Customer Reviews

PlayStation 2 Console (Slim Line Version 1)

5 star:		(137)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

The Playstation 2 has been out in the USA for four years now, and has gone through a number of subtle redesigns, but none as dramatic as this. This new PSTwo is remarkably tiny, and you almost need to hold it in your hand to appreciate just how much Sony reduced the size of the machine. The design feels a lot like a laptop computer -- especially the top-loading optical drive -- and is doubtless cheaper for Sony to produce. This time I feel that we the consumers get a slick product in return for the company's increased profits. It's delicate, but no more so than the original PS2.

There are no major compromises in this machine: like the previous design, it has two memory card slots, two controller ports, two USB slots, a progressive scan DVD player, a built-in infrared remote receiver (for controlling and watching DVD movies), and the AV outputs as the original PS2. Optional video cables can change the signal from the default component to S-Video or composite, just as before. An optical audio jack is also present for digital sound output.

What's missing? Not much. The Firewire port of the launch PS2 has long been abandoned, and is also absent here. You will need to use a new multi-tap if you want to play one of the few games that support more than 2 simultaneous controllers. You'll also be unable to plug in the "PS2 HDD," the hard disk drive albatross that will likely never be supported by Sony again outside of the online Final Fantasy game. No great loss there.

As a DVD player, the new PS2 is at least as good as any other lowend machine that does progressive scan and has DTS and Dolby audio and digital output. I'm using it paired with an official Sony remote and plan to return the cheapo machine I bought when my old DVD player wouldn't change layers on the new Star Wars set properly. My new PS2 not only performs just as well, it also plays hundreds and hundreds of games for both Playstation 2 and the original Playstation. It also plays DVD-R movies, though not MP3 CDs or VCDs.

The machine has a built-in modem and Ethernet port for online play. There is no additional cost for most PS2 online games, but in my opinion Sony's online implementation is not nearly as easy or smooth as that of the XBOX.

Even after this redesign, the PS2 is still the "weakest" of the current game consoles (compared to Microsoft's XBOX, Nintendo's GameCube) in terms of graphical power, and despite this new design, is still the most expensive since you will need to purchase an 8MB Playstation 2 memory card in order to save your games and settings. Nevertheless, it's a great system even if you already own one of the competitors, because of the large software library with many exclusives and lots of quirky Japanese titles. The new design is cool enough to even warrant getting a second PS2 system even if you already own the original.

If you don't have a current-generation video game system yet, and you want one, this would be a good one to start you off. The PS3, when released, is likely to be little more than an evolution of the types of games represented on this system. There's a huge number of excellent low-cost games on this platform, with something for almost everyone who loves games.

First off let me start by saying, this is NOT going to be a PS2 bashing. Though we all have our opinions on the three systems, the fact is that they are all great systems in their own right. That is to say you won't go wrong no matter which one you choose.

Let me reiterate, this is not a bad system. It has several great games (Final Fantasy X & X2, Grand Theft Auto Series, WWE Smackdown Series and several others). Though it must be noted that Gamecube and XBox both have great exclusive titles. The graphics are outstanding and they may not even be the best of the three, but they are great, certainly better than anything we had just a few short years ago. They definitely have more benefits than everybody else (free online gaming, the Eyetoy, and more games. As far as controllers go, I like Gamecube's a bit better, but this controller works wonderfully well too and is well laid out. (You won't be searching for the buttons like you do on XBox controllers, that is my one true complaint with that system).

One thing that irks me about the new design is the lack of support for the hard drive. It's not a huge issue unless you want to play Final Fantasy XI or take advantage of HDD capability as with ESPN NFL2k5. Not a big deal, but something could have been worked to support it.
I do like the smaller, slimmer design. It certainly helps when you have many systems old and new and are lacking in space to have them all setup at once. You almost have to see it in person to truly appreciate the size reduction this thing has undergone. While the old one is regarded as somewhat of a "clunker"; this thing is small, sleek, and powerful. I wish they could have found a way to include four controller ports (should be an industry standard) as opposed to just two. It's not a big issue but a bit annoying for those who enjoy playing multiplayer sports games.
Anyway Playstation 2's biggest downfall is in the fragility of the system itself and though I have experienced no problems personally, I have heard of a few from close friends.

1. Disc Reading Error (This is very likely a non-issue with this newer model.)

2. Malfunctioning Disc Door (This is no longer an issue because the system is now top-loading.)

3. The power cords tend to wear out faster than average. (Not a big deal, the cords are fairly cheap, but it could present a fire hazard.)

