| Playstation 2 |
Article Index for Playstation 2 |
Articles about Playstation 2 |
Website Links For Playstation 2 |
Information AboutPlaystation 2 |
The is Sony 's second Video Game Console , the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3 . Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was released subsequently after a year in Japan . Released little more than a year after the Sega Dreamcast and a year before its main competitors Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube , the PS2 is part of the Sixth Generation of video game consoles. As of March 2007, 117.89 million PS2 units has been shipped worldwide. HISTORY Only a few million people had obtained consoles by the end of 2000 due to manufacturing delays. The PS2 was so popular after its release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves. Another popular option was purchasing the console online through auction websites such as EBay . The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility, selling over 900,000 units in the first weekend in Japan. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation — another major selling point over the competition. Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers. A notable piece of advertising for the PS2 launch was accompanied by the popular "PS9" television commercial. 9 was to be the epitome of development, which the PS2 was the next step on the way towards. The ad also presaged the development of a Portable PlayStation (first released in Japan on December 12 2004 ). Many analysts predicted a close three-way matchup between the PS2 and competitors Microsoft 's Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (which was the cheapest of the three consoles and had an open market of games); however, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 Holiday Season maintained sales momentum and held off the PS2s rivals.3 Although Sony, unlike '' to show its active support for Internet play. Sony also advertised heavily, and its online model had the support of Electronic Arts. Although Sony and Nintendo both started out late, and although both followed a decentralized model of online gaming where the responsibility is up to the developer to provide the servers, Sony's attempt made online gaming a major selling point of the PS2. In September 2004, in time for the launch of '''' (the best-selling game during the 2004 holiday season), Sony revealed a new, smaller PS2 (see '' Hardware Revisions ''). In preparation for the launch of a new, slimmer PS2 model (SCPH-70000; also known unofficially as the "PStwo"), Sony stopped making the older PS2 model (SCPH-5000x) during the summer of 2004 to let the distribution channel empty its stock of the units. After an apparent manufacturing issue caused some initial slowdown in producing the new unit, Sony reportedly underestimated demand, caused in part by shortages between the time the old units were cleared out and the new units were ready. The issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal , blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK. During one week in November, British sales totaled 6,000 units — compared to 70,000 units a few weeks prior.4 There were shortages in more than 1700 stores in North America on the day before Christmas.5 GAMES See Also: List of PlayStation 2 games The PS2's brand strength has led to strong third-party support for the system. Although the system's launch titles were unimpressive in 2000, the Christmas season of 2001 saw the release of several best-selling and critically acclaimed games. These games helped the PS2 maintain and extend its lead in the video game console market, despite increased competition from the launches of the Microsoft Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube. In several cases, Sony made exclusivity deals with publishers in order to preempt its competitors. Critically acclaimed games on the PS2 include the '''' games, seven '' Tony Hawk '' games, the '' WWE SmackDown! '' series, and the '' Ratchet And Clank '' series. The PS2 has also been the home to many music games, such as the latest '' Dance Dance Revolution '' games and the guitar controller-based '' Guitar Hero '' series. At the end of 2006, 8,571 PS2 titles had been released worldwide (4,745 in Asia, 1,375 in North America, and 2,451 in Europe),6 accounting for cumulative production shipments of 1.205 billion units.7 HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY ]] The PS2 Hardware can read both CD s and DVD s. It is Backward Compatible with PlayStation games and allows for DVD video playback. The ability to play DVD movies was an added incentive for consumers to be able to justify purchasing the PS2 (the MSRP was US$300 in October 2000). The PS2 also supports PlayStation Memory Card s (for PlayStation game saves only) and controllers as well. There is also support for the internal PlayStation 2 HDD which is placed in the expansion bay at the rear of the console (model SCPH-5000x only). The PS2's DualShock 2 controller is essentially an upgraded PlayStation DualShock; Analog face, shoulder and D-pad buttons replaced the Digital buttons of the original. All of the input buttons include the D-pad , the right buttons (, , , ), the back buttons (R1, R2, L1, L2), the analog joystick buttons (R3, L3), and the middle buttons (Start, Select, Analog). This design has been carried on to Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), which is known as the SIXAXIS controller. The DualShock 2 controller has force feedback, which is commonly called the "vibration" function. It is usually used to tell the user when they have been "attacked" in a game. It is also commonly used in combination with an on-screen red mark, shake, blur, ''etc''., to tell the player of an attack in any direction (commonly used in shooting games). When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary Video Game Consoles , including DVD-playback functionality, USB support, and IEEE 1394 expansion ports. It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console to include USB support ( USB 1.1 with a proprietary Microsoft Xbox-shaped socket) and DVD playback capabilities (sold separately). Compatibility with USB devices is dependent on the software supporting said USB device. For example, the PS2 BIOS will not boot an ISO Image from a USB Flash Drive or operate a USB printer, as the machine's operating system does not include this functionality. By contrast, '' Gran Turismo 4 '' is programmed to save screenshots to a USB Mass Storage Device and print images to certain USB printers. SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY Support for PlayStation games was also an important selling point for the PS2, letting owners of an older system upgrade to the PS2 and keep their old software, and giving new users access to older games until a larger library was developed for the new system. As an added bonus, the PS2 had the ability to enhance PlayStation games by speeding up disc read time, adding texture smoothing to improve graphics, or both. While the texture smoothing was universally effective (albeit with odd effects where transparent textures are used — white borders would be seen around Sprite s), faster disk reading could cause some games to fail to load or play incorrectly. Additionally some titles have unique bugs even when