Limited edition original grey PS4 pays homage to first PSX

[dlevere]

Sony celebrates the brand's 20th anniversary with a small, 12,300 system run.

By Kyle Orland



It may seem hard to believe, but it was 20 years ago on December 3, 1994, that Sony launched the original PlayStation, and the PlayStation brand, in Japan. To celebrate, the console gaming giant is offering an extremely limited worldwide run of 12,300 (12/3 hundred... get it?) "20th Anniversary Edition" PlayStation 4 consoles in "original grey," matching the color and styling of that first system launched 20 years ago.

The package comes at a premium price of $499 in the US, which includes a 500 GB system, a PlayStation camera, a limited edition DualShock 4, and a vertical stand—all colored to match the original PlayStation. The system and controller also feature tiny etched patterns of the familiar X, O, square, and triangle buttons, as well as the classic, red, yellow, blue, and green PlayStation logo on the front. A "very limited supply" will be available for preorder in the US and Canada beginning Saturday, December 6^th, with more details on availability to be announced during the upcoming PlayStation Experience.

In announcing the system, Sony Social Media Manager Sid Shuman called the release "perhaps the most limited edition PlayStation we'll ever see." That's discounting some of the rarer limited edition colors and designs in the PlayStation brand's past, though, including a Japan-exclusive Yakuza-themed white PS3 (10,000 reportedly made), a midnight blue original PlayStation made to celebrate the system's 10 millionth sale (100 reportedly given to contest winners), and the $5,000 solid gold PS3s made by computer-choppers.com (five reportedly sold—thanks to the invaluable consolecolors.com).

Gaming anniversary homage fans may recall that Nintendo pulled a similar move in 2004, introducing a limited-edition Game Boy Advance SP styled after the original Nintendo Entertainment System, in celebration of that console's 20th anniversary. The portable was available in much greater quantities than this limited-edition PS4, though, and sold for a more competitive $99.

Just so you know, Microsoft, we have you penciled in to release an ultra-limited run of 20 "Anniversary Edition" Xbox One consoles, in stylish translucent green, sometime near the end of 2021.

[dlevere]

20th Anniversary grey PS4's reselling for upwards of $20,000 on eBay

Hundreds of limited-edition systems fetching median markup of over 250% at auction.

By Kyle Orland


The limited edition 20th Anniversary PS4 also comes with a DualShock 4 styled after the original PlayStation controller.

If you were really quick on the draw this weekend, you could have secured a pre-order for one of 12,300 limited-edition 20th Anniversary "Original Grey" PS4 units at just $499. If you weren't lucky enough to get in on the ground floor, you could end up paying thousands of percentage points in mark up for the same console on eBay.

This afternoon, a seller from Bellflower, California, sold his 20th Anniversary PS4 pre-order for $20,100 on eBay. Late last night, another auction from Patterson, New Jersey, finished at over $15,000, a price that the seller confirmed as paid in full to GamerHeadlines.

As of this writing, nearly 300 Anniversary PS4's are listed as "sold" through eBay auctions that have closed in the last two days. While a handful are reselling at or near Sony's $500 asking price, the median auction is finishing at close to $1,800, a more than 250-percent markup for a console that hasn't even shipped yet. A quick search for "PlayStation 4 anniversary" finds at least 350 more systems being actively auctioned on eBay right now, many with asking prices well into the five-figure range. Combined, that suggests about five percent of the total allotment of 12,300 Anniversary systems has either already sold or is looking to be sold on eBay at the moment.

A "very limited" number of U.S. pre-orders for the 20th Anniversary system reportedly sold out within minutes of being listed on the Sony Store on Saturday. "We appreciate your interest, but we will have no more inventory," the Sony Store page currently says. "Apologies for the inconvenience."

Japanese gamers will be able to put in for their opportunity to buy an Anniversary Edition console through a lottery system. Sony hasn't yet revealed how Europeans will be able to get their allotment of extremely limited-edition consoles, but a PlayStation Blog EU post says the system "will not be available via traditional retail channels" in the region. In Spain, 350 of the limited edition consoles will be auctioned off directly to consumers with proceeds going to charity.

Units will be shipped to the lucky pre-orders on December 21, when a lot of them will apparently be shipped directly to others paying a lot more on eBay.

[dlevere]

Unboxing Of The 20th Anniversary PS4!

By Minimur12

So, I was one of the lucky 12,300 in the world, and one of 700 (roughly) in the UK that managed to get their hands on one of the 20th anniversary PS4’s, and I’m here to share my experience with you! Man, it was awesome.

Luckily GAME (the retailer that sold it) was nice enough to ship it with next day delivery, and a tracking number!

The morning after I got the email that it has been dispatched, there was a little sentence that said ‘check back in 5 minutes for when it updated….. and I did.

