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Games Entertainment

PlayStation 2 Launched In Europe 108

Posted by timothy from the pow!-zap!-bam!-bleeeeeep! dept.
Hougaard writes: "The PS2 release for Europe is today ... I went down to my local store to buy one. This is a store a lot like a CompUSA (sizewise). They will only get six from Sony???. The rumour has it, that Sony is only releasing 8000 PS2 for Denmark thruout 2000 :-( But I was guy number five -- So hopefully ..." Can any European readers comment on the launch? Were lines stretched around the block like they were at some U.S. stores? Who's got one already?
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PlayStation 2 Launched In Europe More

PlayStation 2 Launched In Europe

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  • This part of the faq [slashdot.org] explains how moderating came to be, and who gets it now. The part that prevents me from getting moderator access is "no obsessive compulsive reloaders." I've got loads of karma (call it whoring if you will) but I'm so bored at work that I can't wait for the next article to come up, and I'm always looking to see if anyone replied to my posts. Anyway, check out the guidelines, and see if you come up short anywhere.

  • PSX2 sux0rz d00dz. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The only reason PSX1 was successful was cuz gamez were copyable. Look at DC to see the FAILURE of a system due 2 copy protection shitz.
  • I don't know if they've hyped up the PS2 launch as much in Europe, it's definitely been a big deal in the US, to the point where newspapers bother to report on the coverage due to the immense value of the console itself. I am not surprised by the fact that there aren't corner-turning lines in European countries though, that's where the factor of national population (and number of PS2s) plus the amount of knowledge people have about the quantity of the PS2s come in. I am not aware of the gamer ratio over there, but the PS2 seems to be able to cause anticipation and funny little nerd riots where ever it goes.

    Jawa

  • Re:situation in Austria (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Unfortunately, the doors opened into a huge gas chamber. Nazi fag.
  • Your marvellous and generous reply has relieved approximately one minute of boredom, given that I am now replying. Unfortunately, I do not understand your reference to cigarettes at the end of your post.

    Have you ever thought about how funny it would be if you heard someone say "can I bum a fag off of you?"
  • Most PS2 were pre-sold, none in shops (I Think).
    No, I didn't buy one :-)
    The BBC coverage [bbc.co.uk] includes the price in various countries in USD - not surprisingly the US price is the lowest.
    They had to delay the launch because of production problems in Japan.
    ----
  • I refuse to try to judge the performance of a piece of hardware from details of how its clever. How good is the RAMMemory bandwidth in practice anyway? Does it use texture compression? Does the DC? What sort of memory bandwidth are we using and what can we manage?

    I'll make a decision when I see Quake run on both of them. Actually I'll just see whats got the best games after Easter.
  • don't know if she is officially a pornstar, but joanne guest is pretty damn hot.
  • I've heard too that only 8000 PS2's was going to be released in Denmark through out 2000, but with the price of allmost 4000 kr. I don't think that you should fear the term "Sold out"... But the PS2 is an Awesome system though... (hehe, rart at se danskere på nettet)
  • Dreamcast using Bleemcast plays PS1 games better than a PS2. :-)
  • Well all big empires are evil I guess. And I don't really care. All I care about is what they can offer me as a user and developer and the XBox looks better in that regard. What's wrong with a harddisk? I don't see the problem - on the contrary. And what's wrong with a x86 CPU? It's cheap and even fast nowadays. And the NVidia chipset is going to kick some major gfx ass anyway, so...
  • ...I dunno why I'm posting on a two-day-old thread nobody's reading any more,...
    I'do. I'll check it out.
  • ...or would do if Bleemcast had seen the light of day. And given Bleem's reputation surrounding the PC version of their software I wouldn't be holding out for too much in the way of compatibility and stability. Of course, the best way to play PSOne games is on... a PSOne. Duh.
  • Sure, give money to sony. Their games aren't that impressive and will take a while to come out with decent games. DreamCast uses version of DirectX interface and Playstation uses their own patented, sign non disclosure or you don't get it type of interface. Fuck them. The will be like Apple bigots, yes they have the best hardware but corporate greed for money and control is what ultimately might destroy them. Look back PC vs Mac war. Two games one guy brought to our place are not as impressive as they sold them to be. Like XXs for one? Similar one for the Dreamcast Tony Hawkings Skate board game kicks its ass.
    DOA2 load time are horrendous, and there's no depth to the game whatsoever, unlike soulcalibur.
    So I'd say shove your PS2 and second rate DVD up your own ass, you might enjoy it better that way.
  • Normally I would say that the high prices in Europe are due to the fact that we are used to pay that kind of money for things.
    Since European consumers expect prices to be high they don't complain, and companies like Sony realize that they can get away with higher prices in Europe without loosing too many customers.

