Is playstation 2 still a good christmas gift? Or will there be a new and better console coming out in the near future? What games do y'all recommend?
I like my PS2 with GTA:SA, plus the ESPN Sports games. But I read an article somewhere saying that there's a shortage of PS2s here in the US -- the new slim one has been more popular than expected. Hopefully you can find one.
Shouldn't be impossible to find. Hit a best buy, if they're sold out, I doubt whatever Circuit City/Target down the road is also sold out. People overexaggerate the "shortages" Usually propelled by video game "stores" such as EB/Gamestop. "If you don't preorder you won't be able to get one until mid 2005". Or some crap like they tried with the Nintendo DS. Day after it released, walked into a Circuit City with stacks of DS around.
I imagine it would be a good Christmas gift, unless of course the person getting the gift doesn't want a game console or a PS2. (perhaps a Halo or Zelda/Mario/Metroid fan.) It is an excellent console otherwise, with a great selection of games. I like the ESPN games and RPG's for the most part, although I also try to get the blockbuster titles as well (GTA:SA for example). Sony, as well as the other consoles for the most part, have actually overloaded gamers with too many great games this quarter. It kind of depends on what games are preferred to give a good list, but some recent good games include: GTA:SA; MGS3; Jak 3, R&C UYA, and Sly 2 (all 3 are platformers); Ace Combat 5 (great graphical flight combat game); Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Shadow Hearts: Covenant (sort of mature RPG's); and this rather strange and uniqe game called Katamari Damacy, which seems to be getting a lot of love. These are all exclusives, IIRC, so there are also some other great multi-platform games available (Burnout 3, Prince of Persia 2, sports games, etc.) plus any games that have been released a little while back. I've read about the problems with the PStwo (kind of an unofficial name for the slim one I guess) as well. It certainly does sound more popular than expected. I myself wondered how popular it would be and I guess Sony underestimated as well by not quite producing enough of them (they didn't want another PSX on their hands). I believe I read this may/would affect PSP production since they use the same factory to make both systems and they'll be busy making the PStwo's instead of PSP's. It seems as though the shortages are often regional, or at least it seems that one from what I've read on the internet. In some places, any time a shipment of PS2/PStwo's comes in, they're sold out shortly thereafter. In some places, they have plenty of PStwo's still sitting on the shelves (mostly in Canada from what I've read). This is also happening in some places with the Xbox in some places. In fact, it seems like only the GC is not experiencing shortages, at least not on the scale of the other two. Of course, some think that maybe Sony is purposely underproducing the consoles so that these stories about shortages would be like free advertising. I guess this could be true, but this could be something that would bite them in the butt, especially since, IIRC, the next real big shipments wouldn't really occur until after Christmas, when people would have given up on a PS2 and gotten another console or something else. It doesn't seem like a good idea to make a shortage during the Christmas holidays. As mentioned, it will be a little while until the next Playstation will be out (~1.5-2 years), and the next Nintendo system seems to be following a similar timeline. The next Xbox system looks to get an advantage by releasing earlier than the others by coming out next Fall, probably November like DaDakota normally mentions.
In the past few months I have purchased every ESPN 2K5 game released, only b/c they were $20 I have yet to open the plastic wrapping and actually play the games. God I waste money like nobody's business.
Me tooo....except I opened mine. I am happy about the NFL game, but other than that....ehh. They suck.
Unless Cell is much more ahead of schedule than I thought, this seems extremely unlikely. I believe that they won't really mass produce anything Cell-related until like early to the middle of next year, and the PS3 Cell is supposed to be 65nm, which would take a little longer since the 1st Cell products seem to be 90nm. Releasing in Christmas with a 65nm Cell would mean that they are EXTREMELY ahead of schedule, especially since they'd have to completed with this process a few months beforehand. There are also other factors such as Blu-ray and whatnot that would seem to suggest that the PS3 would probably be released at least a few months after Christmas. So far, it seems like the PS3 is following a similar schedule as the PS2. The bit of info released about Cell earlier last week was around the same time in the year that info was released on the EE in the PS2 some years back. ('98 I believe) PS2 devkits were also rumored to have been sent out around that time as well, which is also happening now. That following February, I think almost everything not known about the PS2 was learned during the ISSCC, including info on the GPU. The PS2 proceeded to lauch around March of the following year, which is around the same time that many believe the PS3 will launch. Should have just said "Long story short...no."
Ive been looking for a pstwo also. When i saw them at Target, I didnt have the cash or card on me. And when i had the cash and/or card on me, they didn't have any. That sucked. I went to Fry's, Best Buy, and Target. I won't patronize Wal-Mart.
