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For months, the Playstation 2 was eagerly awaited by fans across the globe. For months, the lucky fans had their PS2 on pre-order. Then, the fnas received their consoles just in time for Christmas (well, some of them did anyway!!). On Christmas morning, the little children of all ages unwrapped their gaming masterpiece and stood mouths agape! Their little black box had arrived with the golden words of PS2 across the top. The Playstation 2 looked the part. A small, perfectly formed rectangular cube that would surely keep hardcore gamers up for weeks. With the added bonus of a DVD player installed, how could anyone fault the PS2?
Easy! The PS2 is meant to be the best piece of gaming engineering since ... well, ever! But is it really worth it? My answer is no! I know for that, i am going to get slandered, but hear me out. The Playstation 2 costs around £300. Quite rightly so, most people will think. But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. You could buy a Playstation for about £70, or even the PSOne for about the same. But, the vast majority of gamers have forked out £300 for the PS2. Now i know that the PS2 is far superior to the PSX, or at least in theory it is. If you run the two side by side, you could easily spot the superior graphics of the PS2, which quite honestly, aren't that superior! You could also spot the faster gaming as well, but with the current games for both consoles, it is not really needed! How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none! So why is it that millions of people, young and old are persisting in buying the PS2? The graphics are slightly better, but not for £230 extra! The gameplay is slightly faster, but again, not for that extra amount! I dont own a PS2, but i have played on one. At first, when Tekken Tag loaded up, i couldn't wait. But then i was disappointed. I was expecting the best thing anyone can think of, but instead i found Tekken 3.5! With the superior specifications of the PS2, you would think that the games would be far superior to that of the PSX! Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the PS2, and Tekken Tag, but i realised that is the same that i could expect from my own PSX.
From my point of view, the PS2 is basically a PSX painted black, with a front loading CD tray, as opposed to a top loading CD tray! The graphics are marginally better, but to the hardcore gamer, that doesn't matter! The games run marginally faster, but again, that is not noticeably so! For the extra £230 that you would be paying for the PS2 instead of the PSX, you are basically getting a DVD player! DVD players come a lot cheaper, and they are made to a much higher standard, and are more readily available than the PS2! So why do we gamers keep buying? Answer, great advertisments!!
Grebo Joe
P.S. PS2 fans, don't hunt me down and kill me!!
Easy! The PS2 is meant to be the best piece of gaming engineering since ... well, ever! But is it really worth it? My answer is no! I know for that, i am going to get slandered, but hear me out. The Playstation 2 costs around £300. Quite rightly so, most people will think. But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. You could buy a Playstation for about £70, or even the PSOne for about the same. But, the vast majority of gamers have forked out £300 for the PS2. Now i know that the PS2 is far superior to the PSX, or at least in theory it is. If you run the two side by side, you could easily spot the superior graphics of the PS2, which quite honestly, aren't that superior! You could also spot the faster gaming as well, but with the current games for both consoles, it is not really needed! How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none! So why is it that millions of people, young and old are persisting in buying the PS2? The graphics are slightly better, but not for £230 extra! The gameplay is slightly faster, but again, not for that extra amount! I dont own a PS2, but i have played on one. At first, when Tekken Tag loaded up, i couldn't wait. But then i was disappointed. I was expecting the best thing anyone can think of, but instead i found Tekken 3.5! With the superior specifications of the PS2, you would think that the games would be far superior to that of the PSX! Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the PS2, and Tekken Tag, but i realised that is the same that i could expect from my own PSX.
From my point of view, the PS2 is basically a PSX painted black, with a front loading CD tray, as opposed to a top loading CD tray! The graphics are marginally better, but to the hardcore gamer, that doesn't matter! The games run marginally faster, but again, that is not noticeably so! For the extra £230 that you would be paying for the PS2 instead of the PSX, you are basically getting a DVD player! DVD players come a lot cheaper, and they are made to a much higher standard, and are more readily available than the PS2! So why do we gamers keep buying? Answer, great advertisments!!
Grebo Joe
P.S. PS2 fans, don't hunt me down and kill me!!