    But when It comes to the Playstation 2 the price is just rediculous! Here in Sweden it sells for SEK 4500 (about $450) which is almost twice what the Dreamcast costs.
    I don't know the exact number on how many machines will reach Sweden before christmas but if the supplies are so low as Sony say they'll probably be able to sell the few consoles they have at this price since they will be so rare -- but I'll doubt that a lot of people will pay that kind of money for the PS2 in January or whenever supplies increase..

  • But the PS2 is already twice as expensive as the DC here. $300 vs. $150 here in US

    You guys are paying sucker money man.

    CY
  • You Americans really have no idea how big Europe is, right ?

    Just for comparison:

    Current estimate of people living in Europe:

    726,358,948

    Current estimate of people living in North America:

    469,574,005

    Even if you only count the western European countries, its still more people than in north America.

    (Source: Current World Population [nbci.com])

  • This is a store a lot like a CompUSA (sizewise). They will only get six from Sony???.
    Each CompUSA store actually only got 15 (only sold 14). We haven't gotten any more since - stores like Toys R Us and Best Buy are generally getting more.

  • ...from all hiper-markets in portugal too. Kids gonna have a great christmas.
  • I went around today to a couple of different stores, and while noone actually had any PS2s on the shelves, they all said that they had only received a couple for launch day, and was expection a bigger shipment due on monday.
    It was no problem preordering one of these, as the demand surprisingly hadn't been that big, at least not in those stores, which admittedly is not placed in the most populated area of Denmark (no 5 mile queues or any riot-like happenings ;-)

    And, the fact that Denmark only got 8000 PS2s for the rest of the year just plain sucks.
    United Kingdom : One PS2 for every 363 citizens
    Denmark : One PS2 for every 662 citizens

    Thats unfair, I should think :-(

  • There is a small community in northern Sweden called Danmark (Denmark's sp. Danmark in Swedish). I think it's somewhere in Värmland.
  • Here in belgium the price was 21.500BEF, which is around $450. That's with one gamepad, no games, no memory cards. The price is expected to go down next week. But you won't find me looking around for a PS2. I'll get my neighbour to buy one, I'll buy a serious DVD player and I'll just wait 6 months and get a PS2 at a much better price. ;P
  • No, they cant. They use the fact that they control the hardware to also control the software. Otherwise people would make playstations that could play games from anywhere in the world which would mean games released in the US would work on European machines. Sony currently cant stand the idea of that and doesnt allow it on its machines (hence the infamous modchip, which not all owners opt for).

    Also allowing for other people to create clones means variations in specifications. Sony currently takes great care over quality control of games, I mean, how often has a PS game crashed on you? Nowhere near as frequently as the average PC game. This would be much harder with clone hardware on the market and would cause then a drop in software sales and therefore hurt their core bussiness.

    Just because something doesnt make you money doesnt mean its not essential for your profit.

    Nick

  • Here are a couple of articles from The Irish Times [ireland.com] about the demand for the PS2 in Ireland:

    Some buyers consoled as Sony game arrives [ireland.com]

    PlayStation2 demand wipes out national supply [ireland.com]

    It's interesting to note that for some reason Ireland has the most Playstation One consoles per capita than any country other than Japan. For this reason the Irish allocation was relatively generous, but still totally inadequate.

  • But there is no knowledge people in Europe - only when you come visit us with nice caps and sneakers. We people of Europe not so smart as you clevar people of America. WE LOVE YOU - you are SO clevar people [satirewire.com].
    burger-snaskere
  • There are quite a few PS2's left in Germany. They are at the Toys R Us stores and seem to be being bought up quite quickly. I was in a Koln store on Friday, and they were packed, but stocked. Mostly the guy counterpart of couples were buying them.. seems like the men have found their escape from the women.

