PS2? That's original. (Sony PlayStation 2)

Name: MR.COATES

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Sony PlayStation 2
Date:	06/08/01 (912 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great piece of hardware, Plays DVD's

Disadvantages: Erm....

When you consider that Sony only entered the gaming market when they released their Playstation console it’s quite impressive that they are now regarded as the market leader.
They’ve fought off Nintendo and Sega whilst they are also undoubtedly partly responsible for the demise of the latter. Luckily Sega hasn’t been completely destroyed by Sony and in a move that would have been ruled out just a few years ago, Sega are now creating games for the latest Sony console – the Playstation 2.

Many people out there (including myself) thought that naming the new console Playstation 2 was a slightly pretentious move. ‘Hey everybody, you liked the Playstation? Well, here’s the sequel!’.
We now know that’s not quite the case and that in fact it’s all part of enforcing the Playstation brand. The more I’ve thought about it the more it actually makes a lot of sense. After all, why would you want to rename a console just to highlight the fact that it’s a new machine?

So here it is, the Playstation 2 in all its 128-bit emotion engined glory. It’s 128 bit like Dreamcast but that is very much where any comparison ends. It plays DVD’s, it’s backward compatible with Playstation One titles and it’s a seriously mean looking piece of kit.

It’s got the looks:
I remember seeing the first pictures of the console quite some time ago and thinking that it’s the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. After all, Sony had redesigned the original Playstation and just look at the result – a lovely little white console that wouldn’t look out of place in any IKEA furnished home. The PS2, to give it its short name, on the other hand is some bizarre tower-like beast finished in a menacing black.
I have to say though that it has grown on me. The pop up lid has gone and is replaced with a lovely hi-fi style disc tray. Luvverly.

On its side I thi
nk the console looks like a mess. The recessed and shorter bottom half along with air intakes and USB/ i-link connections just doesn’t look good at all. No doubt this is why you can purchase a horizontal stand to hide the ugliness. Stand the PS2 up on its end though and the picture all becomes clear.

Yes, a console that stands vertically – almost as an act of defiance. ‘I am the mightiest console around!’. These were the pictures that stuck in my mind. The console standing upright placed on that odd looking triangular blue plastic stand. It just looked so damned serious. This wasn’t going to be just another games console. Sony were going to create the ultimate entertainment system.
The whole horizontal/vertical issue has also been looked at by one very small part of the console – the Playstation logo. On the DVD-drive door there is a small Playstation logo which can be turned depending on whether you have the console upright or on its side. A nice touch I thought.

The power and eject buttons are illuminated and look great when the console is switched on becoming blue and green – red when in standby mode.

PS2 is very roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper and around 2.5 inches thick the PS2 is bigger than the redesigned PSone but small enough not to become awkward. It’s reassuringly heavy, about the same as the Dreamcast.

As mentioned above my preferred storage position is vertical – placed in that lovely blue triangular stand, which keeps it nice and secure to prevent that fearful toppling moment. You can get 3rd party stands but go for the real thing, it’s looks so much better.

The features -
To start with I'll mention that you can actually tweak several settings via the main screen (picture set up, PSone game settings etc). This lets you get the most from your set up at home and it's worth playing around to see what looks and sounds best. r>
Playstation 2 gaming:
The primary reason for the existence of the PS2 is for games playing. If you have owned or played on a Dreamcast you’ll know just how far gaming has come in the past few years. I adored that arcade perfect Dreamcast gaming and you won’t be surprised to hear that Sony are slowly but surely going one better. The difference between Dreamcast and PS2 on paper seems quite dramatic and of course it is to a certain extent but the real differences are going to take a little while to emerge as games producers begin to unlock the real potential of the machine.
Titles like Gran Turismo 3 and Formula One 2001 have started to show just how incredibly powerful the console is producing some stunning visual treats with gameplay that Playstation owners will be all too familiar with.

