To some, this expandable Craftsman trailer with a 2000s-era gadget emblazoned large on the side will draw some questions. To whoever’s asking them, I’d say they probably weren’t paying attention back when the PlayStation Portable dropped on the scene and forever changed on-the-go gaming for us kids that grew up with monochrome GameBoys and worm lights. The very trailer Sony used to promote its handheld system is on sale where else but Facebook Marketplace, that purgatory for all obsolete things of dubious public interest. And it’ll set you back a cool $70,000.
This was one of the famed PlayStation Experience trucks that would tour the U.S. showing off Sony’s latest interactive wares. It was there for the launch of the original PlayStation, in the heyday or Twisted Metal and Spyro; it lived through the PlayStation 2’s dominance and obviously PSP’s tenure in the early aughts as well. And its journey drew to a close when Sony’s fortunes briefly did, in the PS3 days. Kids: I know this’ll sound wild, but about 15 years ago, if you didn’t own an Xbox 360, all your friends were legally permitted to bully you. I know!
Anyway, the individual selling this who is definitely named “Arthur Vandelay” evidently doesn’t know the provenance of this monstrosity that brought joy to so many gamers decades ago. It’s currently kept at a “secure lot” in St. Louis, Missouri, after being hauled out of storage and “out of service for several years.” The tires are dry-rotted, shocker, but all the walls and panels that fold up and out still reportedly do. Fresh rubber aside, all it needs now is maybe a dozen or so PSPs and this guy’s grotesquely overpriced collection of every game released for the platform in North America. The retro game market is very normal!
As strange as the PlayStation trailer may be, this sort of roadshow wasn’t all that unusual in the days of in-person expos and the belief that leaving your house and trying something with your hands might leave a stronger impression than a 30-second sizzle reel live-streamed on YouTube. Sega had a similar initiative with the Dreamcast around the time of that console’s launch in the fall of 1999, and unlike Sony, they were in worryingly dire straits. That might explain why the timelessly named—and I wish I was making this up—Sega Mobile Assault Tour looks less like a trailer full of cutting-edge video games and more like an insurrectionist party bus.
The Dreamcast was prime “put up or shut up” hours for Sega, and the fact nobody ultimately knows what became of the Assault convoy should tell you everything you need to know about how they ended. On the other hand, we know exactly where the PlayStation Experience truck is: ready and waiting for your tender love and care, in St. Louis.
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