  • I got one (Germany) (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    When I came at the shop (Toys-R-Us in Wallau, near Frankfurt), there were +/- 10 people waiting, and it was an hour before opening time. So I waited an hour, by that time there were about 40 or 50 people waiting. The rumour among the crowd was that the shop only had 30 units, so when they opened the door, I *ran* in... only to find that only the 10 people that were there first actually came for a ps2, the others just wanted other stuff... So there were plenty of playstations. The bad parts was that they only had 4 games :-(
  • You Americans very beautifull (as we can see in your clevar films) so you have lots of sex and then have many babies and then you become biiig country. We Europeans not so beautifull as Barbara Streisann or Clint Eastwood so we have little sex and not many babies and then become little country.

  • Okay, lets do this backwards. Start with £299.99. Divide by 1.175 (to remove VAT):
    299.99 / 1.175 = £255.31 before VAT

    Multiply by 1.6 to convert to US $:
    255.31 * 1.6 = 408.50

    Leaving a difference of $108.50. Given that if you multiply £299.99 you get $480, this is almost $70 in VAT.

    But yeah, point taken, $108.50 is a lot of extra.

  • Btw. Bergen rox !
    was there on holliday :0
  • I work at an EB in Oz... We were taking preorders until the company said enough ... Our store alone clocked up 150 and customers are still asking, with launch just 4 days away we've told the preorderers that we'll be open midnight... That's pretty fked in my book because it'll be the midnight till 2-3am ...then we'll be open 9 to 9 for late night shopping... Luckily I'll be avoiding the chaos.. I have IT exams ;)
  • The PSX2 has *many* great games for it already available - PS1 games. I know that isn't what you meant, but I think Sony did The Right Thing when they added backwards-compatibility with their last console. I hope they keep it up, and others emulate them(keeping backwards compatibility with the *last* console the company made - no need to make another x86).

    Dave
    'Round the firewall,
    Out the modem,
    Through the router,
    Down the wire,
  • Immoral because they want to make profits? Welcome to capitalism

    No, but because they use underhand tactics to do so. Threatening legal action against competitors is not nice. They may be within their rights to do this, but it becomes a totalitarian regime ruled by large corporations. Letters from lawyers look scary even if they have no legal basis to complain.

    Unless they control the distribution and sale of software (=games), there is no money

    If they couldn't, they would just have to find a new way to make money. And they would. Sony make quite a nice profit on CD players without control of the entire market. Companies have made a profit on hardware before. Cheaper games could be a selling point.

    These guys make Microsoft look innocent!

    I disagree: I have yet to see Sony to abuse a monopoly to embrace another market.

    An exageration. Although they do use their monopoly to prevent non-sanctioned games from being developed.

    Everyone can easily decide whether a game is good. Bot not everyone has the knowledge to decide whether an Operating system is good or not.

    Well, that doesn't really matter. If I sell any useless product that you find adequate for your needs, then it doesn't matter whether its any good by an experts judgement. Its up to competitors to make a better product and convince you that its better.
  • No need for such a creature. Most TVs in Europe will happily display NTSC signals. I'm running Japanese and US import consoles on my bog-standard el-cheapo ex-rental TV with no additional hardware other than the voltage converter (this one's mandatory if you don't want your expensive new console to go fzzt...)
  • Sony promised 17.000 PS2 in Austria for the launch-day, but only delivered about 3000. I preordered my ps2 about 2 months ago. At the shop, where I ordered, they had 40 preorders but only got 9 (!). So they put them on a pile and all the small kids who sliped through the barrier in front of the shop got them :( Too bad...

    I was thinking if this could be some sort of (bad) advertising for the ps2 so that everybody who wants one tries to get it as soon as possible and that they are mentioned in the press... I'm really frustrated. This should not happen. Sony should put every ps2 they have in stock onto the market and not delever one or two a day that people keep coming back to the shops and leave frustrated. Im deliberating if I really need one of those bloody things...
    ------------------------------

  • Actually, last time I checked it was imported as a games console. Sony were threatening to take various countries to court over their refusal to accept it as a PC (with the correspondingly lower import duty), but nothing had happened yet. So the first batch does have that import duty.

    Even with that thrown in, of course, it's cheaper in the US. And the reason is, as you say, that they know they can get away with it. 300 pounds doesn't sound like a reasonable price to this consumer, though. And what with the delays in releases of games, or no releases at all in Europe (from Square alone, Europe missed out on Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics, Parasite Eve, Saga Frontier, Chrono Cross and many more...) if I ever decide I want a Western PS2, I'll be importing from the US.

