Playstation 2 Background

March 22nd, 2008 by Mitch

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The PlayStation 2 is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000.

The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and has become the fastest selling and arguably the most dominant home console of video game history, with over 115 million units shipped worldwide by December 2006.

The PS2 hardware can read both CDs and DVDs. It is backward compatible with older PlayStation (PS1) games, allows for DVD Video playback, and will play PS2 games off CD-ROM discs or higher-capacity DVD-ROM discs. The ability to play DVD movies was an added incentive for consumers to be able to justify purchasing the PS2 (The MSRP was $300 in October 2000).

The PS2 also supports PS1 memory cards (for PS1 game saves only) and controllers as well. There is also support for the internal PlayStation 2 HDD which is placed in the expansion bay at the rear of the console.

The PS2's DualShock 2 controller is essentially an upgraded PS1 Dual Shock; analog face, shoulder and D-pad buttons replaced the digital buttons of the original. All of the input buttons include the D-pad, the right buttons (X, Circle, Triangle, Square), the back buttons (R1, R2, L1, L2), and the middle buttons (Start, Select, Analog). This design has been carried on to Sony's PlayStation 3, except it is called the SIXAXIS controller. The Dualshock 2 controller has a default force feedback which is commonly called the "vibration" function. It is usually used to tell the user when they have been "attacked" in a game. It is also commonly used combining an on-screen red mark, shake, blur, etc. to tell the player of an attack in any direction in most shooters involving weapons.

When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary video game consoles, including DVD-playback functionality, USB support, and IEEE 1394 expansion ports. It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console to include USB support (USB 1.1), with a proprietary Microsoft Xbox shaped socket) and DVD playback capabilities.

Compatibility with USB devices is dependent on the software supporting said USB device. For example, the PS2 BIOS will not boot an ISO image from a USB flash drive, or operate a USB printer, as the machine's operating system does not include this functionality. By contrast, Gran Turismo 4 is programmed to save screenshots to a USB mass storage device, or print images to certain USB printers.

In September 2004 Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision (V12, model number SCPH-70000). Available in November 2004, it is smaller and thinner and quieter than the old version and includes a built-in Ethernet port. In some markets it also integrates a modem. Due to its thinner profile, it does not contain the 3.5" expansion bay, and therefore does not support the internal hard disk drive, and now uses an external power supply, like the GameCube. The removal of the HDD bay has been criticised as a limitation[citation needed] due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy XI which require the use of the HDD. The official PS2 Linux kit also requires a hard drive bay to function. The SCPH-70000 also received a modified MultiTap expansion. Currently only the modified MultiTap is sold in stores, meaning that owners of older PS2s must find a used or non-Sony MultiTap in order to get 4 or 8 players.Third party connectors can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support, however IDE connections were completely removed in the V14 revision eliminating this option.

There are some disputes[citation needed] on the numbering for this PS2 version, since there are actually two sub-versions of the SCPH-70000. One of them includes the old EE and GS chips, and the other contains the newer unified EE+GS chip, otherwise being identical. Since the V12 version had already been established for this model, there were some disputes regarding these sub-versions. Two propositions were to name the old model (EE and GS, separate chips) V11.5 and the newer model V12, and to name the old model V12 and the newer model V13. Currently, most people just use V12 for both models, or V12 for the old model and V13 for the newer one.

The V12 model was first released in black. A silver edition is available in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France, South Africa, and most recently, North America. It is unknown whether or not this will follow the colour schemes of the older model.

There is also now a V14 model (SCPH-75001 and SCPH-75002) which contain an integrated EE and GS, and different ASICs compared to previous revisions, some chips having a copyright date of 2005 compared to 2000 or 2001 for earlier models. It also has a different lens and some compatibility issues with a different number of PS1 games and even some PS2 games. (see the list of incompatible games as documented by SCEA).

In 2006, Sony released a new hardware revision. It was first released in Japan on September 15, 2006, including the Silver limited edition. After its release, it was then shipped to America and to other parts of the world. It is the V15 model (SPCH-77001a and SPCH-77001b). They are two sub-versions of the models. The new revision uses an integrated unified EE+GS chip and a redesigned ASIC, different laser lens, updated BIOS, updated drivers. This revision is currently shipping in retail game stores. The V15 model still has compatibility issues with some PS2 games and PS1 games. There was some criticism since its release due to overheating and some disc read errors.

Later hardware revisions had better compatibility with PlayStation games (Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions works on most silver models); however, the new Japanese slim models have more issues with playing PlayStation games than the first PS2 revisions.