On why I purchased another PlayStation 2

• October 2, 2010
• James Skemp
• gaming

This afternoon I picked up a PlayStation 2 slim model from Best Buy. I've already got a fat PS2, from way back in 2004 (after a bit of research, it looks like January, and that I paid about $200 for it), that still works pretty darn good, although the controllers are a bit ... discouraging.

My PlayStation 3 is also backwards compatible, so between the two I should be able to play my 52 PlayStation 2 (plus those I purchase in the future, as purchase I will) games for many years into the future.

Yet for some reason a couple of months ago I promised myself that when I next received a check from Google I'd use that $100 to purchase a new PlayStation 2.

The PS2 continues to sell extremely well, despite being a last generation system. In fact, Amazon currently has it listed as number 140 in their list of bestselling video games. The original Xbox that I found on Amazon was listed as number 899, with used or collectible options, both starting under $100. The Gamecube is available for under $70 (new) and is listed as number 779.

As of right now, the PS2 has sold, worldwide, the most number of units, with the Nintendo DS about 2.5 million units away, according to VGChartz (and with new versions coming out, still under the DS name, it'll certainly gain the number 1 spot). (The top half of the chart is all Sony and Nintendo products, interestingly.)

I was shocked that PS2s were still selling a number of months ago, but now, after purchasing a slim (which is amazingly small and light), it doesn't seem that shocking.

Having played it for a couple of hours, it somewhat reminds me of when I picked up my Retro Duo, so I could play Earthbound and the other SNES titles I enjoyed. There's just something about playing games for the really great systems ...

• playstation 2