Following the success of Sony’s very first console, gamers and fans were itching to see what Sony could do next and how they could improve upon their first console’s capabilities. With the coming of the sixth generation of consoles to the market, many eyes were on Sony, who was slated to go up against Sega.
Sony, at this point, was still fairly new to the industry compared to its major competitors, but they were already considered to be one of the powerhouses. The PS2’s release was received with much anticipation. Needless to say, the production behind the console is filled with a lot of interesting beats.
10 The Secrecy Behind The Production
The production of the PS2 started immediately right after the release of the first PlayStation in 1994. Sony was pretty secretive on the production of the console, perhaps to keep the focus and drive sales for the PlayStation. This means six years’ worth of work went into this console. It was reported to have been developed on the U.S. West Coast by a time comprised of former Argonaut Software employees.
Rumors and leaks started spreading by around 1997 that Sony was working on a new console that could read DVDs, could connect to the internet, and was backwards compatible. It wasn’t until 1999 that Sony officially announced the console’s existence to the public.
9 PS2’s Design
The Ps2’s design looks highly similar to that of an unreleased personal computer by Atari called the Falcon 030 Microbox. Both consoles share bulky exteriors with wavy curvatures along the sides, both are even capable of being stood up sideways using a vertical stand. The Atari Falcon 030 Microbox is even mentioned on the patent for the Ps2’s design. Perhaps the main difference between the PS2 and the Falcon Microbox is their color design.
Speaking of the color design, when designing the Ps2, Teiyu Goto went with a blue logo on a black console to emulate the color blue of the Earth in the middle of the blackness of outer space.
8 The Console Was Planned To Support Movie Streaming
Ken Kutaragi, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment at the time and the “Father of the Playstation” announced various features that would come with the PS2 prior to its release. Among these were ones already leaked before such as being backwards compatible and being capable of running DVD discs. He also mentioned that they were preparing for the console to be capable of running a streaming service. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition, unless you were from Brazil.
The PS2 arrived in Brazil at a much later date. In fact, the PS2 was globally released in 2000, but it only arrived in Brazil in 2009. Around this time, Netflix released a disc for the PS2 that will allow it to stream movies online, and they released it on the Brazilian market only.
7 Updates Through Discs
Whenever the consoles of today needed to undergo a software update, the players will simply receive a notification and confirm the update with a few clicks. Things weren’t so streamlined and convenient before, though. Sony had planned to release discs to the market whenever they felt like the PS2 needed a firmware update. Players would then insert these discs to the console so it will write up the necessary updates. This comes with its disadvantages, though, on top of being inconvenient.
The update would only be written up to the console’s memory stick. Meaning, whenever the player would change a memory stick, the console would revert back to its previous, outdated version.
6 The Government Feared The PS2’s Capabilities
The video game industry and controversy have crossed paths one too many times in recent history. The PS2 came with its own controversies. One of them was incredibly absurd but it was impactful enough that it actually controlled the exportation of the console from Japan to the rest of the world.
The government believed that the PS2 was too powerful a console for its time. So powerful, in fact, that terrorists could use it to be weaponized. Due to this, the production of the console became limited, becoming the first console to be controlled by the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law. It was also banned from being distributed to some parts of the world like Libya, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
5 David Lynch Created Commercials For The Console
Fans of the console and veteran gamers will no doubt remember the commercials and advertisements for the PS2 as seen on TV in the 90s. It was incredibly odd for what it was marketing. Despite being a commercial for a video game console, none of the commercials actually highlighted the specifications and features of the console. Instead, the commercial showed imagery of surrealism and oddities.
This choice of advertisement was not an accident at all. Sony wanted to highlight how the PS2 could send its players into a different dimension when playing it, and that’s the kind of immersion the console can provide. To really get this point across, Sony hired a director who was an expert on conveying and materializing surrealism and out-of-this-world experience. They hired David Lynch.
4 The Other “PSX”
Before the PS2 was released, Sony’s very first console was marketed under the code name “PSX.” This was due to Sony wanting to stay away as far as possible from their debacle with Nintendo, which was where the name “Play station” was created in the first place. Later on, though, Sony opted to simply call their console the “PlayStation” and then “PS1” when the PS2 was released.
Sony did release another console in 2003, actually called the PSX. The PSX acted like a PS2 but it came with a few other features that make the console a mixture between a video game console and a home entertainment system. It could play and burn DVDs, it had a remote control, it could even transfer media files with Sony’s handheld media, the PSP.
3 Sega Fired Against The PS2
Before entering the video game industry, Sony had no knowledge of how to create game consoles. Sony initially went with Nintendo, but that partnership went down the drain. Sony later came to Sega, but they were outright refused. When Sony decided to do things on its own, it ended up releasing a console that became the most successful console of that generation.
Fast forward to years later and Sony had just released its second console, the PS2. Sega was also releasing a console around this time called the Dreamcast, and these two consoles were being pitted against each other as the leading consoles of the sixth generation of gaming.
2 The Origin Of The Start-Up Sound
Players of the console will no doubt remember the start-up sound of the PS2. Hearing it now is an absolute nostalgia fuel. It marked the beginning of many beloved memories, playing the most spectacular games of the generation. It was also a moment were players held dread, as the start-up can often lead to the dreaded “disc read error” instead of the logo popping up.
Needless to say, that sweet sound is now cemented in the minds of gamers, and its origin is fairly interesting. According to Takafumi Fujisawa, the sound designer of the PS1’s start-up sound effect, the PS2’s sound effect was the creation of the contest between the team’s sound designers. They wanted to create a sound that was “beyond our image, like a monolith floating in space with the earth in the background.”
1 The PS2 Had A Few “Firsts”
The PS2 was quite the innovator for its time. A lot of the things that are fairly common now actually began with the PS2. It allowed customization like never before. With the arrival of the PSP, Sony introduced a seamless way players could play games between two consoles, meaning players could start playing a game from the PS2 and continue it later on using a PSP. This is something that’s maybe common now but was unheard of at the time. The console had also popularized the use of an eye camera and integrate it into gameplay.
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