Sony pulls plug on PSone production

After 11 years of existence as one of the most popular consoles of all time, the PSone is finally getting the kibosh from Sony. The original PlayStation, through its original and PSone iterations, has sold over 100 million units, and we're sure brought joy to millions of users worldwide, ourselves included. (Oh come on, Syphon Filter? Final Fantasy Tactics? Parappa? These are true happiness.) Of course, you'll always be able to grab a PSone on eBay if a Spyro urge hits, or just dive into your storage shed to dredge up your original PlayStation, but can we ever truly go back to those days of our youth? The good news is that Sony is working on a PSX emulator for the PSP, and you can always pop an old game into your PS2 or PS3, so hopefully we'll never be far from a little bit of (relatively) old school action.

[Via Joystiq]

[gnome @ Mar 24th 2006 2:17PM]

In solemn memory...

[ashmufc @ Mar 24th 2006 2:23PM]

Amen

[bentong @ Mar 24th 2006 2:27PM]

The original playstation will forever be my favorite console..

[Sean @ Mar 24th 2006 2:37PM]

A PSX emulator for the PSP? But the PSP doesn't have a 5" CD drive. Is Sony suggesting we copy the games?

[kenny @ Mar 24th 2006 2:39PM]

makes sense, to me from a business stand point.

With the PS3 comming out and able to emulate both PS1 and PS2 games, with PS2's ability to do almost all the PS1 games, why keep a unit that begins to cost money to produce more than it sells? and with the PSP going to have an emulator, possiblly 2-3 games per disk if they give that option other than the Flash mem 4 GB unit...

It would not suprise me if Sony came out at one point and started releasing Blu-ray PS1+2 games on single disks, compilation collections (imagine Castlevania series, Dragonball, Streetfighter series, Tekken series, ect... all on their own disk).

[Schnazer @ Mar 24th 2006 2:43PM]

the emulated games will run off of flash memory and you will be able to download them directly via Wi-Fi(you know that memory stick icon under the game menu that's not for the saved games? I think this is what it's for). There is speculation that a new version of the PSP with more built in memory will be released... but I can't see why they can't run off of 2GIG or 4GIG MemoryStick Duos on the current PSPs.

[Evan @ Mar 24th 2006 2:45PM]

I think the idea is that there will be an itunes like store where one will be able to purchase and download PS1 games onto the PSP. While it will be an easy way for Sony to make even more money, the allure of the entire PS1 library on the go is very appealing

[kevinmogee @ Mar 24th 2006 2:45PM]

so let me get this straight....sony (in their infinite wisdom) has decided to pull the plug on one of the most popular items they have ever sold, and yet continue to develop 'new' MiniDisc players? http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/sonys-mz-rh1-md-lives-alright/

I thought Sir Stringer was supposed to breathe new life into Sony. What the hell is going on over there?

[Leo @ Mar 24th 2006 2:47PM]

I AM GOING TO TOYSERUS AND BUYING ONE. I had so many memories with that thing wow can't even explain how many. I stil havn't beet finalfantisy 8. lol. I sold it though which I should not have done.

[Robert Aitchison @ Mar 24th 2006 2:56PM]

Inoring the fact that you can always play Playstation/PSOne games on a Playstation2/PS2, and presumably will be able to on a PS3 as well.

[Cliff @ Mar 24th 2006 3:07PM]

#2: the games are on the eDonkey network -- no need to copy :P

[Echo_ @ Mar 24th 2006 3:07PM]

#4 people still use minidisc believe it or not

go to a local jig and they are probably recording it on a minidisc

should nintendo still make the snes or n64 as well?

[Evil Closet Monkey @ Mar 24th 2006 3:08PM]

I find this article disturbing, as digging up my old Playstation is somehow going "back to those days of [my] youth". Youth!? I'm suddenly very distressed that the years in which I enjoyed the original Playstation would not fall under that of ones "youth".

Now get off my lawn ya damn kids!

[Jon @ Mar 24th 2006 3:13PM]

The King is dead, log live the King!

[techyted @ Mar 24th 2006 3:21PM]

Let the hate mail start, but I never really cared for the PS/PSONE, so I could care less what happens to it. There are so many things that bug me about that system, loading, loading, loading, graphics, etc. I have always admired Sony and I own a PS2, so you can't say that I am a Sony Hater.

[Tim @ Mar 24th 2006 3:28PM]

We're gonna miss you, PSone. Now where's my PS3?!

[Curator of the PlayStation Museum @ Mar 24th 2006 4:29PM]

This is a very sad day, but I knew it was coming. The PSone is the best console ever. Want more information on the world's most popular console? Visit the PlayStation Museum! (www.playstationmuseum.org)

[bob bobertson @ Mar 24th 2006 4:36PM]

I hope you rot in hell PS1. I will never never forgive you for what you did to my beloved Sega Saturn.