  • You could have won one in the morning on Live! Radio ;-)

    oft host a pech

  • ..i just saw playstation 1 with new covers and price had been taken up again.. hmm.. i think they have put too much money on ps2 and now they are trying to take it back with refitted ps1, as people will think it's cheap when confronted with ps2, althought the price would have been about at least 10% lower just couple of weeks ago..

  • Laughing my ass off! Cubemates are giving me funny looks. Who cares. Actually, I'm a Canadian, eh? but with enough exposure to British culture (and dictionaries) to "misinterpret" whenever someone tries to call me homosexual. Gay==happy, queer==odd, fag==cigarette, homo==3.25% milk. This post almost doesn't deserve to be submitted, but now that I've taken the trouble to write it...

  • I haven't been there myself but I saw on the news (both TV, online [tf1.fr] and printed) that the Virgin Megastore here in Paris had 200 PS2 and opened at midnight that day. 2 people got injured in the "fight" and many people had been waiting for hours... They just did something grand like with a giant PS2 dome opening, the boxes being underneath the dome surrounded by spotlights... There were 70 000 PS2 for France, and 50 000 were only available for people who reserved one earlier so 20 000 Playstation 2 have been sold yesterday in stores all over the country. pfew!

    Personnaly I wouldn't go through all that troubles for a console that still lacks a lot of great games (something else than arcade) and wait for the system to be a few months older...

  • Standard childish rebuttal

    reply to this, it's all setup

    and so on, and so on

    hey! what happened to the "post anonymously" option for users,
    why not also remove "coward" from "userless" posts, really i'm serious

  • The PS2 is going to be around for 5 years at least, so there's no point at all in queuing for hours. So you (might) get to buy a PS2 before anyone else - big deal. How about waiting for some games to appear and the price to come down?
  • it's so much more over there because they tax you out the wazoo for stupid things like game consoles. on the other hand, at least it doesn't cost you $2000 to go to the emergency room.

    personally, i'd take the price hike on playstations.
  • I didnt see any queues here, in fact, I never heard a peep in the computer science common room.

    However, the register is reporting about online buying [theregister.co.uk]. We've not gone as mad as you yanks though.

    The PS2 retails for $300 in the US, its $433 over here. Somethign seems a little amis. If I were interested I'd get a NTSC-->PAL converter at those prices!
  • honestly, i dont see what the big deal is, ive played one of the damn things and its no better than the original. As for the DVD ability, like someone LONG before me said, you can get a truly GOOD player for the same money, rather than the medicre one that the PS2 is. i will admit the BASIC thing IS cool though.... lets talk more about that... :P
  • We had to pre-order and put down a deposit, none were actually available 'off the shelf' on launch day (unless a few shops didn't reach their pre-order limit, which would surprise me). Reportedly, we only got half of our pre-orders fulfilled today, but the rest are promised before Christmas.

    If anyone out there got one, can you let us know what the implementation of BASIC is like please?

  • Let's hear about the programming of it. I can't even imagine what the interface is like. Description, details, and is it worth it for me to get one shipped across the pond?

    ______
    everyone was born right-handed, only the greatest overcome it.
  • I and nine of my friends (well, slaves) arrived but we were canceled out by your -10 people.

    Natch.

  • In Australia they have just started putting up, big blue ? mark posters where the question mark is shaped like the P from the PS2 logo, they also have a flashing dot at night time. I guess its suposed to build hype for the PS2, but any self respecting video game user knows that it is a PS2 ad, and the things have been out for weeks everywhere else. I think the PS2 will cost about 700 Australian dollars, and thats ridiculous.
  • in Austria they open the stores at 12:00 PM in order to prevent that so many people have to wait outside in the cold a whole night.
  • I'm a Dane myself... and I din't find it funny at all. But it didn't offend me either, so laugh all you want if that's the kind of humor you like =)
  • Nothing here, although one shop did have a small selection of PS2 games. And most of the price difference is VAT, BTW.
  • And Stuff Sega too for that matter. Sony have to be the greediest most amoral corporation ever. They refuse to allow anyone to make a PS compatible system. Even if it is legal, they're going to sue you to oblivion. They refuse to allow people to develop for their system without doung it their way. They've even taken legal action against people selling second hand Playstation Software.

