I never bought a PS2 - mostly because I hate Sony, but that’s another story. One thing I found hilarious about them though when I would be at friends’ houses who owned them, is the way the console is supposed to sit upright, but it has a freaking loading tray. So you open the tray, put the game in, and then try to balance the disc and gently guide it in while quickly closing the tray with your other hand. I always thought this was a ridiculous design flaw. Does anyone know if they’re keeping it for the next generation of [upright] consoles?
I’ve never understood the fad of upright consoles to begin with. If it’s flat, then you can stack it on top of other stuff, or stack stuff on top of it. And, of course, the disc tray comes out horizontally, so putting a disc in is easy enough. But now it seems all the new systems are going vertical.
Nintendo’s upcoming Revolution, which will stand either vertically or horizontally, uses a self-loading drive (like a car’s CD player) that will accept either full DVDs or the miniature GameCube sized discs. They confirmed that no adapters will have to be used. As I recall, they mentioned using new techniques to achieve this feat.
Funny. I never had a problem with loading discs in sideways. (That extra ridge on the left side of the tray holds the discs easily, no manual balancing needed.)
I always assumed that the reason why the PS2 was designed to work vertically as well as horizontally was because it was designed in Japan. Space is definitely at a premium here, and being able to choose how to set it up allows people to maximize their use of available space as they want. It’s amazing how much stuff people manage to pack into a typical one-room Japanese apartment…
I don’t know that I’ve ever done it personally (maybe I have, but it wasn’t a big enough event to hold a spot in my memory banks), but I’ve seen lots of friends do it on lots of occassions, and it almost invariably goes like this:
-Open the tray, the disc that’s in there falls out.
-Put another disc in and reach for the “close” button and it falls out.
-Repeat 1-5 times depending on your patience and/or intelligence
-Hold the disc with one hand and guide it in while pressing the button with your other hand.
I’ve got my PS2 set up on it’s side right now, with the disc tray open. The disc currently in there (Taiko no Tatsujin) is stable, showing no sign of falling out.
Even tilting it left to a 45 degree angle, the disc stays in the tray.
For whatever reason, vertically oriented optical drives are prone to failing sooner than horizontally oriented ones. When I worked at PlayStation tech support, we were told to advise people not to use the PS2 vertically without the stand, which supposedly helped reduced vibration. In any case, my own PS2 is louder and more prone to loading errors when I use it vertically, so I don’t.
^ I have a theory. Wouldn’t the motor that move the lens have to exert more energy to compensate for gravity, when stood vertically? I would think that would cause more wear and tear on the drive.
Not if, when the machine is oriented vertically, the lens is placed such that it moves horizontally (that is, at the nine or three-o’clock positions of the disc).
I don’t suppose you can take/post online somewhere/find online somewhere pictures of the American PS2 with tray open? I’ve become really curious about this. Anyone else want to chime in with their own experiences?
For what it’s worth, I bought my PS2 about three years ago. I’d dig up the model number, but I’m certain that it’d be different from the American ones (due to different voltage requirements).
I don’t normally run my PS2 on its side anyway – I’m fortunate enough to have a 3-room Japanese apartment, and I can’t afford to buy a lot of stuff to fill it up.
I bought mine in summer 2002 (America) and have also never had a problem with vertical loading of discs. I just put it in the tray and send it on in - in fact, I can’t remember a time I’ve ever had the thing fall out.
Only Mostly Missus’ PS2, American version, happily keeps the discs in place while being used vertically (as she typically does). Neither of us has ever had any guide-it-in problems to prevent discs from falling.
