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The much anticipated Playstation 2 (PS2) is rampaging across Japan like the latest angry refugee from Monster Island, and come this holiday season, they plan to send that monster across the ocean towards American soil. Should we brace for the impact? Board up the windows? Will people embrace or fear the beast? Well, Game Revolution has fearlessly had one shipped over from Japan so we can tell you what is coming (we'll make any sacrifice for you, dear readers).
What's the PS2 like? Well, its got three monstrous powers, but it is not invulnerable to attack. One thing is for sure, our puny tanks and airplanes are no match for it, so you can expect a building-crushing, car-flinging battle between the PS2 and the Dreamcast in your city this Fall.
Let's start with the basics. The PS2 is built a little stranger than Megalon. While these pictures make it look pretty big - about the size of a stereo CD player - it's actually smaller than that. On the other hand, it's also noticeably larger and heavier than both the Dreamcast and the original Playstation.
If you're worried about space, the PS2 is designed to work equally well while sitting flat or up on its side. Oddly, the base is actually smaller than the top. However, the strangest part of the design is that there is no real 'off' switch. The front of the PS2 only has 'reset' and 'eject'. To turn it off, you have to reach around the back of the console where the wires are to flip a big toggle switch. Reminds me of my old Apple II.
I mentioned three super-powers, right? Well, the first is that it plays brand new PS2 games. We have exhaustively tested three of them so far. Ridge Racer V is currently the best selling PS2 game in Japan, and thus worthy of close inspection. Tekken Tag Tournament gives us the chance to see what the updated version of a classic Playstation series is like. Finally, Dead or Alive 2 is the only game currently available for both the PS2 and the Dreamcast, so we can sneak-preview a little head-to-head combat. All three have impressive 3D rendering, blazing fast framerates, and one strange graphical flaw that I'll go into a little later because I'm not done with the super-powers yet.
The next power is simply a wonderful bonus. The Dreamcast may come with a built in modem, but the PS2 has a built in DVD player. It's like getting two for the price of one. On the other hand, we don't know what that price will be. In Japan, the system sells for the equivalent of about $370. If you don't have a DVD player yet, that's still a pretty good deal.
Ridge Racer V
The DVD works well, too. While you're not supposed to be able to play U.S. DVD movies on the Japanese console, there is a simple cheat code built into the system that lets you do it. The picture quality is crisp and clear, and it has Dolby Optical out for you surround-sound buffs. Really the one thing it lacks as a DVD player is a remote control. You control the playback with the standard controller - yet another reason to get a set of wireless controllers for your game system. We suggest the new Airplay wireless controllers, the only ones that use radio instead of infrared.
Of course, you can always use your old Playstation controllers because monster power number 3 is "backwards compatibility." The PS2 can use old Playstation controllers, memory cards and games. While using your old controller will definitely save you money, I think playing old games will get stale quickly when you have cutting edge games to keep you entertained. How often do you really hook up that old Genesis or SNES and play those 16-bit games?
Indeed, those are some titanic powers, worthy of a rampaging behemoth. However, all the truly great monsters (and giant robots) have a weakness, and we've found it in the PS2. Godzilla had that little Japanese boy; Mothra had those tiny freaky women; King Kong fell for human women, and the PS2 can't "anti-alias."
If you know what that means, you can skip this paragraph. For the rest of you, "anti-aliasing" is a graphical technique that smoothes out the edges of objects like polygons. The Dreamcast can do it, but the PS2 currently cannot. This gives all the objects in the games a gritty look around the edges that game developers call "the jaggies." Objects appear to be floating in front of the background somewhat, and it sets up interference patterns with certain moving textures that look almost like static.
Now, you can quote all the polygon-pushing figures you want (they are at the bottom of this preview), but the truth is that so far the graphics on the Dreamcast have been smoother and more seamless than these first-generation PS2 games.
However, one game developer told me that this problem was at least partially due to the fact that the PS2 only has 4MB of video RAM (the Dreamcast has 8MB) and could be fixed if there was more RAM. So perhaps this is something they can upgrade before the American release. Sony, are you reading this!?
Speaking of upgrades, the PS2 also has a pair of USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports on the front. These are the current standard ports for PC peripherals, so hardware manufacturers will be able to easily make a whole slew of attachable upgrades and peripherals for the system, like modems and hard drives. Now that's planning ahead, something Godzilla never seems to do.
