SONY NET YAROUZE - SCPH-3001

Sony released the Yarouze ("let's do it!" in Japanese.) as a home development system for playstation enthusiasts. Support was done via a secure web site, with code freely exchanged between members of the Net-Yarouze system. Several promising projects emerged from this bold experiment, most notable being Devil Dice (Xai). Unfortunantely, SONY neglected the Yarouze, and finally support was fully withdrawn. It seems internal squabbles at SONY had lead to the birth, and alas, the death of the Yarouze experiment.

THE SYSTEM

The Yarouze is special in every way. It has a textured feel to it, and a grey-black color. The Yarouze also has the ability to play CDRs, and has no copy protection. The unit will not operate in the development mode without a special memory card. It also has a special "dongle" for connection to an IBM compatible PC. Supplied with the unit are several development programs that work sufficiently well to make something on the level of a super nintendo. Many used professional programming tools to get better results.

Yarouze was quite affordable at under $800. However finding the information on how to order one was an ordeal unto itself. From the very beginning the Yarouze support seemed unusually weak. As time went by, the information on how to, and finally the ability to join the Net-Yarouze system were pulled.

Many complained on how the Yarouze seemed "crippled" intentionally, in order to differentiate it from it's several thousand dollar professional version.    Thanks go out to the owner fo the pics.