This entry is design to replace the entry A224038 which was written by me and edited and became A279641 because it is out of date and needed updating.

The console.

Actually, Sony describes it as a 'Computer Entertainment System', and it is. It plays Playstation 2 games, CD's, DVD's and Playstation games. It has two USB ports, one S400 i.LINK connector and one Digital Out (Optical) connector.

Peripherals.

The Dualshock 2 Controller.

The first thing most people will say about the new controller is that it is the same, but it isn't. It may look the same, but what is different is inside the controller. All the buttons are analogue except for start and select. This means that the buttons have 256 degrees of pressure sensitivity. This allows greater control in games.

The 8MB Memory card.

The new memory card holds 8MB of game data. The amount of space a game uses is dependent on the game, as the new memory does not save in blocks. When viewing files on the memory card the icons are 3D. The memory card also has 'Magic Gate' which is copyright protection technology. This means that files cannot be illegally copied.

The Playstation 2 Multitap.

This is a must have for four player games as it allows four controllers and four memory cards to be connected at once.

Functions.

The Backwards Compatibility.

The Backwards Compatibility allows the Playstation 2 to play Playstation games and use Playstation peripherals. There is one catch, the Playstation memory card and multitap only work with Playstation games and it's the same with Playstation 2 games. When playing Playstation games you can improve the graphics and increase the disc speed, otherwise the games will run as though they are playing on a Playstation. Also Playstation 2 controllers work with the Playstation.

DVD and CD Playback.

The Playstation 2 plays CD's pretty much the same as the Playstation. If you have the digital out turned on you can play the CD's into minidisk recorder and record CD track's onto minidisk. The Playstation 2 also plays DVD so it doesn't just serve as a games machine. The picture quality is good and with the digital out on you can play the sound through a decoder and amplifier, which gives superb quality stereo surround sound which bring movies to life. This also works with games that are surround sound compatible.

The future.

The Playstation 2 has an expansion bay which allows for a Hard drive/modem to be added to the system which will allow Internet connectivity and games to be downloaded.