Why do you think the ps2 is still outselling the 360, ps3, and psp despite being over 7 years old? Granted the thing is a little over 100 dollars i think that theres more to it than just price. Could it be possible that with success of the wii in pulling casual gamers that the ps2 has the same draw as well (but not to same extent, obviously)?

My theory is that the wii has garnered the attention of the casual gamer (duh) but due the fact that it is always sold out these would be wii owners settle for second best, the ps2. The ps2 has the guitar heroes,  the rockband, and has some casual games.  What do you think?

It's by far the best value for money games system on the market

It has great games that can now be found for 1/10 of their original price

7 years worth of great games, cheap, Sony brand and main stream popularity.

Not to mention, it's software is STILL being supported by Sony and 3rd parties. 

I really don't think it has anything to do with the Wii. It has a lot to do with being a very cheap console with an absolutely monstrous library of games, many of which were the biggest games of the last gen. These games are often sold at reduced price.

it's simply the best cost/enjoyment ratio out there. Of course it will still be selling strong. But as the other consoles amass more games and lower their prices, the PS2 will decline (well it kind of already is)

I think PS2 success is due to SONY's targeting of the casual market. When you see new PS2 games released or advertisments for them -- 99% of them are aimed at casuals. Combine that with an excellent libary, low price and good brand / product recongition and its no surprise PS2 is selling so well ...

Ofcourse you also need to remember the PS2 is a monster in the console world - 8 years old (well turning 8 this year)and its able to compete with 360 and PS3 and its held its own aganist the Wii which is just incredible. Its the DS of the console world ...

Duhhh, people are just buying them to replace their broken ones ;)

Seriously though, this is just a silly question. Cheap system, cheap games, tons of games, small system. That's all.

Why? Because graphics matter, apparently.

/sarcasm

1000's of games at any pawnshop for 5-10 bucks each

the absolute best bang for buck of any game system ever in creation 

It's because the Cube and Xbox did so poorly and the PS2 was the most dominant system since like... the NES.

I mean look at the NES. It was still going strong when the Gensis went up against it.

Only being replaced by the SNES.

The PS3 not being an extentsion of what made the PS2 great couldn't tap into the PS2 sales, so it's still going strong. 

PS1 shipped 1.74 million consoles in North America from Sept 2002 to March 2003, about the same period we're looking at now. PS2 sold about 2.8 million in NA in that same timeframe. The increase is probably because the PS2 was more dominant in NA than the PS1, and the current-gen consoles are so much more expensive that the PS2 looks even better in comparison now than the PS1 did 5 years ago. Other than those factors, there's nothing particularly unusual about the current PS2 sales.