ARS: There was a time when Sony's entry into the world of gaming was far from assuredWhen the PlayStation One was announced many claimed it was a fool's errand, and that only Nintendo and Sega could do well with gaming hardware.

1995, it stands to point out, was a very different world After saving for almost a year I finally had enough for the PlayStation and a few games, along with one of these new-fangled memory cardsThe PlayStation games would come on discs, you see, so you couldn't save your game directly to the cart.

Despite my friends' laughter at the purchase, I felt like we were looking at the futureLooking back, we certainly wereThe PlayStation was one of the most popular systems of all time, and helped usher in modern gaming.

Happy Birthday