Naughty Sony (Multi-Tap PS2)

Member Name: MR.COATES

Product:	Multi-Tap PS2
Date:	30/01/01 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Play with more than just one friend.

Disadvantages: DC owners do it at no extra cost.

When Nintendo released the N64 in the mid-nineties there were some obvious points that stood out and they weren’t just to do with the power of the machine.

What was that on the front of the machine?

There are four controller ports!!!

‘That’s brilliant’ people cried throughout the land and all gamers were happy.

Sega also realised that having four controller ports was a good idea and hence they appeared on the Dreamcast.

Sony also saw that four players being able to play at once was a great idea so they created the PS2 and promptly spat in the face of gamers by putting two controller ports on the machine and conveniently selling a multi-tap.

That’s right, five years after the PS one and they still give us two ports.

My opinion – money grabbing b*stards.

In fact I’m glad that their launch went badly and that the current prospects for the machine are pretty average.

Anyway – let’s get on to the juice.

The multi-tap was (in its time) a ray of light for multi player gaming.
Virtually all games were limited to two player action due to one obvious fact – all consoles only had two controller ports.

Using a multi-tap though it was possible to connect four controllers to this piece of kit and connect them into one of the console’s ports.

Great idea but in today’s world of gaming there just isn’t the need for them anymore.

Sony have obviously decided that it’s another ‘must have’ accessory for the PS2 and you will find it resting on the shelves of many retailers. At £30 they’re probably going to be staying there too.

That’s right. £30. Oh, sorry, £29.99 that’s better isn’t it?

Yes there are games out there which support more than two players but unless you’re going to be playing them a lot I would think twice about w
hether you REALLY need this.

You’ve spent £299 on the console so you’ll be spending 10% of that just on this item and there are much more essential items to get before this (memory card, extra controller etc).

If you absolutely MUST buy this then you will be pleased to know that you’re getting a decent bit of kit.
For £30 I hope you’d certainly expect that.

It’s a rectangular shape and almost looks like a mini version of the PS2 console so at least they’ve put some thought into the design.

As already mentioned you can plug up to four controllers into the device (annoyingly not in a line but around the outside of it) and you also have a short cable with a controller plug to attach it into one of the PS2 ports.

It’s fairly heavy so make sure you don’t place it where it can fall and jerk the console.

It performs perfectly adequately so no problems there either – you may expect that it won’t be able to process the inputs from four sources via just one of the PS2 ports but it does and don’t lose sleep worrying how!

Overall I feel that this could have VERY easily have been integrated into the machine but that’s me – the eternal sceptic on this kind of matter.

If you’re a multi player gaming nut then yes – this may be a must have item but for most of us this is just a complete rip-off and I sincerely hope that Sony pull their fingers out when it comes to the next console (I pray in advance that it’s not PS’3’!).

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