PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 (PS2 ) is a video game console manufactured by Sony, which is sold in Europe since November 2000. In Japan, the production was stopped after 12 years on December 29, 2012.

The PS2 is a sixth-generation console to compete with the Nintendo GameCube, the Microsoft Xbox and Sega Dreamcast. My successor, the PlayStation 3, 2006 came on the games market for the first time.

Technology

The processor (CPU ) of the PS2, the Emotion Engine (EE ) is a clocked at 294.912 MHz processor ( 299 MHz later versions ), which is based on an extended MIPS architecture. The biggest feature of this CPU are the two completely programmable integrated vector processors. For example you are meant to carry out such calculations, which assume the vertex shader in the current graphics chips. The corresponding functionality is missing from the GPU, Graphics Synthesizer (GS) called, he is a pure rasterizer. Among other things, through the use of a 4 -Mbyte embedded memory brings the Graphics Synthesizer on a high raw performance. This memory is placed directly on the GS and a 2048-bit wide bus connections to this. The lack of support for multi-texturing denied the PlayStation 2, the ability to present complex texture effects, and lowers the power if scenes have to be drawn repeatedly to superimpose multiple textures. As a result, very few games use trilinear filtering, and many, particularly early titles, even at a lower resolution run.

In addition to the built-in video memory of the PS2 32 MB RAM ( Direct Rambus) serve as a memory. To read the PS2 games, a CD / DVD combo drive is built with 24x/4x-Geschwindigkeit with which you can also play DVD videos and audio CDs. In addition, the console supports Dolby Digital and DTS sound encoding ( 5.1).

Marketing

The PS2 was released on 24 November 2000 in Europe. Until the end of 2006, according to Sony 117 890 000 copies were produced, of which 47.68 million for North America, Europe, and 44.79 million for 25.42 million for Asia. In early 2011, the sales figures worldwide already more than 150 million consoles.

Games, of which over 400,000 copies were sold, a new edition in separately labeled containers under the slogan " Platinum: The Best of PlayStation 2 " sold.

The most successful PS2 game is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas units sold 18.14 million.

Versions

The PlayStation 2 is largely backward compatible with PlayStation games of the first PlayStation running a few exceptions, also on the PlayStation 2 Two options are available to enhance the gaming experience with the PS1 games on the PlayStation 2: The load times can be shortened and the bilinear filtering of textures can be activated. Both are only optional to implement, since it can lead to errors in some games. Also compatible are the control units, whereas although the PS1 memory cards are basically compatible, but can only be used for the storage of Score PS1 games and need.

In October 2001, Sony announced the European Automobile Color Collection. It was a PlayStation 2 in five different colors (red, yellow, blue, white and silver) that were produced in a total number of only 2000 pieces per color. Of these 2000 pieces only 666 copies for the European trade were determined. Models of this Color Collection were sold for 25,000 yen ( 194 euros ), ie 2200 yen ( 17 euros ) more expensive than the conventional PlayStation 2

When extensions are a network adapter and a DVD remote control with infrared receiver, which is a controller connector available. In 2003, EyeToy, a USB camera. With suitably modified drivers it can also connect to a PC.

In early 2004 appeared the new SCPH- 50004 series. This model has a built- in infrared receiver for the optional remote control and a new quieter fan, but the FireWire connection has been dropped. From this series, the PlayStation 2 also available in Satin Silver Case color is available.

The PlayStation 2 has on the back of a bay for a hard drive that is connected via the network adapter is available separately. The official hard drive kit from Sony was only supported by a few games, but it was with the publication of the unofficially produced software " HDLoader / HDAdvance " possible to secure his PS2 games on a normal PC IDE hard drive that you can in the console must install, and play games so directly without the DVD / CD. However, some manufacturers are not suitable for all hard drives because of the designs. Until now you can use 500 - GB hard drives internally. The official PS2 hard disk has never been released in Europe and was only available in Japan and USA. She brings a similar benefit as a memory card.

