PlayStation 2
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Preservation effort unearths over 750 PlayStation 2 game prototypes
A preservation group has obtained over 750 PlayStation 2 game prototypes and demos, including 'God of War.'
PlayStation 2 can play homebrew games by using DVD player exploits
A software engineer has discovered that you can 'hack' the PlayStation 2 to play homebrew games by feeding it specially crafted DVDs.
The PlayStation 2 turns 20 and our readers have feelings
The PlayStation 2 came out in Japan 20 years ago today, with Sony selling 155 million units over a lifespan of almost 13 years. It's actually the best-selling console of all time, which means it's likely quite a few of you owned one and have strong feelings about it. Which is great, because the PS2 was released four years before Engadget even existed — we celebrated our 16th birthday this week — and we never gave Sony's second console generation the full review treatment. While you can check out my thoughts on the PlayStation 2 as a DVD player, for a deeper dive we're turning to the user reviews left on our PS2 product page. Between its long lifespan and impressive library of games, you had some interesting things to say.
My favorite PlayStation 2 game was DVDs
The PlayStation 2 was the first game console I ever bought. Heck, it was the first big ticket item I ever bought, period. That was a big deal at a time when I was only making $135 a week, and most of that cash was going toward college costs: tuition, textbooks and transportation. So I had to save up for months, while also finding a way to justify the high cost to myself (and my skeptical mother). The PS2 had one trump card in its deck, one thing that I could point at and say, "Look, it's not just a game machine, I didn't waste my money on such a single-use luxury!" It could play DVDs. It was in fact, my first DVD player.
How do you feel about the PlayStation 2 as it turns 20?
In a few short weeks, the PlayStation 2 will turn 20. It was released March 4, 2000 in Japan, with the rest of the world eventually getting their hands on it that fall. It was backward compatible with games for the original PlayStation, and also played DVDs. (Personally, it was the first video disc player I ever owned.) And of course, there were the games. Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, Katamari Damacy — plenty of classic titles and series got their start there, as well as new installments in famous franchises, like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X. The system was ultimately in production for a whopping 13 years, with more than 4,000 games released in total and over 155 million consoles sold.
Sony celebrates PlayStation history using LittleBigPlanet 3
The creation tools of LittleBigPlanet 3 are nothing to scoff at, as evidenced by the fact that Sony used the game to create a video showcasing 20 years of PlayStation history during its PlayStation Experience event. This is what 20 years of PlayStation looks like in Sackboy's world. [Image: Sony]
Did You Know Gaming reminds us the PS2 was once considered military hardware
Remember the good ol' days of video games? You know, before hard drives and wireless internet connections? The folks at Did You Know Gaming do, and this time, they're taking us back to the era of Sony's little black box that could, the most popular video game system of all time, the PlayStation 2. While there are plenty of innocuous history lessons to be learned by watching the video embedded above, we won't blame you for placing your palm to your face when you remember (or learn, if you were unaware) that yes, there really was a time when people were paranoid over the PlayStation 2 being used as a computer capable of helping orchestrate a terrorist attack. The "good ol' days" indeed. [Image: Did You Know Gaming]
Halloween Horror Streams: Rule of Rose shoves a dead rat in your face
One school of logic says that cumbersome controls makes horror games scarier. Resident Evil's tank controls, for example, may not let you walk with the natural fluidity of a real person, but they do often force you to fearfully, slowly back away from zombies rather than flat out turning around and bolting. It worked in the original. Some games, though, are just plain broken. Case in point: Rule of Rose. Punchline's first and only horror game is barely playable thanks to its broken interface. Trying to stab an evil puppet with a spoon and never connecting isn't scary. It's stupid. Like some of gaming's greats, Rule of Rose almost overcomes its bad control through sheer style. Bad controls or not, it is a deeply unsettling game. Joystiq's Halloween Horror Streams goes into its final stretch at 4:00PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch with Rule of Rose. Children waterboard teenagers, people get poked with dead rats, and haunted airships confuse everyone. Join us for some of the most surreal scares you can get in a video game. Joystiq.com/Twitch broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00PM EST, in addition to many other unpredictable times throughout the week. Follow us on Twitch to catch us whenever we're live. [Images: Atlus]