Well if Kieran doesn't have time for it, i feel somone should, so here goes :D
Now then, first things first i'm a PC monkee, and am generally against consoles, but i do tend to follow the developments in the market to see just how accurate all the 'END OF PC GAMING' headlines are - almost invariably not very.
But the PS2 is an incredible console, technologically capable of shifting more polys and floating points than the vast majority of PC's. This alone does not make a good machine i know, but it is a good measure of Potential. I feel i should remind you all that the release games for the PSX weren't that incredible. OK Wipe0ut rocked as a concept, but all the release games look terrible if you go back and compare them to the current releases. I think you can all see the difference between Ridge Racer and Gran Tourismo !! (and if you can't, i'm not sure i can describe it without screenshots, sorry :P )
The problems at launch time are considerable for any console manufacturer, as in order to make sure the release games are up to scratch they have to provide Dev. tools for the developers to make their jobs more efficient. Has everyone seen those dead swanky particle explosions? For any console they have to be written by someone, who can then pass them on for other developers (for a price, obviously).
Thus well before Launch there should already be a good set of Dev. tools available to developers to allow them to write good release games, and these take time to write.
There is also the pressure to get the console onto the market before everyone gets bored and buys a DreamCast cos they can't be bothered to wait any more.
I believe the strategy that Sony have gone for is very brave, but it, coupled with a botched launch has cost them dearly. They opted to provide a very limited set of Dev. tools so they could get PS2 on the shelves fast, and left it up to developers to do their own tools, with the option of selling them on, or maybe even making a business out of the Dev. tools. This has meant that the release games aren't very polished, but Sony have also provided support for teams writing tools. they believe, and i think rightly so, that this will create competition in the market for these Dev. tools, and so the range and quality of tools availiable will be improved, and so the Developers will be free to make more polished games, faster.
It will be some time before the full quality of PS2 can be seen, just as it was with the PSX, and you can be expecting at least the same magnitude of graphics improvement as we saw with the PSX.
I'm probably not going to buy one for a while, but if anything has the potential to challenge my PC, this is it at the Moment.
Lastly, the issue of the DVD player you mentioned... I am not really in the know about home DVD players, but i have difficulty seeing how the PS2 one can be all that bad, surely it's like comparing CD players, the Speakers make the noise, so surely you're TV is more of an issue. I can't quantify that, but then i haven't seen anyone justify the argument that it sucks either, so i'm not sure how much weight anyone can put behind either of those views at the moment. Whichever way you look at it, you have a DVD player and the newest console about for £300. Considering that all the newest consoles cost about the £300 mark, a free DVD player can't be that bad can it?
Flying Pig dealt with the price
issues so i'll leave them, and all that is left is for me to apologise for making you read all that.
Well it's made me feel better anyway :)
Now then, first things first i'm a PC monkee, and am generally against consoles, but i do tend to follow the developments in the market to see just how accurate all the 'END OF PC GAMING' headlines are - almost invariably not very.
But the PS2 is an incredible console, technologically capable of shifting more polys and floating points than the vast majority of PC's. This alone does not make a good machine i know, but it is a good measure of Potential. I feel i should remind you all that the release games for the PSX weren't that incredible. OK Wipe0ut rocked as a concept, but all the release games look terrible if you go back and compare them to the current releases. I think you can all see the difference between Ridge Racer and Gran Tourismo !! (and if you can't, i'm not sure i can describe it without screenshots, sorry :P )
The problems at launch time are considerable for any console manufacturer, as in order to make sure the release games are up to scratch they have to provide Dev. tools for the developers to make their jobs more efficient. Has everyone seen those dead swanky particle explosions? For any console they have to be written by someone, who can then pass them on for other developers (for a price, obviously).
Thus well before Launch there should already be a good set of Dev. tools available to developers to allow them to write good release games, and these take time to write.
There is also the pressure to get the console onto the market before everyone gets bored and buys a DreamCast cos they can't be bothered to wait any more.
I believe the strategy that Sony have gone for is very brave, but it, coupled with a botched launch has cost them dearly. They opted to provide a very limited set of Dev. tools so they could get PS2 on the shelves fast, and left it up to developers to do their own tools, with the option of selling them on, or maybe even making a business out of the Dev. tools. This has meant that the release games aren't very polished, but Sony have also provided support for teams writing tools. they believe, and i think rightly so, that this will create competition in the market for these Dev. tools, and so the range and quality of tools availiable will be improved, and so the Developers will be free to make more polished games, faster.
