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.
Sony also advertised heavily as well and it had the advantage of being supported by Electronic Arts.
The machine's future continues to be uncertain, with North American and European launches considered to be distant if at all.
A product named HD Connect can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support though.
V0 was a Japanese model and was never sold in Europe or the US.
During one week in November, sales in the entire country of Britain totalled 6,000 units - compared to 70,000 a few weeks prior.
In some markets it also integrates a modem.
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.
