World Bids Farewell to PS2

[Friendly]

From today, Sony is no longer shipping new PS2s in Japan.
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201212/28026636.html

It's still available in many parts of the world, though, and will remain in production for years to come.

EDIT: But not by Sony, it would seem:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... ends-years

[KAI]

Best console on earth, Thank god I have an American and a Jap console.

[Marc]

It certainly had some run. The C64 is the longest machine ever in production isn't it? Wonder how this compares.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Second best system ever after PSX. My JP and PAL phats still function perfectly, although they`ve been mostly retired the past few years because of PCSX2.

[MX7]

Sad Fantastic console, possibly my second favourite after the first PlayStation or maybe the SNES.

[GaijinPunch]

Definitely a game changer, although I think it took it a while to find it's groove, which just (eventually) happened to be "anything and everything".

[KAI]

I still remember all the people talking shit when this thing came out.

[Friendly]

I had a look around and found out that PS2 is still selling well in India. Price there is 6,990 INR (128 USD / 96 EUR).
In some developing countries, PS2 was introduced as late as 2011.

Does anyone know when PS2 was discontinued in Europe?
Looks like it's no longer being sold in the United States, either.

[Skykid]

Friendly's ban is most definitely lifted.

Nice console, though not as revolutionary as the PSX and not a patch on the glory of the 16bit era. Hell of a vast library tho.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I had a look around and found out that PS2 is still selling well in India. Price there is 6,990 INR (128 USD / 96 EUR).
In some developing countries, PS2 was introduced as late as 2011.

Does anyone know when PS2 was discontinued in Europe?
Looks like it's no longer being sold in the United States, either.

Still available but Sony is price-gouging people.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... 5#features

[Ex-Cyber]

I still remember all the people talking shit when this thing came out.

I still remember it being kind of shit when it came out. PS2 was a late bloomer; no two ways about it.

[hail good sir]

better

[Khan]

Dam i think we should do a candle light vigil for this event

[nasty_wolverine]

Yeah, the ps2 still sells in India quite well, maybe a bit better than ps3, bought mine in 2007, best thing Next to my Indian version of Nes....

[Specineff]

I still remember all the people talking shit when this thing came out.

Well, if Sony hadn't promised "Toy Story-like graphics" and Lucas saying they could have rendered Episode I on a PS2, and the talk about it being able to guide ICBMs, and the promise of updated PS1 drivers to match Bleem, and the "online station with interoperability with AOL"...

Seeing RE4 on the Cube looking miles better convinced me of who was full of hot air.

[XoPachi]

I still remember all the people talking shit when this thing came out.

Well, if Sony hadn't promised "Toy Story-like graphics" and Lucas saying they could have rendered Episode I on a PS2, and the talk about it being able to guide ICBMs, and the promise of updated PS1 drivers to match Bleem, and the "online station with interoperability with AOL"...

Seeing RE4 on the Cube looking miles better convinced me of who was full of hot air.

BUT it still had the best library of all three systems.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Well, if Sony hadn't promised "Toy Story-like graphics"

That`s an urban legend. One of the early articles on the PS2`s capabilities mentioned Toy Story graphics, but the official Sony press release that came later said the following regarding Graphics Synthesizer: "The quality of the resulting screen image is comparable to movie-quality 3D graphics in real time."

And PS2 version of RE4 was a hack job of a port. MGS3, God of War 2 and Gran Turismo 4 are much better showcases of what the PS2 is capable of. The Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2, but not because of having a better looking version of RE4.

[Marc]

Didn't Sony push the PS2 with an absolute bullshit 'demo' of some fighting game (Bouncer?), same as that bullshit T.Rex demo with PS1?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Squaresoft's The Bouncer demo was included on one of the OPM demo discs that came bundled with the Official Playstation Magazine (for the U.S. magazine subscription base). It wasn't until about three to four months later after the USA PS2 launch debut, that SCEA started including such a PS2 OPM demo disc with said magazine.

On the American PS2 launch day, it was just surrreal going from place to place to see if it was possible to buy such a new PS2 console but most stores had posted makeshift signs saying "Sony PS2 systems are all sold out. We apologize for any inconvienence this may have caused" (including Sears, K-Mart, Target, The Good Guys, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.). Sears had sold all their alloted PS2s on launch day (and only if you had a receipt for a pre-paid deposit for one, could you get one -- if you didn't do that, you were "fucked big time"). Stood around in line outside of Sears for a few hours and a Sears associate opened the door to say that if you paid for one in advance, you were good but for all others to go home. So I wasted my time for nothing that day in waiting outside Sears & later on, by going to seven different stores to see if I could buy one. (Stopped by the local Costco in-person & inquired if they were selling the PS2 and got no response -- had to take an educated guess that they didn't any in that day either.)

