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| Manufacturer | Sony Computer Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Type | Video game console |
| Generation | Sixth generation era |
| Lifespan | March 4, 2000 October 26, 2000 November 24, 2000 November 30, 2000 |
| Units sold | Worldwide: 115.36 million units shipped as of December 31 2006. United States: 37.1 million, as of December 31, 2006. |
| Media | DVD, CD |
| CPU | 128-bit "Emotion Engine" clocked at 294 MHz |
| Storage | Memory Card |
| Graphics | "Graphics Synthesizer" clocked at 147 MHz |
| Controller input | DualShock |
| Connectivity | Ethernet/Modem adapter. |
| Online services | Game-supplied, Central Station |
| Best-selling game | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
| Backward compatibility | PlayStation games |
| Predecessor | PlayStation |
| Successor | PlayStation 3 |
The PlayStation 2 (プレイステーション2, Pureisutēshon Tsū, abbreviated "PS2") is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000.
The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and has become the fastest selling and arguably the most dominant console, with over 115 million units shipped worldwide by December 2006.
History
Only a few million people had obtained consoles by the end of 2000 due to manufacturing delays. The PlayStation 2 was so popular after its release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves. Another popular option was purchasing the console online through auction websites such as eBay.
Yet, the PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and its backward compatibility, selling over 900,000 units in the first weekend in Japan. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation — another major selling point over the competition. Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PlayStations for consumers.
A notable piece of advertising is that the PS2 launch was accompanied by the popular "PS9" television commercial. 9 was to be the epitome of development, which the PS2 was the next step on the way towards. The ad also presaged the development of a portable PlayStation. (First released in Japan on December 12 2004.)
Many analysts predicted a close 3-way matchup between the PS2 and competitors Microsoft's Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (which was the cheapest of the three consoles and had an open market of games). However, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season pushed the PS2 in order to maintain momentum and hold off its rivals.
Although Sony placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first years, that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox. Sony adapted in late 2002 to compete with Microsoft, with several online first party titles released alongside it, such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs to show its active support for Internet play. Sony also advertised heavily, and its online model had the support of Electronic Arts. Although Sony and Nintendo both started out late and although both followed a decentralised model of online gaming where the responsibility is up to the developer to provide the servers, Sony's attempt made online gaming a major selling point of the PS2.
In September of 2004, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the best-selling game during the 2004 Holiday season), Sony revealed a new, smaller PS2 (see Hardware revisions). In preparation for the launch of a new, slimmer PlayStation 2 model (SCPH-70000) (Also known unofficially as the "PStwo".), Sony had stopped making the older PS2 model (SCPH-5000x) sometime during the summer of 2004 to let the distribution channel empty out stock of the units. After an apparent manufacturing issue caused some initial slowdown in producing the new unit, Sony reportedly underestimated demand, caused in part by shortages between the time the old units were cleared out and the new units were ready. This, and the issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK. During one week in November, British sales totaled 6,000 units — compared to 70,000 a few weeks prior. There were shortages in more than 1700 stores in North America on the day before Christmas.
Games
Main article: List of PlayStation 2 gamesThe brand strength has led to strong third-party support for the system. Although the launch titles for the PS2 were unimpressive in 2000, the Christmas season of 2001 saw the release of several best-selling and critically acclaimed games. Those PS2 titles helped the PS2 maintain and extend its lead in the video game console market, despite increased competition from the launches of the Microsoft Xbox and GameCube. In several cases, Sony made exclusivity deals with publishers in order to pre-empt its competitors. Critically acclaimed games on the machine include the Grand Theft Auto series and Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, Devil May Cry 1, 3, four SSXs , Ace Combat Series, Kingdom Hearts I, II, Gran Turismo A Spec, 4, SOCOM, Sly Cooper trilogy, Ratchet & Clank tetralogy, Ape Escape, Splinter Cell series, Jak and Daxter trilogy series, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, II, Champions of Norrath, Champions: Return to Arms, five Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games, and six Tony Hawk games. The PS2 has also been the home to many music games such as the latest Dance Dance Revolution games, and the guitar controller-based Guitar Hero series.