On 21 September 2004, a new PlayStation 2 with the model number SCPH- 70004 was presented (referred to as Slim version ). It is about 70% smaller than the old PlayStation 2, has a top loader instead of a front loader and also the network adapter is available separately for the older PlayStation 2 models built-in. With the standard network adapter, however, the support for IDE hard drives and the hard drive bay have ceased to exist, therefore the developers of " HDLoader " or " HDAdvance " the program have brought out " USBeXtreme ". Thus, saving and loading of games on external hard drives via the USB port is possible. Because of the old USB 1.1 standards, there is no speed advantage over an original CD / DVD more than ever when loading games built from a hard drive. To reduce the exotherm, the new external power supply helps. However, this caused 2004 manufactured models, problems and was replaced in a worldwide recall for certain, from August to December.

In the SCPH- 75004 EE and GS are combined in a single chip. The advantage of less heat is retained. However, some games are not compatible with this version.

Another version of the PlayStation 2 is called SCPH- 77004 ( V15 with the model numbers SCPH- 7700x SCPH- 7700x and a b). In this series of EE and GS were also summarized and delivered from 2006, with a revised ASIC, so the compatibility issue of the predecessor SCPH- 75004 has been eliminated.

Although Sony also the rights for the name PStwo secured, this name was never officially used as the device name. Nevertheless, the device is often popularly referred to as, current packaging also contribute in the corners of a triangle with the word " two". The successor, the PlayStation 3, was released on 23 March 2007 in Europe. It applies in addition to the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii as one of the next- generation consoles.

In the Japanese market in addition a white PSX, which provides the ability to record television programs to save them on the internal hard disk and burn it to DVD or CD appeared yet. However, they never made ​​it to the European market, as sales were very low.

In Japan, was published on 22 November 2007, another PS2 model ( SCPH- 90000 ). This version is based on the Slim version, but the power supply is integrated in the device. The device is available in three colors (black, white, silver ) available. Meanwhile, the model SCPH- 90000 is available in the latest version SCPH- 90004 and in Germany (in black and satin silver).

In addition to the normal and the European Automobile Color Collection version still more special editions of the console have been published.

Linux

Sony released a version of the Linux operating system for the PS2 SCPH- 50004 to model, in a set with keyboard, mouse, network adapter, VGA cable and hard drive. According to a statement from Sony's online store since 2003 is the Linux kit is no longer for sale in North America. However, the European version was still available at least until June 2007. However, the delivery was limited to two DVDs and the VGA cable, while the hard drive was still required, this Linux still made ​​available only for the older, "fat " PS2. However, since the proprietary boot loader is on a region- coded DVD, the European version will not run on American equipment. An alternative Linux distribution is the Black Rhino GNU / Linux, which has so far requires the Sony Linux installation. There are now free bootloader which can be started, for example via a memory card exploit.

Development

In Europe and Australia, the PlayStation 2 comes together with a YaBasic interpreter on the attached demo CD. This allows the end users to write simple programs for the PlayStation 2. It was part of a failed attempt to circumvent a UK tax by the device was declared as a " computer " because it was shipped with a certain software.

For professional developers a set of optimized components was published, there are currently officially only buy in Japan. The DTL T10000, also known as PS2 TOOL known, is a Linux-based PlayStation 2 for developers. You can operate in three different modes, and thus serves as a pure workstation, provides a developer - mode with optional DVD -ROM emulator, where a DVD image from a hard disk is loaded and the access times of a real drive to simulate or can be used as regular PlayStation 2 are used.

The DTL H- series ( "Debugging Stations" ) of the PS2 console developer is outwardly a normal PS2 similar, but is optimized for debugging and testing Burned to CD-Rs/DVD-Rs media beta test and preview versions. In contrast to an unmodified commercial PS2 console developers versions allow playing Playstation ( 1) games on CD- R media and playing PS2 games on CD-R/DVD-R-Medien with set master flag without review of the CD / DVD copy protection flag, usually located on original pressings, but can not be created from CD / DVD burners. Because of this ability, such consoles were sometimes distributed to game tester and the press, so that they were able to create screen captures and reviews of not yet released games.

