Before October 26 2000, all the little entertainment appliances in your home had their place. The VCR lived in the family room beside the TV, the computer occupied the cluttered desk in the busiest room in the house, and the videogame system was relegated to an old 13-inch television in the children's playroom.
Then Sony unleashed what they hope will be the appliance to tie all these activities together under one chip--and ultimately bring video games into even more homes.
Rumors about the PlayStation 2 have been circulating among games for well over a year, fueled by Internet images of screen shots. These same joystick junkies were lined up October 26 to get their hands on
what few PlayStation 2 consoles were available, with Sony only able to meet a fraction of the demand. With the official price around $300 in the U.S. ($450 in Canada), the shortage has become a boon for Internet auction services like e-bay where a console sells nearly every minute. On November 2, prices were as high as $700 U.S. Obviously some shrewd gamers are willing to take a 100%-plus overnight profit while they wait for the next shipment.
With all this competition, why would you even consider seeking this latest Holy Grail of gamedom? Well, after the dust settles and there are PlayStation 2's lining store shelves, it may be time to consider the potential of this entertainment console--that happens to include the ability to play games.
Capable of more than shooting aliens, the unit's 128 bit graphic engine can churn out 20 million complex polygons per second (a way of measuring how fast it can create images on the screen). Compared to the Sega Dreamcast's paltry 3 million, or the Nintendo 64's pathetic 150 thousand, Sony's new baby shines.
Thanks to a myriad of plugs on the outside of the box, it should be easy to connect this power to much more than a joystick. Two universal serial bus ports (USB ports--commonly found on computers) could interface with printers, scanners, cameras, and modems. It also contains another port called an IEEE-1394 (often referred to by the trademarked names of i-link or Firewire), which provides for higher speed connections like those required to transfer full-motion video from your digital video camera. Open another little door, and you'll find a spot that's just the right size for a future hard drive.
With the geek-speak out of the way, all this boils down to the possibility that the PlayStation 2 could become the first truly universal entertainment appliance.
Without any add-ons, you can take it out of the box and play DVD movies in Dolby Digital sound (if you have a Dolby Digital receiver). Even component outputs (where each color channel has it's own wire) are available with a $15 cable, providing the best DVD and game picture currently possible with suitably equipped televisions. Of course music CD's are a breeze and $30 more buys an infrared remote control allowing you to watch a DVD or listen to a CD from the sofa.
In the future, software packages could allow the PlayStation to edit home movies and create electronic family photo albums. And while the unit doesn't have a built in modem or network connection, you can bet they are around the corner as add-on components, along with keyboards, mice and a plethora of other peripherals. With the PlayStation 2 sitting next to the VCR, and likely bumping the cassette deck into the garage sale pile, this black box could be what brings the Internet and interactive broadcasting to the masses--at least that's what Sony envisions.
But before you put your name on the line for the next available unit, consider the unthinkable (at least unthinkable for Sony). Rumors abound on the 'net about the PlayStation 2 being especially difficult to program--meaning it could be some time before game-makers and other program authors are able to take advantage of the box's full potential. Some companies may delay writing for the PlayStation until a significant number of units are sold. But, like the chicken and the egg, who wants to buy a game system with no games? This same scenario cost Sega dearly when they released their Saturn system in the early 1990's, moving them from first to last place in the games race--a spot they still hold today.
Then there's the X-factor. No... it's not the title of a new game, but the name of the upcoming console from Microsoft. The X-Box will have even more power than the PlayStation 2, and will use a common Pentium III processor for its brain. This decision to use the same processor as a personal computer will allow software companies to easily modify the scads of PC games lining software shelves for use on the X-Box. With so many programmers already familiar with the Pentium chip, new games and software should require little lead time.
If the terms Betamax and Elcassette mean anything to you, then you may want to wait a little while instead of being the first on the block with a PlayStation 2. However, if a DVD player is on your purchase list (check our article on DVD's first!), then a PlayStation 2 may be the right fit for you.