It will be some time before the full quality of PS2 can be seen, just as it was with the PSX, and you can be expecting at least the same magnitude of graphics improvement as we saw with the PSX.
I'm probably not going to buy one for a while, but if anything has the potential to challenge my PC, this is it at the Moment.
Lastly, the issue of the DVD player you mentioned... I am not really in the know about home DVD players, but i have difficulty seeing how the PS2 one can be all that bad, surely it's like comparing CD players, the Speakers make the noise, so surely you're TV is more of an issue. I can't quantify that, but then i haven't seen anyone justify the argument that it sucks either, so i'm not sure how much weight anyone can put behind either of those views at the moment. Whichever way you look at it, you have a DVD player and the newest console about for £300. Considering that all the newest consoles cost about the £300 mark, a free DVD player can't be that bad can it?
Flying Pig dealt with the price
issues so i'll leave them, and all that is left is for me to apologise for making you read all that.
Well it's made me feel better anyway :)
Don`t forget that the PS logo on the disc tray rotates to suit the orientation of the console! That will make the price more acceptable I believe.
I could go into detail and pull your post apart, but i have not got the time or the patience.
Some of your points, i must admit, are quite valid, but your overall appraisal of the console is definetely lacking in depth. The PS2 is so much more than just a re-vamped PSX, and i really don't think you give the machine any justice.
The games do give the impression that they are lacking in speed, but to say that the graphics are only marginally better is way off the mark. At the end of the day, the titles that have been released so far are nothing more than fledgling demo's, merely hinting at the power and ability that lies beneath tha matt black skin.
My advice to you is to play it a little more, and also to watch this space!
Some of your points, i must admit, are quite valid, but your overall appraisal of the console is definetely lacking in depth. The PS2 is so much more than just a re-vamped PSX, and i really don't think you give the machine any justice.
The games do give the impression that they are lacking in speed, but to say that the graphics are only marginally better is way off the mark. At the end of the day, the titles that have been released so far are nothing more than fledgling demo's, merely hinting at the power and ability that lies beneath tha matt black skin.
My advice to you is to play it a little more, and also to watch this space!
Grebo Joe wrote:
> For months, the Playstation 2 was eagerly awaited by fans across the globe. Their little black box had arrived with the golden words of PS2 across the top.
Gold lettering!? It's kind of blue on mine..!
But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. !
Er-no! The DVD quality is roughly that of a £300 DVD player. I've got no complaints - it's excellent! )And anyway, anyone who owns a DVD player doesn't want to use the PS2 to play DVD's and anyone who doesn't have a DVD player will be happy just to have one in their shiny new PS2!
How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none!
Driver 2 anyone!?
Paying £300 for a brand new, launch day console is nothing new. In fact the PsOne was £299 5 years ago. So taking inflation into account the PS2 is pretty good value.
Have no doubt that the X-Box will be even more and the GC will be about the same as a PS2.
Sure if you want a PSOne, go out and spend your £80 - you won't be disappointed, but if you want to spent £300 on a PS", you won't be disappointed either!
> For months, the Playstation 2 was eagerly awaited by fans across the globe. Their little black box had arrived with the golden words of PS2 across the top.
Gold lettering!? It's kind of blue on mine..!
But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. !
Er-no! The DVD quality is roughly that of a £300 DVD player. I've got no complaints - it's excellent! )And anyway, anyone who owns a DVD player doesn't want to use the PS2 to play DVD's and anyone who doesn't have a DVD player will be happy just to have one in their shiny new PS2!
How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none!
Driver 2 anyone!?
Paying £300 for a brand new, launch day console is nothing new. In fact the PsOne was £299 5 years ago. So taking inflation into account the PS2 is pretty good value.
Have no doubt that the X-Box will be even more and the GC will be about the same as a PS2.
Sure if you want a PSOne, go out and spend your £80 - you won't be disappointed, but if you want to spent £300 on a PS", you won't be disappointed either!
