Why did the Japanese government consider the PlayStation 2 a military threat?

The PlayStation 2 was released in the year 2000 and was another great product from Sony. However, at the beginning, the Japanese government feared that the console would be exported and used militarily by foreign enemies.

The PlayStation 2 contained a graphic co-processor called Emotion Engine and a DVD drive, which made it a very powerful and innovative console. But this technology, in the eyes of the Japanese government, represented a threat. And they soon tried to prevent it from being exported.

LOOK: Do you want a free PS5? Sony gives you a console, controllers or money if you win this video game tournament

The Japanese authorities discovered that the Emotion Engine could process three-dimensional images (something revolutionary for the time). Although the chip was for gaming purposes, it could be militarily applied in, for example, missile guidance systems.

Japan feared that its foreign enemies would take advantage of Japanese technology against them, as had already happened with a North Korean submarine that had Japanese components. For this reason, Japan required users from other countries to obtain a special export permit to be able to get the PS2.

LOOK: Game Awards 2022: a free Steam Deck every minute during the 'Oscars' of video games

Sony reached an agreement with the government to export the PS2, although Libya, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea were excluded from being able to obtain the console. However, there was a risk that someone would try to create a supercomputer with the PS2 system.

And that's exactly what happened. In 2002, two years after the PS2 was released in Japan, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in the U.S. created a project for a supercomputer based on the console. However, the machine's lifespan was very short.

LOOK: YouTube: "The immersive role of video will be one of the biggest trends"

However, when the PS3 was released, the U.S. purchased 1,760 consoles to create the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) supercomputer; the system was capable of analyzing satellite images.