I have a Dreamcast and a PS2 from that gen, and i had a GC for a brief period of time... i'm fan of Ninty consoles since the FAMICOM days, even the 64 was amazing for me despite being on cartridge... Then GC arrives, i buy it thinking that i will be enyoing the amazing exclusives on a powerful hardware despite having 1.5 GB (as a contrast of PS2 and Xbox DVD9), and then it hits me, a lot of time and only 3 good games, it was so kiddy and i was mad at the design, and then more and more kiddy games showed, then it comes Super Mario Sunshine, i play it at a friend's before deciding the purchase, this title got me really dissapointed, so i sold the console (a neighbor wanted it for her son and paid more than retail price jejeje), kept the good games and with the money i bought PS2 and GBA games...

Now with the Wii i catched up with the good GC games i missed...

With the PS3 that's not happening, because my library is not 3 games (it's actually all PS3 exclusives and multiplatform games, except the ones i play on PC), i love the design, and the entertainment center capacity... So i'm really happy having a PS3 and a Wii...

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Back on topic, PS2 was loved by game companies first because it was pumped with the PS1 reputation, promising much more, then the sales came and they loved it because of that...

Simpson's Hit-and-Run sold well because it was full of awesome.

It's the reason EA had my eyes and ears for the Simpsons Game recently right up until the last moment when it because obvious they F*&KED IT UP!!!

You should have gotten a Wii!!

Reasons the PS2 sold well:

- Came out a year ahead of the Xbox

- Was $100 cheaper straight out of the gate

- Was cheaper to develop for

- Had the best 3rd party games under heavy lockdown.

- Had timed exclusivity under heavy lockdown.

Hmmm....Sounds very similar to the Xbox 360 wouldn't you think? Except the Xbox 360 came out $200 cheaper than the PS3. The gameplan sounds strikingly similar.

Only one game you loved this gen? wtf.

Haven't you played:
Mass Effect
Gears of War
Little Big Planet
Bioshock
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Resistance 2
Rock Band

???

All excellent titles.

You're forgetting two HUGE factors:

-Had the best first/second party studios

-Was made by Sony

Why is it that despite the 360's game library being equal or superior to the PS3's, being half the price, having better online, the PS3 comes close in sales?

1) Blu-ray player

2) Future Potential

3) Made by Sony

4) People prefer the games library

I personally got it for all four of those.

The PS2 still has better games than any other console by a mile. You had a free choice of several games from EVERY genre which were excellent, even more which were great. Sure, it didn't have great 'hardware' or 'additional features' but in the end, it is the games that make the console, and no console can rival the PS2 in games.

What on earth happened to all of those PS2 games? I'm going to look at the Metacritic Top Ten PS2 games (ignore my metacritic boycott for the sake of convenience)

1) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Series went completely downhill after the 6th Gen

2) GTA 3 Still around in the form of GTA4, arguably not as good

3) Resident Evil 4 Sequel coming early next year

4) MGS2: Sons of Liberty MGS4 out, awesome

5) GTA: San Andreas Another GTA

6) GTA: Vice City Holy hell, ANOTHER GTA

7) GT3: A-Spec Sequel late next year

8) Madden NFL 2003 Series became worse

9) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Another Tony Hawk

10) Devil May Cry Series went downhill

So, we have 7 franchises there.

3 went downhill

2 have great sequels

2 have sequels to come next year.

Interesting. So a maximum of 4/7 of those can actually work this gen...

-MGS4

-BioShock

-Oblivion

-Gears of War

-Tools of Destruction (Maybe)

Are in my opinion the excellent titles this gen.

This!

Plus: No 3rd party games? I'm pretty sure I played 2 Splinter Cells, Prince of Persia's, Soul Calibur 2, SSX, Timesplitters, Beyond Good & Evil on Cube. Sjeez. Way to overreact. Oh and add Skies of Arcadia.

Plus Metroid (sure it's Nintendo, but not your average Mario so to say) and Zelda were great.

Not much to add to this thread except that the PS2 pretty much had last gen locked down before the unknown Xbox & the odd looking Gamecube even launched. It was a capable console. 2001 was the best year for games EVER.

@starcraft,EA's "The Simpsons Game" is AWESOME! Buy it, rent it, or steal it!! The demo does no justice to the game!!

It is because the PS2 was a casual console. It's just that the hardcore gamers also treasured it because for every casual title, like Fifa, Buzz, Singstar or Simpsons game, there was an Ico, Timesplitters, God Of War and Metal Gear Solid which kept the hardcore happy. The PS2 sold crap games and mediocre games like hotcakes because lots of casual gamers, who didnt rely on metacritic, had them, and lots of parents bought them for their kids - who also don't check metacritic. The PS2 being a casual console is like the best kept secret on the internet, but it was casual.

The PS3 and 360, on the other hand, are sustained by a decent-sized but very hardcore community, mainly forumgoers and review-readers, who scrutinize every purchase under metacritic or gamerankings before buying. The Wii has now taken all of the PS2's casuals, and kept some hardcore Ninty followers too, which is why the Wii sells Game Party and Big Beach Sports as much as Mario Galaxy and Zelda.