PlayStation 2 Celebrates Seven Years in the US

GamesIndustry.biz notes that today marks the seventh anniversary of the PlayStation 2's US launch. Stats for the console's lifetime include more than 120 million hardware units sold, and more than a billion units of software sold, with 30 million of those sold this year alone. The article notes that Sony is committed to keeping the console alive for at least another three years, with another 160 titles due out for the system through March 2008. Here's the console's top sellers list: "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (13 million), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million), Grand Theft Auto III (11 million), Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (11 million), Gran Turismo 4 (8.79 million), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million), Kingdom Hearts (5.6 million) Final Fantasy X (5 million), Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (3.7 million), Final Fantasy XII (3.68 million)."

So sad.

[Pojut]

So many overlooked games not on that top selling list...

Ever notice how the best games are usually the ones that most people have never heard of?

Re:So sad.

[XaXXon]

But, surprisingly because so often it isn't the case, the best-selling games on the platform are all quality titles. I've played and enjoyed all of the titles mentioned. So often 'popular' and 'good' don't line up at all.

Re:Odd

[Applekid]

Personally, I think Sony's stated committment to 3 more years of PS2 is just them protecting their bottom flanks. Wii is the least costly console, but if you include PS2 in the group, now the PS2 is the least costly. DS is a fun system with fun games and backwards compatibility with lots of GBA games but PS2 has it's own set of fun games along with backwards compatibility lots of PSX games.

If you can't afford a PS3 (or don't find it compelling enough), they'd still much rather get your money than you hand it over to Microsoft or Nintendo.

Absolute HATE for the controller

[Stormwatch]

I can't understand how people play with that damn "dualshlock" thing at all.

* Weird shape makes it uncomfortable to hold.
* Analog sticks placed so that you have to stretch your thumbs.
* Split d-pad makes it too hard to hit diagonals.
* Geometric symbols rather than letters for the buttons.
* 2 pairs of trigger buttons... fgsfds.

Other than the Nintendo DS, it is the only controller that ever made my hand cramp! I'm not just saying that other pads are better; as far as I'm concerned, without a third-party controller with a radically different shape (like this one [gearlive.com]), the PS2 is pretty much unusable.