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The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility with original PlayStation titles. It sold over 980,000 units by March 5th 2000, one day after launch in Japan. The launch of the PlayStation 2 was not without its setbacks. Manufacturing delays pushed back the original launch day of the PlayStation 2 to fall in North America, and a number of early PlayStation 2 units suffered from disk read errors which subsequently prompted a class action lawsuit against Sony. Sony agreed to provide free repair or replacement for the faulty consoles and continued to do so until February 2005. At the time, many in the gaming industry predicted a close match up between the PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube. Sega's Dreamcast was released a full 16 months before the PlayStation 2, but failed to gain enough momentum and Sega discontinued the Dreamcast in March of 2001 to turn its attention to software publishing. The prediction, however, was never fulfilled as the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season maintained sales momentum and held off the PlayStation 2's rivals.
In September 2004, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Sony unveiled its major hardware revision a smaller, thinner and quieter PlayStation 2 that included a built-in Ethernet port. It didn't contain the 3.5" expansion bay and did not support the internal hard disk drive. Similar to the GameCube, it also lacked an internal power supply, and had a modified multi-tap 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 requires the use of the HDD. The PlayStation 2 Slim model was first released in black, however today the slimline model can be found in silver, white, and pink in North America.
The DualShock 2 is the standard controller which comes packaged with the PS2. Visually, it was practically identical to the original DualShock, with the main distinction being it's black color. The controller included rumble and all the same buttons as its predecessor, but it was lighter, had more accurate analog movement, and featured pressure sensitive buttons. The DualShock 2 is regarded as one of the best controllers ever made, despite some criticisms of parallel analog sticks, shallow buttons, and questionable ergonomics.
also with other games which used the device's capabilities such as Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME, although the EyeToy isn't
integral to the gameplay experience in most of these games. The camera had serious limitations; It has roughly 1.3 megapixels, and needed a lot of light
in the playing area. A red LED turns on when the EyeToy doesn't have enough light to distinguish the player from the background.
System Clock: 300 MHz
System Memory: 32 MB Direct Rambus
Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second
Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1)
Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1)
Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS
Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG2
Sampling Frequency: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable)
Clock Frequency: 33.8 MHz or 37.5 MHz (selectable)
Sub Bus: 32 Bit
Interface Types: IEEE1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Communication: via PC-Card PCMCIA
Disc Media: DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible)
DRAM Bus bandwidth: 48 GB Per Second
DRAM Bus width: 2560 bits
Pixel Configuration: RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8:32)
Maximum Polygon Rate: 75 Million Polygons Per Second
3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million Polygons Per Second
Sony's PlayStation 2 is the second home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and, to date, is the best-selling console of all time, selling over 136 million units since its launch.
Overview
The PlayStation 2 was released on March 4th 2000 in Japan, October 26th 2000 in North America, November 24th 2000 in Europe and November 30th 2000 in Australia. At its core, the PlayStation 2 is powered by a 128-bit CPU co-developed with Toshiba known as the "Emotion Engine," the "Graphics Synthesizer" chip, a 24x speed CD-ROM (4x DVD drive, 2 proprietary controller ports, 2 proprietary memory card slots, DEV9 expansion bay for a network adapter, and 2 USB 1.1 ports. Recently the PS2 price has been lowered to $99.99.The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility with original PlayStation titles. It sold over 980,000 units by March 5th 2000, one day after launch in Japan. The launch of the PlayStation 2 was not without its setbacks. Manufacturing delays pushed back the original launch day of the PlayStation 2 to fall in North America, and a number of early PlayStation 2 units suffered from disk read errors which subsequently prompted a class action lawsuit against Sony. Sony agreed to provide free repair or replacement for the faulty consoles and continued to do so until February 2005. At the time, many in the gaming industry predicted a close match up between the PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube. Sega's Dreamcast was released a full 16 months before the PlayStation 2, but failed to gain enough momentum and Sega discontinued the Dreamcast in March of 2001 to turn its attention to software publishing. The prediction, however, was never fulfilled as the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season maintained sales momentum and held off the PlayStation 2's rivals.
