Playstation 2 News

Sony has announced a new upgrade for the Playstation 2 in Japan. The model SCPH-30000 will go on sale on April 18th and replace the current Japanese model SCPH-18000. The 30000 model will feature a built in hard drive and 100Mbps broadband ethernet adapter. Unlike the current issue 18000 model, though, the 30000 model will not include a memory card or wireless DVD remote as pack in accessories. Sony has set the 30000 model at an open price, meaning that retailers are free to charge whatever price they want for the system.

Sales of Playstation 2 games have begun to pick up in Japan, with several titles now breaking the 300,000 mark in total units sold. The second best selling Playstation 2 game in Japan, though, The Bouncer, has amassed only half as many sales as the million selling Onimusha. And even Onimusha, the best selling Playstation 2 game so far is no match for the 4.06 million copies of Dragon Quest 7 sold for the Playstation so far.

According to a new statement by Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders, Microsoft’s XBox is not the powerhouse system Microsoft promotes it as. According to Kojima, the only advantages the XBox has over the Playstation 2 are a slight increase in graphics capability and programming features built into the XBox that have to be custom created for the PS2.

Source: The Magic Box