PS2
Playstation2

The Facts
taken from PSW magazine.

UK Release date:
September 2000
Extras:

The Emotion Engine

128 bit RISC CPU Core
300 MHz Clock Frequency
32 MB Main Memory
6.2 GFLOPS Floating Point Performance
36Million Polygons/sec )with Perspective Transformation, lighting and fog turned on)
Bezier Curve Surface Generation
MPEG2 Decoder (used to decode movie DVDs)

This is the meat of the PS2, all number crunching that isn't graphics related is done here. This is where the game itself is figured out and controlled. Apart from being a powerful logic processor, the emotion engine has all sorts of other uses. It helps out the Graphics synthesiser with crunching visuals. It decodes DVD movies, and it applies all sorts of visuals effects.

With this emotion engine, Playstation2 has the power to simulate nature. Fighting games will become so realistic that fighters clink, sway, lose their breath, and wipe moisture off their brow. Their entire biological systems are synthesised internally, as you play, you feel what he feels...

As chris moyles says, they might look the same but they don't taste the same...yu can use your existing pads and peripherals on Playstation2, yet the true Playstation2 pads will look the same as existing pads, but taste so much differant. Every single button on the Dual Shock 2 is pressure sensitive to over 100 individual levels of depth. So, in fighting games such as Tekken Tag, you could press the button hard for a nice smack in the face of your rival, or just simply tap the button to give him a llittle jab. Or racing games such as GT2000, where you will be able to apply just enough power to slide around the course...the true power of these Dual Shock pads are almost to good to be true...

Again, they will look the same yet they will be so much more then existing memory cards. The cards will have 8MB of storage, the same as a whole N64 game almost, and 64 times more powerful then current Playstation cards. This will not only mean more data can be saved, but also quicker loading and saving...

The Mother Brain

150 MHz Clock Frequency
4MB of DRAM
Poloygon Drawing Rate: 25 Million/sec with all effecrts on
Display output: NTSC/PAL, Difital TV, VESA(max 1280 x 1024 pixels)

This is where the games visuals are made, and this is the fasest graphics number cruncher in the world. About 10 times the speed of a Pentium III, and over 100 times more powerful then the current Playstation. This will mean that people, cars and environments are going to look better then ever...

Number of voices:48ch plus software
2MB sound memory
5.1 Dolby Digital output and DTS capable

48 individual channels of sound is more then enough to replicate beyond CD quality sound. This is essentially the same sound system you see in multiplex cinemas.

CD-ROM 24 times speed
DVD-ROM 4 times speed
Backwards compatible

The CD drive is 12 times faster then the current playstations, and so this will speed up the loading times. The DVD drive will allow DVD movies to be played, and will hold games which are 10 times the size of a Playstation CD. The Backwards compatiblity means that you can keep all your existing PLaystation games, and so when all them classics come out on Budget...you can buy them all and have one hellof a time!

The Playstation2 will be using the very latest in Internet connection, with the use of the BroadBand Internet! Unlike the current 56K modems, or the DreamCasts 30 odd speed, the BroadBand Internet will mean that us gamers can have a permanent connection to the net, which will allow download speeds of up to 2MB/Second...this will allow all lastest DVD Movies, music tracks and games to be downloaded in less then no time.

Interface: 2 Controller ports
2 Memory card ports
1 AV multi-cable output
1 optical digital output
2 USB ports
1 i link
1 type III PCMCIA card slot

This all means that the power of Playstation2 is almost unreal...you could connect modems, laptops, hard drives to download movies etc etc You could connect digital cameras, mini dics players, printers, scanners, you name it...the PS2 can pretty much connect to it.

This all means that PS2 is not only going to be a Games Machine, but also a home entertainment system. The future looks bright for Sony, and indeed us gamesplayers...the Power of Playstation2 is just around the corner, this is the next step in games playing, and my goodness is it going to be a step...

Kevin Preston

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