I support The SONY PLAYSTATION brand because it the Console sported by the Japanese Game Developers/Publishes the most. as long as the Japanese back the SONY PlayStation Brand for the most part I will never stop supporting SONY PlayStation.

Just to add to this, they also develop titles like Flower, Flow, and of course, Shadow of the Colossus and Ico. I honestly can't think of any games quite like those on any other system.

I read some of the comments about a "mascot."  Why?  The two franchises I love from Sony are Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper.  But then I think of my 55" and 32" HDTV's, HD a/v receiver, speakers, subwoofer, DVD player, digital camers, VCR, iMac, Cell phone, iPod, DirecTV HD receiver, etc., I don't think of a mascot.  So why should I associate a mascot with a game console?  Even with Nintendo I don't always think of their consoles with Mario.  Gaming to me is just as important as the rest of my electronic, mature.  And yes, Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper are MATURE.

That or he just simple fails to see the gaming goodness Sony has to offer.  Just saying.

My question was asking about what set of iconic/signature features, franchises, etc... is the Playstation brand noted for that cause people to become fans of it.  As I posted, if I ask the question of other company console brands, Mario, Master Chief, etc... come to mind.

As been pointed out here, the reasons for people liking the Playstation brand is more complex and varied than with other consoles, so it isn't as obvious.

interestingly enough, I've got a few links & numbers of my own, according to the same source of information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Game_Studios

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment#Software_development_studios

Overall, Sony has 15 first party devs, 19 second party devs, Nintendo has 18 first party devs, 19 second party devs, MS has 10 first party devs, no second party dev, and 12 "affiliate" 3rd party devs (technically 11 since Bungie is already with Activision).

Out of Sony's 15 first party devs, other than Forster City Studio (they only oversee and co develop Sony games with other studios), all of them have their own unique IPs, only 2 of them have 1 IP (GG and Media Molecue), all others have 2 or more unique IPs on their development records. So far 5 New PS3 IPs have been created/close to finish by first party devs (ignoring PSN titles and PS Home; eyepet is ignored because its eyetoy based, which is last gen; co - developments with studios outside Sony are also ignored):

Uncharted, Mag, Last Guardian, Motor Storm, LittleBigPlanet.

Out of Nintendo's 18 first party devs, 5 of them have worked on Mario or Mario related games, 3 of them worked on Donkey Kong or DK related games. they developed 7 new IPs for Wii so far (ignoring WiiWare titles, SMG is also ignored because of Mario factor):

Wii Fit (plus), Wii Party, Wii Sports (resort), Wii Play, Wii Music, Xenoblade (JP only), Disaster: Day of Crisis.

Out of MS' 10 first party devs, 1 is for Windows Phone 7, 3 of them only developed 1 "Kinetic" title each, 3 are new studios with no games (343 for new halo, Firebird for an unannounced game, Wingnut Interactive partners with Peter Jackson for a "filmic game"), so far 5 new IPs have been created for Xbox 360 by first party devs (ignoring XBL titles):

Kinetic Joy Ride, Kinetic Adventures, Kinetic Sports, Viva Pinata, Kameo: elements of Power.

Now, is it really that hard to see the quality and variety of Sony's new IPs compare to MS/Nintendo? They push their devs for something new and they support a big range of games, if you want to add 3rd parties to MS' case (Gears of War, Alan Wake, L4D ect ect), don't forget Sony still has plenty of 2nd parties (inFamous, Heavy Rain, Resistance ect ect) and co - developments (ModNation Racers, Sports Champion ect ect). 3rd parties (Demon's Souls, Agent, Heavenly Sword ect ect) are not even included in the discussion since we're talking about Sony's Variey here.

Edit: Removed Warhawk from Sony list since its actually a remake of a PS1 game, kameo added to MS list.

Lots of them

1.Sony started making more mature games for teenagers and adults.

2. Final Fantasy 7 converted me from Nintendo to Sony because I had never been so drawn into a videogame story.

3. Twisted Metal First 1st Sony title I played, it was dark and unique I loved it.

4. PS2 GTA, God of War and JAK series rocked.

5. PS3 -Uncharted is  to good tp pass on. Free to play online gameing

Thats the most basic answer.

This post owns <3

They tried to destroy the video games industry and they almost succeeded. I hate video games. Luckily for me, Microsoft is here and maybe they might succeed and failing that I have Apple.

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in........