PS2: Weak!!!

[Sudz1]

[QUOTE=JasonhasRSI]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?)

[/QUOTE]

Actually I whole-heartedly agree with these points and have made the same argument myself in the past.  I suppose if you're a single guy and the only one using your PS2, none of the given points are issues.  As a father of 3 boys who all also use my gaming consoles, these points were dully noted.  When you have 4 people all playing games on a PS2, you end up having to buy 5 or 6 memory cards just so everyone has enough room to store their save games.  Holding an anemic 8MB of information each (pathetic, even for it's time) was bad enough but why a single game save would often eat up 25% of that was beyond me.  The controllers were needlessly expensive when you had to replace a broken one (again, more often than I should have), and the lack of 4 ports built-in meant I couldn't play head-to-head with my kids in 4-player mayhem without shelling out yet again for something Sony should have given me out of the box (and that Sega, with the Dreamcast, did).  Once I got my Xbox I almost completely stopped playing my PS2 with some very minor exceptions.  The built-in hard drive which alleviated the need for memory cards *completely* was an absolute God-send, and that alone sold me on sticking with the Xbox from that point forward.  The extra controller ports and easy online capability were just icing on the cake.
Sudz

[andrew]

[QUOTE=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).[/QUOTE]

What do you mean pathetic? Ever seen ICO or Prince Of Persia not to mention God Of War? Their graphics are amazing. The PS2 held its own quite well with the other systems that the graphical differences were minimal. Don't look at its 294MHz cpu and low 32 ram. The system maximized its performance with those specs. Considering the vast superior specifications of the xbox the graphical difference wasn't that big a deal. And where are the Wii supporters. Its specs are far worse than the PS2 relative to whats currently available and that system is great with mediocre graphics.

[Iain]

[QUOTE=andrew] What do you mean pathetic? Ever seen ICO or Prince Of Persia not to mention God Of War? Their graphics are amazing. The PS2 held its own quite well with the other systems that the graphical differences were minimal. Don't look at its 294MHz cpu and low 32 ram. The system maximized its performance with those specs. Considering the vast superior specifications of the xbox the graphical difference wasn't that big a deal. And where are the Wii supporters. Its specs are far worse than the PS2 relative to whats currently available and that system is great with mediocre graphics. [/QUOTE]I have certainly seen all those games.I own all of them. And they look very nice. But the PS2 is underpowered. Indeed it can't even do a lot of the nice tricks the Dreamcast did. And my other points stand. Only two controller ports and very fragile to boot just is not acceptable.

Don't jump down my throat though. Have I not just said it is a favourite console of mine? The games are what are important to me. Not the hardware. Which in the PS2's case is pretty fortunate.

[Alienblue]

"The Ps2 was underpowered".

Agreed.

But then, so was the Atari 2600, and yet it still managed to have the overall biggest and best library of classic games. Sometimes having less to work with makes you work harder to make a great game; though I do think that work ethic was more true in the 2600 Imagic and Activision/one programmer days, there are some great PS2 titles. I still think Toca3 racing is the best racer on ANY system, including Xbox (not counting todays consoles so don't jump on me!)

[Chicken Warrior]

As for the comment about online, you failed to mention that while the XBox required online service packages, the PS2 only required a one-time investment of an adapter. And if you're going to say Nintendo was online with the wii, you should mention that the revised 'slim' ps2, released well before the wii, had a built in adapter.

[Steerforth]

PS2 WEAK? I don't own one, and few things are above critism, but c'mon, it has conquered the world of gaming!  It has outsold 360 and PS3 for the current year, I guess maybe power ain't everything!

[chrisbid1]

as a piece of hardware, the ps2 is junk. but its impossible not to own one as there are too many great games to play on it.

[BigOldCar]

[QUOTE] Hardware does not a system make.[/QUOTE]

I would agree that hardware alone does not make a system, but it is a hugely important consideration, since it is the hardware that determines what can and cannot be done by a game, and the hardware is the single greatest expense to start gaming.

Granted, many deficiencies can be worked around by clever programmers, but many others you're stuck with once you buy in.  Like memory cards.  Or load times (though they can be optimized, a slow system will always be a slow system).

I will give Sony this, however: their redesigns sure are compact!

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]it had the best library of games. 
[/QUOTE]
That is highly, highly debateable.  For example, if you liked FPS games more than any other games, the PS2 was a doorstop compared to the Xbox.  Your opinion there is likely based on the games you like, but the PS2 isn't the "everyman" machine it is made out to be. 

[Alienblue]

"The Ps2 sure is compact"

IS IT EVER! I own 14 VG systems and the PS2 slimline is by FAR the teeniest tiniest! I have to set it up on books so I can reach the reset/power button! (The arcadia2001 is about the same size but I don't own that).