Controller:
Dual Shock 2: easily up there as the best video game
controller of all time which has been upgraded with all
analog buttons. Not bulky at like the X-Box controller, but at
the same time it’s not ergonomically correct
like the X-Box controller. Compact, very easy to learn button
configuration.
PlayStation has also upgraded their memory cards, increasing
their storage mass up to 8MB. This brings me to a downside of
PS2. Currently, with all the add-ons and what it would take
for you to upgrade, it would cost you
over $300 (1 ½ times the amount of what PS2 is going for) to
add-on a 10GB hard drive, which comes standard
with the X-Box. If you do the math (which you don’t have to
since I am), if you want to buy the equivalent in
storage in 8MB memory cards, you could fit about 1200 8MB
memory cards in a 10GB hard drive, and at about $25 a pop,
that would set you back about $30,000. Yes, $30,000. No typo
there. Amazing, huh? Puts things into
perspective a bit. This should all go away though, when PS3
debuts with a hard drive, and some of the other
things that come standard with the X-Box.
There was a decent sized upgrade from the original controller
and the Dual Shock 2 controller. The biggest
difference between the original and the DS 2 (Dual Shock 2) is
the fact that with the new controller for PS2,
all of the buttons (including the D-pad) offer analog support.
This means that the D-pad, the four main buttons
and the four shifting buttons are all pressure sensitive and
have 255 degrees of sensitivity. This is already being taken
advantage of in many PS2 games, and expect more of this as
well in future games. For example, games
such as Ever Grace, the power of your attacks are directly
affected by how hard you press the face buttons
(main buttons). This means that those of us that pound away on
the buttons can finally tell our mothers,
fathers, brothers, sisters, significant others that “Yes, it
DOES matter how hard you hit the buttons!”.
Finally!
Overall, DS 2 is just about the same as the original, but this
one is definitely an improvement over the first.
PS2: To DVD or Not DVD? That is the question…
You wouldn’t think that you could crank out superior video
performance from a PS2, but believe it or not, but
this machine is very impressive. Some people say it’s as good
as a regular DVD player, and I tend to agree with
these people. DVD technology is DVD technology. Yes, some is
better than others, but you’ll always run into
something that is bigger and better than the best out there.
Sony must have place one of their consumer level
DVD players into this badboy because it passed all DVD tests,
as I watched Lord of the Rings, H.E.A.T, and The
Matrix on it and was extremely impressed. I figured there
would be some issues with it, but I honestly could
not find even one.
Besides having the ability to play DVDs, like most DVD players
out there, PS2 can play CDs. PS2 also comes with
an optical out port, which means you can hook up DTS or Dolby
5.1 receivers or amplifiers. How cool is that??
The sound is crisp, clean, and free of any distortion you
could come up with.
The downsides are few and far between but there are a couple.
One issue is it does not come composite,
component, or S-Video ready, you need to buy yet another
adapter for this. When PS2 first debuted this was not
even an option, but because of the great demand Sony had to
respond to their customer’s needs. It comes
standard with an RCA jack, nothing else. Expect big changes
for PS3. Another downfall is because it is not
infrared ready, you need to use the PlayStation game
controller to use the DVD player. Don’t worry though,
because of the USB ports that were put into it, there are some
third party accessories that can hook you up
with a controller. This should also be changed in the next
version of PlayStation.
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