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The "PlayStation 2" (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sony's second video game console, after the PlayStation. Its development was announced in April 1999, and it was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000. It was released in the United States on 26 October 2000.

The PS2 can read and play both Compact Discs and DVDs, making it backwards compatible with older PS1 games and allowing for playback of DVD Video and the more technically advanced PS2 games. The ability to play DVD movies allowed consumers to more easily justify the PS2's relatively high price tag as it removed the necessity of purchasing an external DVD player.

When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary video game consoles, including its DVD capabilities and USB and IEEE 1394 expansion ports. It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console with DVD support, although playing DVD-Video titles on Xbox requires the purchase of an additional module (containing decoder software and a remote control).

Support for original PlayStation games was also an important selling point for the PS2, letting owners of an older system upgrade to the PlayStation 2 and keep their old software, and giving new users access to older games until software was developed for the new system.

Software for all PlayStation consoles contains one of three region codes, for Japan, the Americas, or Europe. Discs also deviate slightly from the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM standards in ways that make it impossible for the average consumer to duplicate discs or create his or her own software for the system. However, Sony has released a version of the Linux operating system for the PS2 in a package that also includes a keyboard, mouse, ethernet adapter and hard disk drive.

In Europe and Australasia, the PlayStation 2 also comes with a free Yabasic interpreter.This allows simple programs to be created for the PlayStation 2 by the end-user. This was done to circumvent a tax by defining the console as a

"computer" if it contained certain software (details?)

The final hardware revision of the PlayStation 2 unit (model number SCPH-50000/50001) removed thewidely unused IEEE 1394 expansion port and added support to play non-commercial DVDs. This hardware revision was also lighter, quieter, and cheaper than earlier revisions, and included a built-in sensor for an optional Remote Control.

Specifications

*CPU: 128 Bit "Emotion Engine"clocked at 294MHz,later versions 299MHz

**System Memory: 32 MB Direct Rambus or RDRAM

**Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second

**Main processor: MIPS R5900 CPU core, 64-bit

**Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1)

**Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1), 128-bit

**Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS

**3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million Polygons Per Second*

**Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG2

*Graphics: "Graphics Synthesizer" clocked at 150MHz

**DRAM Bus bandwidth: 48.0GB Per Second

**DRAM Bus width: 2560 bits

**Pixel Configuration: RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8:32)

**Maximum Polygon Rate: 75 Million Polygons Per Second*

*Sound: "SPU2+CPU"

**Number of voices: 48 hardware channels of ADPCM on SPU2 plus software-mixed channels

**Sampling Frequency: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable)

*I/O Processor

**CPU Core: Current PlayStation CPU (MIPS R3000A clocked at 33.8MHz or 37.5 MHz)

**Sub Bus: 32 Bit

**Interface Types: 2 Proprietary PlayStation controller ports, 2 propietary Memory Card slots using MagicGate encryption, Expansion Bay for Network Adaptor and Hard Disk Drive, IEEE 1394**, Infrared remote control port**, and 2 Universal Serial Bus USB 1.1 ports.

*Disc Media: DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible) with copy protection. 4.7GB capacity, few are DVD-9 (8.5GB)

* Polygons per second under ideal circumstances (e.g., no texturing, lighting, or vertex colors applied). Some criticize these figures for being unrealistic, and not indicative of real-world performance, especially when compared to those released for the Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube.The true polygons per second figure with full textures, effects etc. is around 13 million.

** IEEE 1394 removed in SCPH-50000 and later hardware versions, and Infrared remote port added.

See also

*List of PlayStation 2 games

*Eye Toy

*PlayStation 3

External links

* Official Site

* Official Linux Kit Site

* Console Database

* Playstation Repair and Parts Center

* PlayStation 2 Cheat Codes and Hints

* "How the PlayStation 2 Works" from HowStuffWorks

* Playstation 2 programming tutorials at GameDev by Rob Louie:

**Part 1: Initialization

**Part 2: Drawing Primitives

Category:Video game consoles

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article PlayStation 2.

