Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) [1999]

"PlayStation 2, the very best in home entertainment, is sleeker, smaller and more stylish than ever before - and comes in two gorgeous colours, Charcoal Black and Satin Silver."
PlayStation.com

It's the quality games and excellent joypad that makes PlayStation 2 really good. Fortunately the PS2 has kept the same Joypad (+ all analogue instead of digital buttons!) and updates of our favourite games such as FIFA and Grand Turismo.

Graphically its very much better in every respect to the old one, having 32 Mb of RAM, a 128-bit running at 300 MHz and a 150 MHz Sony graphics chip that can do about 66 million polygon per second.

The PlayStation 2 is not as fast as a PC tested against a GeForce 2 Ultra and AMD 1.4 GHz on the first person shooter Red Faction.

However, Grand Turismo looks and plays even better. The FIFA game too looks good, but again the PC version looks graphically better which brings the PlayStation 2 into perspective. Other footy games include 'This is Football' which is graphically better but Pro Evolution Soccer exceeds in game play.

The PS2 also plays DVD films and is well worth the original £200 asking price if you don't already own a standard DVD player.

For 3 years after its release, it was THE console to buy. But along came Microsoft's first console, the Xbox, which looked like the fastest and best quality console to come out. Then came Nintendo's new console the GameCube which has also changed many people's perspective on what to buy.

Many colour versions were later developed, the silver being a favourite. In 2004, a 'slim' PS2 became available for purchase, which boasted to be 75% smaller.

Current Sony PlayStation 3 PlayStation Portable

Retro Sony PlayStation PlayStation 2