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Guardian: Sony ends Playstation 2 production worldwide

O

Orayn

Member
Corto said:
And the logistics and costs of manufacturing, distributing and marketing 5 gaming platforms (PSP, Vita, PS2, PS3 and the next PS4???? also went into account for this decision I'm sure. Maybe Sony could sell licenses to build PS2 clones to third parties now, to sell in those emerging markets. Get some money upfront without the onus of having to support an ancient platform.
Click to expand...

Seconded. I doubt it would happen, but it'd be really cool to see people shrink the PS2 down even further, and there's obviously still a market for it in the developing world.
 
Z

zerokoolpsx

Member
So it finally ends.
Majine said:
mgs3-snake-salute.jpg
Click to expand...
Reminds me, have to pick up a dualshock 2 before they stop making them.
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
Y2Kev said:
That's interesting...you'd think they'd still be interested in selling it in some of the emerging markets. Though I guess maybe major markets like Brazil/India are already up to the current gen?
Click to expand...

PS3 sales are slowly picking up in India and Brazil. PS2 was dominating in India but it appears they have lowered the price of PS3 there and now the adoption rate is increasing.
 
N

noobie

Banned
End of PS2 production means beginning of PS4 production.
From the ashes of the king will rise a new king
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
Felt really sad reading this and really scared about game consoles selling well after seeing Wii U doom and gloom and Vita etc.. I hope the PS4 and 720 do very well.

Piers Harding-Rolls, a senior analyst at IHS Screen Digest, said: "Sony also had a hugely successful marketing strategy, especially its association with football, which saw it gain great penetration in many territories where console gaming was underdeveloped. The PS2 went beyond the first PlayStation by expanding its audience in its later years, introducing lifestyle and social games that helped drive adoption in the mid-2000s."

But the consumer technology market has changed dramatically since the PS2's glory days. "Game consoles used to be the only boxes you owned with any sizzle or personality," says Tom Bramwell, editor of the games site Eurogamer. "Nowadays smartphones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs all have amazing industrial design, features and content, and it's much harder to stand out if everyone else looks cool as well."

Sony is struggling with its latest handheld device, the PS Vita, which has only sold 4m units in 10 months, while the iPhone, iPad and Android devices sold more than 200m in 2012. Consumers are now used to downloading cheap games on smartphones – hence the incredible success of titles such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.

"The industry has become so fractured, I'm not sure we'll see another console that gets that sort of penetration into the public consciousness," said Marsh.
Click to expand...
 
V

volpone

Banned
I remember when me and my brothers got one together in the Christmas of 2000. Demand was high and we had missed the first batch of consoles upon release. Somehow we managed to get one just before December 25th. I remember the big blue box, the bizarre 'Welcome to the Third Place' ads and the sleek black design console that seemed like something snatched out of the future in contrast with the suddenly archaic images of the PS1 and the N64.

In retrospect I wasn't all that much interested in the console's launch line-up. I was blown away by the fidelity of Tekken Tag Tournament but ironically found myself playing Majora's Mask on Christmas Day (only to absolutely confounded when prompted by the game to give a potion to the witch in the forest).

Soon I fell in love with the console however. We didn't have a PS1 at the time and in the following February my brother came home with Final Fantasy IX. It was a watershed moment for me as a gamer. I was completely captivated. An avid fan of Digimon as well I was blown away when I found out I could play the DVD of the movie on the PS2 after spending a childhood watching videotapes.

Bizzarely at the age of 9 I was a pretty discerning gamer and during my regular trips to Blockbuster video I saw two games whose boxarts completely captured my imagination. Ico and Klonoa 2. Now kids play Call of Duty.

Why did I have to grow up?
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
meta4 said:
Felt really sad reading this and really scared about game consoles selling well after seeing Wii U doom and gloom and Vita etc.. I hope the PS4 and 720 do very well.
Click to expand...

Development costs are the real reason that we won't see another console like the PS2. Few publishers can risk making AAA exclusive to a console. The PS2 had a ridiculous amount of AAA exclusives and timed exclusives.
 