    These guys make Microsoft look innocent!
  • I'm having no luck here in Holland finding a PS/2 and am thinking about grabbing a U.S. model on my next trip over. I'm assuming it uses a power adaptor that accepts AC and converts to DC for the unit. What I don't know is whether the U.S. model will accept 120~240V/50~60 hz, or is it locked into US voltage only. Can anyone from the U.S. help me with this. Otherwise, fellow Europeans, can you recommend an online or bricks & mortar store where I can pick up a PS/2 fast? Thanks in advance, hal
  • As far as I can see, SCEE [scee.com] have pretty much made a disaster of their pre-order system. Supposedly, they are 15% short of meeting their orders, personally I believe the shortfall is greater than that. I still haven't received confirmation to collect my PS2 - Sony are currently telling anyone who phones to hassle their store, take ID, etc, and they'll get their PS2. However, according to Game Ltd [game-retail.co.uk] Sony are just saying this to get people off the phone (I have spent over an hour on hold trying to get through to Sony in the last two days). All in all, not the start I imagine they wanted to their PS2 launch in the UK...
  • Rocks were pretty popular in the Stone Age too.. And they're kinda hard to copy..
  • And then you wouldn't have a kickass PSX2 system, you'd have an old Dreamcast with crappy controllers and graphics (relatively speaking of course). Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. The capabilities of the PSX2 are far more impressive then a dreamcast. -ivan256
    Maybe so, but at least the DC has decent games available for it at the moment. I'd rather play MSR than Ridge Racer.
  • And Stuff Sega too for that matter. Sony have to be the greediest most amoral corporation ever.

    Immoral because they want to make profits? Welcome to capitalism. That's perfectly normal. Sega, Sony and Co. don't make money with their hardware. Unless they control the distribution and sale of software (=games), there is no money in the video game market. No one upgrades consoles or updates the OS.

    These guys make Microsoft look innocent!

    I disagree: I have yet to see Sony to abuse a monopoly to embrace another market. Not that I'm terribly in fond of Sony, but good products are more important in this market than in the PC market: Everyone can easily decide whether a game is good. Bot not everyone has the knowledge to decide whether an Operating system is good or not.

  • Exactly my thought too. Besides the in my opinion the PS-2 sucks spec. vise! I'm personally gonna wait for the XBox, lot better specs in all terms. Better & nicer API and cheaper (when it is released). Free dev.tools. under certain conditions of course, but still. BTW. the fuss about the release of PS-2 here in Denmark (at least here in Aalborg) has been pretty balanced. Non I know are raving across the city to buy one. I think people here in DK are waiting for a price drop or one of the new consoles (Xbox, GameCube or whatever).
  • World Gazette [gazetteer.de] says Denmark has 5,363,900 people.

    Josh Sisk
  • It was marked "Funny" because there was no moderation option for "Bloody Hilarious, use all of my moderator points and make this one a SIX right now!"

    This post probably won't deserve such high praise...
    --

  • If they don't make money on the hardware then they shouldn't have a problem with clones. They can still control the software.
  • I already have a Dreamcast, an extra controller, two games and a memory card. Why on earth would I want another one?
  • Or maybe not.

    The european PS2 is said to be different from US/Japanese (or maybe only different from the japanese) due to the different market.

    DVD isn't as popular here yet, so the thought is for us Europeans to buy PS2 to play games _and_ movies, and apparently the DVD software decoding on the japanese PS2 has been said to suck :)

    DVD playing in hardware is what I heard they included and didn't they also include some sort of basic? To try getting it classed as a computer :)

  • Re:No queues (Score:3)

    by rho ( 6063 ) on Friday November 24, 2000 @10:35AM (#603209) Journal
    We've not gone as mad as you yanks though.

    I think that has something to do with the British weltanshuung -- soggy sandwiches, bland food, and lack of ice suppresses the soul, so you aren't given over to excesses of emotion. Which may have something to do with the lack of a truly great British porn star.

    (I'm kidding! Just trying to stir you Brits up a bit... of course, my ancestors came over during the potato famine, so on second thought, screw you.)

    (That's another joke, BTW. Jeez, lighten up...)

  • I had forgotten about the emulation, to be honest 8-). I'm just a bit sick of all this hype that's going around concerning the PS2. All the games released so far, and those that are being released in the near future, fall far short of this 'revolution' that Sony was proclaiming, which almost all games magazines and mainstream media seem to have bought into. Consequently, the DC has been kicked into the ground, despite the wonderful games that have been released for it recently (Disclaimer: I don't own a DC or PS2, and don't intend to. But I do take an interest in these things 8-)).
  • Don't believe the hype. While the PS2 can handle about twice as many polys in practice, it is seriously let down by memory performance and video memory size.
    Don't believe the Sega hype. Read this technical description on ArsTechnica [arstechnica.com] about how the PSX2 works compared to a PC like archetecture (read: Dreamcast). Memory performance is incredible, and video memory size is not as important in the PSX2 archetecture. Of course if you code your game with the PC-like archetecture in mind you're going to get crappy looking graphics, but if you don't think of your video RAM as storage for your textures, and repetedly transfer them over the ample bandwidth of the memory bus, the video RAM size becomes less important. This may sound like a dumb idea but there's plenty of bandwith there for it to work and has some interesting possibilities.