the enhancements are not used — for instance, the famous RPG Tactics Ogre cannot be used with the component video outputs. A handful of PlayStation titles (notably ''/J for Japan and Asia , NTSC -U/C''' for North America , ''' PAL ''' for Europe and Oceania , and ''' NTSC /C''' for China.8 ONLINE PLAY With the purchase of a separate unit called the Network Adapter (which is built into the slimline model), some PS2 games support Online Multiplayer . Instead of having a unified, subscription-based online service like Xbox Live, online multiplayer on the PS2 is split between publishers and run on third-party servers. However, this comes at a price as any connection speed can be used to access the Internet with a PS2, resulting in Lag whenever slow connections are present. Most recent PS2 online games have been developed to exclusively support Broadband Internet Access . Xbox Live similarly requires a broadband Internet connection. All newer online PS2 games (since 2003) are protected by the Dynamic Network Authentication System ( DNAS ). The purpose of this system is to prevent Piracy and Online Cheating . DNAS will prevent games from being played online if they are determined to be pirated copies or if they have been modified. Recently, however, methods have been developed to get around this protection by modifying key files in the pirated game. HARDWARE REVISIONS The PS2 has undergone many revisions, some only of internal construction and others involving substantial external changes. These are colloquially known among PS2 hardware hackers as V0, V1, V2, ''etc''., up to V14c9 (as of 2006). Original case design Three of the original PS2 launch models (SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000, and SCPH-18000) were only sold in Japan, and lacked the expansion bay (Dev9) of current PS2 models. These models included a PCMCIA slot instead of the Dev9 port of newer models. A PCMCIA-to-Dev9 adapter was later made available for these models. SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000 did not have a built-in DVD player and instead relied on an encrypted player that was copied to a memory card from an included CD-ROM (normally, the PS2 will only execute encrypted software from its memory card, but see PS2 Independence Exploit ). V3 had a substantially different internal structure from the subsequent revisions, featuring several interconnected Printed Circuit Board s. As of V4 everything was unified into one board, except the power supply. V5 introduced minor internal changes, and the only difference between V6 (sometimes called V5.1) and V5 is the orientation of the Power/Reset switch board connector, which was reversed to prevent the use of no-solder Modchip s. V7 and V8 included only minor revisions to V6. Assembly of the PS2 moved to the People's Republic Of China during the development of V9 (model numbers SCPH-50000 and SCPH-50001), which added the Infrared port for the optional DVD Remote Control , removed the IEEE 1394 port, added the capability to read DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs, added progressive-scan output of DVD movies, and added a quieter fan. V10 and V11 were only minor revisions to V9. The PS2 standard colour is matte black. Several different variations in color have been produced in different quantities and regions, including ceramic white, light yellow, metallic blue (aqua), metallic silver, navy (star blue), opaque blue (astral blue), opaque black (midnight black), pearl white, Sakura purple, satin gold, satin silver, snow white, super red, and transparent blue (ocean blue).1011 A list of all console colors and console Limited Editions . Consolecolors.com12 Slim case design .]] In September 2004, Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision (V12, model number SCPH-70000). Available in November 2004, it is smaller, thinner and quieter than the older versions and includes a built-in Ethernet port (in some markets it also has an integrated Modem ). Due to its thinner profile, it does not contain the 3.5" Expansion Bay and therefore does not support the Internal Hard Disk Drive . It also lacks an internal power supply, similar to the GameCube , and has a modified MultiTap expansion. The removal of the expansion bay has been criticized as a limitation due to the existence of titles such as '' Final Fantasy XI '', which require the use of the HDD. The official PS2 Linux kit also requires an expansion bay to function. Currently only the modified MultiTap is sold in stores, meaning that owners of older PS2s must find a used or non-Sony MultiTap in order to have 4 or 8 players during a single game. Third-party connectors can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support, however IDE connections were completely removed in the V14 revision, thereby eliminating this option. on top.]] There are some disputes on the numbering for this PS2 version, since there are actually two sub-versions of the SCPH-70000. One of them includes the old EE and GS chips, and the other contains the newer unified EE+GS chip, but otherwise they are identical. Since the V12 version had already been established for this model, there were some disputes regarding these sub-versions. Two propositions were to name the old model (with separate EE and GS chips) V11.5 and the newer model V12, and to name the old model V12 and the newer model V13. Currently, most people just use V12 for both models, or V12 for the old model and V13 for the newer one. The V12 model was first released in black, but a silver edition is available in the United Kingdom , Germany , Australia , France , South Africa, and most recently, North America. It is unknown whether or not this will follow the colour schemes of the older model. V12 (or V13) was succeeded by V14 (SCPH-75001 and SCPH-75002), which contains integrated EE and GS chips, and different ASIC s compared to previous revisions, with some chips having a copyright date of 2005, compared to 2000 or 2001 for earlier models. It also has a different lens and some compatibility issues with a different number of PlayStation games and even some PS2 games, (see the list of incompatible games as documented by SCEA ). In 2006, Sony released the latest hardware revisions (V15, model numbers SPCH-77001a and SPCH-77001b). It was first released in Japan on September 15 , 2006 , including the Silver limited edition. After its release, it was then shipped to North America and to other parts of the world. The new revision uses an integrated, unified EE+GS chip, a redesigned ASIC, a different laser lens, an updated BIOS, and updated drivers. This revision is currently shipping in retail game stores. The V15 model still has compatibility issues with some PS2 games and PlayStation games, and it has been criticized due to overheating problems and disc read errors. Later hardware revisions had better compatibility with PlayStation games (''Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions'' works on most silver models); however, the new Japanese slim models have more issues with playing PlayStation games than the first PS2 revisions. In the beginning of 2005 it was found that some black slimline console power transformers bought between November and December 2004 were faulty and could overheat. The units were recalled by Sony, with the company supplying a replacement model made in 2005. |
|
|