**The Birth of PlayStation 2: A Game-Changing Console**

(Upbeat ambient music plays as the narrator begins to speak)

The birth of PlayStation 2 did not go according to plan. Nintendo's betrayal and Sony's revenge led to the original PlayStation winning the console wars of the 1990s, selling 100 million consoles. That's more than double the units of all its competitors, like the N64, Saturn, and Jaguar combined.

But with such massive shoes to fill, Sony had an impossible choice when it came to the sequel, the PlayStation 2. By the end of the PlayStation 1 lifecycle, no game console manufacturer had been able to dominate two generations back to back. Sure, the Super Nintendo was certainly a successful follow-up to the NES, but it fought a long hard battle against the Sega Genesis that it only barely came out on top of. That's nearly 30 years of rivals constantly one-upping each other.

So while the PlayStation won the 90s console war, there was no guarantee that someone else wouldn't snatch the gaming crown right back around this time. In a way, Sony was kind of lucky. Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation, had so much passion that he basically forced Sony into the gaming industry.

There was an enormous amount of skepticism inside Sony about the gaming project, but with year after year of climbing sales, no one could deny their success. So with cautious optimism, Sony committed to a second-generation console. This time, though, there was a lot more to lose.

**The Development Timeline**

When Sony launched the PS1, they didn't know it would be a big hit, but good old Ken Kutaragi had complete confidence, so naturally he had already started working on the PS2 immediately after the original PlayStation launched and before importantly, Sony had even greenlit the second generation. I swear this guy was just trying to get fired.

The development timeline in the early days is a little shaky. Multiple companies reported working on a potential graphics chip for the PS2 as early as 1997. It quickly became clear, though, that those were either to confuse competitors or likely as backup options because Sony was working on something revolutionary in-house.

With the help of Toshiba, Sony developed the now-legendary Emotion Engine CPU. Unlike traditional CPUs of the era, the Emotion Engine integrated several specialized units to maximize performance for the demands that are more specific to gaming. This included a streamlined MIPS CPU core to handle general processing, two vector processing units for complex graphics calculations, a dedicated image-processing unit and more.

This hybrid approach in a lot of ways actually foreshadowed the trends that we see today in processor design, where when you buy a CPU, what you're actually getting is something which is made up of a bunch of specialized components that work together on a single chip to maximize efficiency. Compare this to the Sega Dreamcast's more traditional CPU, simpler, less potential raw power, but easier to get good results quickly.

**The PlayStation 2's Graphic Synthesizer**

The PS2 might not have been as straightforward to work with as something like the Nintendo GameCube or have the brute force of the Xbox with its PC-based processor. But for a developer who knew how to optimize around the Emotion Engine, the PS2 had a ton of potential.

The PlayStation 2's Graphic Synthesizer was also a huge step forward for console graphics. In particular, the leap from the PS1's graphics was astronomical. The original PlayStation could only manage a theoretical 360,000 polygons per second, while the PS2 pushed an astonishing 75 million. Just pause for a second and take that in.

This means that games on the PS2 could have massive environments, complex graphics, and detailed characters, all at a smooth frame rate. It was a game-changer, and it set the bar high for future consoles.

**The Launch**

Let's just say it wasn't the smoothest launch. The PS2 finally was released in the year 2000. It was a rollercoaster of equal parts hype and frustration with massive console shortages pretty much everywhere. Now, at the time, Sony was selling each PS2 at a loss, a gamble that they make money on game sales later on down the line.

This strategy is really the norm now, but back in 2000, it's easy to forget that Sony was a relatively newcomer in the console wars and honestly had no idea how many people were really ready to upgrade their PS1s. Sony just weren't prepared for the demand they created, and it got so bad that you could get a PS2 on eBay for more than double retail price.

Some of them were priced as high as a $1000, and this is in 2000. The launch games were also pretty disappointing. Now leading up to launch, Sony teased a lot of highly anticipated titles, like ...