    BTW, the graphics in DOA2: Hardcore kick ass! Can't wait to get home from work to play!

  • The news are saying that ques started forming at 5 AM here. This was suppost to be the Don't-buy-anything day :)
  • Of course, that's if you wanted a Dreamcast instead of a PS2.
  • The game shops' have certainly been a bit more crowded today than they usually are. All the shops have their new PS2 sections, but very few consoles.
  • 7 minutes.. sold out. (from what i heard)
  • Don't buy these hyped up toasters. Wait for games at the least. Two people in this office got one and why? By their accounts "because of DVD". Well great, a region 2 crappy DVD player with 2 goodish games that Dreamcast still ecplipses. Wait 6 months, pay 99ukp and have good games. In the mean time use DeCSS to watch their output if you must or just stick to learning iptables. "Yeah, like ipchains is soooo yesterday.. What? You use ipfwadm".

    If this isn't +5 I'll eat my keyboard.

    Phill
  • Perhaps this is more of a general "get off my duff and research" but are PS2 games region coded like DVD movies? If not it'd be nice if Sony decided to give PS2BASIC to other folks in other countries. Personally I think it'd be a nice thing to play with. Anyone have more info on this?
    .--bagel--.---------------.
    | aim: | bagel is back |
    | icq: | 158450 |
  • you CAN copy DC games
  • I should sign up for these and resell them. I found an ad in the local paper (NH) that has a PS/2 for $700. Can you say scalping! I could see reselling these thing for a great profit.
  • well think about it:

    in the us, you've got 100,000 on stock to sell, which sell immediatly.

    in denmark, there wern't even lines:
    i'm thinking there's less demand. when there's less demand, usually you produce less. When you end up producing less, your (initial) costs/per unit for production are quite a bit higher. As I understand it, the UK and most (all?) of europe runs off of 50 hz 110-120v. The US runs off of 60 hz 110-120v. I've heard stories of people in aust. wanting to mooch off of a local industrial company who had industrial size 50 -> 60hz converters, allowing them to use inexpensive toasters, dishwashers, ect (not counting s&h). Same deal for the PSX2. Power conversion = higher cost, higher cost = higher retail sales cost.
  • Overheard a clerk today in a local store who said they excpected 50 additional units in by wednsday, but their current stock was either reserved or sold.

    They no longer take pre-orders.
  • Well, there are many Dreamcast games that look better than any of the PS2 games, so the crappy graphics comment is unfounded.

    And on a second note, what is with you people calling a Playstation 2 a PSX2? Yes, the Playstation was abbreviated PSX, but, the Playstation 2 has PS2 on the box and console itself... ITS NOT PSX2, ITS PS2!!!
  • So let's see, how many groups of people has Sony managed to piss off with this launch?

    1) Customers: First and foremost, people cannot get these things, and they're going through an awful lot of trouble to. People have stood in lines for 8 hours or more and gotten absolutely nothing. Then some people (and dealers!) buy them and resell them after marking them up 200-300%. $800 for a PS2 is just ridiculous.

    2) Retailers: Retailers have no idea how many units they're getting from Sony, when they're going to show up, and when they finally do, they tend to get much less than they're hoping for. One retailer I spoke to was supposed to get shipments on 10/26, but got zip. Retailers can't advertise the PS2 console, which makes them look really bad. PS2 is "the thing" to get this Christmas, and people are saving the bucks until one is available, which means retailers aren't making money in the meantime. These guys are trying to bring in 40% of the year's revenues in about 40 days. Sony is really causing problems here. Furthermore, imagine how tired clerks are of say "we don't have them, and we don't know when we will."

    3) Developers. There are tons of units of PS2 game discs available for purchase. But how many people are going to buy them before they know they have a system?

    4) Parents/Wives: PS2 are at the top of wishlists everywhere. Too bad most people are going to get one.

