The Playstation 2 is eleven years old and just hit the major milestone of a 150 million units sold. Impressive? Yep, that’s more than even the Game Boy and DS. → Read More
Details are sketchy (but there’s lots to learn if you read the comments), but here’s another college student DIY project. Yes, I know it’s a little old, but it’s Sunday, and this is one of those “in case you missed it” things. Anyway, a college student mounted a snowboard on wheels, added a motor, wireless remote via a PS2 controller, and made a project that pretty much rocks. Just don’t expect to see it available commercially any time soon, because from what the builder says in the comments, it’s incredibly expensive to make. So enjoy the video, and I hope you had a good weekend. → Read More
It’s the PS2‘s 10th birthday today in Japan (where’s it’s already Friday). It was originally released on March 5, 2000. Bill Clinton was still the president, Triple H was the WWE Champion, and reality TV didn’t even exist yet. The iPod was still a year and change away, and Mac OS X wasn’t even in open beta yet. Windows XP was still months away. Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist! → Read More
Tuners and posers have been putting PS2s into cars for as long as the system has been out, but Audiovox is targeting a completely new crowd. Its new VOD10PS2 system combines the gaming system that can also play DVDs with a 10.2-inch 16:9 LCD screen and packs it all into a roof-mountable package. Plus, the system comes with two wireless controllers, two fold-flat IR wireless headsets, two games, and a remote. A built-in 16 channel FM modulator can be used as long as other passengers don’t mind hearing Ratchet & Clank. Sure, the PS2 might be almost 10 years old, but who cares? → Read More
Think back to the autumn of 2006, right before the big PS3 launch. Expecting someone to pay five-hundred-and-ninety-nine-U.S.-dollars was (rightly) considered ludicrous, but the ability to play the entire PS2 library on the system somewhat lessened the blow. But then Sony removed the Emotion Engine chip from the PS3, thus rendering it unable to play PS2 games. (More recent models, like the one found in the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle, used a just-sorta-okay software emulation method to grant partial PS2 backwards compatibility.) All that may well change if Sony goes ahead and executes the idea found in this recently unearthed patent. → Read More
Here’s the latest proof that the entertainment industry is creatively bankrupt. Konami has confirmed that it will remake—or, rather, “re-imagine”—the original Silent Hill. The guys who developed Silent Hill: Origins will be responsible for the game. It’ll come out for the Wii, PS2 (?!) and PSP this fall. Oh, boy. → Read More
I recall picking up my PS2 on launch day back in 2000 and I sure played the hell out of that thing. I must have played Ridge Racer and Madden for hours on end, but it wasn’t by choice. Heh. There weren’t too many titles that interested me at launch, but I played the heck out of Sunny Garcia Surfing and SoCom. I hope it still works. → Read More
If we’re to believe some guy working at Kmart (and why shouldn’t we!), the PS2 will finally drop to $99 on April 5. So, if you’re planning on picking one up in the next week, don’t! At least wait till April 5 comes and goes to see if this rumor holds up. → Read More
Homebrewer Ben decided that existing handheld systems just weren’t cutting it, so he went about creating a portable version of that venerable PS2. However, instead of hacking a controller onto a display and putting it all together, he appears to have put his PS2 Slim in a bag with a battery and is selling it for $500. → Read More
Put yourself in Sony’s shoes for a moment. You’ve conquered the three biggest gaming markets out there in Japan, North America and Europe. (The slow start of the PS3, and the still perceived lack of “any” games for it doesn’t appear to lessen Sony’s chances of selling 10 million units by the end of its fiscal year.) Where do you go next? The answer, in no uncertain terms, is Latin America. Sony Computer Entertainment America’s vice-president of sales, one Ian Jackson, recently gave a 20-minute speech at some conference where he explained Sony’s position: Latin America is key to the PlayStation’s growth. → Read More
The video was shot by and provided to CrunchGear first by DigInfo Tokyo. Everyone agrees that the Dragonball trailer looks pretty crappy, but at least Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, a fighting game based on the famous Japanese anime/manga, looks pretty decent. Namco Bandai promises the game, one of the biggest crowd pleasers today at the Tokyo Game Show, will hit stores worldwide on December 4th this year. → Read More
So, who still likes Mortal Kombat? Bless your heart, then, for a new three-game collection has shipped to stores nationwide. It’s called Mortal Kombat: Kollection, and it includes 2004′s Mortal Kombat: Deception, 2005′s Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and 2006′s Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. It’s for the PS2, as you can plainly see right there. In truth, none of these games really impressed me when I first played them, but the price, $30, isn’t entirely unreasonable. You know what’s even cheaper, though? Downloading MAME and playing the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II, by far the best in the series. → Read More
You may have read my recommendation of Atlus’ monster hit, Persona 3: FES in a not-so-recent CrunchArcade column. It’s a great game, and as you can guess from the “3″ in its title, part of an ongoing series. Atlus just announced the next entry in the series, unsurprisingly titled Persona 4. I thought I’d mention it in case you hadn’t taken my advice about Persona 3 to heart (shame on you) and wanted to make up for that. Also, the game is on PS2, so all the people of limited means in the world (myself included) who have been looking for another timesink for the venerable system are having their prayers answered. Look for it in December. → Read More
Sony has shot down the “PS2 games on PlayStation Store?” rumor. For now. The rumor started after last week’s big Sony press conference where it announced a PlayStation movie store. Some of the screens on display showed PS2 games as being on the store, but Sony chalked that up to a mistake. At this point, we haven’t made any announcements, and there are no plans for PS2 downloadable titles on PS3. So there you have it. I can’t imagine how Sony would get PS2 games running on the PS3 since backwards compatibility is now done via emulation. But hey, I’m sure there’s many of you who wouldn’t mind playing some of the PS2 classics all over again, or for the first time. → Read More
If you’ve got a PlayStation 2 and you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on Rock Band, then I can safely tell you to pull, dammit! Pull! Amazon.com has the PS2 Rock Band Special Edition bundle for $99.99, which includes free shipping. This same bundle sells for at least $140 just about everywhere else. Again, pull! via dealnews → Read More
Ding ding ding d!ng…… Sony’s releasing a red-colored PS2 in Japan on July 3. It’s gonna cost you ¥16,000, or around $150, for the eight-year-old game console. Nowhere is it suggested that this model of the PS2 will be released here in the U.S. And yes, in lieu of a PS3, I still have a PS2 connected to my TV, thank you very much. → Read More
CrunchArcade is a weekly column in which the week’s gaming news, reviews, and other games-related tidbits are collected and augmented for your pleasure and convenience. This week in CrunchArcade: iPhones, controversy, Master Miyagi vs. Pac-Man, and Japanese high-school kids blasting their spirit-brains out in Persona 3: FES. → Read More
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