Detsroyed My Console!! (Sony Playstation 2 Vertical Console Stand)

Member Name: stephanieasmith

Product:	Sony Playstation 2 Vertical Console Stand
Date:	17/02/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes more space

Disadvantages: messed up the balance on my console!

Being only one of a million people needing more room on my TV stand, I bought a vertical stand for my PS2, so I could, of course, stand my PS2 upright next to my TV instead of having it sit on the floor, because there was no where else I had room for it to go on my TV stand. I bought the vertical stand on Ebay for just a few dollars, but now I kind of wish that I had just decided to leave my PS2 on the floor where it was.

First thing to note: for those who don't already know, there are two Playstation 2 consoles. The first generation is a few inches thick, the second generation, about an inch thick and has many of the features built in that you need special adapters for on the first generation console. The basic differences in the shapes of these consoles means that there are two different vertical stands. The vertical stand for the first generation Playstation 2 looks like a paper napkin holder, or kind of like a pair of triangular shaped bookends that are attached at the bottom. For this one, you just slip in the console. The vertical stand for the second generation Playstation 2, or PS2, is a disk with a screw in the middle of it. The screw screws into a hole on the end of the PS2. I am really only writing this paragraph to keep people from making the same mistake that I did. I originally bought the vertical stand for the first generation console, and I have the secon generation . Needless to say, that one didn't work, and I had to re-sell it and get the right vertical stand-the one with the screw.

I received my PS2 vertical stand a few days later in the mail, and I immediately screwed it into the console and stood my console upright. installation wasn't hard, and takes a flat-head screwdriver-or a butter knife, like I used. The lid of the PS2 slim version opens on the top of the console, so I had to keep enough space between the TV and the console to open up the lid, but on the first generation console, that is not a problem, as the disk tray opens out of the front of the console, meaning you can put the top and bottom against something. Having to keep space for the lid was OK, though, because I had just enough room to do so.

I continued playing my games on my PS2 console, now upright, and writing my game guides and reviews ( all of which you can read on the various sites that I write for), and had no problems for a long time. The stand worked wonderfully, I never had a problem with it tipping over ( my biggest fear, at the time), and my console even looked great sitting there upright. It even gave me a place to put the case for whatever game I was playing at the time, because the stand itself keeps the bottom of the PS2 away from the side of the TV stand. The stand was a one of my best buys, or so I thought.

My problem began all at once. One day, after nearly a year of playing my games on my PS2 while it was vertical, I was playing Ratchet and Clank : Going Commando, and during one of the later space flights, the game froze. It shouldn't have done that, because the disk was perfect when I put it into the console. I pull the disk out, and it has a huge scratch all the way around it that is half a cm thick and about 15 mm into the disk, measuring from the outside of it. Knowing this can't all have happened at once, i look at the previous game that I played, Kingdom Hearts, and it has the exact same scratch on it. Trying to figure out how I played everything twice on that game, including the hidden boss battles (I have the official guide), The only thing I can figure is that there is no game on that part of the disk. I had to buy a scratch repair kit to finish Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando.

After several experiments, Including one that sacrificed three CDs that I had burned just for that purpose, I concluded that my problem is simply that my Playstation 2's player is out completely of balance, caused by my vertical stand. The problem is not as bad when the console is sitting down flat, but it still won't work right anymore.

I wish now that I had never even thought to buy the vertical stand and just kept the console on the floor, because that was my real fear, that my console wouldn't work right. I want to upgrade to a PS3 anyway, but I wanted to have my PS2 working right until I had the money to pay for that expensive console.

My problem could have been caused by the fact that I had used it for longer than most people keep anything electrical anymore, but a licensed for use product should not have been able to mess up the product that it was licensed for use on. I have since learned that disk players should be kept level at all times.

The vertical stand for the Playstation 2 (either version) only gets 2 starts, because it worked right in the first place, but messed up my console, and as a gamer, that is entirely unacceptable.

Summary: not a good idea to buy!