The premise:

On September 9th, 1995, the PlayStation – abbreviated as the PSX – launched in North America, dooming former industry leader Nintendo to an eleven-year has-been sentence, establishing a new standard of movie-like gaming experiences, and opening the door for multimedia functionality in all subsequent generations of consoles (and handhelds).

To commemorate the occasion, TotalPlayStation has gathered four different PS-specific or -heavy sites together under one roof to share stories of our fifteen-year love affair with the little grey box that started it all.

The players:

Peter Chapman is the site editor for TheSixthAxis.com. An avid gamer since the days of the ZX Spectrum and the NES, Peter runs TSA at night and plays photographer and graphic designer (after having pulled a stint as a marketing bigwig for both a political group and a real estate company) during the day.

Allen Tyson, after given a trial of the CodecSys CE-10 H.264 encoding software for the PlayStation 3 and submitting a write-up of his experiences, wrote for SonyInsider.com before more recently moving over to PlayStationLifeStyle.net. He blames his father, a former Sega employee, for helping lure him to the Dark Side that is gaming.

James Holdsworth founded EverythingPlayStation.com seven long months ago in the hopes of fashioning a more community-focused site; in addition to a heavy emphasis on video content, EPS features an open-door policy that allows readers to easily get their material published.

Chris Kuspis became fascinated with the platform of and potentialities within digital distribution once he picked up his PS3 at launch. Since then, unsatisfied with the lack of PSN-specific coverage – “many sites don’t even report on half the games,” he says – he started PSNStores.com, a one-stop-spot for all the Store’s regions.

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

Let’s start at the end. What, exactly, do you think the PSX’s legacy is, both in regards to the PlayStation dynasty, in specific, and the videogame industry, in general?

Peter Chapman, TheSixthAxis site editor:

I think one of the PSX’s great contributions to the world of videogaming was the way it matured the perception. The PSX was the first games console that pitched itself as a lifestyle product, to adults.

It was also the first, genuine attempt to make a console that did more than just play games. I know the Sega CD attachment played audio CDs, but it was integrated from the start with the PSX, and I think without that we may never have had DVD on the PS2, Blu-ray on the PS3, and perhaps even the media streaming/video services and digital comic readers. Consoles are more than just for games now and I think that is, at least partly, due to the PSX.

Allen Tyson, PlayStationLifeStyle contributor:

From a PlayStation dynasty perspective, I think the PSX showed Sony that the accusations of being “brash,” “over confident,” and “arrogant” to enter the videogame market without Nintendo were unfounded. The dream that Kutaragi-san had was realized – and without the support of an extremely successful game powerhouse like Nintendo. In my mind, that served as one of those moments where Sony must have felt like they could not only compete, but could dominate with a level of technology that had never been seen before. The wildly successful nature of the PSX was always in the back of their mind, so as they moved on to the PS2, they could always say, like Mal Reynolds, “We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.” When expectation and pressure was high for the PS2, it was okay, because when nobody gave them a chance, they succeeded. They took serious risks on technology, on development, and on marketing this foreign concept to the masses, and guess what: it worked. So, moving forward, I would say it was crucial for us to be where we are now. If the PSX hadn’t been so successful, if it had been just mediocre, if it didn’t make a splash the likes of which had never been seen, and if it wasn’t like that cybernetic arm locked away in containment at Cyberdyne Systems screaming to everyone, “Keep working, you can do this, I am proof,” they might have exited the market. One has to think, in the boardrooms at SCEI, when the PS3 was at its worst time, someone pointed at a PSX in some glass case (okay, I’m being dramatic; it’s late – forgive me) and said, “Don’t give up – we just need to figure things out.”

From a videogame industry perspective, I think it changed the landscape of what the future devices should be like. Being a multi-national corporation, with its arms in so many different areas, I always had the sense they approached it from a different standpoint than the competition. Japanese living areas for the general population are somewhat small; space is at a premium. So introducing something that did more than just one thing – play games – was huge a step in defining where the console landscape should go in Japan. In the States, space might not be so much of a problem, but the mindset of additional features beyond just games was accepted here just as readily, I would say, for different reasons. I think Peter is spot on when he mentions that the evolution of the game console to be more of a centralized “appliance” of sorts would never have been achieved if Sony hadn’t gone down that road first with the PSX. Because of that, one could argue now that it’s going the other way, that consoles do so much and add so much functionality that everyone in a household is fighting for time on their current-gen console, and, at times, gaming is on the back burner. Not to trivialize world conditions with so much happening right now, but I think it gave those in the gaming industry and game players one of those “where were you when” moments. No one will forget where they were when they got their first PSX, played it for the first time, and what that felt like.

It also created more opportunities, I think, in the gaming industry, as well. When a console like the PSX hits and it’s hugely successful, and the N64 is successful in its own way, and the Saturn is just hanging on, someone needs to cover all this buzz that’s happening. Websites need to be opened, staffs need to be hired. If it wasn’t for the PSX, I think a lot of people who are in the industry now wouldn’t be.

Lastly, the PSX, in my mind, had a direct impact on Microsoft entering the console market. When a company breaks the rules, shatters the gaming norm, enters the playing field on their terms, and pulls it off, that motivates people to do what you did… only better. Would Microsoft have pushed the envelope with the Xbox and its hard drive, with the cutting-edge tech (at the time) in the 360? Would we have cloud-based gaming services if Sony hadn’t proved thinking outside of the gaming-industry-box is profitable? I say no.

