Fifteen years ago today, PlayStation crawled out of the primordial ooze and took its first tentative steps onto North American soil. Being 15 at the time, I remember this moment with the kind of crystal clarity that only comes with youth (and way too much free time). Above all, I remember the TV advertisements. PlayStation’s 9/9/95 release was accompanied by a barrage of now-legendary TV and magazine spots peppered with confounding messages like “U R Not E” and “ENOS Lives” (which I recently learned stands for “Ready Ninth Of September,” in case that particular mystery was still haunting you).
Well, ENOS still lives. Fifteen years later, we decided to ask 3,000 North American PlayStation users what PlayStation means to them. And while the results are by no means scientific, they are entertaining — and, in at least one case, somewhat surprising. Enjoy, and feel free to share your own PlayStation 15-year anniversary memories in the comments below.
Wow 15 years…Man do I feel old….Anyway, Happy Birthday Playstation!!! You guys rock!!!
After the 1st PS dropped i’ve never owned any other products…now with the PS3 gaming has come further than I ever thought it would, when resident evil dropped and I thought wow graphics cant possibly improve, then ps2 dropped, and again, wow graphics cant possibly improve, now the ps3 and its like how will they make games look and be better, limitless possibilities with Sony/PS…thanks Playstation…15 years deep, looking towards 15 more…
Long live sony!!!!
You have to be kidding me, god of ware sucks…
I played 3-5 hours because that is how short single player is.
Don’t care all that much about online.
Because to many people cheat, and kids play m rated games..”with mics”
Need an edit button, my fingers are to big for little keyboards..
War NOT ware- lol
I am originally from the UK and got my first Playstation for Christmas in 97. My dad bought tomb raider 2, resident evil and final fantasy vii. I remember being amazed in RE2 that the zombies can bite your legs if you didn’t kill them properly.
I didn’t know what FFVII was at the time and took me about a month before I could bring myself to play past the first reactor scorpion boss… I just didn’t get it and it was my first RPG. It went on to be my all time favorite game.
I wish PS could make some sort of mind erasing machine so I could replay it with the same emotion as I did back in 1998.
I bet Microsoft would have the same loyalty… if their product didn’t burn up… or if when it did someone at their company said “we’ll fix it” instead of “tough s**t.”
Here’s a little story why I love the PS brand. After owning my PS2 for 4 years, I had it 7 feet high on top of a bureau and TV set, and it was standing upright. During a rigorous gaming session, I yanked the controller and it fell onto hard cement. My fault right? Of course it was. But the product still worked for another couple months before the laser went bad.
But they still stood by their awesome product… Sony repaired my PS2 free of charge. They didn’t even make me pay to ship it TO THEM… they emailed me a UPS label. And they offered to send me a box to ship it in. When it was returned, and fixed, I found a brand new controller and all the cords, even though they told me in the letter to keep my own.
So I reiterate: why can’t the maker of the Xbox stand by their product (especially at over half a death rate).
Well done Sony. You own me for life.
I could have sworn Cloud Strife and Solid Snake were options for that poll. Maybe I just imagined it…
Interesting results.
Why didn’t I get poled?
OMG! happy belated birthday playstation D:!
I’m surprised that Solid Snake is not on that list of first party characters. He was there before Ratchet Jak & Daxter Kratos Nathan Drake and Sackboy
crash bandicoot is my allllll time favorite
Congratz Sony!!!
I LOVE PS3!
I have played all the playstations and have them, now its time to blow the dust away from the PS1 and play some classics!
Happy 15th Playstation, #1 fan since day 1 :)
Congrats Sony. I’ve been a loyal fan since I bought my first PS in 1995. You’re the king of the consoles!
Great piece.
I’ve been with PlayStation since 9/9/95. There have been many ups, a few downs (usually with the hardware, but all is forgiven), and plenty of memorable experiences that PlayStation has provided me with over the last 15 years.
From Twisted Metal to Tony Hawk, Philosoma to PaRappa the Rapper, Ace Combat to Alundra, and the thousands of games in between then and now… it’s been an incredible ride.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Enos you dipstick!”
They left out an infinite symbol for the number of idiotic Xbox 360 losers for flaming Adam Sessler of G4TV for….awarding KILLZONE 2 a perfect 5 out of 5! This only serves to fuel the undenying fact that PS3 IS a (goggle) times better than the lame Xbox 360 console!
PLAYSTATION FOREVER!!!!!!
Glad to see the blog got a few posts up at the end of the day. Should have come back after Thursday morning to check things out.
For me, until I got a slim PS2 for Killzone, the Playstation was something my brother and friends had for Tomb Raider, Metal Gear, and Crash Bandicoot but I did not really play much on the platform as I was a PC / Xbox gamer. That changed a little with the PS3 launch, but it really changed a lot more with the release of Rachet and Clank Future/Quest for Booty, Uncharted series and Home on the PS3. Those games along with the PSP helped solidify my appreciation for all things Playstation.
Here’s to 15 more great years.
PlayStation has always been a big part of my life. I own the original versions of every system that has PlayStation in its name [excluding the PSX because that was Japan-only and the PSP Go because that was probably the biggest mistake Sony made] and I plan to get every other system Sony releases. I got the original PlayStation [not the redesigned PSOne that came out later], gen one PS2 [non-slim] a gen 1 PSP and I now have an 80 gig gen 1 PS3, and I love it more than anything else I own. It represents the past 15 years of my life, and I hope that it continues to flourish in the same manner as its predecessors. With Move and 3D enabled games this year, I can only imagine what Sony’s gonna pull out of their sleeve next. [Although I’m a couple days late on this but] Happy Birthday PlayStation. :] May you have a successful future :D
Unfortunately in the US we don’t have PS mascots like Toro… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toro_(cartoon_character)
I have been a PS fan from day one, but without a doubt, best/most embarrassing PS moment is when sniper wolf was killed, only time I ever cried at a video game, may to jesting begin.