Dario

Markus,

the Jap model can play multi-region by a hack (widely available on the net) - but the Pal version will probably have this disabled.

Regards

Dario

chuckster

Markus,
There was a very easy way to multi-region the PS2, and it was on the web on the day of launch. Sony got into alot of trouble from american movie companies and modified the units very quickly. Would be suprised if there wasn't a chip available by the time we see it though.
Charles

Nightmare

I cetrainly hope you can - cos Im with Markus on this!

Dario - do you know if you'll be able to 'choose' which region you stick with, assuming there isnt a chip, or will it just default to European?

Any clue as to price? Guess it must be around the 200/250 mark?

Any other games look good?

Night

Dario

Nightmare,

As far as I know the European Pal PS2 will only play region 2.

Lots of nice games - F1 2000, WipeOut X, ISS PRO, FIFA etc

It has a $299 dollar US price - (simultaneous release in Europe + US) - so yeh I guess 200-250 in the UK

Regards

Dario

Dario

Shhhhh......PlayStation 2 launch date is set 26th Oct (price unconfirmed) - I've played work in progress of GT2000 and oh my God - it's AMAZING!

Markus

Hiya Dario!

I too cannot wait for PS2, ainly cuz I'm too lazy to get a DVD player and PS2 will satisfy my DVD and PS addiction.

BTW, little bit dodgy, but... Any idea if you'll be able to 'chip' the PS2 to allow multi-region playing of DVD's?

Shaun

Just to make you guys jealous....I already have a Jap one!

The price should be £300 on official release!

Get saving.......

Scatman

Dario

Scatman,

it's definitely not more that 250pounds - we have about 60 Jap PS2's here in the office - making sure all the PS1 games work perfectly on the PS2.

We're gonna be really busy gearing up for the release - lots of games coming out on 26/10

Regards

Dario

DavidRB

Just about every commercial DVD player ever made has been chipped or cracked at some point after it was released. Given the volume of sales that are expected of the PS2 (and hence, the money to be made from breaking the region lock), it will be a prime target. Don't expect them to remain locked for very long...

Dario, what's the backward compatibility like so far then?

Dario

DavidRB,

it going fine - everything will be OK for the launch

Dario

gregh

Hey Dario,

Don't surpose you knew my brother, Paul Hilton, used to work at Psygnosis Liverpool.

Greg

Also waiting for a PS2 in the UK!

Paul Wilson

Dario, have the bugs been fixed on GT2000? As it was a tad annoying buying a game with glaring bugs in it, best lap anyone?

harj

I have a PS2 as well! well Ive borrowed it from Shaun, I don't really see what all the fuss is about! The games aren't that far off the Dreamcast! It's functionality that people want, It does have that.

Untill then I will just keep playing Tecken Tag on Shaun's machine!

Harj...

Dario

Greg H - sorry don't know him - we (Sony) only moved into the building with Psygnosis last May.

Paul W - yep they've got the time to fix them for GT2000

Harj - the jap games released had only been in production for about 5 months - so the best is yet to come......they are worth waiting for. Didn't you like Dead or Alive 2?

Regards

Dario

Dr Hu

DVD Region Locking:-

WHEN are the people who decided to region lock DVD's going to wake up and smell the coffee???

In this Internet Age, region locking JUST DOES'NT WORK, so why do they persist in trying to enforce it. I don't know ANYONE who has'nt got a cracked region player, be it hardware or software solution.

DVD Locking - TOTAL PANTS!!!!!!!

They just want to protect their mega million dollar movie launch rights in each country, BUT the laughable thing is now, that you can buy the DVD from the States, weeks sometimes months before cinema release in the UK, so they must be losing money on Box Office takings.... GET REAL GUYS.......

MAKE IT REGION FREE.........

Rant Mode Off.

Markus

Dr Hu:
With you totally on this one.

A friend of mine works for an airline and frequently flies out to New York and she's always suprised at the DVD's that she can buy, as we've not seen them on the Big screen yet.

With places like Techtronics (www.techtronics.com) selling brand new multi-region players for the same, or less, than the single region player we'd buy in Dixons et al, waiting for a region 2 DVD of the big screen smash is a thing of the past. If you don't have someone flying to the states to get them then simply use the net to buy them.

At present I don't have a DVD player, this is mainly as I'm waiting for PS2, simply as I have a PS1 and I want the compatibility, plus what is the point in getting a DVD player, then getting PS2 and ending up with 2 DVD players! As soon as I know that the PS2 can be chipped to give multi-region I'll get one (got your work cut out Techtronics!)

I will have a few DVD's soon anyway. I'm buying all the Disney movies on DVD, simply due to Disney's policy of stopping relase of certain films for years.

I wonder how hard the PS2 will hit the cinema, odd I know, but think of all the PS1 owners upgrading to PS2, chipping it, and then using the net to buy all the new big screen movies on DVD. There's still the attraction of seeing it on the Big screen for some films, eg; StarWars, but it's great to say to your friends 'hey come round and watch Episode 2' when it's not going to be in UK cinemas for another couple of months.

gregh

The official sony web site has PS2 selling for £299 and being released on the 24th November.

