PS2: Weak!!!

[Bartman]

Basically, the PS2 is probably the weakest console in the sixth generation. Here are the reasons from looking at the console reviews:

1: Multiplayer. The Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Xbox had four controller ports. The PS2 needed a multitap. DISGRACE!!!!

2. Hard Drive/memory cards. The Xbox had a good hard drive and did not need memory cards. Dreamcast and Gamecube had memory cards with plenty of data in it. PS2 had memory cards and you needed a lot for several games. Sports games for PS2 do waste a lot of data.

3.Online. Dreamcast got online from the box. Gamcube did not have it but the Wii did. Xbox had it but probably had to buy an online thing. Same with the PS2.

I don't know how Sony can sell 115 million consoles with these missing features and had to buy extras. Probably those over-hyped games. It lacks four controller ports, hard drives, and onlines. I don't know what to say to end this. It was hyped to a good console, and it was but it is just too weak.

[JustLikeHeaven1]

It sold 115 million because it had the best (and most diverse) library of games.  It was the first console to have a DVD player.  Most folks prefered the solid dual shock controller and the memory cards store TONS more than a gamecube or dreamcast memory card (if we are going by official products).

The things you pointed out were so unimportant at the time (online, 4 controller ports, lack of hard drive) that they couldn't possibly stop the PS2 from being successful.  Hell look at the Wii...one could argue that those things are still unimportant to the masses.

[Leo Ames]

Maybe earlier GameCube memory cards, but Nintendo's own 1019 cards hold a ton. I can fit my whole 27 game collection on one of them.

[a1]

Well, I think PS2's library should be the pretty obvious answer to your question. The only problem I have with the system is they're complete pieces of crap. I hardly know anyone who has a PS2 who isn't on their second or third.

[andrew]

[QUOTE=a]

Well, I think PS2's library should be the pretty obvious answer to your question. The only problem I have with the system is they're complete pieces of crap. I hardly know anyone who has a PS2 who isn't on their second or third.

[/QUOTE]

Well add me to your list of PS2 owners on their first still. My old style hulking PS2 still works great though a few days in the year it acts a bit cranky or is a touch too loud. But a game has never failed to load and operate within normal parameters. Lucky considering it was won in a subway contest where you had to sign a waiver saying its okay if the system ships broken.

[BigOldCar]

I thought I was the only one who disliked the PS2!  I was just having a conversation earlier this week with someone studying marketing, and I was marveling at how marketing can propel an inferior product to sales victory over demonstrably superior competitors.  I used the previous generation of gaming consoles as the example.

The GC is nearly as powerful as the xBox, and both easily trump the PS2.  The Dreamcast was out first and had online capability and still fell to the PS2.  Most early PS2 games were just re-issues of already-available Dreamcast games--ports!.  As was mentioned previously, the PS2 accommodates only two controllers and the memory cards are ludicrously lacking in capacity.  Add to that the fact that so many PS2s fail--early models from overheating and later ones with disc read errors.  Plus, when they redesigned the thing, they obsolesced many peripherals that had been on the market!  Hell, the redesign did away with the possibility of having a hard drive, which should have made it still less competitive!

I still don't get it.  But I see the PS3's failure as a comeuppance for Sony that is overdue.

(Although, I must confess that now that used ones are available for ~$60 I'm thinking of picking one up.  I still hate that red light/green light thing and the funky start-up menu.)

By the way, that girl had no idea what I was talking about and went back to what she'd been doing as though the conversation hadn't even been started.  *sigh*

[Alienblue]

I must defend my PS2 here. I own both Xbox and the Slimline model PS2 (I think why some early models blew out and some did not came down to how LONG you played them; Intellivision had the same problem. It was the first game system that could "pause" games and some left it on for days!)...anyway, I play my PS2 much more than the xbox. Why? Game selection. Xbox has better sound and graphics, but only marginaly, and the PS2 not only plays all the great PS2 games BUT Psone games as well! So it's like the Atari 7800, 2 systems in one. I don't play long games so lack of a hardrive only bugs me a little (it would be nice to save high scores but it's too much hassle switching from PS2 to PS1 cards!)

LOVE that PS2. And unlike Xbox it is stiiiilll going!

[Bartman]

I like the PS2 but I just don't like how weak the console was. I would think of it as a PS1 with better graphics, a disc tray or pop up lid, backwards compatability, DVD player  and online plug ins. I can admit that the PS2 has a strong library of games and some people can say it is the best. It's just that if you wanted four player action on a console, go to a Dreamcast or Xbox.

[JasonhasRSI1]

Look, I love the Dreamcast as much as the next guy, but these arguments against the PS2 are among the weakest I have ever seen and are related to the kinds of silly hardware-related arguing that happens between 12 yr olds at lesser video game forums.

Hardware does not a system make. Controller ports, online capabilities, hard drives, GPUs, RAM, Disc drives....they ALL take a backseat to the quality of games that are released. The PS2 had loads and loads of excellent games (as recent as this year). Many of these games were groundbreaking and console exclusive. Hence, the 115 million units sold.

PS - (Where are the Wii-lovers to back up this argument?)

[Iain]

As a machine the PS2 is pretty pathetic. Underpowered compared to the competition, only two joypad ports and it will break down if you so much as sneeze at it. But it has a wonderful game library. The sheer number of incredible games makes it a favourite console of mine hands down. Some weaks I play nothing but PS2 games because there are simply so many to choose from (including lots of nice compilations which saves me from trying to get my older machines to work).