The Playstation 2 is officially the best selling console

[Flake]

Not bad considering the PS2 (from a tech stand point) did not have much going for it compared to the GCN or Xbox.

Amazing what a little timing, key developers still disliking Nintendo, and some deeveedee was able to do for Sony.

[noiseredux]

Not bad considering the PS2 (from a tech stand point) did not have much going for it compared to the GCN or Xbox.

Amazing what a little timing, key developers still disliking Nintendo, and some deeveedee was able to do for Sony.

yeah it's crazy. The PS2 was the last time I bought a console at launch. And to be honest, the DVD player was a tipping point for me. I figured "well I've already got PS1 games, and now I won't have to buy a new-fangled DVD player since we live in the future now."

[Flake]

This could easily turn into a 'why did you buy a PS2' thread.

I myself bought one about 2 years after the launch. I had just joined the Navy and started to make money for the first time in my life. My 19th birthday rolled around and I decided to splurge and get something big for myself since I would not be able to take leave.

Bam! PS2 - the first console I ever bought new. And with it Armored Core 2. To this day, that is one of the finest Mecha games ever made.

[Inazuma]

PS2 the best selling game system? No surprises here. If I had to guess what the number one reason for its success was, I'd go with the DVD player. The timing was just perfect. DVD was quickly growing in popularity and many people saw the PS2 as a good way to get a DVD player, along with the ability to play the latest games. Once the PS2 got extremely popular, it was like a snow ball effect and just kept getting more popular.

It is a damn shame that the vastly superior (gaming wise, at least) Sega Dreamcast ended up getting killed off just because of DVD movies and casual gamers. I like the PS2 since it has so many good games but I hate it for killing off the Dreamcast, which was the last great gaming console imo.

I started gaming on the 8-bit NES and followed the game industry closely as it continued to improve, all the way up to the Dreamcast. The PS2, while still very good, was the first truly mainstream game system (first time when non-gamers were buying video games), and it feels like things have been gradually getting worse ever since.

The reason I bought my first PS2 was because I bought every game system back then, but I gotta admit that the inclusion of a DVD player helped push me to buy it a little earlier than I normally would have.

[Flake]

It is a damn shame that the vastly superior (gaming wise, at least) Sega Dreamcast ended up getting killed off just because of DVD movies and casual gamers. I like the PS2 since it has so many good games but I hate it for killing off the Dreamcast, which was the last great gaming console imo.

You could almost say the same for the Gamecube. That system should have been Nintendo's come-back. On paper, it is absolutely perfect. The same intangible forces that helped the PS2 knock Sega out of the ring also helped Sony keep Nintendo down for another gen.

Sony did well to capitalize on their success. I am not terribly fond of the PS2 hardware any more - I think it is kind of primitive and junky compared to the dreamcast and GCN - but I will always have to have a PS2 as too many exclusive favorites were released on it.

[Mendoza]

If my PS2 broke today, id have a new one by the end of the weekend.

I have more then 20 games on my to buy list for this system.

Love it or hate it, you have to respect the PS2. Sony knocked it out of the universe on that one.

Whats also funny is that it was the weakest of the systems in its generation from a horsepower standpoint, but it didn't matter.

Sony would do well to remember that. Specs and power don't make a system great on their own.

[noiseredux]

backwards compatibility helped too. I think companies forget that, which is stupid. I had a PS1 but when PS2 came out it was like "okay, well I can still play all these games." When PS3 was announced, I really planned to buy one but after dismal BC reports on the PS2 front I waited to see what happened. When they canned PS2 BC altogether, I sort of lost a big chunk of interest, as strange as that may sound. But the truth is I liked the idea of a single console that could play 3 libraries worth of a collection.

[dedalusdedalus]

I am not terribly fond of the PS2 hardware any more - I think it is kind of primitive and junky compared to the dreamcast and GCN - but I will always have to have a PS2 as too many exclusive favorites were released on it.

Yeah, after having tried out DC, GCN, and oXBox, I have to say that the PS2's hardware is the least impressive of that generation's.

It's true what they say about how the games make the system, but I wonder how much better these PS2 exclusives could have been if they'd been programmed for one of those other systems.

[Flake]

backwards compatibility helped too. I think companies forget that, which is stupid.

That is true. Out of the box you were likely to have games to play on it already. Sega did not have that advantage. Neither did Microsoft or Nintendo when they got to the party.

I think timing its release with the sudden explosion of demand for DVD's was somewhat coincidental. There is no way Sony could have predicted that they would time it so perfectly. Look what happened with the PS3 and Bluray, afterall.

But BC with 99% of PSX games AND allowing support of PSX peripherals and controllers? Genius.

[noiseredux]

backwards compatibility helped too. I think companies forget that, which is stupid.

That is true. Out of the box you were likely to have games to play on it already. Sega did not have that advantage. Neither did Microsoft or Nintendo when they got to the party.

I think timing its release with the sudden explosion of demand for DVD's was somewhat coincidental. There is no way Sony could have predicted that they would time it so perfectly. Look what happened with the PS3 and Bluray, afterall.

But BC with 99% of PSX games AND allowing support of PSX peripherals and controllers? Genius.

yeah and remember that at the time you could still buy brand new PS1 games fairly cheap. I remember picking up FFVII, for like $20 brand new with my launch PS2.