By the end of 2006, there were 8,571 PS2 titles released worldwide (4,745 in Asia, 1,375 in North America, and 2,451 in Europe), accounting for cumulative production shipments of 1.205 billion units.
Hardware compatibility
The PS2 hardware can read both CDs and DVDs. It is backwards compatible with older PlayStation (PS1) games, allows for DVD Video playback, and will play PS2 games off CD-ROM discs or higher-capacity DVD-ROM discs. The ability to play DVD movies was an added incentive for consumers to be able to justify purchasing the PS2 (The MSRP was $300 in October 2000).
The PS2 also supports PS1 memory cards (for PS1 game saves only) and controllers as well. There is also support for the internal PlayStation 2 HDD which is placed in the expansion bay at the rear of the console.
The PS2's DualShock 2 controller is essentially an upgraded PS1 Dual Shock; analog face, shoulder and D-pad buttons replaced the digital buttons of the original. All of the input buttons include the D-pad, the right buttons (X, Circle, Triangle, Square), the back buttons (R1, R2, L1, L2), and the middle buttons (Start, Select, Analog). This design has been carried on to Sony's PlayStation 3, except it is called the SIXAXIS controller. The Dualshock 2 controller has a default force feedback which is commonly called the "vibration" function. It is usually used to tell the user when they have been "attacked" in a game. It is also commonly used combining an on-screen red mark, shake, blur, etc. to tell the player of an attack in any direction in most shooters involving weapons.
When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary video game consoles, including DVD-playback functionality, USB support, and IEEE 1394 expansion ports. It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console to include USB support (USB 1.1), with a proprietary Microsoft Xbox shaped socket) and DVD playback capabilities.
Compatibility with USB devices is dependent on the software supporting said USB device. For example, the PS2 BIOS will not boot an ISO image from a USB flash drive, or operate a USB printer, as the machine's operating system does not include this functionality. By contrast, Gran Turismo 4 is programmed to save screenshots to a USB mass storage device, or print images to certain USB printers.
Software compatibility
Support for original PlayStation games was also an important selling point for the PS2, letting owners of an older system upgrade to the PlayStation 2 and keep their old software, and giving new users access to older games until a larger library was developed for the new system. As an added bonus, the PS2 had the ability to enhance PlayStation games by speeding up disc read time and/or adding texture smoothing to improve graphics. While the texture smoothing was universally effective (albeit with odd effects where transparent textures are used — white borders would be seen around sprites), faster disk reading could cause some games to fail to load or play incorrectly.
A handful of PlayStation titles (notably Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions) fail to run on the PS2 at all (Special Missions fails to recognise Metal Gear Solid at the disk swap screen, for example). This problem appears to have been rectified in the slimline versions of the PS2, where most of the previously unplayable PS one games can now be played. It is a common misconception that disk swapping in a game (for example, for multi-disk games or expansion packs) is not possible on the PS2 without modifying the console. The anomalous failure of the above title at its disk swap screen may have given birth to this rumor. Software for all PlayStation consoles contains one of four region codes: for Japan and Asia: NTSC/J, North America: NTSC-U/C, Europe and Oceania: PAL, and China: NTSC/C.
Online play
With the purchase of a separate unit called the Network Adaptor (which is built into the slimline model), some PS2 games support online multiplayer. Instead of having a unified, subscription-based online service like Xbox Live, online multiplayer on the PS2 is split between publishers and run on third-party servers. However, this comes at a price as any speed connection can connect to the Internet with a PS2, resulting in lag whenever slow connections are present. Most recent PS2 online games have been developed to exclusively only support Broadband Internet access. Xbox Live exclusively requires a broadband Internet connection.
All newer online PS2 games (since 2003) are protected by the Dynamic Network Authentication System (DNAS). The purpose of this system is to prevent piracy and online cheating. DNAS will prevent games from being played online if they are determined to be pirated ps2 fails copies, or if they have been modified. Recently, however, there are methods of getting around this protection by modifying some files on the pirated game.
Hardware revisions
The PlayStation 2 has undergone many revisions, some only of internal construction and others with substantial external changes. These are colloquially known amongst PlayStation 2 hardware hackers as V0, V1, V2, etc., up to V14c (as of 2006).
