8. The PS2 Would Self-Destruct Upon Detecting A Pirate Disc
One of the most persistent rumours I remember hearing on the school playground - though curiously, there doesn't seem to be much about it online - was that the PlayStation 2 would be fitted out with technology that allowed it to not only detect a pirate disc, but also self-destruct as a result. While to any reasonable adult this would seem a) highly unreasonable and b) a health and safety, not to mention PR nightmare, to children it sounds utterly plausible, and something Sony would have every right to do. I fondly remember the panicked outcry in the playground at school, as all the kids with chipped PlayStations started telling their parents, who would angrily respond that they wouldn't be getting a PS2, then. Oh, those were the days...