PS2 Appreciation Thread

[vic oakland]

The dictionary definition of retro ("imitative of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past") is not what gamers mean when they say retro. Seems better to refer people to Wikipedia.

To me, when most gamers say retro they really mean "far enough removed from current gaming tastes/technology to be a distinct experience from the experience of playing current gen games."

Ie. a gamer who deliberately collects / explores previous generation games out of interest in the different gameplay, technology, design and experiences they afford, oftentimes with an element of nostalgia, is retro.

The PS2 is more than a decade old, but that alone doesn't make it retro. The physical design of the console and accessories, the technology and the gameplay of the games on the PS2 are distinct enough from the current gen to make it retro...in my opinion...especially with a phat PS2 hooked up to a CRT.

[oxymoron]

^ Dude, I'd like to give you a piece of advice. You're not going to win this debate. No one is going to ever going to win the 'is this retro' debate. Hell, I probably wouldn't have made this thread had I known the amount of semantics and arguing involved. Anyways, I thought I'd just say that because this discussion can/will get frustrating after a little while. I'm not trying to discourage but instead give heads up.

[vic oakland]

You're not going to win this debate. No one is going to ever going to win the 'is this retro' debate.

I totally agree! All good, dude.

My perspective is totally skewed since my first video game system was a Fairchild F and my first home computer was a Vic20.

I'll never forget my buddy Mark logging in to a BBS on his TRS-80 and saying..."you can talk to people you don't even know!"

None of which means anything...just that I'm old. lulz.

[AznKhmerBoi]

Hell no. OG nes, commodore, atari etc... are retro.

3D graphics and cd base are just too new.

[Hyp81]

I have three lists of game systems and games on my "to play" list in my phone.

The first list is called "Classic Consoles," and it goes up to Sega Saturn.

The second list is called "Next Generation Consoles," and includes the 64 bit systems through PS2 and XBox.

The last list is called "Modern Consoles." It includes everything from Wii to current.

I don't put PS2 on the same level as my NES or Sega Saturn... but it's not modern anymore. It's one of my favorite systems at the moment-- there's a ton of reasonable priced games available for it!

[shwisha]

I'd say next year it'll be safer to call it retro.

1. They stopped manufacuring new ones.
2. Gamestop stopped accepting PS2 trade ins.
3. The Playstation 4 will be out putting it two generations behind.

Dreamcast is considered retro no? PS2 isn't much more technically advanced... it's just that the Dreamcast had these three things happen longer ago.

[crunchywhale]

To me, I consider the Retro mark about 15 years or older. Before I started doing that though I treated the PSone era and older to be retro. FYI I'm 25years old and was born in 1988.

[manowarjoe]

Hell no. OG nes, commodore, atari etc... are retro.

3D graphics and cd base are just too new.

I agree 100% though I think 3DO is a classic for me.

[Frag Mortuus]

I'm torn. I don't typically think of PS2 as retro, but the fact that it is now two generations old automatically makes me think it's not modern, which is what I consider retro.

But, the fact that they are re-releasing games as HD collections and they still play as well as new games makes me think they are not retro.

I don't know what to think

[samsonlonghair]

It's almost there, but not quite. A console needs to be fifteen to twenty years old before I would call it retro. The PS2 came out in 2000, so it hasn't quite hit that mark yet.

This makes me think of a teenager wanting to be twenty, but he's just not there yet.