[Galley @ Mar 24th 2006 4:41PM]

The white PSone with the attached Sony screen is still the coolest console ever.

[Vu Nguyen @ Mar 24th 2006 4:43PM]

If any of you are in the market for an original used PS1, I have one running upside down right now in my living room :)

[WGIII @ Mar 24th 2006 5:06PM]

I should dig out my old grey chipped / modded playstation and put it on ebay. I must have over 30 games for it and various controllers / memory cards.

[Atari Kid @ Mar 24th 2006 5:23PM]

Amazing support for the PS1 by Sony. Microsoft stopped producing Xbox as soon as the XBox360 hit the market (and that's with sketchy backwards compatibility at best).

Glad to see that my PS2 games were a good investment, due to great support, maybe someday my kids can play them.

[JayP @ Mar 24th 2006 7:34PM]

Gran Turismo was the reason I bought a Playstation... GT4 is the only reason I have the PS2.

[gbd @ Mar 25th 2006 6:39AM]

Metal Gear Solid and Puzzle Fighter are quite possibly the greatest games ever made for PS1 and i continue to play them on my PS2

[Stefan @ Mar 25th 2006 8:34AM]

I agree, its kinda sad that they've stopped, but I can understand Sony's point of view; now that almost all PSX games can be emulated perfectly on a PC using programs like ePSXe, PS1 production is obviously no longer profitable. You can just buy second-hand PS1 games and pop the CD into your comp, which can by the way read the CD just as well as your PS1 can. With emulation technology now mastering not only the N64 but now also Sony's PS1, there really isn't any profit left for Sony in their classic PlayStation.

[Z @ Mar 25th 2006 11:33AM]

they say the playstation 3 will come with wifi and be able to comunicate wirelessly with the psp, so i am thinking you might be able to put a playstation game in the playstation 3, and port it to the psp wirelessly.


the controls might be hard but you could use the analogue stick for movement and left and right directional buttons for L2 and R2

[Z @ Mar 25th 2006 11:39AM]

the playstation did what loads of others tried at and failed, it broke nintendos monopoly on the gameing market

[Tim Quernemoen @ Mar 25th 2006 3:23PM]

It was a great system but I sold mine shortly after I bought my PS2. The reason they have probably kept it around all these years is because parents could buy it really cheap for they�re little kids and there were a ton of games for it. The reason to get rid of it now is because I'm sure they will be putting out a new low-cost PS2 that will take its place shortly. Having a DVD player built in to the PS2 will be a great upgrade for their new low-cost video game machine.

[Tim Quernemoen @ Mar 25th 2006 3:24PM]

It was a great system but I sold mine shortly after I bought my PS2. The reason they have probably kept it around all these years is because parents could buy it really cheap for they�re little kids and there were a ton of games for it. The reason to get rid of it now is because I'm sure they will be putting out a new low-cost PS2 that will take its place shortly. Having a DVD player built in to the PS2 will be a great upgrade for their new low-cost video game machine.

[Darth Pelican @ Mar 25th 2006 5:28PM]

Finally! This thing is way beyond its usefullness. I never liked the system in the first place although adding the screen was a nice idea, that won't change how every game that was ever created for it SUCKED when it came to graphics.

[Johnny C @ Mar 25th 2006 7:57PM]

Some of the comments here just reminded me that I used to put PS1 games into my home stereo's CD player and listen to the tracks from the games. Most notably, I recall doing this with "Tomb Raider", and the CD tracks were not only of the in-game music, but also lines of dialogue.

I hope the new PS3 games will use the same sort of "hybrid" disc authoring, so that if you put a PS3 game into a standard Blu-ray Player, you can watch bonus video content or something.

[Joseph Ledbetter @ Mar 25th 2006 8:38PM]

PSOne served it's time well. It made a lot of kids very happy during its lifespam, including myself. PEACE OUT HOME DAWG I WILL MISS YOU! lol....

[play free games @ Mar 27th 2006 3:29AM]

I remember at the end of 1995 I had a friend who was lucky enough to have a Playstation with a big screen tv, hooked up to a stereo system. We played Wipeout for hours, and I was hooked. Good times.

[imageburn13 @ Mar 27th 2006 5:58AM]

my personal ps1 fav memory was the day I brought tony hawk pro skater 30 miles from the neighboring town to a den full of stoned skaters. EVERYone was "waaaaaaaht" all day, night, day, night,.. those were good times :)

[Teresa @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:06AM]

i was wondering if a ps2 will play ps1 games if anyone knows let me know