All right, Playstation 2 owners, give us the Straight Dope: Thumbs Up or Down?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The things been out for over 6 months now. I love my PSX, but the pipeline of new games is drying up, and I have resorted to prowling the bargain bins at Blockbuster for titles I haven’t played before. “Simpsons Wrestling” just ain’t cuttin’ it!

So what’s the verdict? Piss away $250-300 for PS2? Or wait until next year when surely it will be had for about a buck fifty.

Or go the cheap route and spend much less on the just clearanced but pretty damn cool Dreamcast?

Or wait for X-box, which I overheard an EBX employee say is going to blow everything on the market to kingdome come?

Then again, I could always go the computer game route . . but my screen is too small.

So PS2 owners . . which route do I take? And any detailed reviews of the machine would be appreciated! Thanks! VV :cool:

2

The PS2 is very cool. The big boon is that it’ll play anything which comes on a CD-sized disc except Dreamcast games. One thing I was slightly disappointed in is that the CD player doesn’t have any kind of cool graphics associated with it.

There is one caveat: the games currently out there do not take advantage of the PS2’s graphic capabilities. They are amazing and probably more than the PSX or Dreamcast could handle, but they’re still not where they should be.

That said, the best games I’ve found so far are Sky Odyssey and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.

3

Xbox is not here yet, I’m not going to sit around doing nothing until it comes out. Frankly, I don’t see how it can be any better than a regular computer with the same specs & by the time it comes out, computers are going to be several times as fast. I don’t play games on my computer.

The Nintendo Cube though might be fun cause it’s gonna have all my favorite games & characters on it.

The PS2 is fine. Plus, its gonna have Final Fantasy on it & you can’t get that for the Xbox.

I just read that my Game Boy can get/send email with an attachment cart/modem that only costs $19.95. It makes it into a kinda fun almost-Palm Pilot with email.

My Dreamcast can be used as a fine online machine too. I use it with my regular ISP.

I see GS just made a $19.95 keyboard for the PS2, in black, it looks cool.

4

Go for the PS2. It really does rock. I love the games, they are very high quality. I haven’t had a chance to play on it as much as I would like to, but I certainly don’t regret spending 350 on it. I can’t wait till more games (Especially FF) come out though. There isn’t a huge amount of PS2 games on the market right now, but just give it another year.

5

I quite like mine, even though I’ve only bought two games. I use it more for DVDs than games, personally. I’m still waiting for Gran Turismo 3 to come out. That’s the main reason I got one, and it looks amazing.

But as for your question, I guess it depends on what you want out of your toys. I wanted something that would play DVDs and also the occasional extra-cool game. That’s what I got. I’m happy.

6

I decided to spring for the PS2 when my DVD player crapped out roughly .000005 seconds after the warranty expired. I figured, WTF, spend the extra money and I can play Tekken Tournament. Aside from that, Gauntlet, and Onimusha, there aren’t many good games out for it yet, though.

7

If you enjoy long, long RPGs, I suggest “Summoner”. It was pretty good.

8

I start this off saying that I think the PS2 isn’t worth it, and that the X-Box will rock the world.

Anyway…

Handy…

You can’t wait six months?

It’ll be several hundred dollars less. But that’s not the point… you can’t compare consoles to PC’s, simply because consoles are specialized systems while computers are meant to be generalized tools.

However, know this… the X-box will be more than twice as fast as PS2, have a MUCH better graphics card, more RAM, etc. for about the same price. And considering that Sony is still losing money on every PS2 unit sold, I doubt Sony’ll be able to get the price down by Christmas.

The only drawback to the X-box is that, in order to play DVD movies on it, you have to buy a special controller to play 'em. I doubt that controller will cost more than twenty bucks or so, though.

9

I bought a PS-2 for the kids in a moment of weakness about 4 months ago when they had a stack of them at Circuit City and a I have to admit that I got caught in the Sony marketing “buzz” to some extent. I should have known better but here is what I have discovered.

1: Games for the PS-2 are quite expensive ( 40 - 60) and (in CC’s case) not exchangeable even if they suck. Definitely rent and try out the games before you buy.

2: It makes a pretty good DVD player although control is somewhat clumsy with the game controller as a wired remote.
You can buy wireless remores.

