Sony stops shipping the PlayStation 2 in Japan after nearly 13 years

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

According to Japanese publication Famitsu, Sony has halted shipments of the PlayStation 2 in Japan this week, leaving local retailers with their final quantities of the iconic console. It's unclear whether Sony has immediate plans to stop shipments in other regions as well, though some believe the system will continue to be readily available in many developing countries where the machine remains popular for its affordability and library.

Launched to great fanfare in March 2000, the PlayStation 2 was at least partially responsible for killing Sega's Dreamcast and popularizing the DVD format. With two major revisions and more than a dozen minor ones, the console has shipped over 155 million units worldwide as of March 2012, making it the all-time best-selling console (excluding handhelds), topping the original PlayStation's 102 million sales and the Wii's 97 million.

Despite its age, it was still bought by more than a million people over the last year -- particularly across developing areas such as India and Brazil, the latter of which only received the system in 2009. It ranked as the world's most-played console as recently as 2008 according to Nielsen and developers continue to support the archaic machine with fresh ports, with this year's releases including MLB 2K12, FIFA 13 and PES 2013.

Besides the fact that the PlayStation 2 is practically prehistoric (it hit shelves when the N64 was still Nintendo's flagship offering), it's not too surprising to see Sony adjusting its lineup. The company is undergoing major restructuring in an effort to regain profitability and it's expected to unveil the PlayStation 4 next year, so we assume it would want to reposition the PS3 as its second-string player and officially bench the PS2.

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While impressive for it's longlivity the specs are not, 300Mhz & 32MB RAM.
AMD released it's first 1Ghz CPU when this console was released in year 2000.
Most gaming systems had more than 128MB RAM at that time
 
Kinda makes me sad. I have spent more hours gaming on a PS2 than any other gaming device (including PC).
Sadly I have barley had a reason to touch my PS3
 
First I would like to say Thank you to Sony for the PS2. During its heyday it was an impressive machine. One of the first consoles that offered a hard drive option. Second, it is more then 75% responsable for the death of the DreamCast system. The DreamCast was a better gaming system, its only flaw was spliting the viewing between the screen and the memory card screen.
I am personally hoping that Sony will look at what made the PS2 so succesfull and try the same tactics on the next gen console.
 
It could had been awesome if they just launched an upgraded ps2 console capable of running all the ps2 library but with 1080p graphics and antialiasing. Well, dreaming doesn't cost a thing.
 
I got the small in black, really need to sell it (CEX @ £20) but need a new controller since the current they wouldn't take due to the rubber pads on the two thingies has worn off/chipped.

Anyway, spent so much time on this when I was younger, whether it would be round my friends house or when Iv got mine. Played Tony Hawks, Ace Combat, NFS and GTA SA games on it, was a blast.
 
The end of an era. The glory years of gaming. These days people are too obsessed with multiplayer and dlc. PS2 era, when complete games were sold at retail and everything was properly bug tested before release. I miss you ps2.
 
PS2 was a great console but its age def shows, I think it's about time for Sony to hand the torch to the PS3 which is a great console.
 
Well hopefully this time around Sony will listen to the Gamer population and make PS2 game title compatibility a standard feature of the PS4. Why Sony thought dropping that feature from the early PS3 design was a good idea is still baffling. Oh wait the whole Playstation Network initiative whereby the loyal fans (I was one once) are cornered into paying an upper tier access fee should they wish to play many of the same games they already own. Either that or run a PS2 and PS3 side by side. So some of us did cough up the dough but then those nasty hackers came along, poked a hole in Sony's cost compressed security wall and pilfered our personal info. So much for the double pay plan. Then there was that financially crippling lawsuit lauched against an over enthusiastic gamer who tinkered a little too much with his PS3 for Sony's liking. That did wonders for Sony's image among the gaming population. XBOX is retro compatible and Microsoft seems to recognize the importance of not randomly trying to bankrupt a fan. Sony take note:

Telling gamers what we want instead of listening = Fail
Allowing Hackers to steal subsriber's personal information = Fail
Lawsuits against enthusiastic fans = Fail
 
While impressive for it's longlivity the specs are not, 300Mhz & 32MB RAM.
AMD released it's first 1Ghz CPU when this console was released in year 2000.
Most gaming systems had more than 128MB RAM at that time
GameCube released in 2001 had 43MB RAM, XBox released in 2001 had 64MB RAM, DreamCast is a bit older being released in 1998 but it had 16MB RAM. Where are your 128MB RAM gaming systems in 2000?
 
