A stupid question, but I'm curious . . .

Doug · #1 12-19-2001, 07:16 PM

All right, it's not an earth-shatteringly important or interesting topic, but I figure there are plenty of people here that might know (and if no one knows I'm sure there will be a lot of interesting theories

):

Why is the Playstation known as the "PSX"?

Yes, I get the "PS" part, but what about the "X"? Is it to make it a more distinctive abbreviation than just "PS"? A placeholder for the coming "2" (3, 4, . . .)? A government conspiracy? Illiterate Sony executives? Hmmm . . . this could be fun.

Gluk Schmuck · #2 12-19-2001, 08:07 PM

My theory:
I think it may be that when you say 'PS', it doesn't state exactly that you're talking about the PSX, you could be talking about any of the PSes.

Danny · #3 12-20-2001, 04:25 PM

Well, if so, why not call it the PS1?

One, Two, Middlesboogie · #4 12-20-2001, 07:15 PM

I can answer that. It's because its working title was "Play-Station X". Eventually they dropped the X and the hyphen, but as Tom said, people still refer to it as the PSX to distinguish it from its younger brothers.

Dan, it's not called the PS1 because there's no difference in pronunciation from PSOne, which is a different beast.

Danny · #5 12-20-2001, 07:32 PM

Whoa, hold on there! You mean the Playstation One was different to the Playstation?

Doug · #6 12-20-2001, 11:25 PM

You got it, Middlesboogie (talk about 'where does a name come from?'

). I found this on the web:

:

That darn X

Hey if PSX.IGN is so all-knowing and powerful, here's a question. Why is it called PSX? P-Play S-Station X-??? What's the X stand for?
-YRUlooking

When the PlayStation was intended as a CDRom attachment for the Super NES back in 1993, it was called the PlayStation X, or PSX for short. It's just a moniker that stuck, but you'll won't find Sony using it.

But, is the PSOne you mentioned a different kind of Sony thing, or was that someone else's deal?

abe22 · #7 12-21-2001, 01:10 AM

Isn't PSOne the one with the round edges and the normal Playstation has the square one's?

Doug · #8 12-21-2001, 02:40 AM

Oh, is the PSOne the original Playstation that they started making around the time PS2 came out, and selling a lot cheaper than usual? It's smaller, but with the same internals as the original Playstation?

Robbo · #9 12-21-2001, 12:26 PM

Yeah. The PSX is the bigger one that needs to be connected to a TV and the PSOne is the smaller, cheaper version with a mini TV stored inside the lid.

MrBoj · #10 12-22-2001, 11:04 PM

ugh, dont mention CD add-ons. Its a good thing it wasnt a CD add-on. If Sega proved anything to us, its how NOT to make systems and various paraphernalia.