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- The birth of PlayStation(upbeat ambient music)did not go according to plan.Nintendo's betrayal and Sony's revengeled to the original PlayStationwinning the console wars of the 1990s,selling 100 million consoles.That's more than double theunits of all of its competitors,like the N64, Saturn and Jaguar combined.But with such massive shoes to fill,Sony had an impossible choicewhen it came to the sequel,the PlayStation 2.By the end of thePlayStation 1 lifecycle,no game console manufacturerhad been able to dominatetwo generations back to back.Sure, the Super Nintendowas certainly a successfulfollow-up to the NES,but it fought a long hardbattle against the Sega Genesisthat it only barely came out on top of.That's nearly 30 yearsof rivals constantlyone upping each other.So while the PlayStationwon the 90s console war,there was no guaranteethat someone else wouldn'tsnatch the gaming crownright back around this time.In a way,Sony was kind of lucky,Ken Kutaragi, the fatherof the PlayStation,had so much passionthat he basically forced Sonyinto the gaming industry.There was an enormous amountof skepticism inside Sonyabout the gaming project,but with year after year of climing sales,no one could deny their success.So with cautious optimism,Sony committed to asecond generation console.This time though, therewas a lot more to lose.When Sony launched the PS1,they didn't know it would be a big hit,but good old Ken Kutaragihad complete confidence,so naturally he had alreadystarted working on the PS2immediately after theoriginal PlayStation launched,and before importantly,Sony had even greenlitthe second generation.I swear this guy wasjust trying to get fired.The development timeline in the early daysis a little shaky.Multiple companies reportedworking on a potentialgraphics chip for the PS2as early as 1997.It quickly became clear thoughthat those were eitherto confuse competitorsor likely as backup optionsbecause Sony was working onsomething revolutionary in-house.With the help of Toshiba,Sony developed the nowlegendary Emotion Engine CPU.Unlike traditional CPUs of the era,the Emotion Engine integratedseveral specialized unitsto maximize performance for the demandsthat are more specific to gaming.This included a streamlined MIPS CPU coreto handle general processing,two vector processing unitsfor complex graphics calculations,a dedicated imageprocessing unit and more.This hybrid approach in a lot of waysactually foreshadowed the trendsthat we see today in processor design,where when you buy a CPU,what you're actually gettingis something which is made upof a bunch of specialized componentsthat work together on a singlechip to maximize efficiency.Compare this to the SegaDreamcast's more traditional CPU,simpler, less potential raw power,but easier to get good results quickly.The PS2 might not have been asstraightforward to work withas something like the Nintendo GameCubeor have the brute force of the Xboxwith its PC based processor.But for a developer whoknew how to optimizearound the Emotion Engine,the PS2 had a ton of potential.The PlayStation 2's Graphic Synthesizerwas also a huge step forwardfor console graphics.In particular,the leap from the PS1'sgraphics was astronomical.The original PlayStationcould only manage a theoretical360,000 polygons per second,while the PS2 pushed astaggering 75 million.Just pause for a second and take that in.These days, if you get two,maybe three times moreperformance across the generation,it's considered a solid upgrade.The PS2 could handle207 times more polygons.- Wow!- This translated to farmore complex environments,smoother character modelsand intricate details thatreally brought games to life.In my opinion, it is thebiggest leap in graphicsfor a single generation of all time,and it almost certainlywill never be matched again.But perhaps the biggestgalaxy brained move Sony madewas including a DVD-ROM drive.Remember, Sony was, and still kind ofis a consumer tech companyfirst and foremost,as a company making cameras,TVs, and physical media,they knew that consumerswere right at the startof a major shift fromanalog media like VHS tapesto digital DVDs.With PS2 games living on DVD,there was suddenly waymore space than CDs,between 6 and 12 times as much,no more 3 disc Final Fantasy games.Now, this might sound silly todaywhen physical media iskind of on its deathbed,but I know a ton of peoplewho sold their parents on the PS2,not just as a game console,but as a media centerfor the whole family.Now to really drive sales,Sony priced the PS2 at $299 atlaunch, the exact same priceas the original PlayStation back in 1995,but importantly,significantly less expensivethan most standaloneDVD players at the time.So if your family wantedto start watching somehigh quality DVD movies,it really was an easy sell.Speaking of launch,the PS2 finally wasreleased in the year 2000.- PlayStation 2.