No this hasn’t happened already! You’d be incorrect to have assumed that with the launch and success of current generation Sony consoles, that this relic (seriously it was first launched in the year 2000… how old do you feel right now?) was retired long ago but it was still going strong that is up until the 4th of January 2013. Production of Sony’s second console stopped in Japan on the 28th of December and only a few short days later production of the unit ceased worldwide which means there are no more of these magnificent machines being made!
In the spirit of seeing the PS2 off into console heaven, we want to do things right here at the Arcade so along with our thanks and admiration we’re also going to sit back and recall some of our fond memories of owning a PlayStation 2!
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For me. the PlayStation 2 was always second place in terms of consoles, I’d drawn a line in the sand and gone down the route of the Nintendo Gamecube. Now that doesn’t mean I didn’t own a PlayStation 2 in fact my brothers and I were so bad at sharing that we actually had two in our house. Three of my brothers who’d have been more casual gamers stuck to their FIFA and Colin McRae games while myself and my younger brother turned our noses up at them and continued to hunt ghosts in Luigi’s Mansion!
Flash forward three years later and I was moving out of home to attend University, despite wanting to pack my Gamecube off with me I was instead saddled with the PS2 with my younger brother refusing to go along with the totally fair and balanced Time Share I’d drawn up! In a small blue box crammed with two controllers and a handful of games (all platformers, puzzlers or RPGs mind you!) my life as a gamer was about to change.
The PS2 became a tool I used not only to game with but to make friends with too as the unit doubling as a DVD player it was my house that my new college mates would head to after a long day of not going to lectures and there we sat in front of my tiny portable television having marathon gaming sessions followed by late night movies (and if you heard our Website Admin she’d have you convinced I was asleep ten minutes into the first movie!).
I suppose it’s important to mention games at this point, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X, Devil May Cry and … Dancing Stage Max were staples in the disc compartment but when came to one game, it rarely ever left the console… X-Men Legends! One of the longest gaming sessions of my life was based on this game, breaks were taken but it was played and replayed the whole time and I wasn’t alone. My college friend Sarah and I donned the mutant powers and fought against Sentinels and soldiers alike, blasting lightning bolts and kinetic energy as if our lives depended on it.
The PlayStation 2 will always have a special place in my gaming collection and while it’s sad to see it fade away as the production stops, it’s not too hard to find traces of it’s impact on the gaming world and the players.
To read more fantastic memories and stories from the Arcade staff click the page buttons below!
Andy
Being the opinionated loudmouth that I am, I’m no stranger to pointless debate; the kind of debate that usually begins around a pizza box and ends with that box being used as a projectile weapon, frequently aimed at me. I can take it, it comes with the pressures of being perpetually correct.
One such discussion I’ve often found myself in the middle of is which game console is ‘the best’, as if such an arbitrary title could possibly be applied to over 20 years of evolving technology. But if we’re going to try nail it down, what should the criteria be? Tech surely isn’t a fair barometer as newer consoles (or PCs) will win hands down. For my money, the ‘best’ console is the one that builds bridges and tears down barriers; one that welcomes waves of newcomers without abandoning the people that made it, one that makes a significant social impact.
I still remember the day I got my PS2. I’d been late to embrace the platform; being a PC gamer in my formative years the prospect of a Microsoft console was just too tempting to turn down, but after saving enough money and eventually realizing Final Fantasy was not coming to Xbox, I finally caved and bought one. It was one of the original models, bulky and inelegant (although slightly less so than the Xbox) but full of promise all the same and with it, and the first game I ever bought for it, I had one of the most profound gaming experiences of my life.
Final Fantasy X was a special game. Even its critics will frequently admit that there is something undeniably charming about it. Presented with a brand new platform, the brightest creative minds at Squaresoft set out to create something gamers would never forget and boy did they do just that. From the moment the sun crept around the blitzball in the center of that campfire, I knew this wasn’t going to be just another game. The score, the characters, the animations, the gameplay, everything about X was spectacular. Anyone worried that Square would have a hard time following their stellar PSX line-up found those fears unfounded in the face of Final Fantasy X and even though it was the first PS2 game I ever played, it remains my absolute favourite.
That’s not to say the PS2 was lacking software support. I played more games on it than any other console I’ve ever owned, partially because most of my friends also had one and we’d frequently lend games to each other. And I suppose this is what I’m ultimately getting at. When I was a kid myself and my friends would split time between each others houses to get the best out of each others consoles; someone had a Sega, someone had a Nintendo, someone else a PSX and myself a PC. The Playstation 2 however, was almost universal. Not only did all my friends have one, but suddenly people who’d never had an interest in games were picking one up. Before long it became to strange to visit a house without one, as if it was as common a household item as a television or DVD player, which of course it also was.
