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Playstation 2 Launched in Japan
ozzie wrote to us about yesterday's Japanese launch of the Playstation 2. IGN has a good site devoted to the PSX2. The launch in Japan was greeted with massive fanfare, as expected. We'll have to wait here in North America for six months. Unless, of course, someone wanted to send us one. *grin* Check out some great shots of the inner workings of the machine, as well.
As I understand it, the max theoretical limit for the Playstation 2 is around 75 million polygons per second. However, this would be without any texturing, shading, or other necessary things like AI or physics modeling. The realistic maximum limit for the PS2 during gameplay is said to be 20 million polygons per second.
So, at what time will PC technology surpass the Sony box? Considering the imminent arrival of 1 GHz Athlons, plus the hardware T & L of video cards like the GeForce, will a PC system be able to match the PS2 by the time of the North American launch date? Or will the I/O limitations of the PC cripple it in comparison to the PS2?
1) False.
2) False, its actually very good, at least the equal of any software only solution for the PC.
3) Only backwards compatible with ones written exactly to spec (and thats surprisingly few). If you've seen bleem! the psx emulator youll know the compatibility problems it has due to this very reason.
4) The buttons in the new ones are capable of detecting levels of pressure applied to them. but it can use the old models, as well as usb ones.
5) It was until some recent law changes. So was the P3-700 and above though so its not a big deal.
According to ps2.ign.com, there are three types of video connectors available for PlayStation2: composite video (RCA jack), S-video, and component video. I expect Sony to release an accessory that will allow connection to a variable-frequency VGA monitor fairly soon.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
From what I saw on ps2.ign.com, it appears that the Japanese were extremely eager to get their hands on the PlayStation 2. Mostly because Sony has been hyping it since May 1999.
However, the long lines for the Japanese launch of the PlayStation 2 may be totally nothing versus the North American launch, most likely pencilled in for September 9, 2000, the fifth anniversary of the US launch of the original PlayStation (and the first anniversary of the launch of Dreamcast). Can you imagine lines similar to the lines before Star Wars Episode I was released in front of the majority of the Babbages, Electonics Boutique, FAO Shwarz, KayBee Toys and Toys'R Us stores in the USA? Sony may have to manufacture around five million PlayStation 2 machines just to meet the demand for pre-orders and the first few days of sales here!
I remember the Dreamcast launch last year on 9/9/1999 at the Electronics Boutique in San Jose, CA next to the Barnes & Noble bookstore--it was an absolute riot scene out there. Now writ that larger by a factor of four and that will be the scene before the release of the PlayStation 2 in North America (shudder). If I were Sony I would seriously consider renting out either the San Jose Convention Center or Santa Clara Convention Center on the launch date for a big show unveiling the machine and allow the retailers to sell PlayStation 2 consoles and software there just to prevent riot scenes in the retail stores (at least in the San Francisco Bay Area), especially since 9/9/2000 falls on a Saturday.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
And a whopping one day after release, eBay has about 10 of these wonderful machines available from anywhere between $500 and $1100. Not to shabby if you have the cash.
æeee!
Well, that is true - but remember that Sony (and even retailers) lose cash on every system sold. VCRs and CD-Roms are close to commodity levels in availablity, number of manufacturers, and price. The PlayStation 2 is proprietary Sony hardware that can only play proprietary Sony games - just like any other console. Sony makes their cash in the buisness from selling the games, which have an extremely high markup and the liscences to produce games on their proprietary hardware.
Well, congratulations. I work for a major video game (PC, console, and handheld) retailer, and I answer hundreds of people's questions a week who need something that'll do everything for them too. Not "a box just like [the PS2]", but something that'll provide them with everything they need. They too are perplexed by anything more complex than a fly swatter, but they buy PC's. I see the PS2 and future consoles (with the exception of the Dreamcast if Sega ever releases the spec on the GD-Rom format) as the primary component in the corporate scheme to use us for as much cash as possible - with little regard for the freedom of information or thought.
The unsophisticated consumer-level users can still buy their PlayStations and Nintindo 64s and bow down to their corporate masters and laugh at the geeks with their complex PC's.... and they will.
It's the dark side, alright - but it's actually a little more attactive than the real "dark side".
So, I am a consumer who wants access to the Internet for the purposes of playing cutting-edge massively-multiplayer games, chatting, checking my e-mail, browsing the web, and engaging in on-line forums. I buy a box like the PS2 which does all of these things conveniently, cheaply, and easily, and this box _isn't_ for me, or consumers like me? I am a victim of Sony and other companies who make these non-consumer products?
Please, victimize me more!
Yes, you are a victim. You are a victim because you are being played as pawn in Sony's game for a future where they and their kin control the very freedom and integrity of your online existance. You are a victim because you are mindlessly giving up freedoms in cyberspace which you would not have dreamed for a second of compromising in the world which you are used to.
Indeed there are many people who need a simpler device than a PC for their Internet access, and those people should have such a device. But this is not what the PS2 is about, the PS2 is about being the troyan horse into peoples homes that Sony needs to make sure that it can provide customers with information without granting them freedom. It is about giving the mega-corps back the power that the Internet and the PC has threatened, a hundred times over. Read between the lines of the corporate doublespeak of Sony's talk of a "platform for digital content delivery", and this is exactly you will see.
