PSone (June 1998)


Since Sony's PlayStation console hit millions of homes from the mid '90s, it had not only revolutionised home entertainment, but also gave the competition very little chance of matching its force in the market. Sure, ol' Willy Gates hopes to make an impact with his X-Box, but that remains to be seen.

The highly accelerated gaming, detail, range of titles & genres and adaptability still make PlayStation the world leader. Where are the days of Atari with Space Invaders and Pitfall, IntelliVision with everything from horse racing to bombers. Then the 8-bit games with multi-game cartriges littered the place with classics like Tetris, Circus Charlie, Milipede, Pooyan, Pac-Man and other old school arcade favourites. The 16-bit consoles seemed revolutionary with Mortal Kombat its stellar title but stuff like Boogerman was also a blast. And not to forget Nintendo. But PlayStation blew it all out of the water.

The newer, slicker PSone console is cooler and sexier, but at no extra cost. They can still be picked up (brand new) for under a grand (in SA Rand). And if you're not in a gaming mood, pop in some audio CDs.

Not everyone can afford a PS2 with all of its great features. But, with PS2's advances, that doesn't mean PSone is now inferior, defunct or boring. Hardly! The titles are still popping out with a fury and innovation remains a part of its framework.

PSone - still the best home entertainment system.

- PB