So for whatever it’s worth, the PS2 is, in my opinion, the best video game console of all time. Not just for the experiences I had on it, but for the impact it had on the world around me. Sony may have finally pulled the plug on the device, but its legacy lives on not just in its own brand, but in the doors it graciously opened for its competitors.
Long live the PS2.
Sean
Like many of you out there, I have a lot of memories of the Playstation 2. There are so many great stories we could share, we could be here all day talking about them. It’s so difficult to choose just one. So I’m not going to tell you about the first time I played it at my friends house and we stayed up all night playing Smuggler’s Run, or the time I saved up all my pounds and pennies ( Yes that long ago ) to buy my first PS2 or even how excited I was to have an electronic device that had an awesome blue light ( Simpler Times ).
My favourite PS2 memory, in fact one of my favourite video gaming memory is this. In the year 2001 a little game called Zone of the Enders happened. While in itself a great game, the reason anyone bought it back then ( whoever disagrees is probably lying ) was the pack in of the Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo. Everyone just needed to see the next instalment of Metal Gear. So I get home, practically disregard ZOE all together and insert the MGS 2 Demo disc. First of all the graphics, music and cinematography were amazing for the time. Then I watch the intro, Snake in the rain running along the George Washington Bridge and leaps onto USS Discovery. Then our hero stands on the deck and has a conversation with Otacon. Now the game actually begins, of course I didn’t realise that and just sit there staring at the screen with Snake standing there with awesome weather effects and ship movement. Fully believing the cut scene was still continuing. When I realise I can actually control this amazing environment and it’s not some pre-rendered movie, I just sit there for another few minutes with my jaw dropped open in awe at what I’m seeing before me.
That was my most prominent PS2 memory, the Playstation 2 is no doubt one of the most important consoles ever created, influencing culture and society at large in understanding that gaming is an okay thing, laying the ground work for so many modern concepts we now take for granted.
So as you go silently into the night old friend, you will never be forgotten.
To read more fantastic memories and stories from the Arcade staff click the page buttons below!
Liam
I have a lot of great memories of the PS2, but the one that stands out for me was how awesome it felt when some of my favourite PC games were ported over to it. There are tons of great games on the PS2, don’t get me wrong, but since I couldn’t afford the hardware and software upgrades, by the release of the PS2 I’d missed some real PC classics and left my computer to gather dust and cobwebs while I contemplated what might have been.
So when the likes of Half-Life, Deus Ex and Virtua Fighter 4 (one of the prettiest, most playable games in existence) appeared for PS2, and I could dive right in without installation – that horrible screeching sound my PC made when trying to install Gunman Chronicles gives me nightmares to this day – it was like all my Christmases had come at once, and I’d gotten all the dream cars I’d ever wanted as presents.
It was probably then that I really got just how enduring and brilliant a console the PS2 was. It was innovative and hi-tech, and could hang with its PC neighbours, but it was also easy and accessible in a way modern consoles can’t really be nowadays, and hanging with the PC crowd so well, and occasionally outdoing them, only proves that for something so seemingly simple, its appeal went very deep indeed.
They may have stopped making it, but the PS2 will live on.
Anthony
I still remember getting my Playstation 2 for Christmas 2002.
I couldn’t wait to experience the graphics, gameplay and vibrancy that this amazing new console’s games had to offer, and the first game I bought for it, Jak and Daxter, delivered in spades. I really believe those first few days playing that game were what made me fall in love with gaming. I didn’t have a memory card, so I would actually play-through the game, as much as I could, every day, each time getting a little bit further. I didn’t mind though, because that game was literally a whole new world to me. A fully 3D world for me to explore, with zany characters and something new to discover at seeming every step, it just astounded me.
This is what the Playstation 2 gave me over and over again, just these amazing worlds for me to explore and become a part of and escape to, and characters that I really cared about, and stories that I simply wished wouldn’t end. Little did I know however, that two years later, my favorite game of all time would come out, and the idea of a fantasy game allowing me to escape went even further. Final Fantasy X. Many, many sleepless nights were spent playing and exploring every inch of that game, and it’s still the standard by which I rate RPG’s I play. The huge cinematics and characters stirred emotions in me I didn’t think possible, and most importantly of all, made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Still to this day, I have a Playstation 2, complete with a copy of my favorite game, Final Fantasy X, sitting on my desk ready with it’s barrel-full of nostalgic memories and equipped with the firepower to create more and it’s magical worlds for me to explore and feel at home, yet a million miles from home at the same time.
R.I.P Old buddy, enjoy your romanticized retro years, you’ve earned them.
