PlayStation2

The PlayStation2 was a 6^th generation consol that was announced to the public in April 1999 and then was later released in March 2000 in Japan. The release for America and Europe was later that year around October and November. The PlayStation2 was an instant hit selling over 900,000 units in its first week on the shelves and today is one of the most loved and classic consoles having many of the fan favorite games such as Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Grand theft auto, metal gear solid, final Fantasy and so many more.

The PlayStation2 used a DVD disk format for its games also meaning that it could play DVD movies as well as playing video games. It also played compact discs and was backwards compatible with PlayStation one games. It used memory cartridges much like the Original PlayStation but couldn’t be used to save PlayStation one game data, for this you needed a PS one memory card, these still worked with the PS2, as did controllers from the previous consol. One of the main reasons for people buying the PS2 was that people wanted to upgrade from the PlayStation but would still be able to play their older games and in better quality. The PS2 ran PSone disc faster and smoothed out the graphics much like a standard DVD being played through a machine that has HDMI compatibility. The playStation2 also had USB capability allowing for add-ons such as the Eye Toy which was a Small camera that sat on top of the Television that let the player use there bodies to interact with the game. Also available was a headset for use when Sony bought in online gaming to the PlayStation2.

At first Sony weren’t looking into making the PlayStation2 online compatible like the Sega Dreamcast at the time. However when the Microsoft Xbox came about they developed a network adaptor to allow online access and gaming on the PS2, Sony realized that online gaming was the future of the industry. The adaptor was later built into the new smaller and quieter model of the PS2 that came out in 2004.