What's going on with PS2?
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I played on a PS2 today, and am so pleased i have not forked out £299 for this "thing"! (no offence to you guys out there who have ordered one, it maybe what your expecting.) Anyway when I heared about the Playstation 2 i was expecting the ultimate games playing machine. However I played on the new ridge racer title, and was exceedingly disappointed. The graphics are very reminiscent of the PSone, just smoother, and gameplay is so slow. I had high expectations of this machine, and if Ridge Racer is the shape of things to come, one of these units will never make its way throught my door. Sony really should have put more than 4mb VRAM in? For a machine with the PS2's potential this really is a ludicriously small amount. The Dreamcast has 8MB, so therefore shouldn't the PS2 have at least 12MB. From my time on Ridge Racer 5 I saw a huge amount of misting, reminiscent of the Ninetendo 64. With the PSOne there were crystal clear graphics, when the PSOne and N64 grpahics were seen side by side the clarity of the Playstaion's graphics were so obviously better.
Another question are there going to be any original titles coming out for the PS2? As currently i can only see sequels to existing games (or at least the only good games on the machine.)
I have enjoyed 5 years of the PSOne, i paid £279 for it, when it launched it was an original machine, with original titles really pushoing the boundaries of gaming. I'm sorry to say that, for me personally, the PS2 is looking like a huge disappointment.
I have had a dreamcast for about a year now, and have enjoyed a range of quality titles. I was wondering a) the sales numbers of the dreamcast. And if it gets to the point where Sega are forced out of the console market do you think they'll make games for the likes of PS2?
I'll probably get much abuse for this message, but I believe that Sony are taking advantage of their market situation, by flogging off products that aren't of as high quality as they should be. If this is the shape of the PS2 of the future, I would say to Sony please just concentrate on the Home Entertainment market.
Sorry everyone here I don't mean any offence to any of you who have forked out £299 for your console, i'm sure you'll be very happy with the product. I'm just expressing my personal feelings on the PS2 front, and besides the PS2 hasn't recieved any adverse publicity yet.
Another question are there going to be any original titles coming out for the PS2? As currently i can only see sequels to existing games (or at least the only good games on the machine.)
I have enjoyed 5 years of the PSOne, i paid £279 for it, when it launched it was an original machine, with original titles really pushoing the boundaries of gaming. I'm sorry to say that, for me personally, the PS2 is looking like a huge disappointment.
I have had a dreamcast for about a year now, and have enjoyed a range of quality titles. I was wondering a) the sales numbers of the dreamcast. And if it gets to the point where Sega are forced out of the console market do you think they'll make games for the likes of PS2?
I'll probably get much abuse for this message, but I believe that Sony are taking advantage of their market situation, by flogging off products that aren't of as high quality as they should be. If this is the shape of the PS2 of the future, I would say to Sony please just concentrate on the Home Entertainment market.
Sorry everyone here I don't mean any offence to any of you who have forked out £299 for your console, i'm sure you'll be very happy with the product. I'm just expressing my personal feelings on the PS2 front, and besides the PS2 hasn't recieved any adverse publicity yet.
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This console is in it's infancy remember when the PS came out it's lauch games weren't astounding Wipeout was probably the best then in the first quarter of 1996 the games started to roll out.
But hey I'm not standing up for the PS2, my brother bought himself a DC and it's a great console with Virtua Tennis and Soul Caliber being the pick of the list for me. I think that the PS2 won't live up to it's hype but only a fool would doubt the fact that it's going to do very very well.
Add that to the fact that I can fionally watch The Matrix, Gladiator and Fight Club downstairs I think I am gonna be quite happy.
Oh I asked that Q about VRAM on another board and it was all explained to me. You see while normal VRAM stores textures for a level/stage the PS2 is constantly pushing textures through uusing the VRAM as a buffer as it has a higher bandwith tan the DC's. Basically you can't tell a thing from the stats you have to see the consoles. (Is that right?)
FYI The Games I'm getting
SSX: Played it at ECTS Mindblowing the launch game to buy!
TTT: My name is Jay and I am a Tekoholic. Played it at ECTS Deep game, noticed the 'jaggies' but now it uses AA so the already sweet eye candy is even sweeter.
FIFA 2001: Why I'm getting this I don't know, Why I am gonna love it I don't know, again another one at ECTS and it's alot of fun to play with your friends. Maybe i'm getting it to impress them...
Man come friday I'll know who my friends are they'll be the ones that hate me, and people I don't know will love me.
Now gotta start saving for a NGC while my brother is 1/2 way to an X-Box. (I think I got the better consoles but they all sit under the same TV!)
--- Jay ---
But that's the point, RR5 isn't the shape of things to come. It was a title that had very short development time in an effort to supply the Jap PS2 with various launch titles. Most of those launch titles aren't quite as advanced as they could be if the developers had more time to play with. GT3 and SSX are better examples of what the PS2 can do.
That isn't how the PS2 architecture works. The 4Mb VRAM on the PS2 isn't a limiting factor. Knowing how to correctly program the PS2 is what counts and is an issue various PC developers have discovered after assuming it could be programmed like a PC (or DC even). Refer to this article for more details but beware it's pretty technical:
http://www.arstechnica.com/cpu/2q00/ps2/ps2vspc-1.html
I've been playing the game since June and the misting is only present at distant stages of the track. The smoothness of RR5 also stands out against Rage Racer. Again, time issues for what wasn't done properly.
SSX and a few others. Most developers are still seeing what can be done with the extra power.
A bit unfair if you've only spent 30 minutes with the thing. I personally was disapointed with the Dreamcast when it was first launched in Japan. Almost a year later things changed. It was the same for the PSOne, it'll be the same for the PS2.
Unlikely. They may just try again to be honest. I expect the recent price cut and the new DVD add-on may boost the DC this Xmas. Unfortunately the heavy piracy may also be it's death.
You won't get abuse . I just think you need to look at the overall situation from a more informed point of view. Anyway, the Xbox is likely to shake things up next year as will the GameCube so we'll probably be discussing all of this again.
I forked out £500 for my Jap PS2 and I'm happy with it so far
You asked for some first impressions...I did a review back in June which may interest you:
http://www.forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?threadid=202
It needs some updating now I've spent a reasonable amount of time with it but it should suffice. Note that the latter half is missing for some reason. A problem with the recent software upgrade on the board I imagine.
Full blown titles (time-wise) like GT3, SSX and MGS2 are beginning to show what the PS2 can do and what was lacking in the early releases. Admittedly the price IS a problem but that should hopefully go down next year.
Thanks for the comments on the review. I'll try and recover the last half of it if possible as it contained brief reviews on TTT and DOA2 which might be worth comaparing with the UK releases.
Yeah that OP was so wrong, he must feel silly if he reads that back now :rolleyes:...