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An original PlayStation control pad. This model was later replaced by the Dual Shock.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 in the 1990s. It was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, the USA on September 9, 1995 and Europe on September 29, 1995. The console was extremely popular, spawning the so-called "PlayStation Generation". Among many other games, the PlayStation is well known for the Tomb Raider, Final FantasyFinal Fantasy ( Japanese: Fainaru Fantajii is a very popular series of role-playing video games produced by Square (aka Squaresoft), now Square Enix. The Final Fantasy video game franchise originated in Japan in 1987 (with Final Fantasy I and was brought, Resident EvilResident Evil (known as BioHazard in Japan), developed by Capcom, is the name of a successful franchise of horror-adventure video games that is credited with popularizing the " survival horror" game genre, in which the goal is to avoid being killed by mon, TekkenTekken ( lit. iron fist) is a series of fighter games developed and produced by Namco. Originally an arcade game, it has been ported to some video game consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation. Tekken involves the fighting styles of: Karate: Heihachi Mishim, Ridge RacerPlayStation Ridge Racer is the name of an arcade and home 3-D racing game developed and published by Namco. It involves tracks which wind through cities, beaches, woods, and mountains. Opponent cars are decorated with logos from other Namco games. There w, wipEoutwipEout is the title of a series of anti-gravity racing games, originally produced by Psygnosis. The gameplay is different from that of a traditional racing game with cars, instead you race in spaceships which hover over the ground, in addtion you can pic, Gran TurismoGran Turismo (pro. geh-teh) is developed by Polyphony Digital, and plays on PlayStation & PlayStation 2 gaming systems. The producer for all four games is Kazunori Yamauchi. Gran Turismo is partially responsible for the US introduction of cars once availa, and Crash BandicootCrash Bandicoot is a popular video game character who stars in a video game franchise of the same name. Originally a straightforward platformer for the Sony PlayStation, it has since expanded to the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and Xbox platforms with vari series of games. As of 18 May 2004, Sony has shipped 100 million PlayStation and PSOne consoles throughout the world. As of March 2004, there were 7,300 software titles available with cumulative software shipments of 949 million.
Nintendo and Sony's earlier co-operation in developing a CD-ROM based system (see SNES) lead to the former filing a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and attempted, in 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.
1 Variants
Sony now produces a newer redesigned version of the original console, called the PSOne, in a smaller (and curvier) case. The original PlayStation was often abbreviated to "PSX", the system's indevelopment codename, until 2003, when a new system formally named the PSX was introduced by Sony (an upgraded PlayStation 2 which includes a DVD burner, a hard drive, and digital video recorder). The PlayStation is now officially abbreviated as the "PS1" or "PSOne," although many people still abbreviate it "PSX".
A version of the PlayStation called the Net Yaroze was also produced. It is more expensive than the original PlayStation, coloured black instead of the usual grey, and most importantly, came with tools and instructions that allowed a user to be able to program PlayStation games and applications without the need for a full developers suite (which could cost many times the amount of a PlayStation). However, the Net Yaroze lacks many of the features the full developers suite provides. It is also unique in that it is the only official Sony PlayStation with no regional lockout; it will play games from any territory.
Another version called "Blue console" (as opposed to regular console units that were gray in color) was available to game developers and the press. It had double the main RAM size (4 Megabytes instead of 2 Megabytes) and a CD-ROM emulator board connected to PC. It was also able to run in-development games which lacked region coding (which would be rejected by a normal PlayStation as thought they were pirate copies). A few of these units eventually appeared for sale through somewhat dubious channels at high prices (~£299 when the PlayStation itself was selling at around £99).
The installation of a modchip allows PlayStation's capabilities to be expanded. This allows unauthorized copies of games to be played, but it also allows the playing of games from other countries. Since modchips allow playing games recorded on a regular CD-ROM, it created a wave of games developed without official Sony approval, using free GNU compiler tools.
