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.

Comments

Re:PS 2 Myths

[iapetus]

I noticed a couple of less-than-entirely-accurate responses to this one, so here are the genuine facts.

1. Entirely false. If you head over to Core Magazine you'll find a couple of pages of shots of the innards of PS2 (1, 2). From what I've heard, the screws are covered up, but a little bit of effort and you can get at them. Expect this to void your warranty. :)
2. Entirely false. Every report I've seen of the DVD playback has suggested that if anything it's superior to other DVD players in the price range. And the playback software is upgradeable (stored on the memory card) - future versions of the software will be enhanced. Progressive video is said to be available with the next version. For more information, see IGN's story on PS2's DVD capabilities.
3. Partly false. It is backward compatible with most PSX games - of the games tested, about 15 don't work so far, and these are mostly obscure Japanese titles (Wing Commander III being the one exception). There may be a few more in the Western lineup, but not that many. Compatibility is considerably better than Bleem, since this is hardware emulation, not software. There's a real PSX chip in there doing the work (doubling as the I/O controller). You can optionally configure the system to enhance PSX games with faster load times and bilinear filtering of textures. This reduces compatibility, resulting in some big-name games failing to work, and bilinear filtering makes the textures look less crisp (but smoother) rather than more so.
4. It is backwards compatible with the old controllers, but the new version of the Dual Shock controller has enhanced features that you won't get if you're using the old ones, including analogue buttons all round and a slightly better made analogue stick. The expectation is that old controllers/memory cards will mainly be used for PSX games, whereas PS2 games will tend to require the new kit (you can't use a PSX memory card to save PS2 games, for example). At the moment none of the games out there really make use of the analogue buttons, but expect this to change fairly soon.
5. True, provided your definition of a supercomputer is woefully outdated. This has been rumoured to cause problems with export, but it's mainly marketing hype - the only potential real problem with exporting the system is likely to be the strong encryption on the memory cards.

Re:The dark side of Play...

[Chasuk]

"The PS2 is not a machine designed as an instrument for the consumer..."

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!

"...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."

As can be said for virtually any product ever manufactured. You don't really believe that VCR's and televisions and CD-ROMs were designed as objets d'art, do you?

I work for an ISP, and I answer hundreds of phone calls a week from customers who need a box just like this one. They are desperately perplexed by any technology more complicated than a toaster, and it would save us and them literally thousands of hours of frustration and stress if they had purchased a box more suitable for their limited needs. I see the PS2 and future incarnations of similar hardware as the salvation of the consumer, not the enemy.

The geeks can still buy their power systems and tweak and upgrade and laugh at the unsophisticated consumer-level users.

If this is the "dark side," then R2-D2 and C-3PO are serving the wrong masters.