Print
As of Thursday this week, it's been 15 years since the original PlayStation console showed up on store shelves in North America, setting gamers back $299. That bought you a chunky console (though somewhat slim at the time) with a 32-bit RISC chip clocked at 33.9MHz, 2MB of RAM (1MB of video RAM), 16-bit sound, and a 3D engine capable of driving a 640x480 resolution, plus bragging rights over your friends who spent their allowance on the Sega Saturn.
By comparison, today's PlayStation 3 console comes with a Cell processor running at 3.2GHz, a GPU clocked at 550MHz, Full HD support, 256MB of main memory, another 256MB of video memory, up to 250GB of hard drive storage, Blu-ray support, and stereoscopic 3D support.
What will Sony's hardware look like in another 15 years? Who really knows, but in the meantime, Sony has put together a barebones PlayStation retrospective of the past decade and a half. You won't find a whole lot of details on the items mentioned, but hey, we're always down a for a quick stroll through memory lane.
Check it out here.
Which consoles have you owned through the years, and what's been your favorite?
Comments are closed on this article
shmily521
September 13, 2010 at 12:54am
As we all know that high-heel shoes are the favorites of female stars. And recently, the latest styles aroused their great interests. Buy Christian louboutin There is no doubt that Christian Louboutin red outsole’s shoes enjoy a leading position. Its fans include Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Buy louboutin Victoria Beckham and so on. Surely, a pair of delicate and comfortable high-heel shoe is every woman’s wise choice. After all, the pump can not only make you look taller,sexy-clothing but also your good taste can be expressed completely.
m1k3_flrs
September 11, 2010 at 3:11pm
I played practically every console but never owned all of them, I still have my Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, PS1, PS2, Playstation 3 and obviously PC. I remember resident evil 2, when I got that game for my PS1 the grahics were the Sh*t, now it looks like sh*t lol.
Keith E. Whisman
September 11, 2010 at 2:28pm
Back in 1995 the dreamcast was a far better console than the Sony PS, IMHO. I had both the Sega Cartridge console and the Disc based dreamcast. I remember playing Star Wars games on them and the graphics were awesome. If I remember correctly, Sega and Sony and pretty much everyone used distance fog so you could never look off far into the distance. I know that the PS3 and Xbox 360 are the current bad ass consoles to own.
Happy Birthday Play Station.
Queenof1
September 11, 2010 at 12:17pm
xbox 360, ps2, the original playstation, wii, gamecube, n64, snes, dreamcast, psp, gba, gb color, the original game boy, gameboy sp.
My favorite have always been the Nintendo brand.
usmanjohna
September 11, 2010 at 4:51am
I loved my Sega CD, and my favorite game was The Third World War. When I accidentally broke my original copy, I dropped 80 bucks on e-bay for a new one. I miss that console. It died on me when I was in college a few years ago. I actually called up the Sega support number and asked for assistance, but they told me the only way I could play that game again was if I go on E-Bay and buy another one. :-(
Shalbatana
September 10, 2010 at 7:57pm
1) Oddessey 100 (pong and hockey, you kept score by manually moving sliders in the center of the console, each player has 3 knobs, one for each axis. If you could master moving diagonal, you could beat anybody).
2) Atari 2600 (My 3 and 7 year olds love this system, they can actually play the games (sort of). Some of these games are classics and I'll play them any day.
3) C-64 - the almighty. I have 3 now. Love it...but is it really a game machine? certainly not a console system.
4) NES - well this really wasn't mine. I bought it for my friend one year for Christmas. Played it for two weeks then packed it pristenely back in the box and gave it to him. Imagine his surprise when he played mario for 10 steps then died... then I completed 3 levels on my first guy!
4) PS1- got it as a present. Only have a handful of games but that's all I care to have. Spiro should be available on the PC. Demolition racer should still be in production. Metal Gear solid.... what need be said?
5) All that said I really don't care for consoles. Much prefer PC's. Though we did just get a Wii as a gift for the kids the other day. It's alright I guess. Though so far it's too "cute" and too easy. Besides graphics and music, the games so far are no better creatively than those on my C-64, and playing them makes you feel self conscious, like when you're doing some silly workout machine then realize people are watching you.
Lhot
September 10, 2010 at 3:43pm
...on television a few years back (for the PS2) and the commentator commented on what the future would bring. If I recall correctly, the Play Station 9 (nine) in the commercial was a sphere with antigravity of course that floated in front of your face and from the footage, I assume used some type of red laser to bean the game right into your retinas.
The way Sony is going...I can see that happening :)
joepullin
September 10, 2010 at 1:50pm
The Playstation was originally designed to be an ad-on to the Super Nintendo. In one of the most collosal blunders of all time in the video game industry Nintendo cancelled it and went with the N64 cartridge format.
I bought a Playsation in 1996 for about $200 and spent another $100 to have it chipped so I could play Rockman X3. A few years later after that one quit I bought a PS1 and had it chipped. Took it through an airport scanner and fried the motherboard and laser. Bought another one and took the laser out and put it in the first Playstion and it worked again.
Now I use emulators.
Torcflaed
September 10, 2010 at 12:07pm
I have givven a few differant consoles as gifts but personally I have been a diehard PC gamer myself.
violian
September 10, 2010 at 10:39am
Wow, I didn't know our PSone only runs at 33MHz. I remembered sneaking into my brother's room while he's at work and playing with his PSone - favorite game was Tekken and ThunderHawk or something like that. I became a converted Xbox fan after I got an Xbox and Halo (got the Xbox approximately 1.5 years after my PS2). I currently own a 360, but no PS3.
Turnstyle
September 10, 2010 at 8:54am
Sony gaming systems? PS2 Slim, end of list.
Nintendo on the other hand:
NES, SNES (still have), N64 (still have), GB (still have), GBA (still have), GB Micro (still have), GBA SP(still have), NDS (still have), GC (still have), Wii (still have). Man, I wish I still had my old NES!
Ledoubleu
September 10, 2010 at 8:50am
My first was Fairchild Channel F. Believe me I was the only one in my family to have one and maybe even the small city I lived in. Atari broke soon after and then got a 2600 because games were relatively cheap and plentiful.
Brett Schealler
September 10, 2010 at 8:23am
I've had the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, PlayStation, PS One, and PlayStation 2. Hated ditching Ratchet and Clank when I got the Xbox 360, but $400-600 for a game console?! Sony was nuts, I don't care how much of a computer the PS3 is.
violian
September 10, 2010 at 10:42am
Yeah, I still have mine too - physically in super mint condition and 8-10 games. Problem is, it only runs for ~10 minutes before it gives a disc-read error :( It appears the thingy that holds the disc isn't straight, so the disc spins wobbly.
Paul_Lilly
September 10, 2010 at 8:30am
Behind the Atari 2600 (you always remember your first, right?), the Dreamcast has probably been my favorite console with its killer graphics (for the time) and comfortable controller. It's a shame Sega ditched the hardware business.
-Paul Lilly
aviaggio
September 10, 2010 at 4:39pm
Paul, does a Pong unit circa 1977 count as a "console"? Cause that would be my first :)
QUINTIX256
September 10, 2010 at 8:54am
... but many of Sega's hardware guys went over to microsoft.
