17 Facts About PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2 is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment.

PlayStation 2 received widespread critical acclaim upon release, and is the best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155 million units worldwide.

The PlayStation 2 enjoyed particular success outside Japan in part due to Sony's refined development kits, large-scale advertising campaigns, and strong third-party developer support.

Sony showed fully playable demos of upcoming PlayStation 2 games including Gran Turismo 2000 and Tekken Tag Tournament—which showed the console's graphic abilities and power.

Marketing for the PlayStation 2 reverted to the same tactic used in the early days of the original PlayStation: use 17-year-olds as the target audience, since younger audiences aspire to be teenagers and older audiences enjoy video games at the same level they did when they were 17.

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PlayStation 2 continued to be produced until 2013 when Sony finally announced that it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production—one of the longest lifespans of any video game console.

The last game to be released on the PlayStation 2 is Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, which was released in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2013.

Software for the PlayStation 2 was distributed primarily on DVD-ROMs, with some titles being published on blue-tinted CD-ROM format.

PlayStation 2 has undergone many revisions, some only of internal construction and others involving substantial external changes.

PlayStation 2 users had the option to play select games over the Internet, using dial-up or a broadband Internet connection.

Instead of having a unified, subscription-based online service like Xbox Live as competitor Microsoft later chose for its Xbox console, online multiplayer functionality on the PlayStation 2 was the responsibility of the game publisher and ran on third-party servers.

Unlike the PlayStation 2, which requires the use of an official Sony PlayStation 2 Mouse to play mouse-compatible games, the few PS2 games with mouse support work with a standard USB mouse as well as a USB trackball.

PlayStation 2 software is distributed on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM; the two formats are differentiated by their discs' bottoms, with CD-ROMs being blue and DVD-ROMs being silver.

Slim model of the PlayStation 2 received positive reviews for its incredibly small size and built-in networking, but received criticism for easily overheating due to exclusion of the original model's built-in fan.

Demand for the PlayStation 2 remained strong throughout much of its lifespan, selling over 1.

In 2005, the PlayStation 2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch; this was surpassed 4 years later when the Nintendo DS reached 100 million shipments in 4 years and 5 months from its launch.

PlayStation 2 3 was released in Japan and North America in November 2006 and Europe in March 2007.