Ever since like 1998 I wondered where the "X" in the Playstation abbreviation "PSX" came from. At least here in Europe it has always been a popular abbreviation for Playstation. Back then it was so popular that it was even used on the packaging and adverts of shops and third party companies! Like "Compatible with Sony PSX". Even Eidos still uses it on their inhouse beta cdrs and dvdrs! It was just when Sony announced the ACTUAL PSX in 2001 or so that I realized something is wrong about our beloved abbreviation for the Playstation. To make it short, where the hell did the X come from? And why was the obviously nonsense abbreviation so popular?
PS-X was the prototype name of the PlayStation. Somehow (maybe because magazines) it ended up being used a lot, although i prefer PS or PS1.
Because PS1 was PSX when it launched (from what I remember). The X was eXperience. So PlayStation eXperience. Hence PSX I don't think it really changed to PS1 till they started working on the PS2. -- edit -- I might be wrong but back when the ps1 launched in usa it was always labled Playstation Experience (and noted PS eXperience). Tho that might have all just been an SCEA marketing ploy.
I believe it was either North American marketing, or some big name news site (IGN?) started using it, and it was adopted. In Asia, it's plain old PS. The PSX is that crappy PS2 DVD penis stretcher thing.
I remember the term from the Snes days. In some conference a nintendo rep. said that the project for the Snes CD drive was called "Play Station X" so PSX stood among most mag journalists as a way to describe this prototype, since apparently the commercial name was going to be Snes-ND (Nintendo Disk).
I heard in many sites that the X was included when it was in developement (the project was already called Playstation since the beginning with Nintendo), as far as I know the X was for "eXperimental". Later the PSX was released under the name Playstation, but the name PSX used during the developement stages was how it was named already by everyone.
it was in line with other Japanese X products at the time. eg, BS-X (BS being the part that declared compatibility with the satelite service of the time). Also, subbie, i know it might have stood internally for PS-eXperiment, not eXperience.
On a side note, both the Virgin and HMV stock control systems used 3 letter abbreviations for all the games consoles (this was 2000-2, the new ones I've spotted in passing, and I recall some of these for older consoles on the system): Game Boys were: NGB, GBC, GBA, (now includes NDS) Nintendo consoles were: SNE, N64, GCN (now includes WII) Sega consoles were: SMD, 32X, SAT, (don't remember Dreamcast) Sony Stuff was PSX and PS2.
short names for nintendo systems are project codenames. RVL=Revolution, DOL = Dolphin, NUS= Nintendo Ultra Sixtyfour etc. DMG could be something like Digital Monochrome Game
GB is called DMG because it stands for Dot Matrix Game. If I remember correctly it's actualy writen on the top face plate for the LCD. Dev/Code/Serial names for nintendo handhelds DMG - Gameboy CGB - Gameboy Color AGB - Gameboy Advance NTR - Nitro Aka Nintendo DS
[SIZE=-1] There is no L, Q, V, or X sound in the Japanese language. Therefore a japanese cant pronounce "PSX" in japanese...I think. PS: maybe thats why mizuguchi decided to name his studio Q? instead of just Q:dance: [/SIZE]
Supposedly from PlayStation eXperimental. If you go digging around in the bios there are many occurrences of PS-X. The default name of the main executable on a game cd is PSX.EXE One theory going around the internet was that when it went from an addon to a standalone console they needed to differentiate it. It became popular because as an abreviation "PS" sounds stupid. Sony reusing it is weird, but why they decided on PS2 when PS/2 was already around. Especially as PS/2 keyboard and mice aren't compatible with a PS2.
