One thing that has struck me is how little more the current generation consoles, the Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360, give the average consumer, for a huge amount more money, than what the Sony PS2 gives them. In fact, in many ways the PS2 gives them more! Which is probably why it is the best selling console ever, with about 140 million happy customers, with more still buying it every day.
You buy a game console to play games. And when it comes to games the PS2 is a long way ahead of the current generation consoles. There are nearly 2,000 games available for the PS2 and they include some of the greatest games ever produced. Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3, GTA3 & San Andreas & Vice City, GT3, RE4, Devil May Cry, Gods of War, Okami, Ico, the list just goes on and on. And they are cheap! New games are about £20 but you can buy the classics secondhand for £5 each or less.
And the machine itself is also very cheap compared with the current generation. £70 for a new one, £40 for a secondhand one. And they are simple, proven and reliable.
The main thing the current generation give you (PS3 and 360) is HDTV, but is that such a big step in gaming? The 360 also gives you an amazing online experience, at a price. Only the Wii is standout in offering something more with its innovative gesture interface and the fantastic family oriented games that go with it. Hardly surprising then that the Wii has sold nearly as many units as the PS3 and 360 combined, it is the only one with solid reasons for purchase.
So there you have it, if you don’t already have a PS2 then you should get one.
Permalink
LOL Funny commercial. ummmm PS2 the third place can also be interpreted as Wii one, xbox360 two, PS2 third, ps3 fourth(last!). Good points on the wii. But with NATAL coming and the price drops coming Wii may get caught. Especially with the recent slow down (even more than the PS3 slowed down in USA, and Japan).
Permalink
I more/less agree with your conclusion about the value of the PS2, but for different reasons than yours, I think. Yes, a console is bought for games, but after a certain point, it is less about the raw quantity of games available and more about the mix and quality. Both the 360 and PS3 have more than enough games available in total quantity — they are well past that threshold. But the mix and quality do not offer significant advantage over the PS2.
The games on the new platforms look good, but the storytelling, AI, and overall gameplay have really not shown great leaps beyond the PS2 games. For example, the Bioshock story is clever, but the game really could have been implemented (albeit with poorer graphics) on the PS2. And there have been AI improvements, but they have not been stunning.
It is really disappointing overall. I wish the game creators would drop the graphics focus for a while and work on the other aspects.
Permalink
The PS2 has way more games because it was launched 10 years ago. (Yes, 10 years, it launched in Japan first people.)
Permalink
Yes the PS2 was a great machine. But the machines of today are so much more powerful than the PS2. When the PS2 first came out many people used it to play DVD’s as well as games. Just as with the PS3 today, you can also play Blu-Ray movies on it, which are spectacular. How could you advance a generation without adding features that were not in previous consoles? The games will come to the PS3/XBOX360. I liked the PS2, but I love my PS3. I never played online with the PS2, and only had about 12 games for it. The PS3 however, online is the focus of my game play time. I play with friends, I send messages to friends, I talk to friends. Yes the PS3 is expensive, but so was the PS2. I payed 300 bucks for my ps2 back in the day. I payed 500 bucks for my PS3.
Permalink
Corndog, did you even pay attention? PS2 is the biggest selling console – which makes it higher placed than the gimmick of a Wii and the Breakdown Box of a 360. Also worthy of note is that PS2 had a lot of family/group oriented software – Singstar, EyeToy, Buzz?
It’s great how 360 followers make themselves stand out so blatantly – There’s no way the 360 is catching the Wii. If anything the far-more-expensive PS3 is catching the 360 (The launch lead of the 360 having been cut down by 70% already) and all that while the PS2 sales are still active.
Permalink
I literally just came home after buying another PS2 (I need to catch up on the classics) and I see this article. What are the chances? I also bought Silent Hill 2 and 4, plus I have 8 more games getting shipped to me. I do need to get a component cable though.
Permalink
PS2 certainly has some amazing games that are still playable by today’s standards, though some are turned off by the lack of even 480p support on most games. I’ll be honest I would play my PS2 a lot more than my 360 if only those vertical lines didn’t give me a headache after a couple hours of play(I’m looking at you FF XII).
Permalink
Seems like many people agree because PS2 sales have increased a lot after price cut. If we believe in shipping figures from MS and Sony then PS2 is actually outselling both 360 and PS3 worldwide (1.6 million PS2, 1.2 million 360 and 1.1 million PS3). Sure, PS3 and 360 may have overshipped previous quarter which lowers current quarter shipping figures. And none of the consoles had huge games to boost sales like last year. But I know that in most of the Europe (especially those with lower income) PS2 regularly outsells both HD consoles. There are even many countries where PS2 outsells even Wii.
I would actually still recommend PS2 for those who want to play games cheaply and don’t care about graphics or only have SDTV. There are still a lot of people who only have SDTV. Of course other choice is Wii but it doesn’t have so many games yet. Both 360 and PS3 games don’t always have good SDTV support and there are some games which are almost unplayable on SDTV (unreadable texts is a common problem).
Permalink
Sorry, but nothing’s going to catch the Wii. At 52 million units sold (http://www.vgchartz.com), they’ve nearly outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined. Sony effectively threw in the towel when they said they were “focusing on profitability.” With the Xbox embedded in the marketplace, they can answer Sony’s every move.
Permalink
The PS2 can’t do Toy Story-quality graphics, but it does tout one of the best libraries in history. If the interest is still there, why not keep developing titles for it?