This is not about being anti-capitalistic, or luddite, or not wanting to give newbies a chance to go online. This is about a cancer to capitalist society that has gone to far, and that is threatening the very freedom that capitalism exists ONLY to support. This is about the DMCA, the UCITA, the arrest of sixteen year old for nothing but protecting fair use, and the continued growth of corporations abusing laws meant to encourage "creative effort" to be parasites to this very process in every way.
It is a shame that people are not yet aware enough of the importance of electronic freedom to realize that they MUST reject the intrusion of electronics into their homes that is serving somebody else's agenda rather than theirs.
It is a shame, but it is understandable.
It is not understandable that people like you defend this process.
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We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
1. no idea, but I doubt it. Sony probally just doens't want you opening the box since it'll void the warrenty.
2. From dailyradar.com, they said it looks great and all, just that controlling a movie with a controller sucks. That was their major grip.
3. Backward compaticble with all PSX games coded to Sony spec, and can improve some of them. Not really noticable though from the screenshots I've seen.
4. Yes, all PSX peripharls work, but the PS2 comes with controllers that look almost exactly like the Dual Shock, only all the buttons on it are analog and not digital.
5. No idea, but I'm guessing it was just some marketing hype by Sony to make it sound more impressive. I think the deal on that was it was a age-old law that classified it as a supercomputer, when it would classify almost every computer made today as a super computer.
Hey, now that its out, has Sony released any info about the OS, (or any PS2 developers like to comment about it?) It seems to me that they did the right thing and stayed with their propriotory, lightweight OS, but what stuff have the put in to facilitate internet transfers, DVD playback, and web-browsing? Does this even have memory protection? While on the topic of OS, this is the kind of OS people dream about writing too. No bloated OS services to get in your way, direct access to every piece of hardware, and no other programs stealing your compute time, no worrying about swap file issues, tweeking the code perfectly to keep the pipes flowing, and no worrying about configuring perhiprals.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Could someone shed some light on a few PS 2 myths that I've heard?
1. The PS 2 is hemetically sealed and opening it will casue various chips to damage themselves.
2. The PS 2 DVD playback is actually not very good - even your average joe will not be impressed by the quality.
3. It is backward compatible with most PS1 games and actually enhances them (crisper graphics faster frame rate).
4. It is backwards compatible with PS1 periphrals, but the pads are somehow improved.
5. The PS 2 is calssified as a supercomputer.
Cheers.
Wasn't there just an article about the Playstation 2 being banned for export from Japan?
o rt/index.html
:). If someone with knowledge of the language could confirm that there's an actual announcement there, it would be much appreciated.
This is correct. Tom's Hardware had a link to this article about it:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/00_03/01_vg_imp
Digging through Sony's pages, I can't find anything about this in the North American page. The Japanese pages, naturally, I can't read
URL for the Japanese playstation pages is:
http://www.scei.co.jp/index-n.html
...feel strangely like viewing a page of celebrity nudes? If only they had a half-dozen popups which redirect you to pages like "Emotion Engine acid-strip show!", "two female connectors coupled!", and "Brazilian Plug Pornography!"... (sigh)
Like everyone here, I can't help but drool over the technical specs to this machine, and what Sony has managed to squeeze into the price. It is obviously a damn fine piece of technology, and I salute Sony's developers for this achievement.
But, on the other hand, there is a side to this that I can't help worrying about, and choices made for which I do not salute Sony (aka a leading member of both the RIAA and MPAA). These machines are the most propietary of the proprietary, and include copyprotection schemes that make CSS look childish. And Sony's goal with the PS2 is not just to push another console onto the market, but to start chipping into the things which PCs are used for today, making there machines the standard way to access the Internet.
The PS2 is not a machine designed as an instrument for the consumer, it is designed as an instrument for Sony to drive consumers into buying more games, more movies, and more of whatever other services they plan to offer. Inviting a PS2 into your living room is not buying a piece of electronics to serve _your_ agenda, it is opening the door to a piece of robotics maticulously designed to use you, granting you as little freedom as possible ("lets see, what Sony licensed proprietary title shall we play today") in the process.
The personal computer will always be more than just a piece of electronics, because it is a tool designed for you, and only for you. The PC is a statement of integrity and freedom. It serves your agenda, when you want it to, and, with a little knowledge, in whatever way you want it to. It is the PC that povided the basis for the developement of Linux, and it is freedom of PC usage that has shaped most of our ideas about electronic freedom.
The bad things that Microsoft do with their control of the PC desktop are nothing compared to the bad things that companies like Sony will do if the PC is replaced by closed machines like the PS2 as the primary tool for accessing the Internet. Do you think there will ever be a Napster client for the PS2? Or an SDMI-free mp3 player? Or the ability to save and store information on your terms?
The proliferation of the PS2 is a further step into a future where corporations control every aspect of your electronic life. A world where the machines that should be our tools are instead turned against us, meant only to ensure the continued cashflow toward existing capital, where large money will not hesitate to fuck you over at any point.
Oh happy day!
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We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.