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PlayStation 2 Celebrates Seven Years in the US 71

Posted by Zonk from the long-live-the-slimline dept.
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)."
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PlayStation 2 Celebrates Seven Years in the US More

PlayStation 2 Celebrates Seven Years in the US

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  • I'm a little surprised that the Guitar Hero franchise isn't represented on that list. I haven't (purposefully) owned a console since my classic NES but have played on other people's. I've been seriously considering picking up a PS2 specifically for the purpose of wanting to play the Guitar Hero games. The only other console I'm interested in is the Wii. Any other gaming I want to do I've always been able to do quite well on my PC.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

      I've been seriously considering picking up a PS2 specifically for the purpose of wanting to play the Guitar Hero games.

      I specifically picked up a used PS2 for Guitar Hero, about a year ago. It was definitely worth it. I still play it pretty often and always when there's a party.

      • I too picked up a PS2 just for Guitar Hero. It's just too damn fun to pass up. I have yet to plug a normal controller into the PS2. I'm totally psyched for GHIII!
      • It's the same for me, though after running into delay issues running the video through my video capture card on my computer, I've been looking into modding my unit for RGB output. On the original firewire equipped machines, you can tap right off the board and run out to a computer monitor.

    • I've been seriously considering picking up a PS2 specifically for the purpose of wanting to play the Guitar Hero games. The only other console I'm interested in is the Wii.
      Or you could just get the Wii, since Guitar Hero III is on the Wii.
      • But not Guitar Hero I, Guitar Hero II, or Guitar Hero II: Rocks the 80s. PS2 is the only console with all 4 titles.
    • To get on the list, you need to sell 3.8M copies. Guitar Hero is popular, but not that popular.

      According to wikipedia, Guitar Hero 1 [wikipedia.org] sold about 1.7 million copies. Guitar Hero 2 [wikipedia.org] sold about 3 million, but thats combined for the Xbox 360 and the PS2.

  • It might not have all the bells & whistles of the newer consoles, but the PS2 is still the best bang for your gaming buck. I'm probably going to hold off at least one more year before buying a "next gen" console.

    • It might not have all the bells & whistles of the newer consoles, but the PS2 is still the best bang for your gaming buck.
      *cough*Dreamcast*cough*
      • It might not have all the bells & whistles of the newer consoles, but the PS2 is still the best bang for your gaming buck.

        *cough*Dreamcast*cough*
        DC: library of dozens of quality games, to be had used for ~$100 USD

        PS2: A library of hundreds of quality games to had new for ~$130 USD

        umm... I don't think the math works out in the DC's favor.

  • So sad. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Pojut ( 1027544 ) on Friday October 26, 2007 @02:36PM (#21133085) Homepage
    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?
    • Okami, or Odin Sphere anyone?

    • Re:So sad. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by XaXXon ( 202882 ) <<xaxxon> <at> <gmail.com>> on Friday October 26, 2007 @03:11PM (#21133543) Homepage
      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.

      • So often 'popular' and 'good' don't line up at all.
        I honestly feel the same way about the Wii.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        I think it is fairly uncommon for a bad game to end up in the top sellers list. While a bad game can sell a few million (4 in the case of Enter The Matrix but cases like that are rare) on hype alone it's not enough to sustain sales for long. A top seller needs to have everything, marketing, appeal and, yes, gameplay. how many games make it into the top sellers list despite being low quality? Marketing can do a lot but marketing alone fails against the combined force of marketing AND quality. Look at Ninten
    • Like BG&E (beond: good and evil) I though that game was relitivly orignal and entertaining, needed some polish but it was a fairly early title too.
    • I think one can reasonably disagree about that "best games" assertion.

      Best for whom? Best for what purpose?

      What's best depends on what's wanted. I think most folks just want a non-intellectual diversion to have fun with after a hard day at work. I'd wager your list of best overlooked games all have some intellectual component to appreciating them.

      Hell, I'm a hardcore gamer and even I feel that way sometimes. I own Xenosaga and Okami, but neither is my first choice of what to play after work. More like

  • Odd (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MagusZeal ( 1156955 ) on Friday October 26, 2007 @03:14PM (#21133587)

    "PlayStation 2 is a perfect example of our ten year product lifecycle promise and is a testament to the design and technology that continues to be at the core of the product. While today's anniversary celebrates PlayStation 2' past, we're very excited for its future."
    So given previous console hardware trends and how hard their pushing the PS3, does anyone else find this odd? It seems normal for the previous gen console to vanish after the new one's been out for a year or year and a half, just go looking for Xbox titles these days. Combine it with the insanity that's been the PS3 launch over the last year and it seems really odd to keep both up, especially when they've just gutted the backwards compatibility from the lower end PS3 models. It's almost like their not sure what they want to do at this point since most companies intentionally discontinue the older system to force an upgrade.

