To this day, the PS2 holds the record for the most consoles sold in a single day as well as the record for most consoles sold in launch day in America.
As a result, although Sony and Nintendo both started out late and although both followed a decentralized model of online gaming where the responsibility is up to the developer to provide the servers, Sony's efforts made PS2 online gaming a big success.
Sony has also made a PVR/DVD burning consumer device that plays PlayStation 2 games called the PSX.
The ability to play DVD movies allowed consumers to more easily justify the PS2's relatively high price tag (in October 2000, the MSRP was $300) as it removed the need to buy an external DVD player (indeed, it could be said that the success of the DVD format was partly due to the PS2's ability to play DVDs, as the format seemed to appeal more to consumers after the console's launch).
When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary video game consoles, including its DVD capabilities and USB and IEEE 1394 expansion ports.
When the PlayStation 2 launched in Japan in March 2000, Sony sold 980,000 units over the opening weekend.
The machine's future continues to be uncertain, with North American and European launches considered to be distant if at all.
Although Sony placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first year, all that changed because of the launch of the online-capable Xbox.
Developers also complained that it was difficult to develop for the system, with little in the way of reference material from Sony for its exotic architecture.
In September 2004 Sony unveiled the third major hardware revision (V12, model number SCPH-70000).
When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other contemporary video game consoles, including its DVD capabilities and USB and IEEE 1394 expansion ports.