For some, it comes down to the price. While the PS2 is likely to be about $300, the Dreamcast's new strategy of making the console free if you order their internet service will tempt a lot of people. Do people want an internet-ready system with online multiplayer, or do they want that DVD player?
In the final battle, however, it's never about the power or the options - it's about the games. Both the Sega Saturn and the N64 had more power than the original Playstation on paper, but we all know which system had more quality games. The PS2 has tons of city-block-flattening power and its games will get much better than these first-generation titles. Just compare the original Ridge Racer to Gran Turismo 2; it's like they're on different systems altogether. Sony has already enlisted a ton of game developers, so be ready for a mighty struggle.
Meanwhile, underground nuclear testing (probably by the French) has awakened the fearsome Microsoft X-box. And somewhere in a secret undersea lab, Nintendo is quietly assembling project Dolphin. So even more monster consoles will be smashing their way onto the scene next year.
What's the PS2 like? Well, its got three monstrous powers, but it is not invulnerable to attack. One thing is for sure, our puny tanks and airplanes are no match for it, so you can expect a building-crushing, car-flinging battle between the PS2 and the Dreamcast in your city this Fall.
Let's start with the basics. The PS2 is built a little stranger than Megalon. While these pictures make it look pretty big - about the size of a stereo CD player - it's actually smaller than that. On the other hand, it's also noticeably larger and heavier than both the Dreamcast and the original Playstation.
If you're worried about space, the PS2 is designed to work equally well while sitting flat or up on its side. Oddly, the base is actually smaller than the top. However, the strangest part of the design is that there is no real 'off' switch. The front of the PS2 only has 'reset' and 'eject'. To turn it off, you have to reach around the back of the console where the wires are to flip a big toggle switch. Reminds me of my old Apple II.
I mentioned three super-powers, right? Well, the first is that it plays brand new PS2 games. We have exhaustively tested three of them so far. Ridge Racer V is currently the best selling PS2 game in Japan, and thus worthy of close inspection. Tekken Tag Tournament gives us the chance to see what the updated version of a classic Playstation series is like. Finally, Dead or Alive 2 is the only game currently available for both the PS2 and the Dreamcast, so we can sneak-preview a little head-to-head combat. All three have impressive 3D rendering, blazing fast framerates, and one strange graphical flaw that I'll go into a little later because I'm not done with the super-powers yet.
The next power is simply a wonderful bonus. The Dreamcast may come with a built in modem, but the PS2 has a built in DVD player. It's like getting two for the price of one. On the other hand, we don't know what that price will be. In Japan, the system sells for the equivalent of about $370. If you don't have a DVD player yet, that's still a pretty good deal.
Ridge Racer V
The DVD works well, too. While you're not supposed to be able to play U.S. DVD movies on the Japanese console, there is a simple cheat code built into the system that lets you do it. The picture quality is crisp and clear, and it has Dolby Optical out for you surround-sound buffs. Really the one thing it lacks as a DVD player is a remote control. You control the playback with the standard controller - yet another reason to get a set of wireless controllers for your game system. We suggest the new Airplay wireless controllers, the only ones that use radio instead of infrared.
Of course, you can always use your old Playstation controllers because monster power number 3 is "backwards compatibility." The PS2 can use old Playstation controllers, memory cards and games. While using your old controller will definitely save you money, I think playing old games will get stale quickly when you have cutting edge games to keep you entertained. How often do you really hook up that old Genesis or SNES and play those 16-bit games?
Indeed, those are some titanic powers, worthy of a rampaging behemoth. However, all the truly great monsters (and giant robots) have a weakness, and we've found it in the PS2. Godzilla had that little Japanese boy; Mothra had those tiny freaky women; King Kong fell for human women, and the PS2 can't "anti-alias."
If you know what that means, you can skip this paragraph. For the rest of you, "anti-aliasing" is a graphical technique that smoothes out the edges of objects like polygons. The Dreamcast can do it, but the PS2 currently cannot. This gives all the objects in the games a gritty look around the edges that game developers call "the jaggies." Objects appear to be floating in front of the background somewhat, and it sets up interference patterns with certain moving textures that look almost like static.
