The PlayStation 2 is officially finished

PS 2 will forever be a milestone of the whole gaming industry.

The only shovelware I've seen for the Wii have been motion-control minigame compilations designed for the Wii, and a shoddy adaption of a japanese flash game.

If you're going to claim almost all the Wii shovelware was shared by the PS 2, give me solid, black-and-white proof. Titles.

Sony didn't need to continue making P S2s as long as they did. I bet that sales of ripoffs and bootlegs were at least equal to or greater than the official figures so they weren't the sole supplier of the system.

That also means that it will never be truly dead. What happened to the NES is proof of that.

The PS 2 had some classic games. San Andreas, Final Fantasy XII, Disgaea, the Dark Cloud Saga, Kingdom Hearts, the Dark Cloud games and Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits to name but a few.

Timesplitters and it's sequel, Star Wars: Starfighter, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, the Ratchet and Clank series, Gran Turismo series, 007: Night Fire, SOCOM: US Navy Seals... yeah, lots of good memories and solid hits there.

I actually never had a PS 2 during 6th-gen. Started with GCN, got an Xbox later due to its exclusives (I just had to play Steel Battalion!) and having the best console-only multiplats (PC obviously being superior for any multiplats it did get).

But the PS 2 has enough exclusives that aren't JRPGs (much unlike the PS 1 before it) for me to really warrant considering it, and I eventually just went out and bought a CECHA PS 3 so that I don't have to juggle even more consoles than I already have. PCSX2 performance on my PC had a lot to do with it; the Ace Combat titles especially don't get along well with emulation. (No, seriously, some aircraft actually lose their hitboxes when running Ace Combat 5 in PCSX2!)

However, the PS 2 is losing ground on exclusives due to the HD enhanced port trend going on lately. Metal Gear, Okami, ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus, among others. Maybe they'll even bring Yakuza 1 + 2 HD over here.

edited 8th Jan '13 2:08:58 PM by NamelessFragger

I was sadder to hear the end of the Game Boy Advance, that was the best console of "generation six" and it was still backwards compatible with two generations before it.

The playstation 2 production may have officially stopped but I do not think stock is going to run out for a while. You can still buy Game cubes(not that there is any reason to do so unless you cannot afford a Wii) after all.

@Hydronix: Once they figured out how to fix the fuel tank to keep the Ford Pinto from turning into a fiery deathtrap waiting to happen, it was actually a decent car for its class. The problem is that it never should have had that flaw in the first place.

I'll agree with you that the PS3 is the superior system by the specifications, and that the way Sony bungled it made the continued reliance on the PS2 a necessary stopgap. Still, the fact that the PS2 is still one of the most popular systems out there in the face of consoles with objectively better engines is a testament to its own success.

I never said the PS 2 wasn't awesome in its own right, just what you said, basically.

I can't wait to see what new PS 3 ideas they have, since they can now concentrate fully on it, including other developers.(meaning more games, even if some are Shovelware(whether actually enjoyable or not)).

Alright, I'll agree that the PS2 can be overhyped, too.

And with that second point. I don't really play consoles much, but I made the point of getting both a PS 2 and a PS 3 because I know Sony attracts a lot of talented and creative developers.

edited 9th Jan '13 8:19:52 PM by Specialist290

I think whatever ideas they could've put out, they've done so already, since it appears the PS4 will come up soon.

edited 9th Jan '13 8:19:59 PM by WaxingName

And let's hope Sony learns their lesson about how to develop and market a console this time.

Well, they got it spot on for both PS One and PS 2.

• shrug* A lower price can be a huge selling point. Not everyone has huge amounts of disposable income and a hundred people buying your older console because they can't afford your new one is still a hundred sales. I'm happy with my PS 2 so far. Maybe in another several years, I'll consider upgrading, but the price is right for this one.

Problem is that unless we've really hit a plateau or bottleneck of graphical capability, Sony will have a hard time pushing the PS 4 against the Xbox 720 if they sacrifice power for a lower sale price unless they also invest in some unorthodox gimmick that no other console has. That might be difficult due to their reputation for having the strongest hardware.

Oh... ):

I sold my PS 2 a while back, but it was the closest thing I had to a modern console for ages and ages, the mileage gotten from it was great, so many fond memories...

Goodbye, PS 2. Rest in peace.