- Let's just say,it wasn't the smoothest launch.It was a rollercoaster of equalparts hype and frustrationwith massive console shortagespretty much everywhere.Now, at the time, Sony wasselling each PS2 at a loss,a gamble that they makemoney on game saleslater on down the line.Now, this strategy is really the norm now,but back in 2000, it's easy to forgetthat Sony was a relativenewcomer in the console warsand honestly had no idea how many peoplewere really ready to upgrade their PS1s.Sony just weren't preparedfor the demand they created,and it got so bad that youcould get a PS2 on eBayfor more than double retail price.Some of them were pricedas high as a $1000,and this is in 2000.The launch games werealso pretty disappointing.Now leading up to launch,Sony teased a lot of highlyanticipated titles,like "Metal Gear Solid 2","Gran Turismo 2000"and a beautifully remastered"Final Fantasy 7".What gamers got instead were 29 fine,but not exciting gameslike "Madden NFL 2001"and "Dynasty Warriors 2".It didn't really matter though.The PS2 sold like absolute hotcakes.Sony sold all one millionmanufactured unitsin the launch weekend alone.A lot of this was thanks toanother smart decision bySony, backwards compatibility.Again, this is somethingwe pretty much take for granted today,and we all get super up in armswhen a new consoledoesn't have a generationor even several generationsof perfect back compat.With the PS2, though,Sony cleverly reused the original PS1 CPUto handle I/O tasks suchas the USB ports in normal PS2 mode,but as soon as you droppedan OG PlayStation disc in,the hardware sprang into action.Now it did need a little bit of emulationfor some certain features of the PS1,such as the audio chip,but thanks to the massiveleap in power on tap,PlayStation 1 games prettymuch universally just worked.After the PS2's global launch,it only gained more steam.Sony quickly ramped up productionto try and meet the massive demand,but shortages continuedthroughout the first year.This is coupled with abig marketing campaignthat did a lot to cement the PS2as the must have gaming device.Ads highlighted it's graphics power,PS1 game library,the added bonus of being a DVD player.Boy, there was some, I don'tknow if I wanna call it gems,but some, some,this is a commercial.(intense ambient music)- Welcome to the third place.- This combinationof hype, features and slowlyincreasing availabilityfueled a frenzy that propelled the PS2to console market dominanceby the end of its first year.But the first big test came in 2001when the real competition arrived.Now before we get to the console war,we've gotta press Fto pay respects for Sega.As much as I love the Dreamcast,it just couldn't keepup with the competition.Not only did Sony thoroughlyhave the momentum over Sega,but even though the Dreamcasthad a one year headstart,the PS2's spectacular launchpaired with EAs decision tonot develop for the Dreamcast,basically forced it into early retirement,and it was discontinued in 2001.Rest in peace little guy.Enjoy your VMUs in the cold, watery graveof wherever that dolphinlives, or the fish guy.What was the fish guy named?Y'all know what I'm talking about?Y'all have never seen that?(upbeat ambient music)- I may not look so hot to you,but you should seeyourselves through my eyes.You don't know me, but you will.- With one competitor down,Sony didn't have the luxury of relaxing,2001 was when Nintendo's GameCubeand Microsoft's Xbox launched,marking one of the biggestgenerational rivalriesin gaming history.On paper, it seems likeSony was in trouble.Remember, this was Nintendo'sbig chance to get back at Sonyfor crushing the N64in the last generation,and they went hard.In some ways, theGameCube was more powerfuland easy to work with than the PS2,and importantly,it cost $100 less.(audience applauding)Then you had the Xbox builtfrom straight up PC partslike an Intel Pentium CPU,and Nvidia GeForce Graphics,making it on paperby far the most powerful gamingconsole on this generation.I mean, just look at this comparison.It took a few years for developersto really get the mostout of the Emotion Engineand Graphic Synthesizerwhere Nintendo and Microsoftoffered consoles that devswere able to get solid performance out ofpretty much on day one.And so there was a fiercebattle, just not with Sony.Throughout the PS2's production run,Sony consistently had morethan 50% of the market share.The Xbox and GameCube wouldfight and often trade blows,but ultimately they were fightingfor a distant second place.So where did they go wrong?Well, Nintendo hit multiple roadblocks.A lot of popular third party gameslike the "Grand Theft Auto" seriessimply skipped developmentfor the GameCube.This might not sound allthat strange these days,but this was back when Nintendoabsolutely wanted cross-platform titles,just like the other consoles.The failure to attract a lotof them directly led Nintendoto pretty much give upfighting the console waron even footing, andstarted making weird stufflike the Wii and the Wii U.But that's a story for later.Probably the biggest reasonthe GameCube fell behind wasthe lack of DVD functionality.After the failure of the Sonypartnership with Nintendoto develop a CD based add-onfor the Super Nintendo,they spent the entire N64generation backing cartridges,which left them with essentiallyno experience with discs.When Nintendo finally decidedto switch to the disc format,they opted for the tiny mini optical discsthat