And in some ways, they are a victim of their own success.

James Holdsworth, EverythingPlayStation curator/manager:

The original PlayStation brought a whole new revolutionary aspect to the gaming industry. For the first time, you could play games and CDs on one system?! Revolutionary for its time. Many of the most famous developers and publishers today, including Naughty Dog, have to thank the birth of the PlayStation, releasing their debut titles on the PSX system. Without the foundations, we surely would not experience the technical achievements of the next-gen age, where Uncharted 2 springs to mind. Games were created and masses of avid fans awaited them; in fact, by 2005, over 100 million consoles were sold, and that takes some beating.

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

What’s the seminal moment in the PlayStation’s lifecycle – Aeris’s death? Dogs jumping through the windows? “Kick, punch”?

Chris Kuspis, PSNStores editor-in-chief:

For me, it was DDR. I was at the beach one year and they had imported an arcade version from Japan. So everyone that was with me that week played it non-stop. When I got home, I had to have it, and I noticed that they had a version of it for the PSX. I was totally psyched to have it at my house. Other than DDR, the PSX was the first system that I started to play RPGs on, starting with Final Fantasy VII. I guess I was just at the age where I could fully understand them when the PlayStation was hitting its stride. So I will always remember my PlayStation for that.

*Pours a drink out for Aeris*

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

I have a soft spot for Mr. X punching through the wall of the Raccoon City Police Department (I think – God, it’s been a long time) and ambushing your character in the hallway in the second playthrough of Resident Evil 2.

That and, of all things, the end credits of Metal Gear Solid. Having seen the ending cutscene, then listening to that music, followed by the enigmatic, plot twist-filled epilogue… that was the first time I felt a game not only had a substantive narrative, but a complete one, replete with thematic developments and character arcs. It actually had an emotional impact on me the first time I finished it. I can count on one hand how many times that has happened to me in our otherwise wonderful industry.

James Holdsworth, EverythingPlayStation curator/manager:

For me, there’s many occasions from the PlayStation’s outset that are memorable and have shaped the stories and adventures that we experience nowadays. Resident Evil, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy all have the moments which inspire you and give you a sense that you’re in another world. Aeris’s death is a very influential scene, though – I have to agree. Final Fantasy’s genre isn’t my favourite, I have to say, although this is one of PlayStation’s moving and memorable spectacles.

Peter Chapman, TheSixthAxis site editor:

If we’re talking memorable moments, I’d have to bring up that dinosaur demo that came with the first PSX demo disc they bundled with the console. It was a 3D (polygonal) modeled T-rex that was animated to run over a black background. Pressing buttons on the controller made him roar, move his head, and sprint. It was astounding to move from the sprite-based characters of the 16-bit consoles to that level of detail. Other really memorable moments for me personally were the windows smashing in Resident Evil, my first playthrough of Tomb Raider, and the very first time I saw the cars in Gran Turismo. All of these things progressed gaming in some way – the storytelling of Resi, the control of Tomb Raider, and the presentation of GT were all major leaps forward.

I think that possibly the most important moment in the early days was the release of Wipeout. That game took the PlayStation out of darkened bedrooms and put it in nightclubs. It was the first game that was marketed as really cool. Not just “niche cool,” either – Wipeout was cool for everyone. Suddenly, games consoles were acceptable to a much wider audience and a much older demographic. Wipeout fit perfectly into the club culture of those days; the fantastic CoLD SToRAGE soundtrack (which was augmented with Leftfield, Orbital, and Chemical Brothers tracks in the UK) and the futuristic presentation made it feel natural after a night of clubbing and all the excesses that entailed. Wipeout was an EU launch title, the first non-Japanese game on the platform, and one of the earliest examples I can think of that had its own soundtrack CD release (and clothing range, if I remember correctly). It set the tone for so much of the transformation that would take place in the videogame industry over the next ten years.

Allen Tyson, PlayStationLifeStyle contributor:

Good question. The moment that jumps out at me most is Aeris’s death… and for good reason. Up to that point, I had played many games that evoked one feeling or another: anger, excitement, joy. All those feelings were tied to specific moments of gameplay – getting excited about an achievement, joy over a breakthrough moment, or anger over not being able to complete that challenging level.

When Kitase-san released his masterpiece, it was then that I experienced all those emotions in a way I didn’t think possible on the PSX. Over the course of Final Fantasy VII, I formed a connection to the characters and developed a vested interest in their success or failure. Not success or failure based upon achievement of a level, but as individual people. I played the game not because I wanted to complete it, but because I wanted to watch the story unfold. The feeling I had when I watched George McFly knock Biff completely unconscious and the feeling I had when Marty made it Back to the Future, I was now experiencing in what was “just a game.” It gave me a whole new perception on what interactive entertainment was about and could be about.

All this leads up to Aeris’s death, which was a pivotal moment on the PSX. It was the first time I imagine for many console gamers (myself included) that, before you knew it, emotion had overwhelmed you – and tears were rolling down your eyes. If you had told me that level of storytelling, that level of presentation, and that level of emotion could be invoked from a console game, I wouldn’t have believed it. I think that moment on the PSX let future developers know that they could use the platform to tell a story, to invoke emotion, and to use the gameplay mechanics to enhance it. I look at where many console games have gone now using that model, and I don’t think that path would have been chosen without the PSX opening that door.

To be continued…

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