World Bids Farewell to PS2

[Mortificator]

I dunno, TM Black is pretty below-average in every sense, and seemed pretty amateurish. I'm not sure if that's even very debatable from what I played of it (I think I spent about an hour with it..?).

Twisted Metal Black is below average, I really want to hear what car-fu titles at the turn of the millennium were average and which were above average.

[moh]

Oh how I love my ps2. Even after it died, it lives on :]

[RGC]

Aww what a beauty. Me loves dead consoles converted into stickies.

[louisg]

Moh, that is awesome!

[moh]

I'm glad you guys like it

check out the video I made about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DrJ691cPAg

[Hagane]

That looks amazing.

[Drachenherz]

Now I need an old PS2 case...

[AweOfShe]

That's pretty awesome.

And I like your voice.

[Limbrooke]

I remember vividly everyone was talking PS2 and how was it going dominate. This was evidenced by the sheer number of people I knew whom were planning to get it. I got swept up in this this idea that if you weren't on board with PS2 were going to be "left behind". Having said that I got a PS2 without a geniune game or reason in mind, so yeah, Sony's plan worked not just on me but millions of others.

I didn't play video games much at this point. I had owned a Sega Genesis, a Game Boy, and an NES all with no more than a few games each. I mostly spent time with Windows 9x games around that time and not excessively. The launch didn't really appeal to me beyond NHL 2001 and looking back there's not much change. The early games never really caught my attention after I began playing them and I let the system rot for over a year. Then, around the summer 2002 I decided to give it another shot and this time I tried looking into software with greater detail and if the results came up empty I was going to sell it off while the price was decent. Going with Silent Hill 2, Gran Turismo 3, and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance turned around my view of video games and directly that of the PS2. It's strange to look back in such contrast to how I was and at times I sort wonder I had been more wise and not bought into the peer-pressure or hype machine of the PS2 - things could be quite different.

I never had any issues with PS2, not even disc read errors while enjoying games such as Ace Combat 04, Colin McRae Rally 3, and yes even Metal Gear Solid 2 leave the PS2 in a memorable position despite it seeing little use these days.

I remember the Japanese PS2 almost preselling out it's lot of 1 million units, and the handful of shops that didn't do preorders having people queued up for 2 days... with a truly awful launch lineup.

A friend told me of an article in Official PlayStation Magazine about a guy being 2nd in line (possibly at Metreon) paying entirely in change for the launch PS2. Hard core for just Tekken Tag Tournament, that'd be my lone justification on launch day anyway.
I also recall a few people eager to get their hands on VF4.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I remember the Japanese PS2 almost preselling out it's lot of 1 million units, and the handful of shops that didn't do preorders having people queued up for 2 days... with a truly awful launch lineup.

A friend told me of an article in Official PlayStation Magazine about a guy being 2nd in line (possibly at Metreon) paying entirely in change for the launch PS2. Hard core for just Tekken Tag Tournament, that'd be my lone justification on launch day anyway.
I also recall a few people eager to get their hands on VF4.

Yep, that famed Sony Playstation store at the Metreon is just across from the San Francisco-based Moscone Center of all places to be situated at. The Playstation branded swag that they sell, is certainly ain't cheap. One time, I saw a brand new copy of PS1 game of Trap Gunner selling at the Metreon PS store at the asking MSRP of $49.99 USD and thought that was too pricey. Passed it up.

They used to film Adam Sessler (and later on, shapely co-host Morgan Webb) hosting his game show inside the Metreon arcade hangout before the TechTV channel got bought out by the notorius G4 channel back in the day. Originally, TechTV was based out of San Francisco and it was moved to Southern California after the business aquisition merger was finally completed.

Paying for a launch PS2 console in purely Ameican pocket change is certainly quite an ordeal (especially for the cashier ringing up the purchase...not to mention counting it all by hand to make sure it all adds up). Was it all in pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters coin denomination?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[moh]

That's pretty awesome.