2 hours later (it came at 12:00) saw the DPD truck and my smile was something like a clown… but without the makeup.

My cheeks were hurting.

Anyway! onto the photos!

So when I first got it, I obviously and safely ran to the cutlery draw and grabbed a knife, and definitely safely ran to the console to cut open the tape.

This is was I was greeted with:



Okay, lets try this again:



Nerdgasm #1

Okay, so then I took it out the box with my cheeks still hurting me. Also, of course, Sony love their boxes, it shows here too.





Nerdgasm #2

A nice simple sleeve, but this box isn’t just a normal box, this one opened really cool like ( I took this photo later, when I realised it would’ve been good to include it):



Nerdgasm #3

And then my eyes witnessed something awesome…. Are you ready?



Nerdgasm #4,5,6

Okay, so let’s start with the peripherals and then the console at the end, scroll down if you just want to see the console though!

It. smelt. so. good.



Nerdgasm#7

and here’s a close up of the touchpad and home button:



Nerdgasm #…. I’ve lost count. I give up.

2OX[]/\ !!!!!!!

Okay, the camera now, there’s nothing too special about the camera other than it being grey and a coloured ps logo on the side, it’s not embossed or anything, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome!



This was how the camera was packaged:



The stand is up next, and well, it’s the stand – a beautiful grey colour!



Okay, the boring pictures about the cables and stuff.

If you look at the picture above of it all, the cables came in that black space in the top right corner, below the instructional booklets.

Well, here’s the instruction booklets, which came in its own little awesome box:



The cables were underneath, in its own little box too, with a hole in the top of the box so it was easier to lift out. I liked that.



Out of the cables involved, I was hoping that they would’ve been grey too, but they weren’t, the headset that no one uses was grey in some parts however:



I found this pretty interesting too, that this version actually came with an EU plug and a UK plug, I guess it was just the same package for all of Europe.

Close up of the earpiece:



Time for console pics now! Are you just as excited as I am? I hope so!

Here’s a close up of the colored logo and the embossed part of the console:



And what number am I you ask? Well here’s your answer:



Want to know what the best feeling in the world is?

This:



Here’s my old ps4 next to my new ps4:



So, with the new console addition, I had to get a new game addition to the family, so I treated myself to this:



Don’t you love it when games have reversible sleeves?



Jokes aside, at least I have my priorities in check:





Here’s a few things I noticed that weren’t said in the articles that documented it:

First of all, besides the faceplate the WHOLE console has the symbols embossed into it:



And that’s something else, too, all of the stickers are shiny and have a chrome look to them

Original controller sticker

And ltd edition:



I’ve already taken her apart, and replaced the HDD with my 1tb one, and noticed something interesting. the HDD is different to the one in the Infamous bundle!



Left: 20th Anniversary Right: original

It’s thinner too!



Left: Original Right: 20th anniversary

So before I drafted this up, I write a post asking what the other bloggers thought I should do a unboxing or not, and The Z was nice enough to speak on behalf of everyone:



Don’t worry guys, I’ve only hugged it twice.

I know some of you are thinking ‘what the heck, he’s using it?!?! why not sell it and make thousands!

Well, the people that are buying these PS4’s are people like me, ultimate geeks that love this. Sure, I could sell it and make $5,446.18, but that is preying off of someone who is just like me, and wants it so ridiculously bad, they’ll pay extortionate rates for it.

I. LOVE. IT.

[MathUser]

That is a pretty sweet system.

[xirtamehtsitahw]

That is the coolest commemorative system I have EVER seen! Kudos dlevere! You get a Like for this.

[dlevere]

20th Anniversary PS4 on eBay for $3,016.31

By Tom Phillips



The owner of a super-rare limited edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4 has customized their console and placed it back on sale - for $3,016.31.

Ebay seller krystalboutique has coated the console in gold Swarovski crystals (thanks, L1keMike).

The model has even been given a shiny crystal version of Sony's PlayStation logo.

"The pictures don't do this much justice," the seller wrote.

"It's STUNNING to look at, very sleek and would be an amazing show piece as well as a usable and totally functional console unit for anyone looking for a completely unique piece of PlayStation history or an amazing gift!"

Sony produced just 12,300 units of the 20th Anniversary PS4, each of which is individually numbered.

Fans could apply to buy one via competitions, or alternatively nab one in person at a number of unique locations - such as the special PlayStation '94 pop-up shop in London.

The console's RRP was $601.75, although a limited number were sold in the UK for a mere $30.06.

But within hours, the consoles were being placed on eBay for thousands of pounds.

This week Sony Japan auctioned off its PS4 20th Anniversary Edition unit No. 00001 for $128,125.60 - proceeds from which are being donated to charity.

At the time of publication there have been zero bids.


The seller is throwing in that beanie for free. Really.