Now, you can quote all the polygon-pushing figures you want (they are at the bottom of this preview), but the truth is that so far the graphics on the Dreamcast have been smoother and more seamless than these first-generation PS2 games.
However, one game developer told me that this problem was at least partially due to the fact that the PS2 only has 4MB of video RAM (the Dreamcast has 8MB) and could be fixed if there was more RAM. So perhaps this is something they can upgrade before the American release. Sony, are you reading this!?
Speaking of upgrades, the PS2 also has a pair of USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports on the front. These are the current standard ports for PC peripherals, so hardware manufacturers will be able to easily make a whole slew of attachable upgrades and peripherals for the system, like modems and hard drives. Now that's planning ahead, something Godzilla never seems to do.
For some, it comes down to the price. While the PS2 is likely to be about $300, the Dreamcast's new strategy of making the console free if you order their internet service will tempt a lot of people. Do people want an internet-ready system with online multiplayer, or do they want that DVD player?
In the final battle, however, it's never about the power or the options - it's about the games. Both the Sega Saturn and the N64 had more power than the original Playstation on paper, but we all know which system had more quality games. The PS2 has tons of city-block-flattening power and its games will get much better than these first-generation titles. Just compare the original Ridge Racer to Gran Turismo 2; it's like they're on different systems altogether. Sony has already enlisted a ton of game developers, so be ready for a mighty struggle.
Meanwhile, underground nuclear testing (probably by the French) has awakened the fearsome Microsoft X-box. And somewhere in a secret undersea lab, Nintendo is quietly assembling project Dolphin. So even more monster consoles will be smashing their way onto the scene next year.
The much anticipated Playstation 2 (PS2) is rampaging across Japan like the latest angry refugee from Monster Island, and come this holiday season, they plan to send that monster across the ocean towards American soil. Should we brace for the impact? Board up the windows? Will people embrace or fear the beast? Well, Game Revolution has fearlessly had one shipped over from Japan so we can tell you what is coming (we'll make any sacrifice for you, dear readers).
What's the PS2 like? Well, its got three monstrous powers, but it is not invulnerable to attack. One thing is for sure, our puny tanks and airplanes are no match for it, so you can expect a building-crushing, car-flinging battle between the PS2 and the Dreamcast in your city this Fall.
Let's start with the basics. The PS2 is built a little stranger than Megalon. While these pictures make it look pretty big - about the size of a stereo CD player - it's actually smaller than that. On the other hand, it's also noticeably larger and heavier than both the Dreamcast and the original Playstation.
If you're worried about space, the PS2 is designed to work equally well while sitting flat or up on its side. Oddly, the base is actually smaller than the top. However, the strangest part of the design is that there is no real 'off' switch. The front of the PS2 only has 'reset' and 'eject'. To turn it off, you have to reach around the back of the console where the wires are to flip a big toggle switch. Reminds me of my old Apple II.
I mentioned three super-powers, right? Well, the first is that it plays brand new PS2 games. We have exhaustively tested three of them so far. Ridge Racer V is currently the best selling PS2 game in Japan, and thus worthy of close inspection. Tekken Tag Tournament gives us the chance to see what the updated version of a classic Playstation series is like. Finally, Dead or Alive 2 is the only game currently available for both the PS2 and the Dreamcast, so we can sneak-preview a little head-to-head combat. All three have impressive 3D rendering, blazing fast framerates, and one strange graphical flaw that I'll go into a little later because I'm not done with the super-powers yet.
The next power is simply a wonderful bonus. The Dreamcast may come with a built in modem, but the PS2 has a built in DVD player. It's like getting two for the price of one. On the other hand, we don't know what that price will be. In Japan, the system sells for the equivalent of about $370. If you don't have a DVD player yet, that's still a pretty good deal.
Ridge Racer V
The DVD works well, too. While you're not supposed to be able to play U.S. DVD movies on the Japanese console, there is a simple cheat code built into the system that lets you do it. The picture quality is crisp and clear, and it has Dolby Optical out for you surround-sound buffs. Really the one thing it lacks as a DVD player is a remote control. You control the playback with the standard controller - yet another reason to get a set of wireless controllers for your game system. We suggest the new Airplay wireless controllers, the only ones that use radio instead of infrared.