Original case design
Three of the original PS2 launch models were only sold in Japan, and lack the Dev9 expansion port of current PS2 models. These versions were SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000. These included a PCMCIA slot instead of the Expansion Bay (DEV9) port of newer models. A PCMCIA to Dev9 adapter was made available for these models. SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000 did not have a built-in DVD player and instead relied on an encrypted player that was copied to a memory card from an included CD-ROM (normally, the PS2 will only execute encrypted software from its memory card, but see PS2 Independence Exploit). V3 has a substantially different internal structure from the subsequent revisions, featuring several interconnected printed circuit boards. As of V4 everything was unified into one board, except the power supply. V5 introduces minor internal changes and the only difference between V6 (sometimes called V5.1) and V5 is the orientation of the Power/Reset switch board connector, which was reversed to prevent the use of no-solder modchips. V7 and V8 are also similar. Assembly of the PS2 moved to People's Republic of China with the V9 (model number SCPH-50000/SCPH-50001), which added the Infrared port for the optional DVD Remote control, removed the FireWire port, added the capability to read DVD-RW and +RW discs, added progressive-scan output of DVD movies, and a quieter fan. V10 and V11 have minor changes.
Slim case design
In September 2004 Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision (V12, model number SCPH-70000). Available in November 2004, it is smaller and thinner than the old version and includes a built-in Ethernet port. In some markets it also integrates a modem. Due to its thinner profile, it does not contain the 3.5" expansion bay, and therefore does not support the internal hard disk drive, and now uses an external power supply, like the GameCube. The removal of the HDD bay has been criticised as a limitation due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy XI which require the use of the HDD. The official PS2 Linux kit also requires a hard drive bay to function. The SCPH-70000 also received a modified MultiTap expansion. Currently only the modified MultiTap is sold in stores, meaning that owners of older PS2s must find a used or non-Sony MultiTap in order to get 4 or 8 players.Third party connectors can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support, however IDE connections were completely removed in the V14 revision eliminating this option.
There are some disputes on the numbering for this PS2 version, since there are actually two sub-versions of the SCPH-70000. One of them includes the old EE and GS chips, and the other contains the newer unified EE+GS chip, otherwise being identical. Since the V12 version had already been established for this model, there were some disputes regarding these sub-versions. Two propositions were to name the old model (EE and GS, separate chips) V11.5 and the newer model V12, and to name the old model V12 and the newer model V13. Currently, most people just use V12 for both models, or V12 for the old model and V13 for the newer one.
The V12 model was first released in black. A silver edition is available in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France, South Africa, and most recently, North America. It is unknown whether or not this will follow the colour schemes of the older model.
There is also now a V14 model (SCPH-75001 and SCPH-75002) which contain an integrated EE and GS, and different ASICs compared to previous revisions, some chips having a copyright date of 2005 compared to 2000 or 2001 for earlier models. It also has a different lens and some compatibility issues with a different number of PS1 games and even some PS2 games. (see the list of incompatible games as documented by SCEA).
In 2006, Sony released a new hardware revision. It was first released in Japan on September 15, 2006, including the Silver limited edition. After its release, it was then shipped to America and to other parts of the world. It is the V15 model (SPCH-77001a and SPCH-77001b). They are two sub-versions of the models. The new revision uses an integrated unified EE+GS chip and a redesigned ASIC, different laser lens, updated BIOS, updated drivers. This revision is currently shipping in retail game stores. The V15 model still has compatibility issues with some PS2 games and PS1 games. There was some criticism since its release due to overheating and some disc read errors.
Later hardware revisions had better compatibility with PlayStation games (Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions works on most silver models); however, the new Japanese slim models have more issues with playing PlayStation games than the first PS2 revisions.
In the beginning of 2005 it was found that some black slimline console power transformers bought between November and December 2004 were faulty and could overheat. The units were recalled by Sony, with the company supplying a replacement model made in 2005. Slimline is also extremely quiet compared to the original. Users can determine if their systems are affected by this recall by visiting http://www.ps2ac.com.
