The console curio shelf

Every platform holder has a weird one. Nintendo had the Virtual Boy and the 64DD, Sega had the 32X, and Sony had a machine most people outside Japan never saw.

“And who could forget the Nintendo 64DD? Oh, that's right: everyone.”

Meet the PSX

Launched in Japan in December 2003, it was a full PS2 that also worked as a DVR and a DVD burner. It played PS1 games and had a built-in TV tuner.

A hard drive built in

The PS2 only took a drive through its expansion bay. The PSX shipped with 160GB or 250GB inside, and later added broadband support through a patch.

Sold as Sony, not PlayStation

The company pitched it as a home entertainment recorder rather than a games machine, so it carried the Sony badge instead of the PlayStation one.

It gave us the XMB

Its one lasting mark: the PSX was the first Sony system to run the XrossMediaBar menu, later made famous by the PS3.

Sales fell off a cliff

100,000 units moved in launch week, then the numbers collapsed. Sony never published proper figures, and over 20 years later nobody has reliable lifetime sales.

Two divisions, one mess

GameSpot reported that Sony's games arm and its Blu-ray department both handled the PSX and clashed. It was phased out in early 2005.

“A machine that's neither a game console nor a DVD recorder.”

Four times the price

The PSX cost ¥79,800 or ¥99,800, roughly $730 to $910. A PS2 had just dropped to ¥19,800 in Japan, about $179 in the US.

Not the same as PS1

PSX was also Sony's internal codename for the original PlayStation, which sold 102 million units. Sony never marketed that console as the PSX, so don't confuse the two.