@guest 1001

the problem with the ps controllers was the location of the analog sticks combined with their height, it was literally PAINFULL to use them (and the non-dualshok controllers had four buttons rather than a d-pad)

so terrible ergonomics.

the n64 & gamecube (though the dpad is too small and the Cstick should be above the A,B,X,Y buttons)controllers are much more comfortable

as for gamecube having only 7 games?

lets see,

Rogue Squadron 2 & 3, Tales Of Symphonia (before ps2 got a better version with a ton of bonus content) Perfect Dark gcn (cancelled when rare sold out to microsoft)

Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Ocarina Of Time Master Quest Four Swords Adventures, Tetras Trackers

Smash Bros, Double Dash

Metroid Prime 1 and 2

how many games do you need to buy a console for them?

plus it's a more rugged console. (the wii is actually a step down in that respect, i prefer the cubes manual top loading disc setup)

and i could not fathom the snubbing the wii recieved from 3rd party developers (no Rogue Squadron 4, countless game series switching to ps360) when it was selling so well. Discounting shovelware, it had even fewer exclusives games than cube (2 Rogue squadrons, 2/3/4 Legend Of Zelda s 2 Metroids) and n64 (Golden Eye 64, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini)

the wii gets a rep of not being hardcore (Red Steel 2 is pretty hardcore, as is twilight princess, and No More Heroes is selfexplanitory)

So i have no real feeling about the ps2 ending production, it went way past the regular 5-6 year cycle (if it were a pc rather than a game console, it'd been replaced after 2-3 years) over a decade, no wonder it sold so many more than gamecube or xbox.

btw, in all the years i've been to the local game stores, i've NEVER seen a running xbox, xbox360, ps1,2 or 3, yet I've always seen the nintendo demo running.

I can't wait to see the price tag for ps4! XD

I've never had issues with the Playstation controller's analog sticks. I just don't get all the complaints about it.

I'm not going to ask what 'rugged' is supposed to mean.

edited 11th Jan '13 3:29:47 AM by Ryuhza

Well, maybe he or she is talking about how well the console stands up to being chucked at the wall when you are frustrated with it or something? It being made of Nintendonium or something like that, 8-)

As for the PS 2 Dual Shock and their analog sticks? Still the best control pad ever invented. Took the best features of the previous generation's gold standard, the SNES pad, added two extra shoulder buttons and two analog sticks and boom!

Pity the PS 3 original controller, the shitty Six Axis, sucked.

edited 11th Jan '13 3:55:31 AM by TamH70

yes. nintendium ;P (with the wii being the first concole lacking it)

rugged=durable

i've never had quality issues with my gamecube, while xbox is legendary with it's rrod while several tropers stated that they had to buy replacement ps2s

plus i've never seen a working ps2 or xbox at a store, while the gamecubes always worked.

that should say something about the quality.

at the same time, i did have to send my wii in for repairs.

so, gamecube=rugged :p

edited 11th Jan '13 3:56:35 AM by Byakuko

@Byakuko: Rare was sold off to Microsoft. By then, the company was a shadow of its former self, and the sale worsened things in the company. Don't think for a second Rare bailed on Nintendo.

The PS 2 wasn't the best console ever released, but it was my first real console so I have a fair bit of bias towards it. However, I can say with certainty that the PS 2 was more powerful than the Gamecube. The thing is the Gamecube had a lot of top quality games developed in-house: they polished the best games to the best of their abilities, and it showed. The PS 2 relied pretty much exclusively on the third-party developers, which left the games a bit "unrefined" for a few months. Eventually the PS 2 caught up, and even franchises with less than smooth graphics before (Jak and Daxter) got smoother sequels. The Nintendo Gamecube bombed because it lacked a large amount of third-party developers, while the PS 2 florished.

Against the Xbox, the Ps2 had weaker graphics and a very poor online system. However, the Xbox came into play after the PS 2 had established its foothold. It had a few half-decent titles, but it was too little too late. The system was half-decent, but it wasn't ready on time to contest the PS 2.

I'm not saying the PS 2 was perfect. I'm just saying it had the best sales, some of the best franchises to come out of gaming since the 4th generation and had some flexibility with its titles. The Gamecube was a tough console and had some awesome exclusives, but it's lack of third-party developers killed it. The Xbox was far more powerful, but it came into the market too late to turn much of a profit against Jak And Daxter, Sly Racoon and Ratchet And Clank (except with Halo and Halo 2, which were possibly THE best-selling title the Xbox offered). That's how I see it, anywhere.

Byakuko, are your hands tiny or something? Because I really don't consider the PS 2 controllers - namely their analog sticks - to be too big. The XBox on the other hand... Now those were too big. the 360's controllers too, although I know people who disagree with me on that point.

None of those titles were the ones that moved the most P S2s. The real sellers were the first (relatively) high def installments of massively anticipated franchises like FF and MGS.

Hardware wise the GC actually had better specs than the PS 2 but only Nintendo ever utilized the machine properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DualShock

the dualshok3 looks even more uncomfortable. there isn't enough handle at the bottom to hold with sweaty hands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Controller

i don't know how a person can rotate their thumbs to move joysticks in that location

joysticks should be in a neutral thumb position

and ALL controllers should have a protective jacket (the wiimote jacket makes it easier and more comfotable to hold, easier to clean and protects from damage, hopefully the wiiu gamepad gets one)

The PS 2 is still my favourite console, but I'm a jRPG fan, so it should be clear why. The PS 2 was Atlus' golden age. They're still great, but their output dropped a ton.

Concerning the controller, the analog sticks are at my neutral thumb position.