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.
It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console with (non-standard) USB and DVD support.
Hardware sales remained strong until 2004 saw the console apparently approaching saturation point.
There are also some disputes on the numbering for this PS2 version, since there are actually two sub-versions of the SCPH-70000.
Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PlayStations for consumers.
Currently, most people just use V12 for both models, or V12 for the old model and V13 for the newer one.
Sony also advertised heavily as well and it had the advantage of being supported by Electronic Arts.
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.
However the New Slim Silver Models have more issues with playing PlayStation games than the first PS2 revisions.
In preparation for the launch of a new, slimmer PlayStation 2 model (SCPH-70000), Sony had stopped making the older PS2 model (SCPH-5000x) sometime during the summer of 2004 to let the distribution channel empty out stock of the units.
This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation.
