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PocketStation

Playstation peripheral developed by Sony Computer Entertainment

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ1147129
Source-derived summary

The PocketStation is a memory card peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. It was released in Japan in 1999. The device acted not only as a memory card but was interactive itself via a small monochrome LCD and buttons on its case. Many PlayStation games included software that could be downloaded and played on the PocketStation. A release in Europe and North America was planned but was ultimately canceled. The PocketStation shares similarities with Sega's VMU for the Dreamcast.

History

The PocketStation was revealed at E3 1998 under the codename PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). It was released exclusively in Japan on January 23, 1999. The original Japanese ship date for the PocketStation was set for December 23, 1998, but it was delayed a full month. Sony only shipped an initial 60,000 units of the peripheral when it was released.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “PocketStation” is playstation peripheral developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through PocketStation, Playstation and peripheral, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1999, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1999-01-23. For this dossier, PocketStation, Playstation and peripheral is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “playstation peripheral developed by Sony Computer Entertainment” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1147129. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1999 and 1998.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “PocketStation”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow PocketStation primary sources, PocketStation archive and PocketStation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “PocketStation”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from PocketStation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.