PSX
Sony has also made a consumer device called the PSX that can be used as a digital video recorder and DVD burner in addition to playing PlayStation 2 games. The device, which was only released in Japan, was poorly received, with some major features absent from the first revisions of the hardware, and has thus far experienced very weak sales in Japan, in spite of major price drops. The machine's future continues to be uncertain, with North American and European launches considered to be distant if at all.
Accessories
Main articles: DualShock, PlayStation 2 HDD, EyeToy, PlayStation 2 Headset, Logitech
The PS2's DualShock 2 controller is largely identical to the PlayStation's DualShock, with the same basic functionality; however, it includes analog pressure sensitivity on the face and shoulder buttons, is lighter and includes two more levels of vibration. The L2 and R2 buttons are also significantly larger. The fact that the design did not change pleased some consumers who were already used to the DualShock controller.
Optional hardware include DualShock or DualShock2 controllers, a PlayStation 2 DVD remote control, an internal/external hard disk for PlayStation 2, a Network adapter, horizontal and vertical stands, PlayStation or PlayStation 2 memory cards, light guns (GunCon), fishing rod and reel controllers, and various cables and interconnects: Multitap for PlayStation or PlayStation 2, Y-Pb-Pr (component), S-Video, RGB, SCART, VGA (for progressive scan games and PS2 Linux only), component, and composite video cables, RF modulator, USB camera ("EyeToy"), Konami microphone for use with the Karaoke Revolution games, dual microphones (sold with and used exclusively for SingStar games), "guitar" controllers (for Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and a different model, for Guitar Freaks), Onimusha 3 Katana controller, Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw controller, USB keyboard, mouse and a headset. Unlike the original PlayStation, which required that the use of an official Sony PlayStation mouse to play mouse-compatible games, the few PlayStation 2 games with mouse support work with standard PC-compatible USB mice. Early versions of the PlayStation 2 could be networked via an iLink port, though this had little game support and was dropped. The original PlayStation 2 multitap cannot be plugged into the newer slim models (as the multitap connects to the memory card slot as well as the controller slot and the memory card slot on the slimline is less deep). New slim-design multitaps exist for these models, however third-party adapters exist to permit original multitaps to be used.
Home development
Main article: PS2 LinuxSony released a version of the Linux (sometimes known as GNU/Linux) operating system for the PS2 in a package that also includes a keyboard, mouse, Ethernet adapter and hard disk drive. Currently, Sony's online store states that the Linux kit is no longer for sale in North America. However as of July 2005, the European version was still available. (The kit boots by installing a proprietary interface, the Run-time environment which is on a region-coded DVD, so the European and USA kits each only work with a PS2 from that region).
In Europe and Australia, the PlayStation 2 comes with a free Yabasic interpreter on the bundled demo disc. This allows simple programs to be created for the PlayStation 2 by the end-user. This was included in a failed attempt to circumvent a UK tax by defining the console as a "computer" if it contained certain software.
A port of the NetBSD project is also available for the PS2.
It is also possible to listen to MP3 music and watch DivX movies with homebrew programs running in consoles that have a modchip installed or with network software like GameShark's Media Player.
Technical Issues
Disc Read Error
Owners of early PS2 models purchased from launch( summer 99') until spring 2003 commonly reported faulty optical drives in their consoles. The earliest drives suffered from a constantly misaligning laser lens but later defects were the result of a shift in voltage to the laser itself. The first problem was relatively easy to remedy, but it required opening the machine's casing and tweaking a cog that controlled the lens' distance from the discs it was supposed to read, thus voiding the warranty. This usually did not matter, as in most cases the warranty already had expired by the time such problems began to appear. The second fix involved the use of an oscillator. As time went on, more and more drives began breaking down and a class action lawsuit was filed against Sony. They had the option of either paying the requested fines in damages, or offering free repair and replacements at their discretion. Sony chose the latter and, until February 2005, they honored their agreement. In the UK owners suffering from this flaw must pay Sony £50 (as of spring 2005) to get their machines repaired.
A second lawsuit is being filed against Sony for all of the above, plus claims that defective hardware is damaging media discs. The first hearings were set to commence in April and May, 2005.
As of 2006, Sony is offering exchanges of factory-refurbished consoles for broken out-of-warranty consoles for a charge of US $45.