    • Re:Odd (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Applekid ( 993327 ) on Friday October 26, 2007 @03:36PM (#21133851)
      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.
    • It's all about selling the brand. The PS2 is phenomenal machine that has myriad amount of games on it. It was the King of the previous generation, and by continuing to provide it, they are providing customers with the chance to taste what Sony wishes to offer in the future. In other words, the PS2 is a cheap gateway drug to their expensive PS3.
    • They assumed the PS3 would be the huge instant hit the PS2 was. The PS2 caused them to virtually drop Playstation support very quickly (aside from the whole "Try to sell a small PS1 with an expensive LCD addon as a portable system" thing). Each time they say the same thing: "The PS2 is a supercomputer. It's so powerful it can render Toy Story in real time!!!1111one" The PS2 turned out to be by far the least powerful system of the last generation...but it had DVD support at the right time for it to be a

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by tb()ne ( 625102 )

        You make some interesting points but you may be understating the significance of Bluray and overstating the failure of the PS3. PS3 has sold as many units in its first year as the 360 did in its first year. The difference is that the 360 had no "next gen" competition during that period, whereas PS3 was competing with both the 360 and the Wii. Also, the PS3 had a weak game catalog during that period. So how did the PS3 sell as well as the 360? I think Bluray played a large part. I know several people w

      • Agreed. Sony is trying to cover themselves after the PS3 debacle. I thought they were being foolish when they were dropping hardware backwards compatibility. Apparently now they're either waiting to see if they can add it in cheaply or see how everything goes. Right now, I'm guessing that if Blu-Ray doesn't take off, they'll simply go back and bring out a $300 PS2 Upgrade that can keep the backwards compatibility and move forward into Next Gen. I'm glad that the PS2 will be around for about three more

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Taulin ( 569009 )
      You're not joking. I had the same thought looking at the latest issue of Famitsu. There are still a ton of games coming out for the PS2. Even odder, is that they seem to be coming out for the Wii AND the PS2, or the game comes out for the 360. There really isn't that much else of a blend. I still remember when NES games were coming out for a year or so after SNES debuted.
  • but that's 80 million titles sold in just the top titles. Assuming the titles went for an average of $30 (with price drops and such), that's $2.4 billion-with-a-b. Wow.
  • The last I saw, I thought GoldenEye was over the 8 million mark.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by G Fab ( 1142219 )
      That is a Nintendo 64 game.

      And note that the N64 had very few games compared with either playstation, driving up sales of the ok games. Goldeneye and the Zeldas were fantastic oasises in the desert. No wonder they sold well.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by lbmouse ( 473316 )
        You are very correct. I hand my old systems down to my son. As I get older I forget what games went with what.

  • Titles (Score:2, Interesting)

    by unablepostAC ( 1044474 )
    the first top 5 sellers titles starts with "grand" or "gran" which means the same

    Know i know the secret to create a top seller in playstation realms.

    its to be titled

    Gran Grand Hupaki

  • 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 contr
    • I'm pretty sure most would agree that the dual shock was the gold standard for controllers, with the xbox 360 controller possibly being the first one to improve on it.
      I'm not including glorified pointing devices in this comparison

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Toonol ( 1057698 )
        I don't mind the dualshock, but I think both the original x-box and the gamecube controllers were better. And a Wii beats everything, because it dispenses with the notion that your hands need to be cramped together on your lap. Even without the pointer/motion sensitive functionality, I would love to see controllers split into detached left hand/right hand components.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by G Fab ( 1142219 )
          That's a very unique opinion. Even Microsoft abandoned the original XBOX controller.

          The Sony (sorta SNES) model of controller is perfect. It's also a great brand image, now that over half a billion of them have been sold. I would love to see that left stick move to the dpad, but it's still a nice comfy controller.

          They best thing about it is how symmetrical it is. Unlike the xbox controllers, it's easy to use for anyone, pretty much immediately. Granted, I prefer the 360 controller, but the dualshock is

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
            I disagree, the SNES controller's day came and went with that system. The dualshock was just a haphazardly bolted together mess of features, kinda like the NGage. The d-pad on the dualshock is pure pain and should have been altered long ago, the analog stick placement has no place in the modern world and the analog buttons were a completely useless idea (yeah, cue people listing exammples of games that used the analog sensitivity to assign two functions to one button... If it's analog, why is it used as a s

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by G Fab ( 1142219 )
              the analog button was for legacy support, which used to be very important to Sony. It's goen now, but you still can tell the PS3 to switch functions. I doubt anyone really cares. This button is a tiny factor.