And I like your voice.

oh you

[Edmond Dantes]

It wasn't until recently that I warmed up to the PS2.

I had one of the older models, but it broke. Before, I had problems with the PSOne, so when my PS2 broke, I said "fuck it" and wasn't gonna buy any more Sony systems.

Fast forward ten years, and I become a King's Field and Metal Gear fan, and I NEED a PS2 to play King's Field IV (The Ancient City) and MGS2 and 3 (sorry, but I really do like the one with Raiden better), and then I discover the Neo-Geo and Capcom collections, and Devil May Cry...

What didn't help back in 2000 (or whenever) was I wanted a PS2 for Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X, both of which turned out to be garbage. If only I had known about DMC back then...

[BareKnuckleRoo]

and I become a King's Field and Metal Gear fan

Awesome series. Shame the PS1 wasn't really capable of handling them without a lot of slowdown, but they were a great early first-person real-time combat RPG long before stuff like Morrowwind and Oblivion showed up. Wish I'd discovered them sooner, but I only played the first one last year.

[Edmond Dantes]

and I become a King's Field and Metal Gear fan

Awesome series. Shame the PS1 wasn't really capable of handling them without a lot of slowdown, but they were a great early first-person real-time combat RPG long before stuff like Morrowwind and Oblivion showed up. Wish I'd discovered them sooner, but I only played the first one last year.

When you say "first one", do you mean the JAPANESE first one, or the ENGLISH first one? (the latter is actually King's Field II)

I thought the PS1 installments were better than the Ancient City personally (although, Ancient City is a damn good game in its own right).

Bragging moment: I actually own the limited edition "Dark Side" box set.

[Ghegs]

Bragging moment: I actually own the limited edition "Dark Side" box set.

I have one of those too, buried in the back of my closet.

King's Field is a very cool series, I've played through KF1us and KF2us, and played Ancient City quite a bit but never finished it. Not sure why, maybe it dragged on a little too long. Been meaning to go back and play KF1jp with the fan translation one of these days.

[Edmond Dantes]

King's Field IV is definitely lengthier, and in some parts feels like a retread (when you're riding the mine platforms for example). But then... it's a retread of KF2, which IMO is the best game in the series, along with some elements from Shadow Tower mixed in (and improved upon).

BTW, Moh, about your arcade stick... why don't you have four buttons per row instead of three? "Three punches, three kicks" is Street Fighter standard, but for Neo Geo games you need four in a row.

[Friendly]

I was in Akihabara the day PS2 was released, and it was pretty crazy. I didn't buy one for myself (I waited until 2002), but a friend asked me to buy one for him, which I did, along with most launch games. Unless you had camped out in front of a store you had no chance to get one, as it sold out instantly. After unsuccessfully trying to find one all morning, I managed to buy one in a back alley from a Japanese guy who had a couple sitting in the back of his truck (with a mark up, of course). The Japanese launch game lineup was extremely underwhelming, even worse than Wii U's. Has there ever been a console launch with a weaker selection than what PS2 got in Japan? However, when we booted up Ridge Racer V that afternoon it became obvious that Dreamcast (which I had bought at launch) was outclassed and would have a very hard time to compete.

[Ganelon]

BTW, Moh, about your arcade stick... why don't you have four buttons per row instead of three? "Three punches, three kicks" is Street Fighter standard, but for Neo Geo games you need four in a row.

It's alright. All SNK games post-Neo Geo have adopted the Street Fighter 6-button layout and just recommend caps on unused buttons. The newer KOF games use the 4 leftmost buttons for ABCD. For the vast majority of Neo Geo games (i.e. fighters), the 2x2 layout of 4 buttons was more sensible anyway.

[GaijinPunch]

I was in Akihabara the day PS2 was released, and it was pretty crazy. I didn't buy one for myself (I waited until 2002), but a friend asked me to buy one for him, which I did, along with most launch games. Unless you had camped out in front of a store you had no chance to get one, as it sold out instantly.

