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PS4 goes grey to celebrate 20 years of the Sony PlayStation

A limited edition PlayStation 4 gets a retro makeover to celebrate two decades of gaming.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

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The PS4 goes grey to celebrate two decades of PlayStation gaming. Sony

PlayStation is 20 -- and to celebrate, a limited edition version of the current console has been given a retro makeover, draped in the grey livery of the original Sony console.

The original Sony PlayStation games console was released in Japan on 3 December 1994.

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A limited edition PS4, pictured left, side-by-side with the original Sony PlayStation console released in 1994. Sony

The "Play Station" name was originally tied to a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo in the 1980s while the two companies developed a new CD-ROM format, but Sony backed out. Sony's Ken Kutaragi, later dubbed the "father of the PlayStation" was nearly fired for his involvement with Nintendo, but managed to persuade Sony that gaming was not a fad. After its Japanese launch, the console landed in the US and Europe in September 1995.

The 32-bit console went head-to-head with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn. With classic games like Wipeout, Tekken and Crash Bandicoot winning gamers to Sony, it was the first video game console to sell 100 million units.

Before games for the original console were finally discontinued in March 2006, the console spawned a smaller model, the PSone, as well as two handheld devices, the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. It was succeeded by the PlayStation 2 in 2000, the PS3 in 2006 and the PS4 last year.

The special birthday version of the PS4 is repainted from its usual black to the grey livery of its illustrious forebear. The controller goes grey too, and the whole thing comes in a special box.

The grey-coated PS4 is available in a limited edition of 12,300, in reference to today's date. It's on sale today for 49,800 yen in Japan, and will cost $499 in the US and £399 in the UK.

Watch this: The history of the PlayStation