. Where are your 128MB RAM gaming systems in 2000?
They are called computers. Whats happening today isn't any different then whats been happening for the past 15-20 years. PC's make consoles look like gameboys. Always have, always will.
 
@ Amstech- I think you're missing the point here. Yes a computer will hands down deliver more graphical quality, have more storage space, have more processing power. But the feeling of playing on those good consoles is what mattered. Good and well thought out games, even though sometimes having old fashioned graphics, is by far better then having a bugged game or a bad story-line. I have played on the PS2 when it came out, at a friend's gaming shop. We made lots of friends playing on PS2 and even when the XBOX just showed up, we still had a good time on PS2. I can still remember playing Onimusha the graphics where impressive at that time and I even liked the story-line. Games these days, seem to be missing an element. And also getting up out of the house to play on the PS2 with friends is a far better experience then nowadays
 
@ Amstech- I think you're missing the point here. Yes a computer will hands down deliver more graphical quality, have more storage space, have more processing power. But the feeling of playing on those good consoles is what mattered. Good and well thought out games, even though sometimes having old fashioned graphics, is by far better then having a bugged game or a bad story-line. I have played on the PS2 when it came out, at a friend's gaming shop. We made lots of friends playing on PS2 and even when the XBOX just showed up, we still had a good time on PS2. I can still remember playing Onimusha the graphics where impressive at that time and I even liked the story-line. Games these days, seem to be missing an element. And also getting up out of the house to play on the PS2 with friends is a far better experience then nowadays
Your missing the point here.
15 years ago, very few people gamed on PC's compared to today. That does not mean there were not quality games made for PC.
As far as actual effort and moving around when you say "getting up out of the house" your introducing an entirely new subject completely unrelated to this topic. And about making friends? What the hell are you talking about?
 
Back then PC gaming required quite an investment of cash in order to get a system strong enough to keep up with the advancments in gaming. Consoles solved that problem for a lot of ppl. The PS2 allowed everyone to enjoy games w/o the substantial investment required for PC gaming. Roughly $200 plus a memory card and some games meant that even the lowliest of minimum wage workers could enjoy themselves.
 
. Where are your 128MB RAM gaming systems in 2000?
They are called computers. Whats happening today isn't any different then whats been happening for the past 15-20 years. PC's make consoles look like gameboys. Always have, always will.
A console has never needed the raw horsepower to run games like a PC does, nor did they need the high monetary investment or the time for installs and setup. That is why consoles are popular, you just plug them in and they work and they don't cost $2000 to run the newest game, you know that if it is made for the console it will run period. Yea, PCs do run games with the highest screen bling but consoles run the games more than well enough for much less startup and setup time which is what people want.
 
The PS2 was a great console!

There seems to be a fair amount of anger towards the PS3 though. I really don't understand why. I don't want to start a battle here but I own a 360 and PS3 and the PS3 is better hands down. The controller is a lot more comfortable and isn't heavy like the 360's. The system is much quieter when gaming or watching Netflix/movies. And playing online is FREE. For those people who've had an Xbox live account since day one that's over 10 years now.... At $60 a year that $600 could have been spent on games or accessories or whatever. Maybe I'm just cheap but I'd rather spend $600 elsewhere. And let's not forget about the RROD. My buddy has gone through 9 Xbox 360's!!!!! That is outright hilarious!
 
@above Guest
I think the anger towards the PS3 was simply the incredible increase in price to change from the PS2. Follow that up with a less then stellar game line up in comparison to the XBOX 360. As well as the fact that PS3 games tend to either get ignored or an incredibly late DLC.
As for the XBOX live account, you only need to pay for gold membership IF you want to play your friends online. I have a simple silver membership which is free and I can play my games online. The RRoD was a gen 1 and 2 problem. It was mainly because of over heating issues. If your friend has gone through that many xboxes he really needs to remove it from his entertainment center because he is cooking his system.
 
While impressive for it's longlivity the specs are not, 300Mhz & 32MB RAM.
AMD released it's first 1Ghz CPU when this console was released in year 2000.
Most gaming systems had more than 128MB RAM at that time

Longevity is the mark of a successful console system. It means the hardware is working and the games are good and gamers are happy. The Y2K specs are irrelevant here. The numbers speak for themselves.
 
By "less then stellar game line up" I hope you mean when it was first released because now PS3 has not only all the multiplats but all the better exclusives. Besides Halo but I hate halo. Still hate Sony for pulling the backwards compatibility, just got a wii u and love I can play both wii u and wii games.
 
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