V0 did not have a built-in DVD player and instead relied on an encrypted player that was copied to a memory card from an included CD-ROM (normally, the PS2 will only execute encrypted software from its memory card, but see PS2 Independence Exploit).
When the PlayStation 2 launched in America in October 26, 2000, Sony sold 510,000 units within the first 24 hours.
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).
During one week in November, sales in the entire country of Britain totalled 6,000 units - compared to 70,000 a few weeks prior.
Later hardware revisions had better compatibility with PlayStation games (Metal Gear Solid: VR Missons works on most silver models).
The machine's future continues to be uncertain, with North American and European launches considered to be distant if at all.
One of them includes the old EE and GS chips, and the other contains the newer unified EE+GS chip, otherwise being identical.
In September of that year, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the best-selling game during the 2004 Holiday season), Sony revealed a new, smaller PS2 (see Hardware 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.
PS2's opening day console sales eclipsed the previous record of 225,000 made by the Sega Dreamcast in 1999.
There are also some disputes on the numbering for this PS2 version, since there are actually two sub-versions of the SCPH-70000.
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.