Online
Before the launch of Microsoft's online capable Xbox, Sony placed little emphasis on online gaming during the PlayStation 2's early years. In 2002 however, Sony began advertising heavily on several online first party titles, such as SOCOM: US Navy Seals, to compete with Microsoft. Although late, and although Sony followed a model of online gaming where developers had the responsibility of providing servers, online gaming was one of the major selling points of the PlayStation 2. The original PlayStation 2 consoles did not have a network adapters built-in and the user had to purchase the unit separately, however, the launch of the PlayStation 2 Slim model saw the network adapter built into the console.PlayStation 2 Slim
PS2 Slim
PSX
The Sony PSX (not to be confused with the PlayStation) is a consumer device that can be used as a digital video recorder, DVD burner, and PS2 game player. It also had built in video, photo, and audio editing software. The device, which has only released in Japan, was poorly received, with some major features absent from the first revisions of the hardware. Despite major price drops on the device, sales were very weak in Japan. It is still notable for introduction of the popular XMB interface, now used in Sony's PSP and PlayStation 3.Accessories and Peripherals
DualShock 2
DualShock 2
EyeToy
One of the most well known of all the PS2's peripherals is the EyeToy. It was a USB vision camera which took images of what the player was doing and relayed it back into games so the player could interact with games using motion. The camera was mainly used with the nine games of the EyeToy franchise but
EyeToy Camera
also with other games which used the device's capabilities such as Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME, although the EyeToy isn't
integral to the gameplay experience in most of these games. The camera had serious limitations; It has roughly 1.3 megapixels, and needed a lot of light
in the playing area. A red LED turns on when the EyeToy doesn't have enough light to distinguish the player from the background.
EyeToy Camera
PS2 HDD
Released in North America and Japan, the PlayStation 2 Hard Drive Disk allowed for the storage of up to 40GB. The HDD could be used to reduce load times by caching data on the hard drive. Few North American games had HDD support, and the only game which actually needed the drive was Final Fantasy XI, as it was used to store patches and other game updates. In 2004, the device stopped receiving support from Sony. The Slimline model can't use the HDD without a 3rd party cable.Games
Best Selling Games
The following are the top 10 best selling games for PS2 worldwide.- GTA: San Andreas - 12 million
- GT 3: A-Spec - 9.5 million (approx)
- GTA: Vice City - 9.2 million (approx)
- GTA 3 - 7.5 million (approx)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - 7 million
- Final Fantasy X - 6.6 million
- Final Fantasy XII - 5.2 million (approx)
- Kingdom Hearts - 4.7 million (approx)
- Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - 4.4 million (approx)
- Madden NFL 2005 - 4.4 million (approx)
Hardware Specifications
General
CPU: 128 Bit "Emotion Engine"System Clock: 300 MHz
System Memory: 32 MB Direct Rambus
Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second
Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1)
Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1)
Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS
Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG2
Audio
Number of voices: ADPCM: 48 channel on SPU2 plus definable by softwareSampling Frequency: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable)
I/O
CPU Core: Current PlayStation CPUClock Frequency: 33.8 MHz or 37.5 MHz (selectable)
Sub Bus: 32 Bit
Interface Types: IEEE1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Communication: via PC-Card PCMCIA
Disc Media: DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible)
Graphics
Clock Frequency: 150MHzDRAM Bus bandwidth: 48 GB Per Second
DRAM Bus width: 2560 bits
Pixel Configuration: RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8:32)
Maximum Polygon Rate: 75 Million Polygons Per Second
3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million Polygons Per Second
PlayStation 2 games
Edit
| Platform Name: | PlayStation 2 |
| Release Date: | Oct. 26, 2000 |
| Online Support: | True |
| Install Base: | 136,000,000 |
| Original Price: | $299 |
| Producing Company: | Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated |
| Total Games: | games |
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Shaquille O'Neal first in Shaq Fu |
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Space first in Spacewar! |
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Health first in |
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Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility first in Halo: Combat Evolved |
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Death first in |
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Boss Fight first in DND |
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Jump first in Donkey Kong |
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Cutscene first in Pac-Man |
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Platinum Games first in |
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Combo first in Street Fighter II |
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Gun first in |
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Sword first in |
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Pistol first in |
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Helmet first in |
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Car first in |
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Sports Jersey first in |
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Grenade first in |
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Playstation 2 first in |
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Machine Gun first in |
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