None of these things would be a huge deal except that the PS2 comes with a measly 90 day warranty (Do I hear 1 year anyone?)

I'm not trying to say this system is junk. It does have durability issues more than anything. Some of these problems should be lessened/eliminated with the new model. I personally prefer Gamecube but only by a small margin. All of you who immaturely spout "PS2 rules, Gamecube & XBox suck" are not only lying to yourselves, you're doing a great disservice to the readers who depend on these reviews to make an important decision.

The bottom line is the Playstation 2 is a great system and definitely worth the money, but it is not gaming perfection as some make it out to be. Try Gamecube & XBox as well. All three are extremely fun!!!

I am a mother of three children, so I have grown to know alot about these game consoles. I bought the new Playstation 2 for my 14 year old daughter. When it arrived, I opened it and tried it out to make sure it was in working condition. It is about 3 times smaller than the old one. There is also the option of getting online with it. I don't think that $149.99 is too expensive. It is the same price as the old one, and with more features. I think people are just a little too impatient about the PS3 coming out. Since I have kids 14 and under, Playstation 2 is the best for us. XBox doesn't have as many games, especially geared towards kids. They seem to have too many sports games. My youngest daughter has a Gamecube, and there isn't as many games available, and they are more expensive. It isn't easy to find many good games on sale for $20-$30 like it is for PS2. Anyway, I think the PS2 is great. I think most of the bad reviews are from people who don't own it yet, either because they are children whose parents refuse to buy the new version because they already have the old one, or from impatient hard-core gamers desperately waiting for the PS3.

I think this redesign is great. My favorite change is that the system has a built in Network Adapter. So you save 20 bucks if you want to play online. My least favorite change is complete lack of HDD support. But honestly not a big loss. You'd only need it if you wanted to play a Final Fantasy game online.

Now, with all of people who say the PS2 doesn't have a lot of durability, what are you doing to your consoles? Me, my uncle, cousin, and 5 friends have had a PS2 for over 3 years and they still work fine.

For you people who are just now wanting a console, I'll tell you how to decide. Honestly, all the consoles are great.

The PS2 is the current leader of the consoles because it had a wide variety of games and a lot of excellent exclusives (Katamari, Ratchet, Kingdom Hearts).

The Xbox is next because it has the best online system. But don't think the PS2 has horrible online, you can still kick butt in MK Deception and shoot down people in Killzone. Xbox has a some excellent exclusives (Halo, Ninja Gaiden). But lots of the excellent games are ones also availiable on PS2 (GTA San Andres, Battlefront).

Gamecube's only strength in my opinion are it's exclusives such as Mario, Metroid, and the flawless Zelda. But if you're a teen, you'd also want a PS2 or Xbox because Gamecube misses out on a lot of teen/mature games such as GTA, Battlefront, sometimes MK, and Destroy All Humans.

But honestly, they're all excellent. They all have their own games and own capabilities.

I recently got this new PS2 because my old one broke and it would no longer read discs. Well i went to EB Games to get a PS2, hopefully an old one, and they didn't have any; only used ones. I went to EB Games for a NEW PS2 so it had a lower chance of breaking. Well, I got this PS2 instead since it was the only new PS2 they had.

Overall it LOOKS great. It's tiny like a book, weighs at most 2 pounds I think, it's nice and small, portable, reads discs very quickly, etc.

But looks aren't what matters most. I am a hugggge gamer and I play my games hours on end. Since this PS2 doesn't have a fan... well I can't really do it. The most hours you can leave this on without it freezing ( for me ) is about 4 hours. I can be playing a game, scratched or not, and it will simply freeze and I have to reset. It's happened twice so far and I've had it for about 3 days. Both were on Tony Hawk American Wasteland, but I highly doubt it was the game. It happened once offline, and once online which tells me it was probably just the sytem overheating... it would be better if it was a tad bigger and had a fan!

I would stick with the old PS2 if you don't travel a lot, but if looks, portability, and sometimes unreliability are what you like, take your chance with this PS2 design.

The Playstation 2 has had a long history of faults. Disc Read Errors, faulty disc doors, network adapters cost extra, too big, ect. ALL of this is fixed in the new slim model.