For months, the Playstation 2 was eagerly awaited by fans across the globe. For months, the lucky fans had their PS2 on pre-order. Then, the fnas received their consoles just in time for Christmas (well, some of them did anyway!!). On Christmas morning, the little children of all ages unwrapped their gaming masterpiece and stood mouths agape! Their little black box had arrived with the golden words of PS2 across the top. The Playstation 2 looked the part. A small, perfectly formed rectangular cube that would surely keep hardcore gamers up for weeks. With the added bonus of a DVD player installed, how could anyone fault the PS2?
Easy! The PS2 is meant to be the best piece of gaming engineering since ... well, ever! But is it really worth it? My answer is no! I know for that, i am going to get slandered, but hear me out. The Playstation 2 costs around £300. Quite rightly so, most people will think. But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. You could buy a Playstation for about £70, or even the PSOne for about the same. But, the vast majority of gamers have forked out £300 for the PS2. Now i know that the PS2 is far superior to the PSX, or at least in theory it is. If you run the two side by side, you could easily spot the superior graphics of the PS2, which quite honestly, aren't that superior! You could also spot the faster gaming as well, but with the current games for both consoles, it is not really needed! How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none! So why is it that millions of people, young and old are persisting in buying the PS2? The graphics are slightly better, but not for £230 extra! The gameplay is slightly faster, but again, not for that extra amount! I dont own a PS2, but i have played on one. At first, when Tekken Tag loaded up, i couldn't wait. But then i was disappointed. I was expecting the best thing anyone can think of, but instead i found Tekken 3.5! With the superior specifications of the PS2, you would think that the games would be far superior to that of the PSX! Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the PS2, and Tekken Tag, but i realised that is the same that i could expect from my own PSX.
From my point of view, the PS2 is basically a PSX painted black, with a front loading CD tray, as opposed to a top loading CD tray! The graphics are marginally better, but to the hardcore gamer, that doesn't matter! The games run marginally faster, but again, that is not noticeably so! For the extra £230 that you would be paying for the PS2 instead of the PSX, you are basically getting a DVD player! DVD players come a lot cheaper, and they are made to a much higher standard, and are more readily available than the PS2! So why do we gamers keep buying? Answer, great advertisments!!
Grebo Joe
P.S. PS2 fans, don't hunt me down and kill me!!
Easy! The PS2 is meant to be the best piece of gaming engineering since ... well, ever! But is it really worth it? My answer is no! I know for that, i am going to get slandered, but hear me out. The Playstation 2 costs around £300. Quite rightly so, most people will think. But, for only £150 you could buy a DVD player, of much better quality than that on the PS2. You could buy a Playstation for about £70, or even the PSOne for about the same. But, the vast majority of gamers have forked out £300 for the PS2. Now i know that the PS2 is far superior to the PSX, or at least in theory it is. If you run the two side by side, you could easily spot the superior graphics of the PS2, which quite honestly, aren't that superior! You could also spot the faster gaming as well, but with the current games for both consoles, it is not really needed! How many times have you been playing on your PSX and found the game to lag? Answer, none! So why is it that millions of people, young and old are persisting in buying the PS2? The graphics are slightly better, but not for £230 extra! The gameplay is slightly faster, but again, not for that extra amount! I dont own a PS2, but i have played on one. At first, when Tekken Tag loaded up, i couldn't wait. But then i was disappointed. I was expecting the best thing anyone can think of, but instead i found Tekken 3.5! With the superior specifications of the PS2, you would think that the games would be far superior to that of the PSX! Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the PS2, and Tekken Tag, but i realised that is the same that i could expect from my own PSX.
From my point of view, the PS2 is basically a PSX painted black, with a front loading CD tray, as opposed to a top loading CD tray! The graphics are marginally better, but to the hardcore gamer, that doesn't matter! The games run marginally faster, but again, that is not noticeably so! For the extra £230 that you would be paying for the PS2 instead of the PSX, you are basically getting a DVD player! DVD players come a lot cheaper, and they are made to a much higher standard, and are more readily available than the PS2! So why do we gamers keep buying? Answer, great advertisments!!
Grebo Joe
P.S. PS2 fans, don't hunt me down and kill me!!