you see with the GameCube.The public reason why Nintendo did thiswas because these smaller discscould load data fasterthan traditional DVDs,which in some cases it did,but the real reason was almostcertainly because they wereand still are terrified of piracy.It's pretty well documentedthat Nintendo hates piracy,(Austin coughs)emulatorsand other legal things.Sorry, something's in my throat.But it's clear that Nintendohave done a lot of thingsto prevent piracy,even if it makes thegaming experience worse,for those of you whobuy the games legally.Aside from Nintendo, the big new rivalthat no one saw comingwas the Microsoft Xbox.The first American game consolesince all the way back in1993 with the Atari Jaguar,Xbox's launch wasactually quite successfulall things considered.Selling 1.5 millionunits in its first year.The Xbox was born as away to leverage Windows,build an ecosystem,and to prevent Sony fromdecimating the gaming PC market.When you think of it that way,it makes a lot of sense thatMicrosoft made a consolethat was actually quite PC like.The Xbox could even playDVDs, kind of like the PS2,although you did needa remote and a donglejust to enable playback.Like a PC, the Xbox offered featuresthat were a major step forwardcompared to console rivals.Forget having tofumble with tiny memory cards,the Xbox boasted a built in hard drive,which offered tons of storagefor not only saving games,but even downloading content.But the Xbox had two major issues.Firstly, it was a financial black hole.Even with strong game sales,Microsoft was losinga significant amount ofmoney on each console sold.Estimate suggests that theymay have been losing at leasta $100 dollars per unit.To make matters worse,just to stay competitivewith the PS2 and GameCube,they were forced to slash the Xbox's pricejust six months after launch.Secondly, the consolenever gained tractionin crucial markets like Japan,where Xbox sold less thanhalf a million consolesthroughout its entire lifespan.Yikes.The controller was also a problem,but that's for another video.Now, I wanna make it clear,these were not bad consoles.Both the GameCube and Xboxare looked back on fondly by most gamers,but the thing is, the biggest problemwith both the GameCube andXbox was a really simple one,they just weren't PS2s.(intense ambient music)Wait.Now the game is supposed,(Austin clears throat)the game's supposed to launch.Sorry, one second, lemme just,is my disc drive not working on my PS2?This would be a great time to remind youthat game preservation's important'cause hardware fails, emulators don't.(Austin gasps)Oh, what an interesting idea.If only backwards compatibilitycould save the day.Perfect.All right, look at our PS2.It's all good to go.(upbeat ambient music)Anyway, this is "Gran Turismo 4",my favorite GranTurismo game of all time.Oh, no, I see artifacts already.You look at the top left corner.I'm really surprised I havenot played Gran Turismo 4in probably 15 years.And how similar it feelsto even newer games likeGran Turismo 7.Like it really is a testamentto how much Polyphony put into this gameand how hard they tried to make itthe ultimate driving simulator,and it even all this time laterstill feels surprisingly good.I'm going so fast,that's 150 miles an hour!That felt surprisingly like home,and I think that just as a testamentto not only the performanceand sort of how far ahead ofits time the PS2 really was.It wasn't the most powerful consolewhen it came to raw specs,but it had a clever design,there was a lot of headroom for developersto really optimize over the lifecycle,and importantly,they sold over a 100million of these things,which meant that developershad tons of incentiveto get every ounce ofperformance out of the PS2.It took a while for them toreally get that most out of it,but with gains towardsthe end of the generation,like "Gran Turismo 4",like some of the GTA titles,you could really see whatthis hardware is capable of.You know what?PS2,(soft thumping)you got a healthy future ahead of you.(upbeat ambient music)(snapping fingers)In 2005,Sony announced the PS2sold 100 million consoles,the first game console to ever sellthat many units that quickly.Even more impressive, theydid it in only five years.Sony wasn't just twiddling their thumbsas the sales shot to the moon,they had a number of hardware revisions,very similar to how PlayStationstill does it today for modern consoles.Over time, the PS2 lostthe PCMCIA card slot,but gained a hard drive expansion bay,better networking and power efficiency,redesigned motherboard,along with more reliable disc readers,which we'll talk about a little later.They also got much better atmanufacturing, cutting costsand eventually dropping theprice from 299 down to 199.But probably the biggest hardwarerevision was the slim PS2.Sony crammed the main bitsof the PS2 fat into the slim,which is about a third of the sizeand less than half the weight.Now I'm not gonna saythat it was revolutionary,but it really was one of thesmallest gaming consoles ever.It did drop the motorizeddisc tray and hard drive,and you needed to now usean external power supply,but they kept the networking,and over the years, even theslim had a few