October 26th is the ps2's B-Day in NA. surprised they are still making games for it.
Happy 10th PS2
October 26th is the ps2's B-Day in NA. surprised they are still making games for it.
You're right, good reminder.
A happy birthday indeed to the console that really got me back into gaming.
Whaddya mean invalid parameters?!
9,000 gigs of ram and it still can't answer a simple question!
Happy Birthday!
Now, retire the damned thing and make a PS2 backwards compatibility option for PS3 owners that don't have it standard.
Please. Thank you.
"And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"
A-friggin'-men.Originally Posted by Frankie_Says_Relax
I was one of those rare individuals who didn't own a PS2, until I bought my 60GB PS3.
There are more of us out there, I'm sure....
I almost guarantee it would be more cost effective for Sony to just put the EE chip back in the PS3, instead of manufacturing new PS2's.
I went from a Sega Genesis/Super Nintendo/outdated PC to the PS2. I was amazed. Best console ever imo.
It's finally starting to die but it's lasted much longer than most anticipated.
What does one have to do with the other?
Playstation 2 backwards compatibility isn't missing because Playstation 2 consoles, games, and accessories are still being produced. And it isn't going to magically appear in a firmware update someday when Playstation 2 production has ended.
They're manufacturing $99.99 Playstation 2's for budget minded consumers. Someone on a budget isn't going to just spring for a $300-$400 Playstation 3 instead just because it suddenly includes Playstation 2 compatibility.
It's a budget console and people purchase it because it's cheap, not because they have some overwhelming desire with no regard to the price to suddenly play Playstation 2 games 10 years after it initially launched. The average Playstation 2 console buyer in 2010 isn't willing or even financially capable of paying hundreds of additional dollars to purchase a Playstation 3 just because it lets them play Playstation 2 games. The people willing to do that were the early adapters that Sony sold Playstation 3's to with PS2 support half a decade ago.
They're still selling Playstation 2's not because they have some love of the system and want to see something capable of playing PS2 titles remain in the marketplace, but because it's dirt cheap and affordable to a significant percentage of the population that can't consider paying several hundred dollars for a Playstation 3. It's profitable for Sony and fills a niche that the Playstation 3 is unable to at the present time due to it's steep price.
Last edited by Leo_A; 10-26-2010 at 11:03 PM.
If you have an PS2,but no new game to play,will you upset?
Why be upset? They are still periodically releasing new games for it. And I'm sure that when official support ends for it, more and more people will publish for it. ESPECIALLY if the PS3 never supports it again. Look at the Dreamcast, titles were released for that YEARS after official support ended.
Plus, it's not like the selection of games is small. What is there, about a 1000 games now? Best console ever made, period.
Most of those Dreamcast titles, with a few pleasant exceptions, haven't been anything terribly special.
And unlike the Dreamcast, when Sony pulls the plug, that's the end of commercially producing games for it that can run in any Playstation 2 without modifications.
I doubt you'll ever see much unsanctioned publishing ever happen for it since only a small percentage of Playstation 2 owners with modded consoles would be able to enjoy it.
While I don't think that it's going to "magically appear in a firmware update" simply due to the console's retirement (whenever that does happen), I do think that Sony is holding off on releasing any level of PS3 PS2 compatibility until it's no longer worth it to them to continue to manufacture/sell the actual PS2 units.
PS3's may be out of the point in production where money is lost on them but the PS2 likely makes twice or three times profit what a PS3 purchased at retail makes Sony (if they make them anything in profit at all) ... so I can see the resistance to retire the things. BUT, it has to happen sometime. They're not going to continue to produce them indefinitely, and when they do decide to let them go, I'm SURE they're going to want to continue to sell the software that will inevitably remain on retail shelves for years after the PS2 consoles go away.
Your estimations are all logical for sure, and I don't strictly disagree with them ... I just have my own theories/suspicions as to what the long term plan will be.
I think WHEN Sony retires PS2 we'll see an option pop up for added PS2 compatibility (be it USB device or otherwise) on PS3s and ONLY after the PS2 is retired.
"And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"
That's debatable.
Happy Birthday PS2.
I prefer this with a PS2 Fat over a PS3 backward compatible system.
Last edited by CRTGAMER; 10-27-2010 at 01:21 PM.
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Didn't they do something in Europe to allow unlicensed releases? (Essentially sanctioning unsanctioned publishing.)
I'm pretty sure they just did away with their approval process, making it so publishers can release buggy shovelware without issue.
It's been a decade and the little black box is still profitable. I would really like to see an up-to-date price breakdown on the current-revision PS2s, to see how much they're really making on that $99 tag. The NES was only $49.95 in 1994, so adjusting for inflation I would expect it to have been in the $80 range or lower last year. Since it still sells in the thousands every month that I've seen the charts, they must making a decent profit.
What bothers me, though, is the software lineup. Check out the list of games released in 2010, and what's scheduled for 2011. I count 26 games for the NA market in 2010, and most of them are the annuals. Compare that the the PlayStation ten years after release, which had three games of little impact. The NES had no releases after 1994, but even at the 9 year mark, it still had some high profile releases. What I'm getting at here is that the PS2 is riding on annual sports and kids movie games ten years into its life, a feat that no console has done before. The PS2 used section at GameStop probably isn't going anywhere for a long time, but I can see them cutting off trade-ins for stuff like Madden 2002 soon.