Halloween Horror Streams: All along the Clock Tower 3
Halloween songs are misleading! "Monster Mash" implies good times at a graveyard bash. "Thriller" doesn't encourage caution; Vincent Price always sounds like he's kidding. "Don't Fear the Reaper" explicitly says not to fear the reaper. And since Ray Parker Jr. ain't afraid of ghosts, why should you be? Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by these crunchy jams, dear friends. When you do that, a giant freak wielding an enormous pair of scissors will sneak up behind you and cut you in half. It happens. Clock Tower 3 tells me so. Starting at 4:00PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, Joystiq will kick off its Halloween Horror Streams extravaganza with Capcom's Clock Tower 3. Little known fact: Clock Tower 3 was conceived in part by Kinji Fukasaku, the film director behind Tora Tora Tora and Battle Royale. That is a very different sort of graveyard smash. We'll have horror streams on Joystiq.com/Twitch almost every day until Halloween. If you want to catch them all, make sure to follow us on Twitch! Tomorrow's stream: Slender: The Arrival with a ton of free Xbox 360 and PS3 copies to giveaway. Be there. [Images: Capcom/Clock Tower Wikia]
Joystiq Streams: Haunting Ground boards Mid-Summer Terror Train [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
Horror need not be relegated to the sweet browns and reds of October! Must we wait until fall to get scared stupid like Ernest or all those dupes playing Slender on YouTube? No! Let us delight in the dumb scares of a dark movie theater, redolent with stale popcorn smells. Let us remember the creeping unease as we walked through that ridiculous haunted house at the boardwalk. Let us remember each and every freaky story told with maximum chutzpah around a roaring campfire. Joystiq's Mid-Summer Terror Train, wherein we stream horror games both new and old every day for a week, rolls out of the station at 4PM EST today on Joystiq.com/Twitch. Our first tale of terror is Haunting Ground, a Capcom game that involves hanging out with a dog and running away from a dude who looks like a morbidly obese Toxic Avenger. Join us! Mid-Summer Terror Train streams air all week at 4PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch and Twitch.tv/Joystiq. [Images: MobyGames/Mat/Capcom]
Okami prints now available, celestial brush not included
A limited edition run of high-resolution fine art prints based on Capcom's Okami are now available for purchase through digital art specialists Cook and Becker. Each print is hand-numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity. None of them were painted by a sun goddess who takes on the form of a wolf with a paintbrush tail, unfortunately. Not familiar with Cook and Becker's work? It's the art dealership behind the "museum-grade" prints featuring the fungal apocalypse from The Last of Us and the futuristic landscapes of Mirror's Edge and the Mass Effect series, plus many more. The Okami prints range in price from $80 to $130, while frames can add upward of $200. We hope you've already got plenty of pennies saved up though, as the sun has already set on several prints, which is a slightly poetic way of saying sold out. [Image: Cook and Becker/Capcom]
Sony's PlayStation 4 is already profitable and on course to beat the PS2's success
If Sony is to reverse its heavy losses, big-selling products like the PlayStation 4 need to turn a profit. The good news is that the company's newest console is already fulfilling that requirement, having already recouped Sony's investment in the hardware, and it now looks set to beat profits achieved by the internationally legendary PS2. Speaking at a corporate strategy meeting, Sony president Kaz Hirai said the PS4 was "already contributing profit on a hardware unit basis, establishing a very different business framework from that of previous platform businesses." There's no doubt over which console Hirai is referring to here: the PS3 took three years to shed its loss-leading status, after cancelling out gains made from Sony's "biggest gaming success," the PlayStation 2.
