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PS2 a Weapons Development Platform?

Posted by Hemos on from the my-scud-can-be-upgraded dept.

Moleman was one of the number of people who wrote in about the apparent move by the Japanese Government to restrict export of the Playstation 2. The reason? It has been apparently deemed to be a potential weapons development platform, in particular for missle guidance systems. Geez, get a couple and I can form my own rogue nation. The UK Telegraph has a more complete story - it's apparently only if you want to take two or more out of the country that they require permission - so you could fly and take one if you wanted without a problem.

3 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. PS2? by pb · · Score: 5

    How many (other) people thought "PS/2? A weapons platform? I can't even get the microchannel support working!"

    Please, call it something else, or I'll be confused forever!

    (even "Sony PS2", as opposed to "IBM PS/2"...)
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  2. why this has nothing to do with weapons by nocent · · Score: 5

    this is an agreement between the japanese government and sony to restrict distribution of the ps2 worldwide before sony are ready to do so, plain and simple. it has nothing to do with the potential weapons abuse.

    the key is the last sentence in the telegraph article:

    "Sony said it did not expect the restrictions to affect PlayStation 2's release in other countries."

    So, the technology inside is the same, still could be misused as they claim but soon it will be legal to be exported for the sole reason that it will be distributed by sony and not some third party. if this were truly a weapons concern, wouldn't you think that they would restrict sony from releasing it in other countries as the US once did for crypto?

  3. PS2 as a weapon..it is by wholesomegrits · · Score: 5

    Using my own experiences playing Swat 3 and Half Life, not to mention Super Tecmo Bowl on the original Ninetendo, I can safely say that the potential for the Playstation to be used as a passive weapon is quite real.

    Think of it: I spent countless hours playing computer games when I should have been doing Calc II. The potential for a rouge nation to dump millions of playstation 2 systems into the US threatens the very viability of the US GDP.

    Look at the recent declines in the stock market. They come very close on the heels of the Playstation 2's introduction. A coincidence..hardly.

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