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Sony's retro gaming paradise celebrates 20 years of PlayStation (pictures)

We take a look at a popup PlayStation store-slash-museum in London -- it's showing off a golden PS One, as well as selling limited batches of the special-edition grey PS4.

Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Andrew Lanxon
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1 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Come and take a look inside PlayStation's pop-up shop-come-museum, created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic console.

The temporary shop, in Bethnal Green, East London, displays a wide range of memorabilia from the past two decades of PlayStation gaming, including this gold PS One, created to commemorate the manufacture of the 10 millionth console.

As part of the birthday celebration, limited batches of special-edition grey PS4s are on sale, designed to mimic the colour of the original console, released in 1994.

While much of the memorabilia is for display only -- acting as a museum -- the shop also sells more recent PlayStation-themed merchandise as well, for those of you who simply can't help but spend some money.

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2 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Queues formed early in the street outside as only limited quantities of the special edition PS4 are being sold each day.

The shop is only open temporarily and will be closed permanently this Friday, 12 December.

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3 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Meet Dave, from London. He was first in line on Thursday to pick up his own special grey PS4.

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4 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Dave had to knock on a hidden hatch and give a secret password in order to claim his console.

To celebrate the store's opening on Tuesday, the first batch of consoles sold for just £19.94 (around $30 or AU$40), in tribute to the year it went on sale. Dave came for his a day later, meaning he had to pay the full £399 asking price for his (it costs $499 in the US and AU$499 in Australia). Bad luck, Dave.

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5 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

"Oh hi, how can I help?"

"One console, please."

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And here's Dave with his shiny new special-edition PS4. Smashing.

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7 of 29 Sarah Tew/CNET

Sony didn't have any of the special grey consoles on show, so here's one we took earlier. Fancy!

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The golden PS One naturally comes with a controller in the same garish hue.

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And a plaque. It's not for sale.

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The shop is really more of a museum. Stacks of old original PlayStation consoles were dotted around.

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As well as a whole range of classic games.

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Remember Vib Ribbon? I do. It was quite rare and totally bizarre.

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13 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Ah, the London expansion to the original Grand Theft Auto. Controversial at the time, but it's positively tame next to the first-person, high-definition violence you can engage in in the latest version of GTA V.

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A whole stack of PS2 consoles.

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The store has a big display of rare, imported Japanese titles.

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Including Professional Baseball Spirits, which sounds amazing.

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We all remember the PocketStation, right?

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Easy now, lads, we don't want any trouble here.

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19 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Sony apparently made a PlayStation snowboard at some point. Presumably to help promote Coolboarders, which still stands in my mind as one of the greatest games of all time.

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20 of 29 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Some of the consoles are playable, which naturally attracted classic gaming fans eager to battle it out on Tekken.

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Recent merchandise is available too, including these PlayStation-themed socks.

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And messenger bags that look like the original consoles.

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I have no idea what this is, but if you do, please send in your answers and a short story in which it is the hero.

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A slim PlayStation and a MultiTap which allows you to plug in more controllers -- critical for four-player gaming action.

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Off to a formal affair but still want people to know your gaming passions? These cufflinks should do the trick.

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Various upright playable consoles are dotted around the store as well.

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It's not all about history -- there's a new PS4 too.

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Being December in London, it naturally rained the whole time I was there and was freezing cold too. Sensibly, these guys brought umbrellas. I didn't.

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If you never played the superb Final Fantasy 7 then you can't really call yourself a gamer.

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