Quality exclusive PS2 titles boosted success
The PS2 did create its own technical innovations but they were all aimed at attracting the casual gamer, long before the Wii started using the same mantra.
The motion sensing webcam EyeToy proved a huge hit, as did karaoke classic SingStar and quiz game Buzz! with its own set of game show buzzer controllers.
Whereas Microsoft seems to have mistaken launching first as some sort of magic talisman for success, Sony used their head start to ensure all the publishers started making their multiformat games with the PS2 as the lead format.
This meant that even once the Xbox and GameCube arrived companies had already got into the habit of creating games for the PS2 first and foremost.
Another lesson apparently forgotten by Sony with the PS3 is that the PS2 was by far the least technically able out of the three last generation consoles – and yet it clearly didn’t matter at all.
In fact the most powerful console in any given generation has never been the most successful, from the NES to the PS one. It’s only ever been about the games and any console that forgets it, whether it’s made by Sony or anyone else, is always doomed to failure.
Published 14th May 2007