Of course, you can always use your old Playstation controllers because monster power number 3 is "backwards compatibility." The PS2 can use old Playstation controllers, memory cards and games. While using your old controller will definitely save you money, I think playing old games will get stale quickly when you have cutting edge games to keep you entertained. How often do you really hook up that old Genesis or SNES and play those 16-bit games?
Indeed, those are some titanic powers, worthy of a rampaging behemoth. However, all the truly great monsters (and giant robots) have a weakness, and we've found it in the PS2. Godzilla had that little Japanese boy; Mothra had those tiny freaky women; King Kong fell for human women, and the PS2 can't "anti-alias."
If you know what that means, you can skip this paragraph. For the rest of you, "anti-aliasing" is a graphical technique that smoothes out the edges of objects like polygons. The Dreamcast can do it, but the PS2 currently cannot. This gives all the objects in the games a gritty look around the edges that game developers call "the jaggies." Objects appear to be floating in front of the background somewhat, and it sets up interference patterns with certain moving textures that look almost like static.
Now, you can quote all the polygon-pushing figures you want (they are at the bottom of this preview), but the truth is that so far the graphics on the Dreamcast have been smoother and more seamless than these first-generation PS2 games.
However, one game developer told me that this problem was at least partially due to the fact that the PS2 only has 4MB of video RAM (the Dreamcast has 8MB) and could be fixed if there was more RAM. So perhaps this is something they can upgrade before the American release. Sony, are you reading this!?
Speaking of upgrades, the PS2 also has a pair of USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports on the front. These are the current standard ports for PC peripherals, so hardware manufacturers will be able to easily make a whole slew of attachable upgrades and peripherals for the system, like modems and hard drives. Now that's planning ahead, something Godzilla never seems to do.
For some, it comes down to the price. While the PS2 is likely to be about $300, the Dreamcast's new strategy of making the console free if you order their internet service will tempt a lot of people. Do people want an internet-ready system with online multiplayer, or do they want that DVD player?
In the final battle, however, it's never about the power or the options - it's about the games. Both the Sega Saturn and the N64 had more power than the original Playstation on paper, but we all know which system had more quality games. The PS2 has tons of city-block-flattening power and its games will get much better than these first-generation titles. Just compare the original Ridge Racer to Gran Turismo 2; it's like they're on different systems altogether. Sony has already enlisted a ton of game developers, so be ready for a mighty struggle.
Meanwhile, underground nuclear testing (probably by the French) has awakened the fearsome Microsoft X-box. And somewhere in a secret undersea lab, Nintendo is quietly assembling project Dolphin. So even more monster consoles will be smashing their way onto the scene next year.
What's the PS2 like? Well, its got three monstrous powers, but it is not invulnerable to attack. One thing is for sure, our puny tanks and airplanes are no match for it, so you can expect a building-crushing, car-flinging battle between the PS2 and the Dreamcast in your city this Fall.
Let's start with the basics. The PS2 is built a little stranger than Megalon. While these pictures make it look pretty big - about the size of a stereo CD player - it's actually smaller than that. On the other hand, it's also noticeably larger and heavier than both the Dreamcast and the original Playstation.
If you're worried about space, the PS2 is designed to work equally well while sitting flat or up on its side. Oddly, the base is actually smaller than the top. However, the strangest part of the design is that there is no real 'off' switch. The front of the PS2 only has 'reset' and 'eject'. To turn it off, you have to reach around the back of the console where the wires are to flip a big toggle switch. Reminds me of my old Apple II.
I mentioned three super-powers, right? Well, the first is that it plays brand new PS2 games. We have exhaustively tested three of them so far. Ridge Racer V is currently the best selling PS2 game in Japan, and thus worthy of close inspection. Tekken Tag Tournament gives us the chance to see what the updated version of a classic Playstation series is like. Finally, Dead or Alive 2 is the only game currently available for both the PS2 and the Dreamcast, so we can sneak-preview a little head-to-head combat. All three have impressive 3D rendering, blazing fast framerates, and one strange graphical flaw that I'll go into a little later because I'm not done with the super-powers yet.