revisions,mostly with the internals,like merging the EmotionEngine with the GPU,and ditching the PS1 CPU,so a more efficient chip couldemulate PS1 games instead.I'll say my personal favoritehardware revision thoughis pretty much the exactopposite of the PS2 slim, the PSX.While you might not be familiar with it,since it was mostly a Japaneseexclusive release in 2003,the PSX was a unique additionto the PlayStation family.It's more than just a bigger PS2,the PSX also introduced the XMB interfacethat would go on to live inboth the PS3 as well as the PSP.Personally, I think it'sthe best looking PS2 model,and it still looks modern even today.This bad boy was a digital videorecorder, just like a TiVo.It came with a remote, had Svideo, composite, RF inputs.You could also do analogVHF and TV tuning.I mean, the icing on the cakewas even the USB link to a PSPwhere you can transfer yourphotos, music and videos.Like, look, there was somuch this thing could do,I cannot stress enoughhow much of a multimedia monster it was.With all of these featurescame a premium price to match,the PSX launched at 79,800 yen,which is about 740 USdollars back in 2003.Adjusted for inflation for 2024,this would've been almosta $1,200 PlayStation.Yeah, a huge jump, even withall those cool features.If you want to know more about the PSX,Ken did a terrific videoall about it on Denki,which you should actually go check out.Even though spoiler alert, he broke a PSX.- It was already broken.- No, it was fine,and you broke it.It was totally fine when I had it.Over the years, Sony came outwith a few more interestingiterations of the PS2,including the PS2 TV,which is a PlayStation 2directly integrated intoa Sony Bravia LCD TV.There's also a Linux kit for the PS2,so enthusiasts could turna PS2 basically into a PCcomplete with web browsingand other computer-y things.Now to mention tons ofspecial edition consoles.Sony sold millions of PS2sand overwhelmingly dominatedthe gaming market fora second generation in a row.So it must have been flawless, right?Not exactly.There were actually stillplenty of issues with the PS2.One of the biggest advantages of the Xboxover the PlayStation 2was its excellent online functionality.Now, both the PS2 and Xboxcould connect to the internetto have multiplayer experiences,but it really seemed muchmore like an afterthoughton the PS2.Online services were freefor most games on the PS2,but Sony didn't haveany dedicated servers.They lifted it up to developersto host servers to game on,which led to a spotty andinconsistent online experience.Xbox on the other hand,had dedicated servers,which made multiplayer so much better.They did charge for itthough through Xbox Live,but you got a lot for theprice, like personal gamertags,adding friends online, messaging,like it felt a lot morelike modern gaming.It was pretty night and day.Unfortunately, reliability wasalso a concern for many PS2s.One common problem was the disc tray,which had a reputation forbreaking down over time.In fact, if something'sgonna break on a PS2,the disc tray is a likely culprit.It was such a big issuethat there was even a classaction lawsuit against Sony.The lawsuit claimed thePS2s regularly display thedisc read error messageand would not play games.There were a lot of other issueslike memory cardsgetting corrupted, being toosmall capacity to start with,and being far too expensive.It's almost like Sony can'tresist charging a pile of moneyfor a proprietary media format.Now, some PS2s alsohad overheating issues,especially on the slim models,and of course, frustrating,worn out power buttonsthat needed to be replaced.And yet, despite all of those issues,the PS2 is without exaggeration,the best selling gamingconsole of all time.Yes, that's right, even in the year 2024,no other console has surpassed the godly155 million sales record that the PS2 set.The PS1 made Sony into agenuine gaming powerhouse,but the PS2 launched Sonyinto the stratosphere.The PlayStation brandsolidified its statusas a household namesynonymous with gaming,just like how all Pokemonare just Pikachu to boomers,all video game consoleswere just PlayStations.It's easy to see how PlayStation becamethe face of gaming at the time.They even kept makingthem for 13 whole years,AKA, I can't believe this is true,they only stopped making PS2smonths before the PS4 came out.You know, like they kept making PS2spretty much the entire lifespanof the PlayStation 3.I remember when the PS2was the must have console,and let me tell you,if you were the one kid in yourtown that didn't have a PS2,it was a miserable Christmas.Not that I was that kid or anything.I was perfectly happy with my PS1, mom.Actually, can I tell a story?My dad tried to get a PS2 forme from a friend from work,and I was really excited about it.We went over to his house,and when we went to go pick it up,he thought it was a PS2,and it was actually a PS1.I don't think I've everemotionally recovered from that.(Austin sniffs)But let me knowwhat your fond memories of the PS2 are,and if you want us to dive deeperinto the world of PlayStationwith the next generation.I have a feeling that PlayStation's rivalsaren't going to staysatisfied with second place.