Markus

gregh;

The real answer to this is to find out what DVD mech is being used by PS2, then find out what mech is used in Sony's 'domestic' DVD players, then find out the known problems with discs playing on those players.

Might be worth surfing for a few PS2 specific sites and trying to find out if they list problems with specific disks.

I know that 'The Matrix' is considered a good test disk as it was one of the first dual layer discs and this caused many DVD players no end of problems. Therefore you might, when the time comes, want to get the shop to let you play a few DVD's maybe even Matrix and see how it copes.

I would guess there are a few sites out there that will tell you what discs work/don't work on the Jap PS2, but that might not be any good for the UK one.

Guess we'll just have to wait until the release day to find out.

SWOLL

The same as most of you guys I'm waiting for a PS2 rather than shelling out for a seperate DVD player. A mate of mine who's into these things tells me the quality of DVD playback is poor compared to a standard DVD player.

Any thoughts on this guys, anyone seen one in action.

gregh

From what I've read DVD playback will be 'ok' not as good as high end DVD players, more in line with low end ones.

But then again, who knows until it ships in the UK!

Greg

AlexM

Just a quick comment - comparing the (likely) display quality of PS2 DVD playback with a standalone player costing twice as much is very likely to result in disappointment.

If you are serious about your AV, It would be a bit like plugging the headphone jack of your PC CD-Rom drive into a high-end audio system and then being disappointed with the sound quality in comparison with a sub £1000 CD Player.

It is probably OK for occasional use, but get a proper DVD player if you intend to use it a lot. Even the cheapo Wharfdale Tescos jobby would probably be better if you are reasonably discriminating.

Maybe not though...

Cheers,

Alex

chiark

...and the DVD replay will be an order of magnitude better than video, even if it ain't top notch.

Yep, another one for the "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" camp. Astonishingly, my better half is supporting this line of thinking.

robman

Cheapo wharfdale is a great player, and region free, with RGB and DTS. For the dosh, great picture and sound.

I'm gonna wait till PS2's have been around for a while. I got one of the first batch of UK playstations (399 quid!!) and although it still works sweet as a nut, GT2 does not work on it. The official answer from the helpline was to get a new playstation 'cos they upgraded some bits of the CD mechanism. So I did, and it cost me 100 quid including a copy of GT2!

Shaun

Be careful about buying a PS2. They have been slated by the software industry, because they are very hard to program (akin to the Sega Saturn, and look what happened to that!).

I have owned one since there first release in Japan, and IMHO it is pants. The games are few and far between and also people that have played demo's of GT2000 sya it's been WELL over hyped. I also bought a Dreamcast on it's japanese release, which has games that far exceed the quality of PS2 titles. Anyone played SEGA GT, Ferrari F355 or Virtua Tennis/Athlete - AWESOME! Remember the UK Sega software market is WELL behind the JAP one. I have over 50 games for the Dreamcast - You have some real mega games to look forward to.

Don't get sucked in by the hype!!!!!!

Shaun.

APJ

Speaking of DVDs . . . any news on DVD-R? I've been holding out on buying a player, expecting cheapish recordable machines to be out shortly, making old VHS obsolete overnight.

Hos

iTrader: (1)

Just been playing on the old Psx and found a few games hidden away in my games case i'd never played before... James Bond- Tomorow Never Dies (looking good..)
I myself cannot wait for PS2 to come out, although i will never do any work . I also cannot wait for someone to chip it so i can buy games for £5 ..lol Ok a few people may have a go at me for thinking this.. but why have 1 game when you can have 15
Ian

PS- Can't wait for GT2000

Dario

HO HO HO - Shaun - you should see GT2000 now!(7 months down the line from the demo) - I also thought that Dreamcast had better games - I bought Ferrari 355 etc - great game - but the PS2 is only just getting into it's stride - Dreamcast has been out for 21 months now since it's release in Japan and it's only now there are great games.

You just have to hang in and wait for the 'good stuff'

BTW - Codemasters have canned Colin McRae 2 for Dreamcast - says it all!

Regards

Dario

Blackscooby

I originally bought the PSX for GT, when GT2 came out I loved it more..

Is GT2000 a significant improvement over GT2 ? Does it justify shelling out for a PS2 ?

Thanks

Mark.

Markus

put it this way. You know the intro to GT2, ie; the bits with cars racing round, well that is apparently (confirm/deny Dario please) taken from in game footage of a GT2000 demo on PS2, therefore what you see in the intro is how the gfx would look in game! mmmm, yummy!

I too would like to know wether GT2000 is just GT2 with better graphics or wether there are actual game changes, eg; reinstatement of load/save of car setup - this really, really, really annoyed me in GT2, ie; that you could not save/load the setup for a car.

Dario

I think you should see it yourself at the ECTS show at London Olympia - this weekend!