The next power is simply a wonderful bonus. The Dreamcast may come with a built in modem, but the PS2 has a built in DVD player. It's like getting two for the price of one. On the other hand, we don't know what that price will be. In Japan, the system sells for the equivalent of about $370. If you don't have a DVD player yet, that's still a pretty good deal.
Ridge Racer V
The DVD works well, too. While you're not supposed to be able to play U.S. DVD movies on the Japanese console, there is a simple cheat code built into the system that lets you do it. The picture quality is crisp and clear, and it has Dolby Optical out for you surround-sound buffs. Really the one thing it lacks as a DVD player is a remote control. You control the playback with the standard controller - yet another reason to get a set of wireless controllers for your game system. We suggest the new Airplay wireless controllers, the only ones that use radio instead of infrared.
Of course, you can always use your old Playstation controllers because monster power number 3 is "backwards compatibility." The PS2 can use old Playstation controllers, memory cards and games. While using your old controller will definitely save you money, I think playing old games will get stale quickly when you have cutting edge games to keep you entertained. How often do you really hook up that old Genesis or SNES and play those 16-bit games?
Indeed, those are some titanic powers, worthy of a rampaging behemoth. However, all the truly great monsters (and giant robots) have a weakness, and we've found it in the PS2. Godzilla had that little Japanese boy; Mothra had those tiny freaky women; King Kong fell for human women, and the PS2 can't "anti-alias."
If you know what that means, you can skip this paragraph. For the rest of you, "anti-aliasing" is a graphical technique that smoothes out the edges of objects like polygons. The Dreamcast can do it, but the PS2 currently cannot. This gives all the objects in the games a gritty look around the edges that game developers call "the jaggies." Objects appear to be floating in front of the background somewhat, and it sets up interference patterns with certain moving textures that look almost like static.
Now, you can quote all the polygon-pushing figures you want (they are at the bottom of this preview), but the truth is that so far the graphics on the Dreamcast have been smoother and more seamless than these first-generation PS2 games.
However, one game developer told me that this problem was at least partially due to the fact that the PS2 only has 4MB of video RAM (the Dreamcast has 8MB) and could be fixed if there was more RAM. So perhaps this is something they can upgrade before the American release. Sony, are you reading this!?
Speaking of upgrades, the PS2 also has a pair of USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports on the front. These are the current standard ports for PC peripherals, so hardware manufacturers will be able to easily make a whole slew of attachable upgrades and peripherals for the system, like modems and hard drives. Now that's planning ahead, something Godzilla never seems to do.
For some, it comes down to the price. While the PS2 is likely to be about $300, the Dreamcast's new strategy of making the console free if you order their internet service will tempt a lot of people. Do people want an internet-ready system with online multiplayer, or do they want that DVD player?
In the final battle, however, it's never about the power or the options - it's about the games. Both the Sega Saturn and the N64 had more power than the original Playstation on paper, but we all know which system had more quality games. The PS2 has tons of city-block-flattening power and its games will get much better than these first-generation titles. Just compare the original Ridge Racer to Gran Turismo 2; it's like they're on different systems altogether. Sony has already enlisted a ton of game developers, so be ready for a mighty struggle.
Meanwhile, underground nuclear testing (probably by the French) has awakened the fearsome Microsoft X-box. And somewhere in a secret undersea lab, Nintendo is quietly assembling project Dolphin. So even more monster consoles will be smashing their way onto the scene next year.
PS2 will certainly be "The Lord of the Rings" as it makes its elegant entourage. It's futuristic design is certainly enough to attract life-forms from outer space! Its backward compatibilty ensures that you need not worry about your old games, which may even receive a face-lift thanks to enhanced graphics support provided as a supplementary provision. DVD functionality means that you can now rent both games and DVDs from the same video-library. CPU compatibility adds on to the myriad of functions your PS2 could do for you - think about "game-conferencing" or "QUAKE3: ARENA"...I'm boiling with excitement. Auxiliary hardware such as MD's and camcoders can be linked to your PS2. Can you imagine digital imaging using an "Emotion Engine" - I'm not sure this would be legal but what the heck. The result of this hardware recipe would be a multimedia compedium that would get you fired from work, fail your exams miss your flights, burn your toast and ignore the baby's crying in addition to providing the ultimate in home entertainment. PS2 is for life.