Nine years after its release the PS2 remains without a doubt the most interesting console on the market today.  It’s not the most powerful and most of the high profile big budget franchises have moved on.  However, if you look closely you’ll see that since it’s so cheap to develop for that small unique companies are making games that otherwise may have never seen the light.  I can’t defend the quality of many of these games but there will always be an audience for something different.  If a game developer wants to lure non gamers, the PS2 is where you do it.

You can look at games like Biathlon 2008 or Secret Saturdays: Beast of the 5Sun and see that the PS2 is still releasing wide range of different games.  I realize almost no one is interested in those but it’s nice to see that extremely niche games have a place where they can find a home.  Someone somewhere really wants to go cross country skiing and shoot from their living room and now they have their chance.  Biathlon 2008 even has some competition.  Ski and Shoot was released earlier this year.  Now there are two versions of the same boring sport available to you.

The PS2 is the place to go if you’re into jrpg’s.  Persona 4 came out last holiday season and is the best recent example of a turn based rpg.  At the rate publishers are still putting out jrpg’s, soon the PS2 will be the very best place for you to fight orcs and griffons with your mages, knights and thieves in the history of gaming.

While you won’t find the Metal Gear Solid’s or the God of War’s landing on the PS2 shelves at your local Gamestop anymore, you’re still able to find your Guitar Hero’s and your Madden football.  In a time where people are trying to crack the casual mainstream audience,  the answer has been right under their noses for the last decade.  People aren’t just interested in shooting aliens.  Some people want to try out virtual bull riding in their house.  Now they have a place to find it.

So I’m not going to try to convince that the XBOX360, PS3, and the Wii aren’t getting the best games being released at this point.  They are(maybe not the Wii).  What I am trying to tell you is that, if you want to see something different from a game.  If you want to play a game just because it looks really stupid and cheap, because those can still be fun.  Go with the PS2. 


If you're interested in more of my writing I keep a personal gaming blog http://johndaniellewis.wordpress.com/.  If you're not interested don't go to it.  Thanks.

Nine years after its release the PS2 remains without a doubt the most interesting console on the market today.  It’s not the most powerful and most of the high profile big budget franchises have moved on.  However, if you look closely you’ll see that since it’s so cheap to develop for that small unique companies are making games that otherwise may have never seen the light.  I can’t defend the quality of many of these games but there will always be an audience for something different.  If a game developer wants to lure non gamers, the PS2 is where you do it.

You can look at games like Biathlon 2008 or Secret Saturdays: Beast of the 5Sun and see that the PS2 is still releasing wide range of different games.  I realize almost no one is interested in those but it’s nice to see that extremely niche games have a place where they can find a home.  Someone somewhere really wants to go cross country skiing and shoot from their living room and now they have their chance.  Biathlon 2008 even has some competition.  Ski and Shoot was released earlier this year.  Now there are two versions of the same boring sport available to you.

The PS2 is the place to go if you’re into jrpg’s.  Persona 4 came out last holiday season and is the best recent example of a turn based rpg.  At the rate publishers are still putting out jrpg’s, soon the PS2 will be the very best place for you to fight orcs and griffons with your mages, knights and thieves in the history of gaming.

While you won’t find the Metal Gear Solid’s or the God of War’s landing on the PS2 shelves at your local Gamestop anymore, you’re still able to find your Guitar Hero’s and your Madden football.  In a time where people are trying to crack the casual mainstream audience,  the answer has been right under their noses for the last decade.  People aren’t just interested in shooting aliens.  Some people want to try out virtual bull riding in their house.  Now they have a place to find it.

So I’m not going to try to convince that the XBOX360, PS3, and the Wii aren’t getting the best games being released at this point.  They are(maybe not the Wii).  What I am trying to tell you is that, if you want to see something different from a game.  If you want to play a game just because it looks really stupid and cheap, because those can still be fun.  Go with the PS2. 


If you're interested in more of my writing I keep a personal gaming blog http://johndaniellewis.wordpress.com/.  If you're not interested don't go to it.  Thanks.

There are still JRPG's on the PS2 that I missed and want to play. I'm currently playing P4, and after I finish I'm going to fire up Final Fantasy XII.

Did i read this wrong, or did you just tell me virtual bull riding and sports games on PS2 were more interesting than most next-gen games? :| 

I also hated Persona 4, Lost Odyssey all the way :P

"Did i read this wrong, or did you just tell me virtual bull riding and sports games on PS2 were more interesting than most next-gen games? :|  I also hated Persona 4, Lost Odyssey all the way :P"

" Did i read this wrong, or did you just tell me virtual bull riding and sports games on PS2 were more interesting than most next-gen games? :|  I also hated Persona 4, Lost Odyssey all the way :P "

If those games were on the WIi they'd be called out as yet more casual shovelware... On the PS2 they're new and interesting offerings?

Give me a break...

At least this is basically accepting the fact the PS2 has been as prone to shovelware as the Wii, and the only difference is that those games simply don't get any media attention because people don't feel like trash talking what is arguably a worthy system...

As for companies that want to try cheap new things, they do it just as well on PC downloads, XBLA, WIiWare and PSN...