    5) Media: Newspapers, TV networks and radio stations would love to sell ads to retailers boasting that they have PS2s to sell.

    I just don't by the component shortage line that Sony's feeding us. If that were the case, why are there so many PS2s available in Japan? And despite this, Sony still has the balls to run PS2 commercials during prime time. The upside to all of this is that Sega will probably see increased sales, which means more competition in the market next year with a larger Dreamcast installed base. The truth is that Dreamcast games generally look as good as or better than PS2 games, and there are many more titles available. If only Dreamcast had the EA Sports titles...

    - Scott

    ------
    Scott Stevenson
  • higher cost = higher retail sales cost.

    The manufacturing cost has little to do with the retail cost. The retail cost is the amount they expect most people to pay. Replacing 60Hz components with 50Hz components costs nothing for Sony.
  • If you want to program it, you have to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement. See also here [slashdot.org].
  • Uhhh remeber Atari, NES, SNES, GENESIS? They were sucessful and you couldn't copy them...
  • With VAT at 17.5%, even if the US version had no sales tax on it at all, the price would be $352.50, so where does the rest of it go? Import taxes? As if import taxes on Japanese goods to the US are low. This is just exploitation of the PAL/SECAM/NTSC differences to grab extra profits from consumers whose only other choice is not to buy at all (and that applies to TVs, VCRs, DVDs and VHS movies too).

  • Or..... (Score:5)

    by Fervent ( 178271 ) on Friday November 24, 2000 @09:46AM (#603228)
    .......you could buy a Dreamcast, an extra controller, two games and a memory card for the price of just the PS2 console.

    Just a thought.

  • The price difference is about 50% Even if you take into account VAT (17.5%) and import duty (Not that much since it's imported as a PC). The reason it costs more is simply because 300 pounds sounds like a reasonable price to the consumer. They would charge that if they could make them for a few dollars each.
  • Don't believe the hype. While the PS2 can handle about twice as many polys in practice, it is seriously let down by memory performance and video memory size.

    Since there don't seem to be any games that have been ported to both systems, its impossible to compare objectively.
  • Well I got one.. The Yabasic works .. It can do simple character based programs and simple 2D graphics. It even has PEEK and POKE .. So we just need to find the address for the DVD region code :-) BTW: The population of Denmark is ~ 5 million so this is one playstation for 625 people, compared to the US when the initial launch was one for each 280 people.
  • If you have some time on your hands and don't mind hitting refresh a couple million times, you could be the proud owner of a Playstation 2. Amazon has posted to their Playstation page that they expect a shipment today. You will have to check back often, the average sell out time is around two minutes.

    www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/browse/-/play station2/30 171 2/ref%3Dgw%5Fm%5Ftn%5Fsc/103-2574651-1499819 [amazon.com] |
  • I think there is a more relevant reference [m-w.com].
  • Dude, you're an idiot (or is it 1d10+ ?) The DC can copy games and it's easier because there is no mod chip needed to play them. Do some research before you post, eh?
  • If I were making marketing decisions for Sony's entertainment branch, I'd want to make sure we didn't see any of these ludicrous shortages... by making sure there were enough machines to meet that demand, even if it means pushing back release dates. Scenes of people camping overnight in front of stores; of actual fights over PS2s (remember the Tickle Me Elmos?); and of online auctions at incredibly inflated prices are sure cues that you're not moving enough product! I mean, if it's as good as you claim it is, customers wouldn't mind a delay if it means guaranteed availability.

  • Switzerland Experience (Score:3)

    by Lomby ( 147071 ) <[andrea] [at] [lombardoni.ch]> on Friday November 24, 2000 @11:58AM (#603236) Homepage
    I had some luck, but I got mine today.
    The shop of the local cable tv had a lot of PSX2, but nobody did think they would have had one, so there were some available until 2pm.
    As a geeky anecdote, as me and a friend, both CS graduates, walked in, they guy in the shop asked directly: "One or two?". So, we really can't disguise ourselves.
    Sadly they had no games/pads/memory cards to sell. I had to go to another shop located nearby, which had sold out all the PSX2, but had plenty of accessories.
    Another friend tried to go to the same shop, about 2 hours later, but they said they had no more PSXs, but when he was leaving, a guy working for the shop approached him, giving him a card with a phone number, saying he could get one PSX2 by calling, but it would be a bit more expensive.
    I guess he had bought some to resell them at a higher price.