Playstation is back:
Part of the PS2’s appeal for existing Playstation owners is the fact that PS2 can play your old PSone games. So you don’t have to experience the heartache of exchanging ten of your old favourites to get just one new PS2 title. The good news is that your old controllers and memory cards can be used too but only for those Playstation titles. The old peripherals and memory cards will however only work with the old games. Great stuff I’m sure you’ll agree.
The additional good news is that your old games CAN look better thanks to the anti-aliasing feature of the PS2. Don’t expect a gigantic overhaul but there is a noticeable improvement and loading times can be reduced too.

DVD Player:
When the PS2 was released in Japan more consoles were sold than games. What does that mean? Well, not every PS2 owner was buying a game. How utterly bizarre you may think. People were buying the PS2 for its DVD player too. The launch games were nothing to get excited about but a console that is also a DVD player was nothing to be sneezed at. Oddly (or not as the case is) DVD sales started climbing si
gnificantly – people were buying the PS2 as a more sensible DVD/console option.
The added bonus in Japan was that the machine was hackable to make it play DVD’s from other parts of the world.

Over here it’s a slightly less exciting affair. We’ve lost the multi-region hack (although there is a product available now, more later) but the rest is very much the same.
I know that some people who own PS2’s didn’t have a DVD player but now they buy DVD’s, as the PS2 just happens to be able to play them. Saying that though, there has been quite a bit of criticism of the quality of DVD playback and if you’re a serious DVD person then you’ll understand those concerns. If you’re new to DVD then just enjoy!

If you are interested in multi-region DVD playback (allowing you to play DVD’s from USA etc) then you can now obtain a very handy device known as Region X. Basically you insert a card into the memory card slot, insert the Region X disc and then replace it with a DVD from any region.
Great stuff and a simple solution to a big issue with DVD lovers. Cheapest price for Region X that I’ve seen is £15.99 from www.gameplay.com , the RRP is £19.99.

CD Player:
This shouldn’t be a big surprise as even the PSone could play music CD’s. There’s not really a great deal to say about this – the PS2 plays CD’s!

What’s in the box:
Despite the recent announcement from Sony, you can still obtain a PS2 on its own. The new issue contains a copy of Gran Turismo 3 (not a bad thing!) for £20 more than the usual £269.99 rrp.

If you get a console only pack then you’ll get the console, one Dual Shock 2 controller, a power lead, a Euro AV lead and Scart adaptor along with a demo disc and manual/registration documents.

Controller.
The new Dual Shock 2 (see my separate review) looks like the old Playstation Dual Sho
ck controller but with analogue buttons the difference ends there. A great controller.

The other items speak for themselves pretty much so I won’t elaborate any further.
The included demo disc contains a few playable demos and other useful info including game movies and even programming software to write your own PS2 games! (Don’t expect to be knocking out the next Final Fantasy though).

Connect it up!
The PS2 has power, AV multi out, Digital Optical output, two USB (universal serial bus) ports, one i-link port (to connect PS2’s together), 2 controller ports and two memory card ports.
Plenty of connections there to satisfy most requirements and it’s good to see the inclusion of an optical port to cater for those with a Dolby Digital amplifier. It’s disappointing to see only two controller ports after the Nintendo and Sega decisions to have four but such is life. I’ve only got one friend anyway so I only need two inputs. 

The future:
As if the standard features aren’t enough there is also an upgrade option on its way.
You’ll soon be able to add a hard drive (you’ll see that there’s an expansion bay at the back of the console). The use for this isn’t entirely clear as yet but it will allow you to store much larger amounts of information. The key here is that not everyone will want to buy the hard drive so its use can’t really be demanded – that would make for unhappy PS2 owners.
On top of the hard drive (literally!) comes a 56k modem. This beats the Dreamcast’s 33k effort (which was actually surprisingly good) and opens the doors to online gaming and interactivity. To compliment this there is an official mouse and keyboard on the way to make surfing the net a practical reality.


The result:
An extremely competent piece of kit that not only looks good but also performs like you can only hope for from an update t
o a classic console. Some incredible games are on the way and the most exciting moments are still to come. The PS2 had a shaky start in Europe but all is looking up now and I for one am a very proud PS2 owner.