PSone or PSX/PS-X

[OtakingGX]

For years yes.

But from 'Day one' as some have claimed?

I don't think so.

Why? Because there would simply have been no need to refer to the Playstation as anything OTHER than 'PlayStation' when it launched. Why call it a PSX instead of PS?

There's a reason we are lazy and like to abbreviate things, and it usually results in making names shorter.. both to write and prounounce. Not to make things longer.

I'd like to see some of this evidence that the PS was referred to as the PSX from 'Day One', because it simply doesn't make sense.

It doesn't make sense to refer to the Playstation as anything other than PS up until the point that the PS2 was announced, and then people needed a way to differentiate between the two systems.. because simply saying 'playstation' or 'PS' wasn't clear enough anymore.

Why not abbreviate Playstation as PSX? It's one word, so by the reasoning you're using, that PS is an acronym, we should just call it 'P.' When shortening words 'x' is often used to replace many letters: transfer = xfer, rally-cross = rally-x, and it also is used to replace the "sh" sound; reaction = rxn. So PSX represents all three syllables of Playstation and works great as an abbreviation.

I've always seen it referred to as PSX. I was just getting into video games and reading about them at that time, and I can't recall PS being that prevalent.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Why not abbreviate Playstation as PSX? It's one word, so by the reasoning you're using, that PS is an acronym, we should just call it 'P.'

Uh, no. Because Play Station is really two words. Especially as it was originally intended compared to Work Station.

I've always seen it referred to as PSX. I was just getting into video games and reading about them at that time, and I can't recall PS being that prevalent.

And I've always seen it referred to simply as the Playstation or PS, until the announcement of the PS2, at which point some people started improperly adding an X to the PS.

Why? Because those people who actually use an X weren't referring solely to the PS. They were referring to BOTH consoles. As I said earlier, incorrectly using X when they should have used n. I assume because people thought it was cooler.

Go check out psx.com, or ign.psx, or whatever.

PSX refers to the fact that they provide information about both playstation systems.

As opposed to constant posting of anecdotal evidence, I've actually shown that Ninetendo did refer to their console themselves as the N64. I've shown that Sony clearly referenced a completely different product as the PSX.

The closest we've gotten to whether or not Sony ever publically referred to the PS as the PSX is the fact that the bios apparently say PS-X. And as Shifty pointed out, there's very little reason for them to spend any time changing the text of the bios, and that's hardly a public reference.

 

[SamBishop]

Wow, I thought this was a little more well-known. Here's the deal:

As pointed out here a couple times now, the original name for the post-SNES stand-alone system was "PlayStation X" (as opposed to plain vanilla PlayStation when Sony and Nintendo were all cozy). PSX was picked up by the gaming press as soon as the codename started getting batted around and it stuck. Sony has never liked or used "PSX" when referring to the original PlayStation, but there was nothing they could do to stop people from using it.

The PS one (note the space, that's how Sony likes it) nomenclature was done deliberately to try to distance people from using "PSX2" and to this day, Sony refers to it in all copy as the PS one now.

When the PlayStation 2 hit, they had the ability to finally squelch the X part of the abbrviation once and for all and made sure to brand the system with the "PS2" logotype. It worked, as nobody uses PSX2 anymore (which is sad, because that was one of the main reasons why my company did so well leading up to the launch and through 2001 or so). Even at launch it was mostly a Euro thing to use PSX2, and much to my disappointment, it's more or less died off about as soundly as the new media-oriented PSX did.

And now you know.

 

[OtakingGX]

Uh, no. Because Play Station is really two words. Especially as it was originally intended compared to Work Station.



And I've always seen it referred to simply as the Playstation or PS, until the announcement of the PS2, at which point some people started improperly adding an X to the PS.

Why? Because those people who actually use an X weren't referring solely to the PS. They were referring to BOTH consoles. As I said earlier, incorrectly using X when they should have used n. I assume because people thought it was cooler.

Go check out psx.com, or ign.psx, or whatever.

PSX refers to the fact that they provide information about both playstation systems.

As opposed to constant posting of anecdotal evidence, I've actually shown that Ninetendo did refer to their console themselves as the N64. I've shown that Sony clearly referenced a completely different product as the PSX.

The closest we've gotten to whether or not Sony ever publically referred to the PS as the PSX is the fact that the bios apparently say PS-X. And as Shifty pointed out, there's very little reason for them to spend any time changing the text of the bios, and that's hardly a public reference.

Check out the logo. It's PlayStation. One word. Make an acronym: P. I'm not trying to argue semantics though. I'm pointing out that it was valid for fans to create the abbreviation PSX when referring to their gaming console. X was cool and edgy, and made the name more unique than PSN. So gamers and the gaming media dubbed the Playstation, PSX.

Eight years later, Sony releases a little known all-in-one DVR, set top box, DVD burner, and PS2. They give it the same name that the community had given one of their previous products. The name PSX predates the PSX, and people who were playing games at that time all remember calling the PlayStation PSX and don't even know that the actual PSX is.

If Volkswagen built a car and named it the Slug Bug would you insist that we all stop calling the Beetle by that term of endearment?

For everyone playing games in the mid-90's PSX will always mean PlayStation.

 

[Colourless]

Why PSX... for the obvious reason is that is what the magazines were calling it before the 'official name' was revealed. It was Playstation-X and the magazines were calling it PSX. When the official name was revealed to be Playstation, the abbreviation of PSX stuck in the minds of a lot of people.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Garbage.

It's all garbage.

Unless somebody can provide some sort of evidence that Sony actually publically referred to the Playstation as the PSX, all the excuses and justifications are just garbage.

In fact, most of the evidence that has been provided has proved the opposite point.. that Sony never wanted the Playstation refered to as the PSX.

Which begs the question 'WHY NOT?'

In direction opposition to Nintendo that does, publically, refer to its product as the N64.

 

[OtakingGX]

Garbage.

It's all garbage.

How is it garbage?

Now that DS Lite is out people are calling the original the DS Phat. Luxury car afficianados refer to a certain German car company as Bimmer. Computer users spell Windows as "Windoze" and abbreviate Microsoft as M$. Shoppers regularly say "Wally World" when referring to a major retail chain.

Consumers come up with their own names for products and brands. It doesn't matter if Sony wanted PlayStation to be associated with PSX or not. It is.