              The analog buttons are excellent. The Playstation is used often in racing games and flight simulators, making easy throttle buttons crucial. I hate analog triggers. They are clumsy (especially ont he PS3 controller).

              The PS2's controller was a highpoint. I don't understand the point that the duals

              • Re: (Score:1)

                by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
                I don't even know how you're supposed to apply different levels of pressure to a button with 1mm traverse and 90% deadzone (or at least the minimum pressure required to move the button at all is like 90% of the pressure needed to move it all the way down). When a game used that I used trial and error until I got the pressure it demanded (took maybe 10 tries sometimes). Using the water pack in Super Mario Sunshine at different pressure levels was trivially easy. Speaking of deadzone, the dualshock's is prett

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nuzak ( 959558 )
      You know why other consoles have the left analog stick offset? Because Nintendo did it that way. You know why Nintendo did it that way? Because the d-pad was the primary means of control on the older games, and they originally put that one stick in the MIDDLE.

      Of course the controller you link to has just one d-pad for all the controls, so I guess all you prefer to play is 16-bit era games anyway. Those segas had a really nice pad though. And the one on the 360 makes the ps2's d-pad look like perfection

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      I find the handles to be problematic as well, for some reason my little finger cramps when I use a dualshock for an intensive game, perhaps they are too short or something (the Gamecube controller's handles are better). The dpad hurts my thumb but diagonals really aren't the problem. If you want another painful controller try the Classic Controller for the Wii, the lack of handles heally hurts my hands when trying to use the analog sticks.
    • I often hear this, and it never makes much sense to me.

      * I've never found it uncomfortable to hold. My fingers curl around the projections, putting my thumbs on the face buttons and my index fingers on the shoulder buttons. It feels perfectly natural to me.

      * Huh? My thumbs move down a bit to rest on the analog sticks. It doesn't feel like they're stretching at all, and I never thought I had particularly limber hands.

      * Takes minimal practice to learn to hit diagonals on the D-pad, and I've always felt I
  • The first 7 years of the PS2. Let's hope the next 7 are just as good!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by PKFC ( 580410 )
      Yeah it'll take me about that long to sift through all my RPGs... FFXI, FFXII, SO3, Disgaia 1/2, Phantom Brave, La Pucelle, DDS1/2, Radiata Stories... zomgz... Currently stuck on Persona 3..

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 7Prime ( 871679 )
        Meh, you'd be better off with Tales of the Abyss, Okami, ICO, Shadow of the Colosseus FF12, Dragon Quest VIII, and maybe Wild Arms 4 if you have the time. The rest aren't nearly as good, especially Star Ocean 3, which was an utter dissapointment.
  • Interesting to see the GTAs are the top-sellers. It would be interesting to see why Sony couldn't so enough to offer exclusivity to rockstar for GTA 4, expecially as the console has a higher capacity disc-wise, and therefore could offer more content. Intriguing to me, at least.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Grave ( 8234 )
      I think it really boils down to how much money Sony was willing to pay for it. Rockstar knew early on that the PS3 alone wouldn't have the kind of install base that the PS2 had when Vice City or San Andreas came out, so they knew they'd need to be dual platform. Extra disc space isn't as important as a bigger install base. 6 or 7 million potential customers vs. 15-20 million at the launch of the game seems like an obvious choice to me (given the delay to spring, those installed numbers are probably not g

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      1. It's expensive. Sony's offer would have to be higher than what Rockstar estimates a 360 version to make AND what Microsoft is willing to bid.
      2. The PS3's userbase is smaller than the 360's, it's not a sound business decision to go PS3 exclusive without some MAJOR incentives which reinforces point 1.

      I have a feeling Microsoft was willing to pitch a lot of money in to make sure Sony doesn't get exclusivity.

      Disc capacity means nothing, hardware means nothing. If Rockstar felt that a cellphone port would be
    • It's not like they have exclusivity for GTA3, Vice City, or San Andreas. They all came to the XBox eventually, even if they were only on the PS2 for a limited time.

  • Note (Score:2)

    by syylk ( 538519 )
    The games sold data is relative to US only, so figures are lower than worldwide totals, and that's why the list doesn't contain other hit games that sold more copies than those millions (and millions).

    Still, I happen to own 9 out of the 10 games mentioned there (Kingdom Hearts isn't my cup of tea), while living around 10'000 Km (10 Mm?) from US soil, and having bought ~20 titles since 2001, when I bought my PS2.

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