--- title: Sony PlayStation categories: - Consoles params: name: PlayStation image: /media/museum/photos/sony_playstation_1s.jpg logo: /media/museum/logos/playstation_logo.gif company: /companies/sony company_name: Sony tabs: - photos - emulators - docs - videos photos: - title: PLAYSTATION subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sony_playstation_1.jpg - title: PSONE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sony_psone_1.jpg - title: PSONE - PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sony_psone_2.jpg emulators: - title: ePSXe url: http://www.epsxe.com/ platform: Multiplatform text: The best Playstation emulator out there! - title: pSX url: http://psxemulator.gazaxian.com platform: Multiplatform text: Great speed and compatibility. Easy to use. docs: - title: PLAYSTATION MANUAL url: http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps/Manuals/default.html cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/sony_playstation_doc.jpg text: |- [**PLAYSTATION MANUAL**](http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps/Manuals/default.html)written by Sony  type of document : PDF\  size : 1.3 MB\  source : [www.us.playstation.com](http://www.us.playstation.com) - title: PSONE MANUAL url: http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps1/manuals cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/sony_psone_doc.jpg text: |- [**PSONE MANUAL**](http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps1/manuals)written by Sony  type of document : Unknown\  size : 1.4 MB\  source : [www.us.playstation.com](http://www.us.playstation.com) videos: - title: 'PlayStation - European TV Commercial: ''Double Life''' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA text: 'Length: 59 s' - title: Playstation - Japanese TV commercial url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztLDCOEpsdA text: 'Length: 15 s' - title: Society Against PlayStation - TV Commercial url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIyEqpYnEaU text: 'Length: A min' - title: Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8TiUZtcPg0 text: 'Length: 5 min 18s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #2' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxNSOz4h7O4 text: 'Length: 5 min 03 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #3' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mATEKlgtA6s text: 'Length: 5 min 13 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #4' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1iAmYXcueo text: 'Length: 5 min 07 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #5' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm4JanyrtQM text: 'Length: 5 min 04 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #6' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfSqYayhPng text: 'Length: 4 min 14 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #7' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFRz1Qsb8gg text: 'Length: 5 min 03 s' - title: 'Collection of Japanese Playstation TV commercials #8' url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmz3BqBtG0 text: 'Length: 5 min 18 s' comments: - author: James (Ireland) date: Wednesday 1st July 2020 text: |- Recently when i was in London i bought a PS1 from a local flea market for 10 pounds. At first it looked broken along with most of the stuff but i did get a perfect copy of TME CRISIS: PROJECT TITAN along with that it worked like a charm on my HDMI TV - author: EPROM 9 (England) date: Saturday 23rd October 2010 text: The PS1 graphics was less powerful than the N64, but the PS1 could display better/more colours than the N64. The use of CD instead of cartridges allowed longer games. It also meant that speech and video could be used for cut seen''s due to more storage space. The N64 is linked to the TV and the ps1 is in the cupboard under the TV due to lack of space. The ps1 does still find use when I fell like playing it. - author: bluekatt (netherlands) date: Friday 6th April 2007 text: |- acyually the psx monicker is correct\ in developement the plsyatastion was known as playstation experimental abbreviated to psx\ the name has stuck ever since to refer to it in shorthand\ the confusion was not helped by the matter of sony's brlliant ( read vauge ) idea to entitle the upgraded ps2 with dvd ripping abiltiies and a hd the psx\ it might be the official name of the machine\ the real psx is stil the old grey playstation it has always been and will be the psx has had one of the most longest and distinguished lives of any console\ it has been inproduction for a full decade from 1994 till 2004\ putting it in the same leuge as the nes ( a staggering 21 years ) the atari vcs the gameboy and the snes ( 9 years)\ its off spring stil lives on in the form of the playstation 2 and 3\ and the ps1 stil lives on in its off spring as a dedicated chip in each of them to enable ps1 playback\ the playstation 2 has proven it self durable has wel celebrating its seventh birthday on 4 march this year oc_id: 1229 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230323083721/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1229 date: '2023-03-23' --- After Sony and Nintendo's collaboration on the Super CD-ROM came to an end, Sony continued their research and decided to make a stand alone console. A deal was reached with Nintendo to allow the Play Station (as it was called then) to play [SNES](/museum/nintendo-super-nintendo-entertainment-system/) cartridges. This feature was dropped from the final design, and the name changed to PlayStation. A powerful machine, the PlayStation featured 3D graphics capabilities which at the time were remarkable. Games like Tomb Raider made 3D game worlds popular and effectively put an end to the 2D shoot 'em ups and platformers which had been around since the late '70s and early '80s. Early units suffered from problems with the laser mechanism. The CD tray was made from plastic and over a period of time would wear away resulting in games no longer working. A common solution was to turn the console on its side or even upside down to relieve stress on the laser's motor. Later units had a metal tray to prevent this problem. Even to this day the PlayStation is often wrongly referred to as the PSX, the correct term being PS. PSX was the name given to the PlayStation based arcade hardware and later a Japanese only version of the PS2, which was capable of digital video recording and featured either a 160 GB or 250 GB hard drive. A redesigned machine named **PSone** was released in 2000. This smaller version lacked the serial port but was otherwise fully compatible with older games. The PS and PSone achieved combined sales of more than 102 million units between them, making the PlayStation the first ever console to break the 100 million mark. In the process PlayStation became a household name, ended Nintendo's domination of the market and fought off competition from Sega's [Saturn](/museum/sega-saturn/) and [Dreamcast](/museum/sega-dreamcast/), which no doubt had an influence on Sega's decision to pull out of the console hardware business. --- Contributors: Ste (text & info)