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Surprise it is the PSTwo!
Wow I talked a bit too soon. It looks like Sony unveiled their new smaller PS2 design. They are calling it the SCPH-70000 but I bet that most people will still be calling (writing) it the PSTwo. There are tons of pictures of the new PSTwo over at Engadget. Sony also showed off the PSP at the same press conference.
Sony has said in the past that they intend on keeping PS2 games on the market until at least 2010. This new design is going to be sold at the same $150 price as the existing PS2 design but I could see the price dropping after the PS3 comes out.
However I will point out that the new smaller design looks like it is sporting a pop-top DVD tray like the Playstation and the PSOne. The new design is about a third the size of the first PS2 and it has a couple other changes. They changed the power cord and it now uses an external AC adapter like the PSOne. It can play CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, DVD-Rs, DVD-RWs, DVD+Rs, DVD+RWs, PSOne games and PS2 games.
There is a new smaller circular vertical stand and the existing 4-player multi-tap does now work on the new design so there a new smaller one for the PSTwo. There is no hard drive port and the online Ethernet port is built right in. There is no analog modem so all the 56k users are shut out. The press release does not mention that the DVD player is a progressive scan DVD player so it is probably not one.
There is no word on a new OS and I betcha it is a lot quieter than the first generation PS2s. If you are into Final Fantasy XI Online then you better stick with the existing design. Also we don't know if the existing Gameshark disks will work on the new design. I betcha a million bucks that all the existing PS2 mod chips will not work on this new design and since the new PSTwo has a pop-top disk drive it is highly unlikely that the pop-top mods for disk swapping imported games. So if you are into imported games you might want to stick with the original design for a while before the Hong Kong mod makes get their hands on the PSTwo.
Sony has plans on releasing the new PSTwo in the US on November 1st 2004. That is All Saints Day, The day after Halloween, the day before Election day and massively discounted Halloween candy day. I might turn in my PS2 at my local Gamestop for a hundred bucks in credit and upgrade to a quieter, sexier and just plain cooler PSTwo.
Jake at September 21, 2004 
Games
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Comments
grrr! just bought my Silver Satin Ed. PS2.
on the other: while I like the design (sony-cool) I don't see where's the space for the most important modd-on of the ps2 for playing import games. where to put the chip??
compared to my older PS2 it can't do any more (Silver Satin Ed. already has the better drive to read more disc-formats, and makes less noizzze).
so my good old gray PSX (not the shabby PSone) holds its place next to my PS2 (not PS2).
Posted by: Jim at September 22, 2004 12:03 PM
The date Sony gave us in the conference call this morning was October 12. It does have a flip top disk drive and the modem is built in, but according to what we are being told, it supports broadband and dial up. There will not be a way to play FFXI on this new PSTwo, so those who play the game will have to stick the the original PS2 as you stated. I think the PSTwo has its place for the time being, especially being it is sold with the network adaptor built in for the same $150 price tag. The PS3 is set to launch 2006, so it will have time to still acquire a good audience. :)
Posted by: Mici at September 22, 2004 7:52 PM
There is no analog modem on PSTwo nor is there a way to hook up a normal Network adaptor. It does have an ethernet port built in. I doubt that any of the existing Mod Chips will work in the PSTwo. It is sort of back to square one for the mod chip makers.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 22, 2004 10:56 PM
..it looks like a baby TurboDuo... damn you Sony, now I have no choice but to purchase it. If Sony has no problem having DVD movie backups being compatible with their console, then it's about time they allowed game backups to operate as well. You can't open one gate to piracy under fair use and seal the other with armed guards.
Posted by: InsaneDavid at September 23, 2004 11:56 AM
You could be right, Jake. I am just telling you what my Director of Marketing told us on the conference call. I guess we'll know in a couple of weeks :)
Posted by: Mici at September 23, 2004 7:43 PM
The pictures of the rear of the unit do not show an analog modem and there is no mention of an analog modem in the press release. It is not nessisarly a bad idea to ditch the old modem but it will get rid of lots of the high ping AOL using bastards.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 23, 2004 10:24 PM
I just contacted Playstation Customer support through their website and they have confirmed that the north american models of the new playstation will support progressive scan output.
Posted by: kookieku at September 30, 2004 12:34 PM
cool! I want one.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 30, 2004 9:24 PM
Gamecrazy called me today and said they had just gotten their prereserve PSTwo consoles in stock (picking it up tomorrow) .. quite a surprise that they came in this far ahead of time.
Posted by: InsaneDavid at October 15, 2004 9:04 PM
Hmm.. I shall check that out.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at October 15, 2004 10:29 PM