Another issue causing DRE's is wear on the part coupling the head assembly to the worm gear that moves the laser. This issue is mostly found in the older PS2. A symptom of this is a loud repetitive clicking sound. The part is commonly plastic and prone to wear or break. Metal replacements are available from third parties.
Controversy
- Before the PS2 was even released in Japan, there were controversies over the capabilities of the PS2. Japan initially imposed export restrictions on the PS2. The PS2 was even said to be able to guide ballistic missiles.
- In 2000, four thousand PS2 units ended up in Iraq after being purchased from the USA and delivered by different couriers. Iraq was then ruled by dictator Saddam Hussein.
Technical specifications
The specifications of the PlayStation 2 console are as follows, with hardware revisions:
- CPU: 128-bit "Emotion Engine" clocked at 294 MHz, 10.5 million transistors
- System Memory: 32 MiB Direct Rambus or RDRAM (note that some computers use this type of RAM)
- Memory bus Bandwidth: 3.2 Gigabyte per second
- Main processor: MIPS R5900 CPU core, 64-bit
- Coprocessor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator × 1, Floating Point Divider × 1)
- Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator × 9, Floating Point Divider × 1), 128-bit, at 150 MHz.
- VU0 typically used for physics and other gameplay type things
- VU1 typically used for polygon transformations, lighting and other visual based calculations
- Floating Point Performance: 6.2 gigaFLOPS (single precision 32-bit floating point)
- FPU 0.64 gigaFLOPS
- VU0 2.44 gigaFLOPS
- VU1 3.08 gigaFLOPS
- 3D CG Geometric transformation: 66 million polygons/sec
- 3D CG Geometric transformation under lighting: 38 million polygons/sec
- 3D CG Geometric transformation under lighting and fog: 36 million polygons/sec
- 3D CG Geometric transformations under curved surfaces: 16 million polygons/sec
- Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG-2
- I/O Processor interconnection: Remote Procedure Call over a serial link, DMA controller for bulk transfer
- Cache memory: Instruction: 16 KiB, Data: 8 KiB + 16 KiB (ScrP)
- Graphics: "Graphics Synthesizer" clocked at 147 MHz
- Pixel pipelines: 16
- Video output resolution: variable from 256x224 to 1280x1024 pixels
- 4 MB Embedded DRAM video memory bandwidth at 48 Gigabit per second (main system 32 MiB can be dedicated into vram)
- DRAM Bus bandwidth: 48.0 Gb per second
- Texture buffer bandwidth: 9.6 Gb/sec
- Frame buffer bandwidth: 38.4 Gb/sec
- DRAM Bus width: 2560-bit (composed of three independent buses: 1024-bit write, 1024-bit read, 512-bit read/write)
- Pixel Configuration: RGB: Alpha: Z Buffer (24:8, 15:1 for RGB, 16, 24, or 32-bit Z buffer)
- Dedicated connection to: Main CPU and VU1
- Overall Pixel fillrate: 16x147 = 23.52Gpixel/sec(rounded to 2.4Gpixel/sec)
- Pixel fillrate: with no texture, flat shaded 2.4(75,000,000 32-bit pixel real-world triangles)
- Pixel fillrate: with 1 full texture(Defuse Map), Gouraud shaded 1.2 (37,750,000 32-bit pixel real-world triangles)
- Pixel fillrate: with 2 full textures(Defuse map + specular or alpha or other), Gouraud shaded 0.6 (18,750,000 32-bit pixel real-world triangles)
- Multi-pass rendering ability
- Four passes = 300M pixels/second (300M pixel/sec divided by 32pixel = 9,375,000 triangle/sec lossed every four passes)
- Sound: "SPU1+SPU2" (SPU1 is actually the CPU clocked at 8 MHz)
- Number of voices: 48 hardware channels of ADPCM on SPU2 plus software-mixed channels
- Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz (selectable)
- Output: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound (Full motion video only), DTS (Full motion video only), later games achieved analog 5.1 surround during gameplay through Dolby Pro Logic II
- I/O Processor
- CPU Core: Original PlayStation CPU (MIPS R3000A clocked at 33.8688 MHz or 37.5 MHz)
- Sub Bus: 32 Bit
- Connection to: SPU and CD/DVD controller.
