PlayStation (often abbreviated PS, PSone or PS1, and informally as the PSX) is a 32-bit video game console of the fifth generation that was first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December 1994. The PlayStation was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices, which has included successor consoles and upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PS with tools and instructions to program PS games and applications), and PS one (a smaller version of the original).