Legacy
There seems to have been three responses to the news of the "passing" of the Playstation 2. The largest camp appears to be people shocked that the once beloved console was still in production in 2012; another camp was made up of gamers vaguely aware that Playstation 2 versions of some releases were still being produced; and a third smaller camp was made up of avid Playstation 2 gamers, who either never made the jump or were merely still buying Playstation 2 games. Regardless of which camp you fall into (I am part of the second camp), you are surely aware of the effect that the Playstation 2 had on the gaming industry. Over the near 13 years since its release it has sold over 150 million copies and become the most successful console of all time, something it achieved despite lacking the online functionality of its competitors and a lacklustre suite of release titles. Where the Dreamcast and Xbox had online functionality the Playstation 2 revolutionised the notion of a video game console by including a DVD player, a trend it would repeat by including a Blu-ray player in the Playstation 3. By including a DVD player as standard, it made buying a Playstation 2 the best option for gamers, as they wouldn't then need to purchase an additional DVD player, which at the time were around the same price as new release consoles. The comparable price also opened up a new market for Sony, non-gamers looking to purchase a DVD player. Sales rocketed, and stayed high, thanks in large part to both this unique functionality and also backwards compatibility with early PS1 games. In one fell swoop Sony had created both the first home entertainment system and what in time we would come to know as casual gaming. In time Sony created hardware for both hardcore gamers and casual gamers, including a harddrive (which never got released in Europe), a network adaptor, and the EyeToy. For hardcore gamers, it may not have been the first console with a network adaptor but some of its servers have outlived both the Xbox and Xbox 360 counterparts, one example being Battlefied 2: Modern Combat's PS2 servers, which are still active, 7 years after release. In terms of casual gamers, the EyeToy, released in 2003, was amongst the first vision controllers (the Dreameye preceded the EyeToy but was never released outside of Japan) and inspired the Xbox Live Vision and later Kinect. The biggest legacy of the Playstation 2 is how it changed our perceptions of consoles, it used DVD functionality and aspirations to be the focal point of the living room to create the very first home entertainment system, which ever console released since, except the Wii, has sought to replicate. Internet and DVD functionality has become standard for consoles and whilst the Playstation 2 played its role in both of these it is solely responsible for the latter. The Playstation 2 also represented a significant leap forward in both graphics, game quality, and technical specifications. The next page will examine some of these games.