Connectivity -- 6/10 -- The Slim PS2 has a built in network adapter, which will allow you to use dial-up, broadband, DSL, and Cable to play over the net. Most games will only support broadband, DSL, and Cable though. The Slim PS2 has 2 USB ports to connect to stuff like a mouse or keyboard. I am not sure if it can hook up to things like digital cameras, but I wouldn't bet on it. Online gaming is free, but free online gaming comes with a steep price. The speed and reliability of PS2 online gaming is nowhere near that of the Xbox.

Graphics -- 7/10 -- The graphics are awesome. Playing games like the Silent Hill series and Devil May Cry will captivate you in the realistic lighting effects, shadowing effects, and so forth. You will hear alot of people say that the PS2 has the weakest graphics capibilities, and that is true. But there isn't much of a difference. It's still a 128-bit gaming console, just like the Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Xbox.

Processor Speed -- 8/10 -- The clock speed on the PS2 is 300 MHZ (megahertz). For those of you who don't know, clock speed is how fast the processor of any machine is. The Dreamcast pulled 200 MHZ, Gamecube has somewhere around 400, and Xbox has clock speeds of 733 MHZ. The PS2 has the next to slowest processor. I haven't been disappointed by loading times yet though. In fact, loading times in alot of PS2 games are better than what I've seen in numerous Xbox games.

Library -- 10/10 -- The library of games for the PS2 is the largest by far of all four 128-bit game system. The PS2 is backward compatible with PS1 games, which means all of your favorite games from the original Playstation can be played on the Playstation 2. I heard that the first models of Playstation 2 couldn't play Playstation 1 games, but that has been fixed ages ago, and it is safe to say that you can play all PS1/PS2 games on the new slim PS2. More than half of the games on Xbox and Gamecube are on the PS2, so if you are in variety, than PS2 is worth the investment. The PS2 has alot of cool gadgets to tinker with, like the eyetoy, which is a camera that uses your body as a controller.

Controller -- 9/10 -- This is the same exact controller design as the PS1 analog controller. It is pretty comfortable. I think it's better than the Xbox and Dreamcast controllers, but it tied with the Gamecube controller in my opinion. The buttons are pressure sensitive, so the harder you press a button, the more intense the command you were going for is. Example: In racing games like Gran Turismo 4, the harder you press the gas button, the faster you will go.

DVD player capibility -- 6/10 -- The PS2 and Xbox can both play DVDs and CDs, but you might as well buy a DVD player because the PS2 and Xbox both don't make good DVD players. They can play DVDs, but the discs themselves can only have VERY FEW scratches, or it will stop in the middle of a movie, which is annoying. If the disc is in good condition, then both systems will play the movie in good definition. If you plan to use this as a DVD player, then get the DVD remote and take good care of your movies.

Durability -- 9/10 -- I have 2 very large dogs. One just happened to knock off my darling Slim PS2 off my stand, and I expected it to die. It amazingly didn't. The slim versions have had complaints of overheating, but only because the particular persons didn't give their Slim PS2 proper ventilation. So basically, don't operate the PS2, or any system for that matter, in a closed space (Example: a cubbard, between books, in a drawer). The faulty disc door has been fixed with the flip top like the first Playstations and the Gamecube. Some people complain about this, but remember that the less moving parts something has, the less chance of it breaking down.

Overall -- 8/10 -- This is an EXCELLENT system and I recommend it to everybody. But the next generation is coming out soon, so if you want to buy a Current generation console, it better be now, Because whe have Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 coming around the corner.

I haven't owned a console game since the early Atari because I didn't want even more hardware clutter to worry about. So I played PC games for years. The reason I switched to a console was to avoid clogging up my PC with software, drivers, peripheral hardware, IRQ conflicts, and other things that cause the Blue Screen of Death in Microsoft Windows.

The question was, which console to buy: Playstation 2, XBox, GameCube, or PSP?

Sony made the answer fairly easy: The new PS2 is portable, relatively inexpensive, doubles as a CD/DVD player, and most important, has thousands of titles available with backward compatability both now and in the upcoming Playstation 3.

The console is incredibly portable (it has a wall-wart for power, however). The games I've played so far (about a dozen) have excellent graphics and gameplay. Best of all, the games WORK--no crashes, no fiddling with sound and video cards, no Blue Screen of Death. For all of Microsoft's babbling about "Plug and Play", Playstation 2 is the only computer device I've seen that actually does it.