Not to mention that many folks whom were lucky enough to score a PS2 that day, they had trouble trying to find/source an official Sony PS2 8mb memory card as they were in short supply as well. Oh well, I learned my lesson and vowed that same situation would not happen again if and when the PS3 was slated to be released (when it came time to buy a 1st gen USA region PS3 console in December of 2006 -- lucked out but had to shell out a whopping $599.99 + tax that day). It was well worth it and was a happy camper indeed.

The 1st gen USA region PS2 console that I bought back in April of 2001 (with an MSRP of $299.99 USD) didn't come with a sample PS2 demo disc whatsoever and had to buy an official Sony PS2 8mb memory card at the asking MSRP of $34.99 (as it was a necessity back in those days) the very next day just to save game file saves for the PS2 Ridge Racer V port. Go figure. Sony ramped up production of it's PS2 consoles and PS2 memory cards to meet supply & demand and it was much easier to buy a PS2 in the Spring of 2001 stateside. Prior to that, I'd try calling the local gaming shops (Software Etc., Funcoland, etc.) to see if they had gotten their new PS2s in and was told that they either hadn't or did but it was all sold out. It was quite hard to acquire such a brand new boxed PS2 console during the Christmas 2000 holiday season as they'd sell out rather quickly as soon as word got out that a new shipment came at the retail stores...it was on a "first come, first served" basis back in those days.

I recall that the 1st gen JPN region PS2 console had an original MSRP of 39,800 yen price tag back in mid-March/early-April of 2000 -- many Japanese speciality gaming stores had plently of them on hand, so it wasn't any trouble to buy one during that time. It was easy to find them even in Akihabara as well. The initial batch of 1st gen JPN region PS2 games were priced at 5,800 yen each -- them new Japanese region 2 DVDs, on the other hand, were selling at 4,800 yen (I thought that was damn expensive myself when it was possible to buy a brand new USA region 1 DVD for a mere $20-$25 a pop in the States!). When I came back to the USA from Japan back in early April of 2000, I saw that such brand new & boxed JPN region PS2 consoles were selling for a mere $1,000 & up on eBay at that particular point in time. Not to mention, that the current exchange rate of a single American dollar was equal to about 118 yen or thereabouts...so it was good to buy Japanese goods at that point in time with no worries with the strong dollar rate/value in effect.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, if Sony hadn't promised "Toy Story-like graphics"

That`s an urban legend. One of the early articles on the PS2`s capabilities mentioned Toy Story graphics, but the official Sony press release that came later said the following regarding Graphics Synthesizer: "The quality of the resulting screen image is comparable to movie-quality 3D graphics in real time."

So you would say that "movie-quality" was a reference to the wireframe graphics from The Black Hole, as opposed to Toy Story and everything that was released after that?

[KAI]

The same happened with the N64 and those "demo videos" released by Nintendo.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Some of those N64 VHS video demos were mailed out to potential buyers stateside. I recieved one in the mail back in the day from Midway once which was an unexpected surprise/bonus. The VHS tape itself was recorded in SLP format to save on valuable VHS tape and lower overall production costs/shipping costs. Go figure. They are certainly prized for their collectibility as they weren't sold to the public anyways. If you signed up to be on a mailing list, you were mailed one free of charge.

Back to the relevant topic at hand.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[GaijinPunch]

Well, if Sony hadn't promised "Toy Story-like graphics"

That`s an urban legend. One of the early articles on the PS2`s capabilities mentioned Toy Story graphics, but the official Sony press release that came later said the following regarding Graphics Synthesizer: "The quality of the resulting screen image is comparable to movie-quality 3D graphics in real time."

Kutaragi said, "It's just like being in the Matrix..." He went into quite some detail which I can't recall, instead of just saying "It's 3x more powerful than it's predecessor".

[brentsg]

Squaresoft's The Bouncer demo was included on one of the OPM demo discs that came bundled with the Official Playstation Magazine (for the U.S. magazine subscription base). It wasn't until about three to four months later after the USA PS2 launch debut, that SCEA started including such a PS2 OPM demo disc with said magazine.

On the American PS2 launch day, it was just surrreal going from place to place to see if it was possible to buy such a new PS2 console but most stores had posted makeshift signs saying "Sony PS2 systems are all sold out. We apologize for any inconvienence this may have caused" (including Sears, K-Mart, Target, The Good Guys, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.). Sears had sold all their alloted PS2s on launch day (and only if you had a receipt for a pre-paid deposit for one, could you get one -- if you didn't do that, you were "fucked big time"). Stood around in line outside of Sears for a few hours and a Sears associate opened the door to say that if you paid for one in advance, you were good but for all others to go home. So I wasted my time for nothing that day in waiting outside Sears & later on, by going to seven different stores to see if I could buy one. (Stopped by the local Costco in-person & inquired if they were selling the PS2 and got no response -- had to take an educated guess that they didn't any in that day either.)

