So, with 3 weeks remaining, here is my love letter to the Playstation 2.
The Playstation 2. This was the first console I purchased myself. I took my own money, and purchased a PS2 in late 2001 shortly after the release of Grand Theft Auto 3. I must have been only 11 years old. Thinking back, that seems crazy - because I bought GTA3 myself without a "parents permission". Having recently read all the stories of children being rejected at the GTA5 launch and crying their way out of the store...I can think back and remember buying GTA3 alone at Walmart. By the time I had turned 18 (or is it 17?) in 2008, they had just started enforcing the M rating I.D. requirement, and apparently I looked old enough because I have never once been asked to show identification to purchase a game. It seems funny to me remembering the hoops I had to jump through to get booze before I was 21...thinking of kids having to do the same shady deals to pick up a video game! This isn't a proper time for me to start voicing my opinion on age restrictions, but it is a funny memory that came back to me researching the PS2 for this post.
As some of the younger kids may not know, for a long time the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player you could buy (unless you looked for a sale or used equipment). That was the driving force of what helped this console to be the best selling console of all time (155 million, compared to the Nintendo DS at roughly 154 million). As a game collector and self proclaimed Sony fanboy, this is a very good thing for me. I can pick up nearly any game I am searching for at under $20 - most of them under $10! The PS2 had an incredibly diverse lineup of games, and it seems like every other sale I go to has at least one Madden game, or even something quirky like Jak and Daxter. I'm doing my best to fill in my PS2 collection now, because the games are readily available for $1 each - including in retro game stores. If you're just getting into collecting, the PS2 is an excellent place to begin.
My most fond memories on the PS2 come from my first game for it...Grand Theft Auto 3. I played that game until my PS2 quit reading the disc...not because it was scratched either. I'm not sure what made it eventually give up on GTA3, but I can remember it never reading it again. I spent a lot of time with my PS2, but as I got a little older I pulled back from gaming just a bit. By the time I was 13 I was starting to get heavily into skateboarding and didn't spend much time in my house anymore. I remember the tray in my PS2 got jammed and I punched the top of it. From that day forward, it refused to read DVDs anymore. I sold it on craigslist (my first craigslist experience) and forgot about gaming for a few years.
I had a Gamecube and a Wii, but never really got into many games other than the few big titles for those. I did enjoy my Nintendo DS for quite a while, and I eventually purchased a used Xbox 360. I hated the controller, and I disliked the idea of paying for an online service (and running an ethernet cable up my stairs) so the 360 eventually got traded in. I had all but given up on any serious gaming (as in completing games or playing any in depth RPGs) and I remember seeing a friend play God of War 3. I looked into the PS3 months and months later because of that...and, well, I'll save that for next week :]
My First PS2 Game - Grand Theft Auto 3
My Top 5 PS2 Games - GTA3, Sly Cooper (series), God Of War 2, Jak and Daxter, Katamari Damacy
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