PS2 still being sold

[retrosportsgamer]

Not only still being sold, the PS2 outsells the Vita weekly in Japan.

[dsheinem]

Not only still being sold, the PS2 outsells the Vita weekly in Japan.

Really? Even in its worst week it was still outselling the PS2 by practically 10:1: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/33 ... -in-japan/

[retrosportsgamer]

Not only still being sold, the PS2 outsells the Vita weekly in Japan.

Really? Even in its worst week it was still outselling the PS2 by practically 10:1: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/33 ... -in-japan/

Nope, I was misinformed by someone pretending to be an industry expert. My bad.

[Ziggy]

I think I am going to pick myself one at this price, looking to find a moded one. I never owned a ps2

There's no time like right now to get into the PS2! You can still buy the console brand new, which is definitely something to take into consideration. When you buy a used console, you don't know what kind of abuse it took. You could get a mint, adult owned, rarely used console. Or you can get one that some little kid owned and abused. This is especially something I take into consideration when purchasing a disc-based console.

Though there's pros and cons to owning the Slim model versus the Fat. You can't buy the Fat new at retail anymore, just the Slim. The Fat has the major benefit of being able to fit it with an internal hard drive (Network Adapter required). You can play games from the hard drive, preserving both the discs and the optical drive, as well as getting better loading times. The Slim can use a USB hard drive, but the speeds aren't as good, so as a result of that, the support isn't as good (though things are always being updated, so support will most likely grow). Still, you can easily buy the Slim brand new right now, so it's something to consider. Me personally, I would only buy the Fat (used) if you are definitely gonna boot games from the hard drive. If that's not something you want to do, then buying a Slim NEW would be my only other choice.

Another huge reason to get into the PS2 right now is the price of games. You can still find new PS2 games from retailers, and the prices are great! You can get greatest hits version of the best games. Also, used game prices are probably gonna be the best right now more than ever. As time goes on, I can only anticipate prices on used games going up. Take the SNES for example, just a few years ago all the popular games could be had for so much cheaper than the going eBay prices right now. I'm amazed how much some of the average selling prices have gone up in the last year. Makes me glad I got some of the more expensive games a few years back, some of which were literally half the price they are now!

As far as modding the console goes (or getting it modded, buying it premodified) there's a few options. I assume you mean you want it fitted with a mod chip? The PS2 mod chip is probably the most difficult mod chip to install in a console, so it's not the cheapest to have some one do. But there is a few free alternatives. Free MCboot is, as the name implies, FREE! It has a lot of great features. In short, you install this software to a memory card and it'll give you the ability to run homebrew. There's homebrew like Open PS2 Loader (or OPL for short) which is the succesor to HD Loader and HD Advance. This is the software that will allow you to boot games from a hard drive. I consider this absolutely essential to any fat PS2 owner. Another homebrew app is ESR. Basically, you can use ESR to boot a DVD-R game (game image must be patched before burning). So really, these two features replace the need to have a mod chip. You can't play burned PS1 games using either of these two methods though. I think there's a way to play burned PS1 games with Free MCboot, but IIRC you need a slide card (some one correct me if I'm wrong). I'm hoping that we'll eventually get a dead simple way to boot burned PS1 games using Free MCboot, maybe even a way to load them from a hard drive, but I'd settle for booting CD-Rs.

Free MCboot has other features/apps, but the two mentioned are what compare to having a mod chip. There's other apps, and even emulators too. The only thing is that if you don't have the means, you'll have to get some one to install Free MCboot on a memory card for you. For some, this is very simple and can literally take just a few minutes. Also, a PS2 memory card is very small so if you have to ship it to and from some one to install Free MCboot for you, shipping wont set you back too much. Even if you have to ship it out of the country. Either way, buying a premodified PS2, or paying some one to install a mod chip for you, is probably gonna cost you a lot more. Even if you buy a brand new PS2.

If you do go the Free MCboot root, I suggest getting two memory cards. One for save game data, and the other for Free MCboot. You can use a single card for both, but Free MCboot takes up space on the memory card so you wont have a lot of room for save data. Also, if you ever decide to install more apps on the memory card, you'll have that much less room for game save data. Two cards are the way to go. And as always, I suggest first party Sony brand memory cards only. Third party cards are unreliable.

[noiseredux]

I think there's a way to play burned PS1 games with Free MCboot, but IIRC you need a slide card (some one correct me if I'm wrong).

you're wrong (kind of). If you have a Slim, like me, you can do the "tissue/tape mod" (super easy, youtube it) which allows you to open the lid without the disc stop spinning. So yeah, with Free MCBoot you can easily play PS1 imports and burns.

[Ziggy]

^ I'm not a big fan of swap methods. If the disc doesn't stop spinning then you're putting stress on the motor. I'd rather not use such methods. And if you're trying to prolong the life of your console, then I don't suggest doing it.

[noiseredux]

^ I'm not a big fan of swap methods. If the disc doesn't stop spinning then you're putting stress on the motor. I'd rather not use such methods. And if you're trying to prolong the life of your console, then I don't suggest doing it.

ah but with FMB you can actually make it so the disc DOES stop spinning. You set it to load to ULAUNCHELF with the disc set to stop spinning once it loads. Then you swap the disc safely, and manually launch your new disc.

[Ziggy]

Ah! Yes, I remember reading about this now. Yeah, you would need a slide card or flip top case for the fat PS2, or just block the sensor on the Slim model. OK, I'll concede, that's safe to do. However, I'm still hoping for a non-swap method to boot PS1 burns with FMB, or better yet, hard drive booting!

[gtmtnbiker]

Keep in mind that newer PS2 will not support FreeMcBoot. The vulnerability was fixed in hardware starting with Q3 2008 models. A modchip or Swapmagic is your only option.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I bought a new PS2 slim about a year and a half ago. By far my favorite PS console. It's small and compact and plays my entire PS1/PS2 collection perfectly. Amazing system!

Now is also a good time to stock up on PS2 memory cards, as cheap new ones can still be found at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Smart idea to grab some PS1 memory cards if you can find them too.