Not to mention that many folks whom were lucky enough to score a PS2 that day, they had trouble trying to find/source an official Sony PS2 8mb memory card as they were in short supply as well. Oh well, I learned my lesson and vowed that same situation would not happen again if and when the PS3 was slated to be released (when it came time to buy a 1st gen USA region PS3 console in December of 2006 -- lucked out but had to shell out a whopping $599.99 + tax that day). It was well worth it and was a happy camper indeed.

The 1st gen USA region PS2 console that I bought back in April of 2001 (with an MSRP of $299.99 USD) didn't come with a sample PS2 demo disc whatsoever and had to buy an official Sony PS2 8mb memory card at the asking MSRP of $34.99 (as it was a necessity back in those days) the very next day just to save game file saves for the PS2 Ridge Racer V port. Go figure. Sony ramped up production of it's PS2 consoles and PS2 memory cards to meet supply & demand and it was much easier to buy a PS2 in the Spring of 2001 stateside. Prior to that, I'd try calling the local gaming shops (Software Etc., Funcoland, etc.) to see if they had gotten their new PS2s in and was told that they either hadn't or did but it was all sold out. It was quite hard to acquire such a brand new boxed PS2 console during the Christmas 2000 holiday season as they'd sell out rather quickly as soon as word got out that a new shipment came at the retail stores...it was on a "first come, first served" basis back in those days.

I recall that the 1st gen JPN region PS2 console had an original MSRP of 39,800 yen price tag back in mid-March/early-April of 2000 -- many Japanese speciality gaming stores had plently of them on hand, so it wasn't any trouble to buy one during that time. It was easy to find them even in Akihabara as well. The initial batch of 1st gen JPN region PS2 games were priced at 5,800 yen each -- them new Japanese region 2 DVDs, on the other hand, were selling at 4,800 yen (I thought that was damn expensive myself when it was possible to buy a brand new USA region 1 DVD for a mere $20-$25 a pop in the States!). When I came back to the USA from Japan back in early April of 2000, I saw that such brand new & boxed JPN region PS2 consoles were selling for a mere $1,000 & up on eBay at that particular point in time. Not to mention, that the current exchange rate of a single American dollar was equal to about 118 yen or thereabouts...so it was good to buy Japanese goods at that point in time with no worries with the strong dollar rate/value in effect.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

A new record!!!

[Stormwatch]

Hard to believe I only got a PS2 a few months ago. </slowpoke>

It's pretty good... if you get a third-party controller, of course.

[null1024]

Hard to believe I only got a PS2 a few months ago. </slowpoke>

It's pretty good... if you get a third-party controller, of course.

I actually like the DualShock design a bunch, and I use a DualShock 1 for playing fighters.

The DS2 has d-pad issues, something as simple as QCF gets dropped very frequently on both of my DS2s, which is the most annoying thing ever. Fucking analog d-pad. Games don't even bother using the analog part of the d-pad, especially not with a perfectly fine analog stick right there...


I actually can't remember much about when the PS2 launched. I remember the DC launch much better, and got a Gamecube for Christmas when that released. Wasn't until 2004 or 2005 that I got a PS2, and for most of its life was used as a DVD player or as a PS1, haha. It's only recently that I've gotten a bunch of PS2 games to play.

Probably my favorite console nowadays, there's gobs of stuff for it and the PS1. It was definitely the weakest visually out of the three [especially with multiplatform games], although I can't think of anything the GC did that looked as nice as GT4.

[Skykid]

and the talk about it being able to guide ICBMs

Ha ha, I remember I did a short TV interview talking about that for some tech show. Boy, that would be seriously embarrassing to look back on.

[shmuppyLove]

Now that I have an A01 PS3, I don't even think my PS2 slim is connected ...

But I logged many hundreds of hours on my original phat PS2.

With a modchip, exploited memory card, HD Loader and the network adatper/hard drive, and a Logitech cordless controller, it was an amazing experience.

Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and Metal Gear Solid 2 I think would be my top 3 in terms of overall experiences.

[Specineff]

Fine. Let's scale it back. I want to see the PS2 render something in real time that looks like the T-1000 did in Terminator 2. Heck, the Tron lightcycle scene.

I do have a PS2 and PSP (both hacked), and I loved me original PS1. I just can't tolerate Sony's BS.

[Skykid]

Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and Metal Gear Solid 2 I think would be my top 3 in terms of overall experiences.

It's hard to believe anyone can rank MGS2 alongside two titles of such magnificence.