- Interface Types:
- 2 proprietary PlayStation controller ports (250 kHz clock for PS1 and 500 kHz for PS2 controllers)
- 2 proprietary Memory Card slots using MagicGate encryption (250 kHz for PS1 cards, up to 2 MHz for PS2 cards)
- Expansion Bay (PCMCIA on early models for PCMCIA Network Adaptor and External Hard Disk Drive) DEV9 port for Network Adaptor
- Modem and Internal Hard Disk Drive
- IEEE 1394 (only in SCPH 10xxx - 3xxxx)
- Infrared remote control port (SCPH 5000x and newer)
- 2 USB 1.1 ports with an OHCI-compatible controller.
- Disc Drive type: 24x (PlayStation 2 format CD-ROM, PlayStation format CD-ROM) 4x (Supported DVD formats) Region-locked with anti-copy protection (Can't read "Gold Discs" aka normal CD-ROMs)
- Supported Disc Media: PlayStation 2 format CD-ROM, PlayStation format CD-ROM, Compact Disc Audio, PlayStation 2 format DVD-ROM (4.7 GB), DVD Video (4.7 GB), DVD-9 (8.5 GB Dual-Layer). Later models are DVD+RW, and DVD-RW compatible.
Price history
United Kingdom (including VAT, currently 17.5%)
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Hungary (Including VAT, currently 20%)
Republic of Ireland (including VAT, currently 21%) Middle East (in Saudi Riyals)
Taiwan (Republic of China)
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References
- "Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware / PlayStation®2". Sony Computer Entertainment.
- Brightman, James (2007-01-11). "Updated: Breaking: U.S. Video Game Industry Totals $12.5 Billion in 2006". GameDaily Biz. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - Chris Morris (May 14, 2002). "Sony slashes PlayStation prices: Pre-emptive move undercuts competition and could spark video game price war". CNN.
- Valerie Elliott (December 9, 2004). "Merry Christmas, your PlayStation 2 is stuck in Suez". Times Online. News International.
- "2004 Holiday Sales Results Call". GameStop. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
- "Cumulative Number of Software Titles". Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- "Cumulative Production Shipments of Software Titles". Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;627857430;fp;128;fpid;406
- "PS2 Revision Identification". 2006.
- http://www.gamesindustry.biz/news.php?aid=4280
- http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-139.html
- http://www.ps2settlement.com/
- http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s119754.htm
- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21118
- IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port removed and Infrared remote port added in SCPH-50000 and later hardware versions.
- "Business Development / Japan". Sony Computer Entertainment.
- "PLAYSTATION®2 GETS STUNNING NEW LOOK" (PDF). Sony. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
- "Japan to see PS2 price drop". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
- "Business Development / North America". Sony Computer Entertainment.
- ^ "Business Development / Europe". Sony Computer Entertainment.
- "Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Announces New Price for PlayStation 2". Sony. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
- http://price.ru/bin/price/prodlist?curr=2&base=1&cid=0107&vcid=010107&sugg=1&pnam=Sony%20Playstation%20PS2&where=00
See also
| |||||||||||||||
- List of PlayStation 2 games
- Chronology of PlayStation 2 games
- List of PlayStation 2 network games
- List of PlayStation 2 DVD-9 games
- List of Progressive Scan PS2 Games
- List of PlayStation games incompatible with PlayStation 2
- List of Sony Greatest Hits games
- List of PlayStation 2 CD-ROM games
- PlayStation 2 Headset
- Playstation 3
- EyeToy
- PlayStation 2 Expansion Bay
- PlayStation Broadband Navigator
- HDD Utility Disc
- Central Station
- Playstation 2 Linux
- Playstation 2 internal display clock
- Sony
- Comparison of sixth-generation game consoles
External links
- Official sites
- PlayStation Official Site
- PS2 Optimisations PDF of optimisations for PS2 (shows multi-pass fillrate usage and amount of polygons at display with 1 full texture layer)
- Unofficial sites
- Template:Gameinfo
- PlayStation 2 makes its North American Debut
- PS2: Five Years Later On the history of the PS2 from 1up.com
- Playstation 2 Linux Support community for the Playstation 2 Linux kit
- How Stuff Works - Play Station 2
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