Sony Playstation 2 Console Slim PS2

A great buy for anyone looking to purchase a Playstation 2. The size has been reduced by more than half, and it's about half as heavy (about the size and weight of a book). There have been rumors of a overheating issue, but mine hasn't gotten as warm as the old PS2 because I keep it on a cookie cooling rack. It didn't even get warm after 8 straight hours of playing Kingdom Hearts. The top-loading drive is more convenient than the tray drive, however the first time I put a CD in, it came up with a disc read error. It turns out that I hadn't pushed the CD in until it snapped into place, and I haven't gotten an error since then. I have had no issues with my unit, and would recommend it to anyone out there who has been considering this model. Sony outdid themselves on this one. Great product!

With all the hype about the PS3, Wii and XBox 360, take another look at the PS2. It has a huge library of games, a reliable system, and is inexpensive!

The PS2, which launched in December 2001, uses DVDs as its storage medium, meaning the unit can double as a CD and DVD player. It is small, light for carrying around, and doesn't have the sound or heat problems that the 360 and PS3 have. It's extremely sturdy - we have two PS2s and haven't had any problems with either one.

The graphics on the PS2 are very impressive, especially some of the later games where the game designers had years to learn how to take advantage of every last detail in the system's design. For a long while the XBox had a clear advantage with graphics, but with some of the recent releases, like Final Fantasy XIII, the cut scenes were just gorgeous.

Speaking of Final Fantasy, with the PS2 you can play all games from the PS2 *and* PS1 series - meaning you can play every Final Fantasy game that is out. That alone could keep you occupied for months if not years. Guitar Hero is another fantasic game that is only on the PS2. The guitar controllers literally cannot plug into a PS3.

Here's a pretty clear indicator of how good the PS2 system is. We've had the XBox 360 for a year, and got the Wii and PS3s right when they came out. Even so, we were still going back to our PS2 to play the games we had on it, rather than bother with moving our save games up to the PS3. The games were really that good.

Sometimes it's not about high def super graphics. Sometimes it's about pure, fun gameplay. The PS2 has perfected that over the years, and there are numerous games on this system that have legions of fans. There's even a network port if you want to play online. Note that it doesn't have "built in wireless" - you have to plug a bridge or other wireless adaptor into the port to have it connect to your home wireless network. This is really easy to do, though, and I have full instructions if you need them.

Well recommended, even in an age of next-gen consoles!

The playstation 2 console is pretty good. Obviously it cannot compare with the graphics of XBox360, PS3 or Wii. But it does have a great variety of games available plus it has been out there for a while now so it seems to be more reliable compared to the new gen consoles who still have to fix a lot of initial bugs.

I have been playing PC games all my life so if I want real good graphics I can always go to my PC games. The reason I went with PS2 was that I wanted to play games not available on the PC platform e.g Soul Calibur III, GT4, Resident Evil 4, MGS etc.

Another advantage of getting a PS2 right now is that the games are pretty cheap as compared to those for the new gen consoles - around $20 compared to $49.99 for Wii and $59.99 for the XBox360. Plus you can get a lot of used games from ebay, EB games etc.

I will be sticking with my PS2 for a couple of years. In the meantime the new gen consoles would have fixed their initial bugs and the console as well as game prices would have come down (hopefully). Then I might think of getting the new consoles.

Thats what I meant by staying behind the curve.

Remember....you are getting a video game to have fun and not admire at the graphics. The graphics certainly do enhance the experience but it can never replace a quality game design....playstation2 has a lot of good games out there.

Remember that you will have to spend more than the $129 to get started. You will need to get component cables - $25 sony brand. I have not tried the other cheaper ones. I dont think they will be any different and you can save some money here. Also you need to get a memory card. I bought the 2-pack - sony brand for like $29. I think its worth since the single pack is for $19. You might also need to get an extra controller. So be prepared to shell out another $40-$55 for the cables and memory card.

The component cables do make a lot of difference. Please buy them if you have a TV which has component inputs. In not then atleast get the S-video cable. Its definitely worth upgrading from the stock composite cable.

Also, you do not need to buy an optical audio cable (toslink). It is used only for DVD playback. So if you have your own DVD player you do not need to get the cable for your PS2. The L-R RCA audio cables are enough since none of the PS2 games I know support digital audio. They do have a lot of games which support Dolby ProLogic-II e.g. Resident Evil 4, God of War etc. If you have a receiver which supports Pro-LogicII then its really great since it really sounds great when using ProLogic-II. For more info on Pro-Logic II I would recommend googling it up or look up Wikipedia. Pro-LogicII is a type of dolby surround system which does not require optical audio cables. The signal can be transferred through our regular RCA audio cables and the receiver decodes the information and creates the surround effect.

Amazon shipping was great and before time.

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