Playstation 2

After originally announcing its existence in March 1999 Sony revealed its Next Generation PlayStation on Monday, 13th September 1999 to a waiting public. After much speculation the console will be titled the PlayStation 2 (or PS2 for short) and will launch with 12 impressive titles, including Gran Turismo 2000 and Tekken Tag Tournament.

Despite rumours of a pre-Christmas release the PS2 will be launched in Japan on 4th March, 2000 and will cost 39,800 yen (approx. £250). Europe will have to wait until the Autumn 2000 and there is no word yet on a UK price.A new Dual Shock Controller 2 will be packaged with the console as will a new style 8 MB memory card. The good news is that the PS2 will be able to play audio CD's as well as DVD movies. It is backwards compatible and that includes hardware. It will also be Internet compatible, although the technology for this is still in development and will be released later as an add-on.

One good point for the console's future is that it has received wide support from 3rd party developers. Practically every development and publishing house has signed up, including our very own Eidos meaning that Lara might well make an appearance.

                                                                             Details

CPU                                                                        

128-bit Emotion engine

294.912 MhZ

32 MB RDRAM

Graphics Processor

147 Mhz

4 MB VRAM

Sound Processor

48 Channels

2 MB RAM

Disc Drive

24 x CD-Rom

4 x DVD