    Since I work at the university, I directly when to a room with a beamer and tried the console with Tekken Tag Tournament and ISS 2000. Tekken is visually stunning, but in the gameplay department still disappointing (like its predecessors). ISS 2000 has simpler graphics, but its the best soccer game on every platform, improving a bit on PSX ISS Pro Evolution.
    On the demo disk, there is the Yabasic, I will test it: sadly I don't have an USB keyboard.
    The SSX demo is also very impressive, the best game so far.
    Still, I am very annoyed by the region lockout, both for DVDs and PSX 1 CDs. I have many region 1 DVDs and a lot of NTSC games I would like to play on my new console. I guess I will wait for a modchip, but I can hardly wait.
  • Not quite sure I see the logic behind rejecting one evil corporation machine for another evil corporations machine:) To be fair, all these companies are as bad as each other. X-Box looks pretty good, although some of the design decisions seem odd - Hard disk and UMA particularly. Use of an x86 type chip bugs me a bit too but there are logical reasons for that.
  • ps2 has not been released yet (30NOV),
    however you can (pre)order via http://au.playstation.com/ to be delivered on the 30NOV with free postage.
    you can also pre-order in .nz (http://nz.playstation.com/)

    this is good news if you have to go to work :)

  • The problem with the European PS2 (Score:3)

    by phaze3000 ( 204500 ) on Friday November 24, 2000 @12:03PM (#603239) Homepage
    As with the original Playstation is bad PAL conversions. PAL has higher res and runs at 50hz, and despite the delay in the release all that has been done to most release games is to put borders round the screen and not compensate for the 60hz->50hz switch. As a result games like Tekken Tag are completely ruined - at least to anyone who has played a full speed version. Ridge Racer has been tweaked and is actually *faster* than the Japanese version (not played the US version so I've no idea about that). Unfortunately they seem to have neglected to speed up the computer-controlled cars, which sort of wrecks the game.
    Can't fault Fantavision though, that game is truly amazing. As to whether or not the console is worth the 300GBP it's being sold for.. well I'll leave that up to others. Personally I'd be going for an import model though, if I had the cash. As it is, it's back to F355 on my Dreamcast.. :)

    -- Piracy is a vicitmless crime, like punching someone in the dark.

  • The UK is 230V 50Hz

    And if, you look at the old PS as an example (and I can't see why this should be different) the PSU is hosted on a seperate (quite cheaply made) board, so the main part of the procssing and stuff is interchangeable. Also, my "NTSC" DC seems to have no problem outputting PAL with a few changes of boot mode *cough*

    Ben^3 (waiting until it's £150)
  • I dunno why I'm posting on a two-day-old thread nobody's reading any more, but I don't see this mentioned so I thought I should record it for posterity :)

    It appears that the current batch of European PAL PS2s have a problem with DVD playback over RGB.

    The SCART standard used for European video applications carries both composite video (acceptable quality /one signal for whole picture/ universally accepted) and RGB video (very high quality / one signal for each of red, green, blue, sync / not all TVs accept it) [as well as S-video, but that's niche stuff in Europe].

    PS2 owners appear to have discovered that although they can play games using RGB SCART fine, DVD playback is green-tinged and odd-looking. DVD playback over composite SCART is OK.

    Some Sony sources are claiming this is to prevent DVD pirates from copying the nice, clean, RGB signal; that argument doesn't wash since there are plenty of cheaper DVD decks with RGB output a pirate could use instead, and anyway, DVD can be pirated much more easily in the digital domain now we have DeCSS. It seems more likely that something was overlooked in the move from US model to European model and that one of the AV pins meant for RGB is putting out US-style Component Video signals.

    We'll see what happens.
    --
  • I just don't by the component shortage line that Sony's feeding us. If that were the case, why are there so many PS2s available in Japan?

    The Japanese version has a software-based DVD decoder (remember the disc recall when they discovered it wasn't region-locked) whereas the US/European version has hardware DVD playback.
  • I'm talking about the UK, where all the PSX2s were preordered and sold out in days. So the demand was just as great as in the US, it's just a case of the UK (and European) consumer being screwed again.

  • 8000 for denmark? (Score:3)

    by dubl-u ( 51156 ) <2523987012@@@pota...to> on Friday November 24, 2000 @09:52AM (#603252)
    The rumour has it, that Sony is only releasing 8000 PS2 for Denmark thruout 2000. :-(


    Isn't that two per person? That seems like plenty.

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