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 PlayStation 2 in the News
1. Price at Issue With playstation Portable - 24 Sep 04 - ABC News
Price at Issue With playstation Portable

2. Sony shrinks playstation console - 21/09/2004 - BBC News
Sony has announced a slimmed-down playstation 2 in an attempt to boost sales of the console.

3. Priceat Issue With playstation Portable - 24 Sep 04 - ABC News
Priceat Issue With playstation Portable

4. ShellShock wins the battle for Vietnam - 03/09/2004 - BBC News
A current slew of games suggest that the Vietnam War is the conflict of the moment, with Conflict: Vietnam and Shellshock: Nam '67 out this week.

5. REVIEW: Star Wars Game Gives Battle Tour - 22 Sep 04 - ABC News
REVIEW: Star Wars Game Gives Battle Tour

6. Catwoman game far from perfect - 06/08/2004 - BBC News
The Catwoman game is a major disappointment that feels like a pointless tie-in with the film.

7. Nintendo, Sony Make Pushes Before Holidays - 22 Sep 04 - ABC News
Nintendo, Sony Make Pushes Before Holidays

8. Prince sequel offers a royal rumble - 31/07/2004 - BBC News
Prince of Persia 2, due at the end of the year, aims to improve on a widely acclaimed game.

9. Sony Shows Smaller playstation 2 - 21 Sep 04 - ABC News
Sony Shows Smaller playstation 2

10. UK bans playstation 'chipping' - 22/07/2004 - BBC News
A High Court judge makes it illegal to use chips that get around copy protection systems in Sony's console.

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 PlayStation 2 on the Web
1. The playstation Galleria
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3. Sony playstation
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4. IGN.com: PSX
contains news, reviews, codes, guides, and more.
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5. Sony America
information on electronics, playstation, online games, movies, TV, DVD, and music.
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7. Game Revolution: playstation Reviews
index of reviews for games available on the playstation game system.
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8. Steve Fossett Ocean Challenge.
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10. playstation 2 Linux Community
dedicated to giving users and developers of Linux for playstation 2 a place to interact and host software and documentation projects.
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11. playstation Europe - playstation.com
Welcome to the official playstation Europe web site. Inside you will find the latest PS2 news, videogame previews and features on playstation games, consoles and accessories. The site is also loaded with information and chat related to ...
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13. IGN PS2: playstation 2 Games, PS2 Cheats and playstation 2 Cheats
The BEST PS2 SITE for PS2 cheats, codes, cheat codes, walkthroughs, games, reviews, previews, news, video and screenshots for playstation 2 games. ... ·playstation 2. ·Xbox ... ·N-Gage. ·playstation. ·N64 ...
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14. PSM Online: Pulse
Take a peek at these hot pix. The Fiendish Five The absolutely worst villains in the playstation universe. Best RPG of 2004 It scored a perfect 10 rating. ...
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15. GameFAQs: playstation
database of game reviews, codes, cheats, FAQs, message boards, and more for the playstation game system.
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16. Sony playstation cheats, codes, hints, walkthroughs, FAQs, GameShark, and DexDrive files from Game Winners.
Cheats, codes, hints, walkthroughs, FAQs, GameShark, and DexDrive downloads for the Sony playstation. ... Our extensive archive of Sony playstation cheats, GameShark codes, hints, walkthroughs, DexDrive files and FAQs is ... REVIEWS. Our playstation Review Database is now online ...
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17. CheatingPlanet: playstation Cheats
offers cheats, codes, and hints for the original Sony playstation gaming systems.
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18. Station.com
games include Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, and more.
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19. MobyGames
database of PC gaming industry with descriptions, screenshots, boxcovers, reviews, ratings, and links.
http://www.mobygames.com/ Yahoo, Alltheweb

20. GameSpot: playstation
includes game reviews, codes, and downloads for the original playstation gaming system.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps Yahoo, Alltheweb