The Playstation 2, better known as PS2, is the predecessor of the Playstation 3 and is the successor of the Playstation 1. It was released in year 2000, a year after the announcement of its development in 1999. Till date, Playstation 2 is the ever best-selling video game console. It has reached a mark of 120 million units in 2007.
During its initial launched, not many game titles were made available with it. Due to its overwhelming sales it has attracted the attention of game developers to produce games to cater for this console. Therefore since December 2001, a series of best-selling and critically acclaimed game titles were launched for Playstation 2, subsequently which helped Playstation 2 in maintaining a lead in the video game console market.
Playstation 2 is backward compatible with Playstation 1 when it comes to hardware compatibility. Functioning as a DVD video playback is another feature of Playstation 2, which becomes a cost-justifying feature for a buyer to purchase Playstation 2. It also equipped with Playstation memory cards, which is meant for saving Playstation games. Playstation 2 also supports the Playstation controllers. But the problem that one faces with these controllers is that they are not supportive of all the functions, like the analog buttons, of the Playstation 2. The memory cards, also, work only with Playstation 1 games. At the rear of the console, support is provided for internal Playstation 2 HDD (Hard Disc Drive).
The controller of Playstation 2 is known as DualShock 2 controller. Digital buttons of the original controller are replaced by analog face, shoulder and D-pad buttons. The D-pad, the right buttons, the back buttons (R1, R2, L1, L2), the analog joystick buttons (R3, L3s) and the middle buttons (Start, Select, Analog) are the various input buttons.
The unique function of a Dual Shock 2 controller is its force feedback feature, is more commonly known as the `vibration` function. Just imagine that you are driving a car on a road and now this force feedback feature gives a `feel` of how an actual road would have given, making the game as close to reality as possible.
Playstation 2 was introduced with one of the most advanced features, of which these features were not available in gaming consoles and this has helped Playstation 2 in gaining more popularity. DVD playback feature, USB support and IEEE 1394 expansion ports, just to name a few, were some of these features.
Excessive software support was another advantage that worked in the favour of Playstation 2. The older systems could be upgraded to Playstation 2 without changing the old softwares and this enabled the new users to access older games of Playstation 1 till a new and larger library was developed for Playstation 2.
In order to speeding up disc read time, adding texture smoothing to enhance graphics, or a combination of both, were the added features provided with Playstation 2 to enhance Playstation games. Previously, problems like failure in loading were settled with faster disc reading. But texture smoothing has provided a solution to it.
To play online games with multiple players around the world is another great feature. With the availability of a network adapter you can also play the games with multiple players. This is a built-in component in the slim model, but with other models the consumer has to purchase it. These special features make playstation 2 a great hit among the kids and the grown ups alike.
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