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10 Surprising Things You May Not Know About Playstation 2 (Topic)

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10 Surprising Things You May Not Know About Playstation 2

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The Playstation 2 game console is the real king of console wars, which has defined the path of the gaming industry for a decade to come. A range of innovative features, futuristic design and hundreds of hit games have made the Sony console the most popular game console in history. Even now, almost 19 years after the release of the device, some gamers prefer to "take a vacation" from modern consoles and return to the old PS2. After all, as they say, the classics never get old and sometimes bring pleasant surprises, as you can see after reading a selection of ten unexpected facts about Playstation 2.

10. Innovative design

When developing PS2, the Japanese media giant was guided by a simple principle: to create the most convenient and ergonomic console, which was expressed not only in the gaming functions of the device, but also in the design. For example, the Playstation 2 was the first console that could be positioned vertically as well as horizontally, making it stand out from numerous competitors like the SNES and Dreamcast. Sony's decision was so successful that even Microsoft, with the release of the Xbox 360, adopted the ergonomic design of the PS2, albeit with a delay of 5 years.

10 Unexpected Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

9. Similar to the unreleased Atari console

But in fairness, we must admit that the Playstation 2 owes its innovative design to the never-released Falcon030 Microbox from Atari. As with the Sony device, Microbox let gamers choose how they want to position the console. At the same time, the manufacturer supplied with each device a special stand, which stabilized the set-top box in a vertical position. But Atari considered the development of Falcon030 Microbox unpromising and closed the project in 1993, so the main character of our article is still Playstation 2.

10 Unexpected Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

8. Lack of memory cards

Modern users are used to complaining about insufficient memory in consoles. And this is not strange, considering the next hits like Red Dead Redemption 2, which takes more than 110 GB on the console's hard drive. The problem with the lack of memory was even more felt in the days of the Playstation 2, when, although there was no need to install games on a hard drive, the game saves were shamelessly eating up all the free space on memory cards. As if these problems weren't enough, at one point Sony had a disagreement with the manufacturers of memory cards, which led to a catastrophic shortage in stores.

10 Unexpected Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

7. "White Towers" when loading the console

Continuing the topic of memory cards, one simply cannot help but recall another interesting fact of Playstation 2. If you remember, when the console was turned on, a lot of white columns were displayed on the screen, but this was not just another design delight from Sony. Everything is much more interesting: in fact, the towers visualized the save slots on the memory card. Each individual column is a separate save file, and there was a direct relationship between the size of the saved file and the size of the column. It seems like an insignificant detail, but another plus in the Playstation 2's piggy bank, which makes the console a unique device even after almost 2 decades.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

6. Sony's game console as the main weapon of terrorists

Perhaps the most unexpected fact about Playstation 2. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, in the first year of the console's release, a real hysteria began in the American media after the rumor that Saddam Hussein was massively buying consoles for terrorist purposes. The idea was simple: it turns out that the PS2 possessed such incredible power at a modest price tag that it made it possible to create a cluster supercomputer at minimal cost. The spread of rumors even forced Sony to closely monitor the export of consoles, so that they do not fall into the hands of terrorist groups.

10 Unexpected Playstation 2 Facts You May Not Know

5. Multimedia Center

Modern consoles have long been positioned as a full-fledged multimedia center that can play movies, music ... and sometimes be used for video games. But who knows what functions modern consoles would have if Sony hadn't dared to be the first to add DVD playback to the Playstation 2. A truly disruptive step that opened up the world of game consoles even for those people who disdain gaming.

10 Unexpected Playstation 2 Facts You May Not Know

4. Netflix on PS2

Streaming TV channels has already become a familiar feature for most modern set-top boxes, but the Playstation 2 was again the pioneer here. In 2006, Sony exclusively allowed Brazilians to watch the latest episodes of Netflix TV series from the set-top box. This fact looks even more impressive against the background of the Nintendo Switch, which even in 2019 still did not receive the opportunity to view TV channels online.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

3. Playstation 2 Slim

The Sony console has become a trendsetter in yet another way: the Playstation 2 was the first console to receive an improved revision a few years after its release, the so-called Slim version with reduced power consumption and compact dimensions. Of course, modified versions of gaming platforms were released before, but often they only had technical fixes, without radical design revisions. Fifteen years later, we can see that the release of "slim" has become a common occurrence for modern console manufacturers, which is clearly visible on the example of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

10 Unexpected Playstation 2 Facts You May Not Know

2. "Space" color palette

The design of Playstation 2 stood out not only due to its ergonomic design, but also due to its recognizable color palette: black body and bright blue PS2 logo. According to Sony employees, the choice of colors was part of the "space" concept. The blue logo in the center of the console symbolized the Earth, and the black color of the body reflected the scale of outer space.

10 Unexpected Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

1. A Big Love Story

Perhaps you are an experienced gamer, we will not exclude the possibility that you have or have had a console that you consider the best gaming platform and are ready to conduct heated debates with everyone who dares to doubt its quality. But let's admit that you are unlikely to ever have such warm feelings for the console that the American Dan Holmes had for the Playstation 2. His fan love for the console was so strong that in 2002 he changed his name to Mr. Playstation 2, and then decided to marry PS2. No kidding, everything is serious: Dan Holmes even looked for the registry office, which will legally register his marriage with PS2. Of course, there were no volunteers, and maybe it's for the best.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Playstation 2

The Playstation 2 is undoubtedly a milestone in the history of the gaming industry, as evidenced by the imitation of competitors, popular love of players and record sales of 155 million consoles as of 2011.

If you are interested in more current game consoles, then we suggest that you read the article where we tell you whether it is worth taking the Playstation 4 in 2018. For 2019, the article is still relevant.

The Topic of Article: 10 Surprising Things You May Not Know About Playstation 2.
Author: Jake Pinkman


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