3: Compared to my PC (P3 500 with Nvidia 2)the comparable PS-2 game I purchased (Quake 3) was (and this was surprising) much poorer quality both in graphics quality and gameplay wise.

4: Boot up and game loading are noticably slower vs the original playstation.

5: The vaunted better “effects” are visible in some games and some graphics are sharper but overall most (puportedly)PS-2 games look like PS-1 ports with a few flourishes thrown in.

6: Some PS-1 games will not save properly on the PS-2.
Overall what I expected to be a bang was whimper. Maybe there is some incredible “blow me away” game out there but I have yet to see it. The PS-2 is reportedly very hard to code for so whether or not we’ll ever see a big library of cool PS-2 games remains to be seen. The amount and quality of games out right now is apparently not that impressive which may reflect the coding difficulty. It will be a cold day in hell when I ever pay more than $ 150 for a game console again. I’ve learned my lesson.

From what I’ve seen the PS-2 can’t touch the quality and gameplay of comparable nvidia based PC games and internet play (esp for role playing games) requires an additional module whereas almost all PC’s have modems already. The PS-2 occupies a slippery space between PC’s and the PS-1 and it’s not really distinguishing itself to any great extent so far.

10

Additionally, if you’re smart, you can get a PC (something most people want/use/need anyway) that’ll run games MUCH better than the PS-2 for only a little more than twice the cost of a PS-2 itself.

See? I just saved you all $300! (To show your thanks, please send half of your savings to me… :D)

11

I bet you can. All the FF games get ported to PC these days, they will probably do Xbox ports when it comes out.

Of course, I can’t see why anyone would want to play any of the Final Fantasy games. The first one was pretty cool for it’s time, but the formula is getting REALLY old by now, and the last few have all had some serious design flaws.

12

I don’t own a PS2, but I’ve spent many hours playing one. IMHO, there is no compelling reason to buy a PS2 aside from Grand Tourismo 3. Sure, the graphics are good, but not THAT good. I’m afraid that in the long run, the PS2 being so difficult to program will hamper the system.
Once GT3 has been out for a while and the PS2 has dropped to the $150 pricepoint, I may pick one up.

The X-Box. I won’t touch one of those with a 10 foot pole. Mystery lock-ups, blue screens of death will be commonplace. I’ve heard the arguments… “X-Box is designed to be a gaming machine… not a computer.” Uh-huh. It’s still runs a Microsoft OS. Plus, there are no games coming out for it that interest me. I doubt I’ll ever own one of these.

I’m personally waiting for the GameCube. The video footage I’ve seen is impressive. But, the real clinchers are the exclusive Nintendo titles. Nintendo blundered badly with the N64 and their decision to use carts. But they are doing everything right this time, and I look for them to be kings of the next video game wars.

I really wish the DreamCast hadn’t failed. It was a heck of a system with great games. Oh well, now Sega will develop for GameCube :slight_smile:

Ok, enough of my opinions.

13

Great feedback, and thanks for the frankness, PS2 owners.

It sounds like Ps2 is having similar problems to when psX came out in 1996- the game manufacturers took a while to maximize the technology to it’s full potential!

At the low price, it seems like a safe bet might be to go with a Dreamcast for at least 12-18 months, then decide between ps2 when the software matures, X-box or Game Cube. I know Sega stopped making DC, but there seems to be a good library, and the technology seems one step above PsX. Of course, whether or not you think that would be a wise move would also be appreciated . .

Kepp the feedback coming, I really am enjoying it!

14

I picked up a Dreamcast literally the day the prices were slashed a couple of months ago and I’m not even close to regretting it. The graphics on DC games are quite a bit better than most of the ps2 games I’ve seen yet, there are enough games out there to keep me occupied and even if it is pretty much a dead system, I think the number of games currently out justify the investment. Beautiful, beautiful system.

In my opinion it was worth it just for Soul Calibur alone. On top of that, my local video store dumped most of their Dreamcast stock for 5-10 bucks a game when Sega dropped the DC. :smiley:

15

The DC does have better graphics because a lot of it’s games are vga compatible & the PSX2 are not.

“6: Some PS-1 games will not save properly on the PS-2.”

Well, you must use the PS1 memory card to save PS1 games on a PSX2.

“You can’t wait six months?”

