Due to its thinner profile, it does not contain the 3.5" expansion bay, and therefore does not support the internal hard disk drive but due to the presence of USB 2.0 ports an external USB Hard disk can still be used, and now uses an external power supply, like the Gamecube.
Sony also advertised heavily as well and it had the advantage of being supported by Electronic Arts.
Hardware sales remained strong until 2004 saw the console apparently approaching saturation point.
The PS2 also supports PS1 memory cards (for PS1 game saves only) and controllers (the PS2's Dual Shock 2 controller is essentially a slightly upgraded PS1 Dual Shock).
Since the V12 version had already been established for this model, there were some disputes regarding these sub-versions.
Although external USB 2.0 enclosures are affordable the lack of internal hard disk has implicated a problem for users with perhaps little knowledge of the software required to enable the external disk functionality.
These included a PCMCIA slot instead of the Expansion Bay (DEV9) port of newer models.
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.