T

Type2

Member
I'm considering picking up a slim model just incase my backwards compatible PS3 ever goes kaput. I am still playing through my PS1/PS2 backlog which is a testament to the appeal of this system.
 
M

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Goodbye, last king of both West and East. No console in the next future will achieve your amazing variety, with loads and loads of big titles from both Western developers and Eastern ones.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
Its kinda sad in a way that we will likely never see such a dominant single home console again. You could literally own a PS2 and ignore every other console on the market and still get to play the vast majority of the great games of that gen.

That must have been a great gen for development studios. Focus on a single platform where everyone was.
 
D

Dark_AnNiaLatOr

Member
That's all she wrote, an she sure did write a lot. I remember how bad I wanted a PS2 back in the day. Hope they achieve success with PS4!!!
 
V

VariantX

Member
PS2 will always be the king to me. No consoles this generation had the same variety of titles and genres under one roof and probably none ever will again. The only thing it was lacking in was the PC centric genres.
 
D

Drencrom

Member
Legend

Need to get a extra unit

Corto said:
And the logistics and costs of manufacturing, distributing and marketing 5 gaming platforms (PSP, Vita, PS2, PS3 and the next PS4???? also went into account for this decision I'm sure. Maybe Sony could sell licenses to build PS2 clones to third parties now, to sell in those emerging markets. Get some money upfront without the onus of having to support an ancient platform.
Click to expand...

Unlikely, but that would be cool
 
I

inpHilltr8r

Member
It had the most entertaining hardware to develop for. Loads of different processors, crazy GPU bandwidth, wicked fast SIMD, feature packed DMA controllers. Real hardware manuals!

A bitch to tame, but when you did, you could really make it sing.

*salutes*
 
T

tafer

Member
This is unexpected, but as someone said earlier, it seems like thee PS3 is gaining popularity on emerging markets.

In any case, I'll need a back up console.

RIP King of kings, your legacy is already written on the DNA of the industry.
 
B

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I have a mild fever so my reading is a little shitty right now. I saw the words "Guardian, production, ends" and thought this was an announcement of TLG getting canned and nearly shat a break for a second.

Majine said:
What will Sony do now that they can't include PS2 sales into the "Playstation family"?
Click to expand...
They'll come up with other ways to manipulate numbers on their E3 power point slides.
 
C

Cjdamon042

Member
I got my PS2 on my 12th birthday which was unfortunately a school day so I didn't get to play it until after school. Longest day ever. Plus it was a Friday which always felt really long whilst at school as it was. I got back home and immediately set it up. The first two games I got with it were pretty obscure; Army Men Green Rogue and Smuggler's Run. Army Men was awful and I never touched it more than maybe 3 times, but Smuggler's Run was pretty cool and I played it a ton.

My mum and her boyfriend were going away that weekend so my Dad came to stay over. I remember him ringing the door bell and I rushed up to open the door and I excitedly said to him "I GOT A PS2!". I still cringe to this day thinking about it lol.

Shortly after that I remembered that FFVI on PS1 came with a FFX demo so all that night I played it over and over again. Was so amazing. The next day I convinced my Dad to take me into town and buy FFX. You can imagine what I did for the rest of the weekend :p

For the next 5 years it was my main console. I got a GameCube the following year but I (regrettably) didn't use it as much as I should have.

Some of my best gaming memories are with that machine. It really was and is legendary.
 
G

george_us

Member
I remember getting my PS2 on my 16th birthday along with Twisted Metal: Black in 2001. Later that year I got Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X, and the almighty Metal Gear Solid 2. From then on it was onslaught after onslaught of stellar titles from everyone.

Truly the king of all consoles.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
I regret giving mine away.

images


This not mine, but had a cool blue limited edition console from the Sony Store.

I thought Sony would keep B/C, but then my 60 gigger died. :(
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
DAT 12 YEAR LIFECYCLE

Good news is, with the PS2 stopping production, Sony has a gaping hole in the console space as they normally support two consoles at the same time. I doubt Sony would want this gap to be longer than a year.

When did PS1 end production? Was it well before the PS3 released?
 
M

Majine

Banned
The black phat one is where it's at. It still looks ridiculously good.

Oh god, I bought the horisontal stand.
 
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