It’s been a lot longer than that since they annouced the Xbox.

As for the Xbox, by the time it comes out, there is going to be a new game system on the horizon that’ll be 20X as powerful & make you dinner, too. Im not impressed much by better graphics or system specs (After all, they can’t get any better than my TV can display), I’m impressed by more game play depth, which they can’t really show until you play it.

16

Bah. The only real reason that the DC looks better than a PS2 is because it is a more mature system. The VGA output looks nice, but the odd time I have actually seen it you could see “jaggies” more plainly. It is nice though. Give it another 6-12 months and we will see more of what the PS2 is capable of. The graphics always improve as the console matures. The DC has something like more than a year of a headstart over the PS2.

That being said, I have both a PS2 and DC and I use my DC far more for games. I use my PS2 more as a DVD player than anything right now… until Gran Turismo 2 comes out, I’m sure.

If you need a DVD player and think you might want a console, I would buy it. If you are unsure if you need a gameplayer, wait until X-Box comes out. I am not saying the X-box will be the end-all, but the forcast is that the PS2 will drop in price then to make it more attractive.

17

Couldn’t agree more. But at a purely price-to-play ratio it’s a steal. I bought it with the same mindset that I’d buy, say, a Nintendo at a garage sale. The part of me that camps at Best Buy waiting for the newest games is already more than satisified with PC’s.

18

I think I have an Xbox already. All I have to do is turn on the tv & vcr, tune the vcr to a non-channel until I see a perfect Blue screen! :slight_smile:

19

Make yourself comfortable, Vinnie - I’m not very sympathetic when it comes to home consoles, especially now.

Is the PS2 worth it? Of course. If you’re an incredibly hardcore, wired, Gameshark-users-are-inhuman-scum kind of player, and if you want sports, war strategy, and RPGs by the trainload. That, at least, is the impression I get every time I enter Software Etc. or Blockbuster Video, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. (There reportedly was a PS2 'Shark, but I haven’t seen it.) Oh, hope you don’t mind having to go to the four corners of the earth to find perhiperals. And I hope you don’t mind having to wait weeks or months for anything, up to and including the system itself. See, this is a shrewd marketing plot by Sony; by holding everything back forever and a decade, they allow the gullible media to think that “they’re just revving up” and “tons of incredible games are just around the corner”. They’ve been regurgitating that tripe since before last Christmas, and I’m harboring serious doubts that there’s any truth to any of it. Oh yeah, you can’t modify the system to play imports (like you could with a Dreamcast, Playstation 1, or practically every other system before it). A “money” issue or something. Yeah, restricting the player’s choices is a great way to make money for the system.

In other words, if you don’t mind buying the system Sony wants you to buy, the games Sony wants you to buy, and the perhiperals Sony sees fit to make available, and in general mutely complying with Sony’s freaking ridiculous politics, the PS2 is the perfect system. Sheesh. Can you imagine Atari getting away with this garbage? Of course, with the advent of the X-Box and Gamecube, the PS2’s in a real danger of getting overwhelmed and pretty much blown out of the market (which wouldn’t be hard at all…making the consoles, perhiperals, and games widely available alone would do it). In short the PS2 is in danger of sharing the DC’s fate.

I haven’t seen the X-box or Gamecube yet, but I’m not confident about them. All the X-box has going for it is hype. News flash, there are people who hate Windows (I used to be one of them). Just as Vince McMahon couldn’t make minor league football work, don’t assume that everything Microsoft touches will turn to gold. As for the Gamecube, it’s produced by Nintendo, and, being Nintendo, will attempt to “kiddify” the system as much as possible. (Don’t let anomalies like Conker’s Bad Fur Day fool you; the N has been stacked toward “family values” for years, and I’m not expecting any sudden changes)

My advice? Don’t buy anything just yet. Right now the industry’s an absolute mess. Wait until the PS2 becomes a lot cheaper, or until you’ve had a chance to experience the new systems firsthand. (I cannot overemphasize the importance of actual hands-on experience.) If you must have a quality system, go for the Dreamcast. They’re flagging right now, but lots of great games are available and shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Failing that, why not go back to the ol’ arcade. There are certainly worse places you could spend an extra hour or four.

20

I should introduce you to Chas.E…