The only reasonable competitor in terms of number of games available is XBox. But there are a lot of things going against XBox:

1. Graphics vs. Price: XBox 360 graphics are known for being "better" than PS2, but you have to be pretty picky to notice the difference. PS2 games look fantastic, and just keep getting better. Any difference that exists doesn't justify the price difference. Not even close.

2. Portability: XBox is a big clunker. PS2 is only slightly larger than the DVD cases the games come in. I can travel with it easily.

3. The Future: PS3 is coming out in November 2006, and it will surpass XBox 360 features in every way (including HDTV). And it will play all previous Playstation games.

4. No Guitar Hero: Guitar Hero is (currently) available only for the PS2. And Guitar Hero is too good a game to miss.

5. Bill Gates: XBox is a Microsoft product, and Microsoft's legacy is to be known as the only company to consistently produce products that don't work for a quarter of a century. Otherwise I would have been happy to keep my games and computer software all in one machine.

The bottom line is that I had my PS2 playing games within minutes of opening the box, have enjoyed them more than any PC game, and it has never, EVER crashed--No Blue Screen of Death. If I decide to get a PS3 later, I can still play all my current games.

And they just dropped the price by $20 in April 2006.

The only thing I don't like about PS2 is the need to buy ridiculously expensive, relatively gigantic memory cards to save games. 8MB cards sell for the same price you can buy a 512MB Compact Flash or SD card if you shop around. The memory card is expensive, huge, and unnecessary. If they can fit 1GB of memory into a tiny iRiver MP3 player, Sony could have fit something--anything--into the Playstation 2. But they wouldn't have sucked their customers dry of cash that way, would they? It smells like MacIntosh when companies use proprietary hardware like that, and the PS2 loses one star because Sony resorted to this sleazy tactic.

Otherwise, the PS2 is a five-star product. Aside from the memory card issue, I couldn't be happier with it.

This is the first gaming system we have purchased for our children, and it is a big hit. After shopping and comparing, we decided to get the PS2 for 2 reasons: 1) The price was good compared to the Xbox and, 2) Huge game selection for all ages and interests. A month after purchasing the PS2 we have got our entertainment value from it already. We hit the local video store and took many PS2 games for "test drives." I like The Shadow of the Colossus, and the many fantasy and RPG games available. My wife loves good old Sonic, Pac-Man, and all the arcade games. My daughter loves Curious George, and Chronicles of Narnia. If you are looking for a family gamily system, the PS2 is flexible, and a great value.

Sony's refreshening of the venerable PS2 is both a marvel of technology and a mild disappointment all in one teeny tiny little package.

Yes, it's no PS3, and many fanboys will discount the redux as "money-grubbing", choosing to stand by their Xboxes or Gamecubes. However, to completely dimiss the redesign out of hand will be a mistake to anyone interested in a more portable game console.

Make no mistake, as popular as the other guys' consoles are, there is no game platform with more titles than the PS2. And that huge library is full of fantastic games that are still very much "in" (GTA:San Andreas and the Gran Turismo series come to mind). It's hard to argue against the borg that is Sony, and having the largest selection of titles makes the PS2 a fair choice, regardless of your game genre or system preferences.

But on to the new top-loading PS2 itself: this thing is small. While it lacks the motorized CD tray, anyone who travels frequently, whether it be a visit to a friend's house across the street or flight across the country, will appreciate the miniscule size of the box. About a third the size of the original, the new PS2 is perfect for slipping in a backpack, or tricking out your bling-bling ride.

What makes this even more impressive is the integration of the network port. Once a separate pay-for option, the built-in networking (both ethernet and dial up modem no less) not only makes the price more reasonable, but definitely ups the cool factor a notch.

The system is also very quiet and surprisingly cool, despite a reduction in internal fans.

There is one noticeable issue with the new size, however. There is no hard drive interface, so Final Fantasy gamers with hard drives are out of luck (at least until they make a USB or other type adapter).

Overall, the smaller PS2 is a console worthy of consideration. It's a great choice for both newcomers to the console world as well as folks with extra cash burning a hole in their wallets who need a travel-sized system or replacement to their existing PS2s.

I have had a PS2 since "02". The old PS2 is really large and takes a lot of room. When this PS2 came in, I sold my old one and got this one. About 3 months ago at EB games, there was a recall on certain AC adapters that may cause a fire. When your PS2 starts up, press triangle to see the version of your PS2. If the version says SCPH-70011 or SCPH-70012, call Sony. They will give you a fresh one for absolutely FREE. No shipping costs either... Please check your PS2.............