This is true, and it was only (from memory) 2 or 3 stores in Akiba (and maybe a handful of others through the cuntry) that actually did not sell their allotment in pre-sale. You can basically say the PS2 presold a million units (although it's probably more like 999,000). So, you really only had a few choices, and I do recall distinctly people started not one, but two days before. Fuck that shit. Queuing back then was brutal. The handheld gaming and phone market was slim pickins.

even worse than Wii U's. Has there ever been a console launch with a weaker selection than what PS2 got in Japan?

Fuck yeah. Gamecube.

However, when we booted up Ridge Racer V that afternoon it became obvious that Dreamcast (which I had bought at launch) was outclassed and would have a very hard time to compete.

If you fap to tech demos (which average customers do) then yes. As most have stated in this thread, it took ages for the PS2 to get the good shit... well, enough of it to be the system of choice.

[louisg]

Ridge Racer V has good graphics now? When did this happen?

[KAI]

RRV looks awesome. Why everyone keep talking shit about it?

[Stormwatch]

Jaggies, jaggies everywhere.

[Ghegs]

I don't really mind the jaggies in RRV, it's a cool game nonetheless. And it supports the neGcon, which is great. KAI, we need to get some time attack going on that.

[KAI]

Whenever you're ready, let's burn some rubber.

[louisg]

I don't really mind the jaggies in RRV, it's a cool game nonetheless. And it supports the neGcon, which is great. KAI, we need to get some time attack going on that.

It's definitely a lot of fun. I had a blast playing it two-player a couple weeks ago.

[Ganelon]

Jaggies, jaggies everywhere.

For the PS2 in general, right? Even Gran Turismo 4 looks like an aliased mess and some consider it one of the best looking games on the system.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Generally, I think aliasing/flicker in 640i PS2 games was pretty bad... in 2000 (rubs me the wrong way even in FantaVision, where it's far from stealing the show). After that, some games had it, some hadn't. The only car games where I personally find it unpleasant are: Battle Gear 3 and OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (a game pleasing to look at overall). Well, of course Burnout 3 looks grainy, but I think the actual resolution is pretty low there for a good enough reason.
So much for car games. As for the most tidy looking, interlaced hi-res polygonal games, regardless of the genre, I say: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Contra: Shattered Soldier, Psyvariar 2, Homura, SoulCalibur II (worst looking version, but pretty "clean" at that), Primal. Haven't seen MGS2 for quite a while, but I don't recall any issues of the sort in that one. I'm talking RGB, CRT here.

Meanwhile, I played God of War II (PAL, 50 Hz-only, but it's a good conversion) the other day and it struck me as FantaVision done RIGHT in terms of fullscreen post-processing (look at all those floating orbs).
Last console game where I found the jaggies FantaVision-bad in 640i was Xenoblade Chronicles (have yet to see a GameCube game this rough around the edges). On the balance, it doesn't seem typical of PS2 as such.

[Ghegs]

Whenever you're ready, let's burn some rubber.

It's definitely a lot of fun. I had a blast playing it two-player a couple weeks ago.

If I can interest you gentlemen in some time attacking, we're all ready to go.

[Paradigm]

even worse than Wii U's. Has there ever been a console launch with a weaker selection than what PS2 got in Japan?

Fuck yeah. Gamecube.

Super Monkey Ball and Luigi's Mansion?

Don't think so.

[louisg]

even worse than Wii U's. Has there ever been a console launch with a weaker selection than what PS2 got in Japan?

Fuck yeah. Gamecube.

Super Monkey Ball and Luigi's Mansion?

Don't think so.

Not to turn this into a GC thread, but it had Rogue Squadron 2 and Tony Hawk 3 available, too. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with either, but I heard they were good. I remember people being disappointed that it was Luigi's Mansion and not a follow-up to Mario 64.

Ghegs, hell yes. I'll see if I can't kick in some times tonight.