Viewing Thread:
"Once and for All, Is the PS2 any good?"

Theres been a heap load of discussion over this issue and I thought that Id end it buy creating a forum so people can once and for all say what they think of the PS2.

I think that the PS2 is potentially a great console in the making, but it defniately does have its flaws. Programming is not one of them, I think programmers are getting lazy with super powerful development tools at their disposal- we have to remember that it took over 5 years for the developers to get the bast out of the original Playstation.
We have also seen in America and Japan that there is enormous demand for the new machine, on both launch days their stocks sold out within a matter of hours. Also, admittedly, the launch line up for the Japanese launch was poor at best, but for some reason the Japanese always seem to get sub-standard merchandise at the cost of being first to get it. Id rather wait for a better quality one personally.
That is what well get on November the 24th- the launch line up is considerably stronger than in Japan and if PAL conversions are good, they will be some excellent games coming out- TTT, RR 5 and SSX Snowboarding are three prime examples, but I am sure that there are many others you can name.
The critics have been out for Sonys head ever since the botched up launch in Japan, but everyone makes mistakes! The reason why it was more obvious this time than for the Playstation was that was Sony were a relative unknown at the time, and nobody really cared if they botched up their launch, everyones eyes was on the Sega Saturn. Also they had a lot more time to prepare for it, unlike with the PS2 launch. That is probably the reason why there are hardware shortages.
All in all, I think that you have to give a new console time to settle in before you see what it is truenly capable of, and with some excellent games coming out next year, it will definately have a strong consumer base behind it to compete with the big two- Nintendo and Microsoft, which in the latter will find it very difficult at first. Its not all about huge amounts of money piled in to make it work.
Overall, when the PS2 is launched next month, you have to realise that most people it will be the first chance to play the PS2, so alot of people at the moment are closed minded and attack what they dont understand or havent played yet, espically the press. What I believe is that the PS2 has and will be successful, and well see it develop into a great console. I also believe that NGC and X-Box will do well as well, it will be interesting at the end of next year which company comes out on top.

Well, I wouldn't go THAT far. I'm still looking forward to the PS2, and it'll be at least another 5 years before the PS3, and around 5 or more years before the next Sega console.

It's amazing how fast the time goes, soon we will be discussing whether the PS3 will beat Sega's new ethervision (my new name for the sequel to the Dreamcast) and why Nintendo have gone back to using a cartridge based system for their new machine (which they changed the name of from Gnome to NES2002)
It will happen and it's amazing that people still believe that they can predict the future. I wish Sony, Sega and Nintendo well, after all without any one of them there would be a void in gaming that could not be filled by another company. As long as Sonic and Mario keep going, I'll be happy.

Of course there is the view that the 'right direction' of having all the games companies on your side is usually done by loosing something somewhere else, but I would never make that assumption.
However, you do not seem to be making a judgement on whether one console creater looses out to another is right or not, so I won't say anything, other than to say that even in this crappy consumer based society there is still room for more than one console in the market.

I like paragraphs.

Please use paragraphs.

Eyes are tired.

Please use paragraphs.

Amen.

That's just what I've been saying all along.

Give this person a prize.

All consoles become outdated junk, but there are some that are never forgotten for the mark they left in the games industry. The NES was the console that brought us Mario and although the Master System had a version of the game too, it is the Megadrive that became the flagship for Sonic. As for Playstation, it tried to follow suit with Crash Bandicoot and failed, but overall the Playstation will be remember for something else rather than a mascot, it is the console that brought video games to all ages and broke the "for kids only" barrier. Sure the Megadrive pushed a little with Mortal Kombat but lets face it, thats basically the equivelent of a bad boy in the playground seeing how far he can push the dinner lady. It was really Sony who really went out to aim their consoles releases at all ages. Since then, Sega and gradually Nintendo have followed on and started doing the same. The Gameboy is another that will leave its mark, not just for Pokemon but for the fact it has remained so popular for so long while plenty of home consoles have come and gone. PS2 has a lot of promise but i don't think anyone is in the position to say its great or its crud. It has the makings and background to take its place among the consoles that have been very successful. Give it a year after release and everyone will know the answer. Personally i think it will be a great success because many people will buy it for being the follow up to the Playstation. Graphics and sounds wise it is very impressive and it has the backing of key companies to produce the games for it - and at the end of the day having the companies with you is what will make or break a new console. The Saturn never had this and crashed out miserably. Nintendo 64 has had only a limited amount of support and rely heavily on their own games and Rare which has severely limited their games library. Sony took the right direction and now its upto them to carry it on with the PS2. One things for sure, they're gonna need more decent titles than what they have now and they're gonna need to bring games such as MGS2 out as soon as possible rather than a year after everyone else. People aren't going to want conversions of PC games that have been around for like 2 years while the PC owners are enjoying the sequals and expansion packs. Overall though, i think PS2 will beat Dreamcast because of the Sony tag on it. Not that their devoted to Sony, but because they see Sony as the company who are bringing them the games they want.

"The very fact you could control a character that could hop skip and jump was a revolutionary idea."

No, not exactly. I think the revolution came with the NES, if you remember correctly, and the famicom, in Japan, before that, and the Donkey Kong arcade before that, and the... nope, that's it.

Hey Ant, everyone knows the PSX has brilliant games,
but every well known console has at least a couple of
good games. For instance the 'master system' looks rubbish
now, but we all thought it was the mutz n**s when it came out. The very fact you could control a character that could hop skip and jump was a revolutionary idea.
The truth is games will keep on getting better and better .
And one day we'll look back and say "PS2 what a pile of
junk that was".

Also, you can't say Nintendo are best at games, if you look at the games on the PSX. They may not be made by Sony, but as long as they're on the console, who cares???
Games like MGS, GT2, Driver, Tekken 3 all came out on the PSX and only the PSX, apart from MGS which is on PC about 2 and a half years later. I'm not saying Sony are the best, I'm just saying you can't say they are best if you look at games on the PSX as well. Also, do you own a PSX??? If not, then you are missing out on quite alot, as I think that if I could go back, and have a choice between a PSX and an N64, I would choose to a PSX, due to cheaper games, a wider range of games, and... great games.

Excuse me sniper??? THE PSX WASN'T ANY GOOD BEFORE PIRATE GAMES CAME OUT??? No offence, but THAT'S A LOAD OF BULL!!! The PSX was popular due to its great games, and was popular even before pirate games! I got a PSX not even knowing about pirate games, and I haven't chipped my PSX, or bought pirate games or anything, and it's made no difference to my enjoyment of the PSX. Also, I'm not blind towards other consoles, I just prefer the PS2 to anything else I've seen. The Gamecube's not coming out 'til 2002, and I'm not going to wait 'til then playing on the PSX when I could be playing revolutionary games on the PS2. No offence whatsoever, but I totally don't believe in the pirate games thing. And to your theory above, yes, you would still play quality games on a cheap console, but some people are willing to play even better games on a more expensive console. I don't have DVD player, so I'm glad Sony put that in.
Thanks for reading, Ant.