Happy Birthday PlayStation

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Today Sony is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the launch of the original PlayStation in North America. The machine allowed Sony to bully their way into the console landscape and set the stage for the PS2, arguably the most successful gaming console of all time. Now as the PlayStation 3 chugs along and Sony prepares for the future of gaming the company can thank the little gray box with the big round buttons that started it all.

While the anniversary is big news in itself, we point it out in particular because Sony is celebrating the occasion with gifts for gamers. Starting today and continuing over the next few months Sony has promised several little rewards and thank-yous to the community. Among them:

• Free downloadable PS3 and PSP themes
• Weekly discounts on select PSOne titles
• A special commemorative ornament for PlayStation Home

Nothing announced so far that really sets the world on fire, but free stuff and discounts are always appreciated right? Don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and all that jazz.

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Fifteen years later and I still miss her…

So now let’s ask the ultimate question, what made you buy your original PlayStation all those years ago? I’ll cop to the fact that I really wanted to play Final Fantasy VII so I saved up my money and bought myself a console. I then conned a friend out of his strategy guide and proceeded to play through the game at least a dozen times, each time breeding a Golden Chocobo, mastering every Materia and just generally exploring every nook and cranny. One of my favorite gaming feats to this day is the one time I beat Ruby Weapon with a desperation attack. It was him or me and Cid took one last mighty swing of his staff and the beast went down. Epic.

Happy birthday PlayStation! Here’s to 15 more memorable years!