I think I could play my PS2 forever and be happy.

[Bradtemple87]

^ Hopefully he was talking about the memory cards, lol.

Anyways, I cleaned down my PS2's lens as suggested, along with the spindle or whatever it is that holds the discs in the center... and it's perfect again! It does look pretty good on my HDTV actually through composite, I think I just need to get used to it.

Now for a dumb question, what do you guys set your screen size to in the system configuration on the PS2? To me it seems like leaving it at 4:3, and just having my TV in that mode looks best. But I could be wrong.

Yep memory cards

[Ziggy]

It does look pretty good on my HDTV actually through composite, I think I just need to get used to it.

You should definitely check out component cables. I just played through MGS3 with component cables on my fat, now I'm playing through it again to test out this new PS2 slim I just got using composite cables. Both on the same TV. Right away, I noticed a difference. The component cables definitely make it look a lot better.

Now for a dumb question, what do you guys set your screen size to in the system configuration on the PS2? To me it seems like leaving it at 4:3, and just having my TV in that mode looks best. But I could be wrong.

When I first got my HDTV, I put my PS2 in 16:1 mode. Since most games are only 4:3 I would end up having to put my TV in 4:3 mode anyway. So now, I just leave the PS2 on 4:3 and put my TV in 4:3 mode.

[Xeogred]

I was wondering why you and CRTGAMER were saying to get component cables... but WOW, what a typo on my part, I definitely meant to say I have component cables hooked up, not composite or anything.

I got the official PS3 ones that were compatible with the PS2. Yeah, leaving it at 4:3 sounds like a good idea, think it looks best with that setup for me. I've just noticed some text in games will need getting used too, with that extra sharpness. That or I should try sitting back a bit further than normal, haha... it does look great though all around.

Now slightly back on topic, time to defeat my PS2 backlog! Definitely the biggest one out my collection.

[Shogun]

The best way to play PS2 games, off a convenient menu driven fast hard Drive in a Fat PS2.

I've been wanting to look into loading games off a hard drive but it looked like it required quite a bit of reading and couldn't be bothered at the time. Theres a Craigslist ad near me I keep seeing but I have no idea if its a good deal or not.

[Ziggy]

It's actually pretty simple. You need a fat PS2 with a network adapter and a hard drive. Then you need a way to load the games from the hard drive like a retail HDLoader or HDADvance disc, or FreeMC Boot on a memory card with HDLoader or the newer Open PS2 Loader.

You can use a USB hard drive with a PS2 slim but I wouldn't recommend that.

[CRTGAMER]

The best way to play PS2 games, off a convenient menu driven fast hard Drive in a Fat PS2.

I've been wanting to look into loading games off a hard drive but it looked like it required quite a bit of reading and couldn't be bothered at the time.

As ziggy pointed out, nothing to it:

It's actually pretty simple. You need a fat PS2 with a network adapter and a hard drive. Then you need a way to load the games from the hard drive like a retail HDLoader or HDADvance disc, or FreeMC Boot on a memory card with HDLoader or the newer Open PS2 Loader.

You can use a USB hard drive with a PS2 slim but I wouldn't recommend that.

An IDE PATA drive is all you need or a SATA drive with a modded network adaptor.

My two other Homebrew Consoles
Dreamcast is my favorite Homebrew console. I wrote a Guide that covers the PS2 hard drive such as getting PS2 Dual Layer DV9 discs to work. Also wrote a Guide concerning using a SD Card (Gecko) with the Gamecube. Scroll down the link for the PS2 section.

GAMECUBE and PS2 MOD GUIDE: Alternate Media

[Shogun]

Thats a great guide. Well I've got some spare ATA hard drives laying around. My PS2 is a fat version and I already have the top loader for imports. Guess I need to find a deal on a network adapter now. This is great because I can hear my laser in the PS2 getting louder and louder hehe.

[Ziggy]

Any one think the PS4 will be backwards compatible with PS2? It better be!

I wrote a Guide that covers the PS2 hard drive

I think you should update your guide to include info on the new loader, Open PS2 Loader (or OPL for short). It replaced HDLoader. All the info is scattered, but slowly I'm realizing how much better it is than HDAdvance 3.0 was. It has better compatibility (ie: compatibility modes are almost a thing of the past, certain games that needed to be patched no longer need patches, some games that didn't work at all now work, etc) as well as some other cool features. It has the ability to load games from the hard drive (best option) as well as a USB hard drive or over a network (slower access - compatibility not as good as internal hard drive). The GUI is customizable, you can even have cover art for your games.

And also, I don't think HDLoader or HDAdvance is being updated anymore, while OPL is still being worked on. Compatibility and features will only get better.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

PS2 was an absolutely fantastic console. My grandfather bought one for me when it came out (on my birthday of all days). That however, is why I think I don't really have any interest in going back through it right now. I played the hell out of the thing and until my mother sold everything in 2007 or 2008 which was, right around the time I joined this site actually. At that point, I had probably around 70 or so games for it. Everytime I go to a friend's and they pull out Gran Turismo 3 I want to barf. I put at the very least 300 hours in that game. I can't take it anymore!

That said, it does have the most balanced library of any game console, there's a strong showing for each genre on it. All the games are insanely inexpensive at the moment, as Gamestop is starting to clear them out in my area at the moment. 3 dollars a pop usually. I may just buy some games now so when nostalgia hits me and everybody else in 10 years I don't have to pay insane prices for some games.

[dunpeal2064]

PS2 was an absolutely fantastic console. My grandfather bought one for me when it came out (on my birthday of all days). That however, is why I think I don't really have any interest in going back through it right now. I played the hell out of the thing and until my mother sold everything in 2007 or 2008 which was, right around the time I joined this site actually. At that point, I had probably around 70 or so games for it. Everytime I go to a friend's and they pull out Gran Turismo 3 I want to barf. I put at the very least 300 hours in that game. I can't take it anymore!

That said, it does have the most balanced library of any game console, there's a strong showing for each genre on it. All the games are insanely inexpensive at the moment, as Gamestop is starting to clear them out in my area at the moment. 3 dollars a pop usually. I may just buy some games now so when nostalgia hits me and everybody else in 10 years I don't have to pay insane prices for some games.

Very understandable. I would not say that the TG16 is a better system then the PS2, but due to how new it is to me, and how much I played my PS2, the TG sees a lot more play time.