Enlarge.
However, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season pushed the PS2 far in front even as the Xbox and GameCube made their impressive debuts.
The PS2 hardware can read both compact discs and DVDs.
Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PlayStations for consumers.
This led to further shortages, and the issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK.
Although Sony placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first year, all that changed because of the launch of the online-capable Xbox.
The PlayStation 2 holds the record of fastest selling video game console ever, 100 million PlayStation 2 units were shipped in only five years and nine months, shattering the previous record of nine years and six months by the PlayStation.
Warning: include($_GET[p]_include_path.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/ling7/domains/ps2research.com/public_html/php-bin/Find.php on line 2
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '$_GET[p]_include_path.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php:/php/includes:/home/lingling/domains/php') in /home/ling7/domains/ps2research.com/public_html/php-bin/Find.php on line 2
Warning: require_once(LingBasics.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/ling7/domains/ps2research.com/public_html/php-bin/Find.php on line 3
Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'LingBasics.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php:/php/includes:/home/lingling/domains/php') in /home/ling7/domains/ps2research.com/public_html/php-bin/Find.php on line 3