PlayStation 2

Playstation 2
Released: 2001
Created By: Sony
Price: $149.99 / £104.99 / €149,99

Sony’s Playstation 2 (abbr. “PS2”) is the follow-up to their hugely successful Playstation game console.

The original Playstation (abbr. “PSX” or simply “PS”) was released in Sep. 1995 in America and it quickly became the best-selling console system of all time (eventually selling over 100 million units). A large reason for the popularity of the system, especially among the mainstream and casual gamers, was thanks to incredible marketing, aimed towards giving the Playstation a cool, hip image. An image that stuck with the Playstation brand throughout the console’s lifetime, giving it an edge over Nintendo, whose brand was regarded as “kiddy” in comparison.


Of course, what really sold systems were lots of outstanding games, many of which featured high-quality CG sequences, FMV (full-motion video) and voice, which hadn’t been as prevalent in previous consoles, especially Nintendo’s, due to the limiting cartridge format. The Playstation also hit with a unique line-up of stand-out games that you couldn’t find anywhere else, and that list only grew with the system’s age. Many popular franchises were birthed on the Playstation, including: Twisted Metal, Wipeout, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Metal Gear Solid. Thus the Playstation brand quickly become one of the most popular brands amongst America’s youth and Sony easily ended up dominating their competitors Nintendo and Sega. The original Playstation hit heavy, hard and edgy and people ate it up.

By the time the PS2 was announced, Sony already had the majority of the video gaming market in their grasp, and interest in the system was through the roof, even early on; simply by brand recognition alone. It didn’t hurt that, at the time of its release, the PS2 was the most powerful system anyone had ever seen.

The Playstation 2 debuted on Oct. 26, 2000 in the US and it quickly sold, as people lined the streets to buy the system. However, despite the huge number of system sales upon release, the PS2 had an initially sluggish year due to few great games, resulting in low sales once gamers found out that there actually weren’t that many must-have titles being release. Many people bought the system in part for its ability to play DVDs, and so game sales suffered.

It wouldn’t matter in the end, however, as eventually the PS2 did get great games, and once they started coming the games would never let up. To this day, five years after the systems debut and months after the announcement of the Playstation 3, PS2 sales are still going strong.

So if you are a newcomer to video games, should you still buy a PS2? The simple answer is yes, because the PS2 really is the system to own for casual gamers, and any gamer in general. There are literally thousands of games available for the system, and any genre you could possibly conceive is covered. Not to mention that the PS2 has the greatest amount of Japanese RPGs and Tactical/Strategy RPGs, way more than the Xbox or GameCube, so particularly if you are an RPG fan, then the PS2 is where the action is (that’s not to say that other systems don’t have RPGs. But the PS2 simply has the most). But whether its sports games, online games, racing games, fighting games, first-person shooters, platformers, or whatever else, the PS2 has you covered.


The system itself is backwards compatible with original Playstation games, which means the thousands of PSOne games available are also playable on your PS2. This is a great feature for anyone that never owned an original Playstation, as there are tons of great PSOne games that can now be found for really cheap and that are definitely worth tracking down. The PS2 also plays DVD movies right out of the box, although it’s not the greatest DVD player around, but it works.

However, the PS2 only has two controller ports, so four-player party games aren’t as common on the system (not to mention that you have to buy an optional multi-tap for around 30 bucks if you want to play four-player), so if you plan on playing lots of multi-player games with more than two people crowded around the TV, then you may want to consider investing in either an Xbox or a GameCube.

Having said that, there really is no reason any gamer should not want to own a PS2, it quite simply has the most games, and many great ones at that. It’s to be seen however whether Sony will be able to keep the console-war lead going into the next-generation, with their upcoming Playstation 3 console. Microsoft is determined to do whatever it takes to win, and with the Xbox 360 (the first next-gen console) hitting over a year before the PS3, Sony may actually find itself fighting to fend Microsoft off, who is the one getting the head start this round (in relation to the last console war, in which Sony got a head-start with it’s PS2 releasing before the GameCube or Xbox). But no matter what happens, you can be sure that Sony isn’t going anywhere. And in the end, that only benefits the gamer.

Features: Plays DVD movies, backwards compatible with PSOne games, only two console ports (You need a multi-tap device to play four-player games), online enabled through both 56k and broadband but an optional adapter must be purchased first to connect online, and for some games an optional hard-drive is also required.

Pros: More games than any one person could ever play, still plenty of life in the system which means new games will continue to be released, a huge budget library of cheaply-priced but high quality games available in Sony’s “Greatest Hits” line-up

Cons: More games means more bad games that you don’t ever want to play, Sony’s online-gaming sector isn’t quite as good as Microsoft’s, especially with the Xbox 360 now released, the PS2 version of a third-party game usually isn’t as good as the Xbox version.

Launch Line-up Included: Madden NFL 2001, SSX, Ridge Racer V, Smuggler’s Run, TimeSplitters, Tekken Tag Tournament, Kessen, Armored Core 2, Dynasty Warriors 2, Dead or Alive Hardcore, Midnight Club, Summoner, Street Fighter EX3, Eternal Ring, Evergrace, Gradius III & IV, Fantavision, The Bouncer, Silpheed: The Lost Planet, Gun Griffon Blaze, Rayman 2, Unreal Tournament and more. (more includes: Jet Ion Grand Prix, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2, ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding, Swing Away Golf, ESPN International Track & Field, Silent Scope, Wild Wild Racing, X-Squad, Them Park Roller Coaster, Orphen, Stunt GP, RC Revenge Pro, NHL 2001, ESPN Primetime, ESPN NBA Tonight, F1 Championship, Star Wars Episode 1: Starfighter)

Great PS2 Exclusives Include: Final Fantasy X, the Jak series, the Ratchet & Clank series, the Sly Cooper series, God of War, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, the Gran Turismo series, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Rez, Twisted Metal: Black, the Katamari Damacy series, the Tekken series, Soul Calibur 3, Clock Tower 3…

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