On some of these devices stands instead of the PS2 lettering "TEST" on the body, while on the other, a combination of " PS2 " and " TEST " can be found. The versions with an attached " S" play from as opposed to those without "S", only games for the respective region (PAL, NTSC, etc.), also missing here the word " TEST".

A anhängtes " E", " U" or "J" has a debugging station from another region toward which was fitted with a matching power supply, such as the one shown DTL- H30001 E. For her it is a NTSC U / C ( North America ) debugging station, which was provided for use in the European region with a power supply that instead of working with an alternating voltage of 230 V with the usual North American 110V AC voltage.

Specifications

• CPU: 294.912 MHz MIPS R5900 extended ( "Emotion Engine" ) ( extended by 2 vector units )
• Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS
• GPU: 147 MHz ( "Graphics Synthesizer" )
• Memory: 32 MB RDRAM; 4 MB embedded video RAM, 2 MB RAM Sound
• IOP: 37.5 MHz Custom ( 32-bit) MIPS R3000A ( the improved CPU PlayStation, used in PS1 games for the PlayStation emulation )
• Polygon Power: 66 M / s ( gouraud - shaded polygons)
• Textures per rendering pass: 1
• Pixel fill rate without textures: 2.4 G / s
• Pixel fill rate at 1 Texture: 1.2 G / s
• Pixel fill rate at 2 Texture: 0.6 G / s
• Storage media: about 4 × DVD -ROM / about 24 × CD -ROM, 8 MB Memory Card, Max Memory 16 MB and 64 MB Memory Card
• Interfaces: 2 controller ports
• Digital optical output S / PDIF
• 2 USB 1.1 ports
• AV Multiout connection (YUV / Component, RGB, SCART, Composite Video)
• Infrared receiver ( only from SCPH- 50004 integrated)
• PCMCIA (only the first Japanese model, external hard disk)
• FireWire ( SCPH- 50004 missing from )
• Bay for 3.5 " hard drive ( missing from SCPH- 70004 )
• Slot for network adapter ( missing from SCPH- 70004, as they are integrated )

• 79 × 303 × 183 mm (first series )
• 28 × 230 × 152 mm ( Slim version, less than 23 % of the volume of the first series )

Accessories

Optional accessories (often in conjunction with a game you can only play with it ), there are, among others:

• EyeToy USB Camera
• Buzz! Game show buzzer
• SingStar Microphone Pack
• Guitar Hero guitar, drums and microphone
• DVD remote control (with and without IR receiver )
• Vertical Stand
• Horizontal Stands
• Memory Card
• Paint pen
• Gamepad 4- way adapter ( Multi Tap )
• Wireless controller
• HDTV Player ( 2006)
• RGB SCART cable
• YPbPr cable
• S -video cable
• DJ Hero ( Turntable )
• Network adapter

PSX

The PSX is an additional media functions expanded version of the PlayStation 2, which was released by Sony Corporation on 13 December 2003 exclusively in Japan. In addition to the capabilities of the PlayStation 2 games, it has a built-in hard drive for recording, storing and playing movies and music. On the hard drive stored content can also be stored on the built-in drive on CD- or DVD -ROM. The well-known of the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar has been implemented in the PSX. The device name is derived from the original working title and unofficial abbreviation of the first PlayStation (PlayStation eXperimental ).

Models

DVD-R, DVD-RW

Playback:

DVD -Video, DVD -R, DVD - RW, Music CD, CD -R ( JPEG), Memory Stick, PlayStation Games, PlayStation 2 Games

• HQ - 1 hours
• HSP - 1-2 hours
• SP (standard) - 2 hours
• LP - 3 hours
• EP - 4 hours
• SLP - 6 hours

HDD:

• HQ - 53 hours
• HSP - 81 hours
• SP (standard) - 107 hours
• LP - 164 hours
• EP - 217 hours
• SLP - 325 hours

• Firmware Update
• Playstation 2 Central Station

• Size: 312 × 88 × 323 mm
• Weight: 5.8 kg
• Power consumption: 80 watts