Rise of the Sony Machine

Sequels. A temperamental concept at best; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I could provide many examples of great and appalling sequels (take the Godfather trilogy if you will) but there is one that for me, stands out above the rest: The Playstation 2, Sony's sequel to the wildly successful Playstation console.

The Playstation 2, or PS2, is most definitely the console that shook the world, and I don't care about the overused metaphor because nothing else describes the sheer respect it commands. One can laugh at the memory card size of 8MB - a far cry from the beastly terrabyte hard drives found in computers today - but I don't. Sure, the capacity is something akin to pathetic, but it also gives the card a degree of personality, like you genuinely know each and every byte inside the card by name. A 1TB HDD is loaded with mountains of information, which is systematically stored, reviewed and discarded with little concern at all. However, with a PS2 memory card, you often have to spend a bit of time every so often to carefully select and delete saved games to make room for more. Over the top? Perhaps, but it highlights the simplicity of the console which kept on going, spinning up discs over and over for our entertainment, while reluctantly demonstrating its mortality through limited data storage.

And entertainment was never in short supply, for the games of the PS2 were plentiful and sometimes of exceptional quality. And here I should mention my favourite game on the PS2: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In honesty, I never played the original Metal Gear Solid, but never have I cared so little either. This game stands by itself as an artwork; a genuine triumph in visual storytelling and gameplay. In short, if any game deserves a perfect 10/10, this game stands as a serious contender. Armored Core 3 and Final Fantasy X are two other games that deserve a mention; AC3 because of the thrill of building a combat-ready robot, and FFX because the characters and the story more than made up for the frustrating random enemy encounters... 

The PS2 has since been surpassed by its younger, stronger and sleeker son, the Playstation 3. The PS3 packs a lot of processing punch, with up to 320GB of HD space as well, and yet... I suppose the nostalgia gives the PS2 something that for me at least, the PS3 never can; memories of youth, memories of simple, untainted and pure gaming thrills. Great memories then; and the promise of even greater potential...