Japanese Resident Evil Outbreak, File No. 2 playable online again
Capcom's online multiplayer adaptations of the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil Outbreak and Resident Evil Outbreak File No. 2, are online again thanks to an effort on the Outbreak Server forum led by "the_fog." Unfortunately, you'll need a Japanese copy of the game to join up with a band of survivors. When asked about the odds of the NTSC version of either game getting back online, the_fog said they were "nearly 100% sure that this will not happen." Citing a difference of middleware used for the Japanese and NTSC verisons as well as a lack of data packet captures from the NTSC games, the_fog estimated the process of bringing the NTSC version online would take "a half year or so." Aside from the time and money it would cost, the_fog also discarded the idea by saying the difference in language wasn't a good enough reason to do it. The forum's FAQ lists "functional online lobbies and games" as options for players, as well as support for "different game modes in File [No.] 2 (such as boys only, girls only, and nightmare)." It might be difficult to navigate the involved Japanese text, but this is a great chance for Outbreak fans to relive their glory days, unless Capcom were to make a third entry. [Thanks, CJ!]
Norrathian Notebook: The EverQuest franchise through the ages
Our notebook is tattered no longer! We've filled so many pages over the years that it is time to set the dog-eared, fraying sheets aside and take up a fresh new notebook with plenty of room for all the upcoming adventures. And on this fresh new slate, you will see a slightly different focus from that of its predecessor. As you may have noticed, over the past few months, The Tattered Notebook dipped into coverage of more than just EverQuest II. As of this moment, it is official: Our notebook now chronicles Norrath, in all its shapes and forms. These pages will fill with all things EverQuest, from the original game to the next incarnations. On top of the franchise focus that includes four major titles, the notebook is moving back to a weekly time slot every Saturday, so you'll get your Norrathian news more frequently. To kick things off, let's a look at the history of Norrath, from start to sequel to sandboxes, and everything in between.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 headed to PSN next week
The PlayStation 2 version of Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millenium 2001 will land on PSN as a PS2 Classic next week, the Official PlayStation Blogcast has announced. No specific pricing information was given, but we feel safe in assuming that it'll probably cost around $10, like most other PS2 Classics on the service. Known as Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, the game originally hit arcades in (you guessed it) 2001, and was ported to Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox thereafter. The game includes 48 characters from Capcom and SNK franchises such as Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Rival Schools, Fatal Fury, Darkstalkers and others.
GameStop confirms the end of PS2 trade-ins, still selling games and accessories
GameStop's corporate office has confirmed yesterday's news that all US locations will stop accepting any PlayStation 2-related trade-ins. GameStop also clarified in a statement to Engadget that PS2 games, accessories and systems will still be sold at its stores for "several months" until the remaining stock runs out. GameStop's statement reads: "We can confirm that as of June 1st we will no longer be accepting the PS2 console or its related product for trades. We know that the 12 year old system is a popular one and for many gamers, GameStop is the only place to find a great selection of its games. We will still offer a wide selection of the PS2 hardware, accessories and games in many of our stores and online for several months, based on remaining stock from trades. We are very excited about the upcoming PS4 and are making room in our stores for it and other new platforms expected this fall."
GameStop will stop taking PS2 trade-ins as of June 1
GameStop will cease all PlayStation 2-related trade-ins as of June 1, according to a photo of a store display snapped by Reddit user eGORapTure, seen after the break. We contacted multiple GameStop locations and confirmed the news that all PS2 games, accessories and systems will not be accepted for trade across all US stores at that time. Production of PS2 systems in Japan ceased in late December 2012 after nearly 13 years and 150 million units having been shipped worldwide.
Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin goes live
Final Fantasy XI's fifth expansion, Seekers of Adoulin, is now running free in the video game wild. If you can catch the wily release, you'll be treated to a pair of new jobs, seven challenging bosses, and a new continent to explore. While Seekers of Adoulin isn't available for PlayStation 2 players, PC and Xbox 360 gamers are encouraged to hop on board the chocobo train. Players looking to purchase it on Steam may have a little bit of a wait, however. For more in-depth analysis and previews of the expansion, be sure to read up on the back issues of The Mog Log while FFXI updates.
The Weekly Roundup for 12.24.2012
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Daily Roundup for 12.28.2012
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
