PlayStation 2

Sony's second home video game console, part of the sixth generation of consoles

The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is Sony's second video game console. It was released in March 2000. The one before this was PlayStation (or PS1). The next PlayStation is PlayStation 3 which was released in November 2006. The PlayStation 2 competed with the Dreamcast, the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox during its lifetime.

The PlayStation 2 console

The controllers of the PlayStation 2 are similar to the Dual Analog controllers for the first PlayStation. Some games are online, such as Call of Duty World at War Final Fronts, and a few connect with the PlayStation Portable (or PSP). The PS2 is very successful and games were still made for it after the PlayStation 3 was made. The PlayStation 2 is the world's best-selling console. It has sold around 160 million units since its launch in March 2000, and is fully compatible with almost all PlayStation (PS1) games.

Functions and Backwards compatibility

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As well as Playstation 2 games, the PS2 could play CD and DVD format discs. This pushed it forward to become the best selling console, as many DVD players at the time could cost a lot of money.[1] The PS2 could also play almost all Playstation (PS1) games, or about 98% of them which may have been another factor helping the PS2's success because people would already have games to play on it.[2]

Discontinuation

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Sony announced that they had discontinued the PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 28, 2012 and worldwide on January 4, 2013.[3] The last two games for the system were FIFA 14 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 (released only in Europe) in late 2013 (a week before the PlayStation 4's release date). Both these games also had PS3 and PS4 versions. Online functionalities had ended on March 31, 2016. Repair for the system had ended in Japan on September 7, 2018.

The PSX was released in 2003. It was a video recorder that allowed you to play PlayStation 2 games. It had a built-in hard drive (up to 250 GB). It did not sell well, because it cost too much money, so it was not released outside of Japan.[4] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas became the most sold game, with over 27.5 million copies sold.

References

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  1. Byrd, Matthew (2021-09-06). "Why the PS2's Sales Record Will Never Be Beaten". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  2. "List of Sony PS1 Games that are not Backwards Compatible with the Sony". Video Game Gem Vault. 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  3. "PlayStation 2 manufacture ends after 12 years". The Guardian. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  4. "Next Gen Console Wars: Revenge of Kutaragi". 13 June 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-06-23. Retrieved 30 September 2014. Archived from the original Archived 2013-12-14 at the Wayback Machine