why is the ps2 is still selling?

[RCBH928]

Exactly the title
the ps2 seems to be selling like crazy while systems of its era like dreamcast which is long dead, gamecube and xbox probably no one plays any more. no more new games are released for those systems, and its rare for the ps2. Yet the system is still selling a lot.

Now I understand those who love the system might buy a couple just in case, and others who are cheap, poor, or never got to buy the system get it now for a very good price. But why would the demand be so strong specially when a console like the 360 is cheap enough to buy for newer games and powerful graphics + online play.

I can understand why games are still being bought since there are 100 bazillion ps2's out there, but who still wants to buy ps2? By who I mean the thousands and thousands of people that still do.

I also heard that psx was still in production up until like 2005, does this mean that I can go to a retail store in 2005 and asking for brand new psx, and they would give me 1 that just rolled off the shelf?

and since we are talkinga bout ps3,
can any one please tell me if the ps3 would play ps2-ps1 games, its very confusing. On the sony website they say there is no backward compatibility what so ever for the units still in production

[girlracer]

this will help you with the backwards compatibility: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3

i personally have the 80gb with 4 usb's that is software compatible

[brickiemart]

A good while ago I worked in a game store (pre Gamestop) when 16 bit was all the rage. The store had two main sides with Genesis and SNES on each one and a big NES section in the corner. As popular as the 16 bit stuff was, plenty of people still came in to buy 8 bit NES systems and games. Some people just don't care about latest and greatest or are just poor and will only buy a popular game machine when it reaches a certain price, regardless if that takes ten years.

[sakicfan84]

Exactly the title
the ps2 seems to be selling like crazy while systems of its era like dreamcast which is long dead, gamecube and xbox probably no one plays any more. no more new games are released for those systems, and its rare for the ps2. Yet the system is still selling a lot.

Now I understand those who love the system might buy a couple just in case, and others who are cheap, poor, or never got to buy the system get it now for a very good price. But why would the demand be so strong specially when a console like the 360 is cheap enough to buy for newer games and powerful graphics + online play.

I can understand why games are still being bought since there are 100 bazillion ps2's out there, but who still wants to buy ps2? By who I mean the thousands and thousands of people that still do.

I also heard that psx was still in production up until like 2005, does this mean that I can go to a retail store in 2005 and asking for brand new psx, and they would give me 1 that just rolled off the shelf?

and since we are talkinga bout ps3,
can any one please tell me if the ps3 would play ps2-ps1 games, its very confusing. On the sony website they say there is no backward compatibility what so ever for the units still in production

The PS2 is a great choice if you are just getting into video games and/or you are trying to game on a budget. You would have access to the best library of games a console has ever featured plus the library of the original playstation. The thrift stores and pawn shops around me often have a lot of PS1/PS2 games around, so you can pick up a handful of games there for like $10-15. You can even go into Gamestop and grab tons of great games in their $9.99 and under section...shoppers really don't see much of anything at that price point for the current generation of consoles. The price of games for the newer consoles probably deters a lot of people. Also, Sony has phased out including the Emotion chip in the PS3. There is no more support for the PS2 in the current PS3 releases.

That being said, in the last week of February, PS2 sales were around 60k world wide. Compared to around 180k for the PS3 and 360, that's probably around right where it should be.

[skate323k137]

Aside from the fact that 360's are dying left and right, and a lot of poeple just don't have money for a "current generation" system, the librbary of PS2 games is simply massive. Even people like myself who dislike the more popular driving games, FPS games, RPG's, etc., still have a lot of games to choose from.

early in the life of the PS2 i was a die-hard dreamcast fan (and I still am), but i swore i'd never own a PS2. Years later (a year or two ago) I bought a PS2 and haven't looked back. there's a decent collection of fighters and a few shmups, and if you can play imports, the shmup library is fantastic. i now own 3 PS2's, and all of them are hooked to different displays. I just finished making my own PS2 RGsB->VGA adapter, which was the easiest cable/adapter I've ever made. It was easier than wiring NES pads to an LPT port back in the day (which doesn't work anymore thanks to these damn "high speed" LPT ports and re-written drivers)

[corn619]

Its simple, its cheap, has a shitload of awesome games and PS2 is a household name. And the fact that the most played system in the world isn't BC on all PS3s is Sonys major boner of the Century.

[nikon_62]

It makes sense to me. Every time I go looking for deals on games at big box stores there is a wall of dirt cheap PS2 games. The PS3 has been pissing me off because nobody puts the games on sale. There are still launch titles that are $50 new for gods sake.

Every store has that sitting next to a wall of $9.99 PS2 games.

[Cassidy]

It's a great system - that simple.

Sony deserves cred for not abandoning it too, like MS and Nintendo did with their last-gen systems.

[corn619]

It's a great system - that simple.

Sony deserves cred for not abandoning it too, like MS and Nintendo did with their last-gen systems.

So Sony not making all PS3s BC is not abandoning the platform? I think MS and Nintendo deserve more credit for working harder on BC on their systems than Sony. Playing GC games in 480P on my Wii is great. Playing PS2 games on my 40G PS3, not so great. Boo they fail.

[jfrost]

It's just that some people have to buy food, so paying 80 dollars for one game is not the most attractive scenario.