PlayStation

The PlayStation (Japanese: プレイステーション) is a video game console of the 32-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid 1990s. more...

The original PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices, which has included successor machines including the PSone (a smaller version of the original), PocketStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and the forthcoming PlayStation 3.

By June 2005, the PlayStation/PSone had shipped a total of 100 million units, becoming the first home console to ever reach that mark.

History

Development

Nintendo asked Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on called "PlayStation" for the SNES. Because Sony wanted 25% of all profits Nintendo earned from sales of this PlayStation and all PlayStation games, after Sony revealed that they were developing it, Nintendo instead went to Philips. This caused Sony to consider abandoning their research, however instead they used what they had developed so far and made it into a full blown console. This led to Nintendo filing a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and attempted, in U.S. federal court, to obtain an injunction against the release of the PlayStation, on the grounds that Nintendo owned the name. The federal judge presiding over the case denied the injunction.

• A rarely-noticed Easter egg tying in with the console's SNES roots lies in the PlayStation's controller design. The four face buttons on the right (Circle, Square, Triangle, and X) seem to be based off the magic attack cast by the Magikoopas found in Super Mario World and Kamek in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The spell consists of three spinning geometric shapes (a circle, a square, and a triangle) followed by a trail of sparks that appear X-shaped.*

Launch

The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, the USA on September 9, 1995 and Europe on September 29, 1995. In America, Sony enjoyed a very successful launch with titles of almost every genre including Toshinden, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, and Ridge Racer. Almost all of Sony's and Namco's launch titles went on to produce numerous sequels.

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