This isn't even touching on the fact that this is an amazing time to get into the PS2s huge library, with tons of great games below the $10 used price point. Just for the heck of it, I threw together a little PS2 "Starter Pack," with a limit of $150~155 including tax. I made sure to give it a variety, and kept in mind the need for a second controller and memory card. You can probably get a cheaper used controller in the store, and a memory card will run you $7 shipped on Amazon if you can't find one in the store.
So $150 gets you a NEW console, a controller, a memory card (maybe not in the store though), with Toy Story for the kids, an RPG, a mech game, a fighter, and an action-adventure. Go used for the console, and you save $30 but don't get Toy Story, which is going to retail for $40. You can't do this with a GameCube, since even though the consoles are around $30, the desirable games are more in the $20 range. Xbox doesn't have the same diversity, and GameStop is removing/has removed the Xbox section. Happy 10th birthday PlayStation 2 indeed.
Extremely. I almost stopped playing games entirely during the PS2 days.
Life is like a hurricane...
I agree that it sucks that GameStop is getting rid of the XBox section, but there's still quite a bit of diversity for that original system, and you inspired me to put together a similar "bundle" on amazon. I'm not as fancy with the screenshots but here's what I came up with (I tried to list only exclusives)
The system - price is debatable but I saw some from the $40-60 range. No memory cards needed either.
A lineup of some games:
Halo - $10.99 (new)
Halo 2 - $19.99 (new)
KOTOR - $15 or so (used)
Jade Empire - $4.79 (new)
Chronicles of Riddick - $5 or so (used)
Fable - $10 or so (used)
There really is a good library for both systems, and buying games from the console generation from one generation ago is usually pretty cheap.
Life is like a hurricane...
Well, I was trying to emphasize the diversity of the PS2 library, and how a $150 bundle could still leave a lot of room to expand once you finish those games. Xbox, not so much. If I had to put together a similarly diverse bundle, it would probably be:
Xbox - $50 used
GunGriffon Allied Strike - $7
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload - $6
KOTOR - $10
Breakdown - $4
Beyond Good & Evil - $5
Mortal Kombat Deception - $8
Extra Controller - $10
That adds up to $108 with tax, and you get an FPS, a mech game, two fighters, an RPG, and an action-adventure. Once you finish playing those, though, there's not as much of a diverse library to go into. With the PS2, there's at least ten more in each genre, AND the continued support for annual mainstream releases.
It will happen when it's no longer profitable for them to produce it. When the Playstation 2 market reaches that point, they're certainly not going to then invest in developing and producing PS2 compatible Playstation 3's. PS2 compability was important in the early days for the early adapters and has decreased in importance since then as people upgrade and leave the console behind (The Playstation 2 becomes less important in this marketplace everyday). Someone buying a Playstation 3 in 2010 is doing it because they want to play Playstation 3 games and play Blu-Ray movies, they could care less that it could play what they view as ancient software.
They're certainly not suddenly going to make the investment after years of producing PS3's without BC (When the PS2 marketplace was healthy and they might've even enticed a few of them to upgrade and encourage some PS3 owners into trying the occasional PS2 release like Motorstorm Arctic Edge) when the PS2 market reaches such a weak point that it's killed off. They would've done it when it mattered to a lot of PS3 buyers and when it could've helped prolong the life of the platform, not when it dies.
What makes you think that? What console has ever acted like that? You'll always find a few stragglers, junk games appearing years later in drug stores and dollar stores because no one ever wanted them in the first place and they were suddenly dug out of a warehouse after years of storage. But the vast majority of games disappear right around when the hardware does. PS2 development is already very close to ceasing and there's barely any publishing of new runs of older games now. When Sony ceases to produce PS2 games, it will probably happen right around when the hardware is discontinued like every console we've seen before.
It's not going to happen. They're out to make money and suddenly releasing a version of your current console that increases your cost that plays games for a platform you've killed off commercially that most of your userbase has left behind, is clearly not going to make you money. If it was viable to roll PS2 compatibility through software into current PS3's, they would've undetaken that investment years ago when the PS2 marketplace still mattered and they might've convinced a few people to upgrade and a few PS3 owners to purchase the occasional new PS2 release.
Furthermore, they're in the early stages of making money off remastered HD versions of their PS2 library. What will they gain by releasing a emulator that plays PS2 games after the platform is dead (Don't tell me they will be able to sell digital versions of PS2 games, every PS3 and PSP can play PSOne games and their support of that program has been half hearted at best)? What's to gain increasing their unit cost by restoring a PS2 chip into their hardware? So people can walk into a GameStop 5 years from now and buy a beat up second hand game that Sony made their money off years ago, and support a commercial distribution system that they're not crazy about and would rather see go away?
I'd love to see it happen, but they're a business out to make a profit and I just don't see any way to spin this that would allow them to make a healthy return on their investment. When the platform dies, it's going to be dead. It's not a little gold mine waiting to appear when actual PS2 manufacturing becomes unprofitable.
That's exactly what they did.
Last edited by Leo_A; 10-27-2010 at 07:04 PM.
But think about it.... You may be paying extra, but you're essentially getting 3 consoles - 1 classic, one last gen, and one current gen. You can upgrade it for the price of a notebook laptop, and it's still one of the best blu-ray players on the market.
It's about choice...
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