The Playstation 2 is the second video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment, following the original Playstation. Its development was announced to the public in 1999 and the system was released in Japan on March 4, 2000, and in North America on October 24, 2000. The PS2 was pretty much an instant classic right from the get-go, selling over 900 000 units in the first week alone. At the time of this writing, there has been over 120 million units sold in the 7 production years (and still selling strong). Many analytics predicted a three way struggle between the PS2, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's Gamecube but with so many good titles coming out during the holiday season, Sony dominated them both in sales.

Unlike Sega with their Dreamcast, Sony did not emphasize too much on online gaming. It wasn't' until the Xbox was released that Sony realized that online was the future of gaming and then started to release the network adaptor and many first party titles that could be played online. SOCOM: Navy Seals was among the list of new games that could be played online.

In Sept. 2004, just in time for the launch of GTA: San Andreas, Sony revealed a new, smaller PS2. In preparation for the launch of a new, smaller PS2 model (SCPH-70000; also known as the "PS2"), Sony stopped making the older PS2 model (SCPH-5000x) during the summer of 2004 to let the distribution channel empty its stock of the units. After an apparent manufacturing issue caused some initial slowdown in producing the new unit, Sony underestimated demand, caused in part by shortages between the time the old units were cleared out and the new units were ready. The issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK. During one week in November, British sales totalled 6,000 units — compared to 70,000 units a few weeks prior. There were shortages in more than 1700 stores in North America on the day before Christmas.

There are tons of games that were classics on the PS2, some of which include Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Turismo, SOCOM, God of War, Jak and Dextor, and the list goes on. Infact, there are over 1300 titles available in North America and over 4700 titles available in Asia, that is a lot of games!

The PS2 can read both compact discs and DVD's. It is backwards compatible with PlayStation games and allows for DVD video playback. The ability to play DVD movies was an added incentive for people to be able to justify purchasing the PS2 (costing US$300 in October 2000). The PS2 also supports the original PlayStation memory cards and controllers as well. There is also support for an internal hard drive which is placed in the expansion bay at the rear (model SCPH-5000x only). When it was released, the PS2 had many advanced features that were not present in other game consoles, including DVD playback , USB support, and IEEE 1394 expansion ports. It was not until late 2001 that the Microsoft Xbox became the second console to include USB support (USB1.1 with a proprietary Microsoft Xbox-shaped socket) and DVD playback capabilities (sold separately).

Support for PlayStation games was also an important selling point for the PS2, letting original Playstation owners upgrade to the PS2 and keep their old games, and giving new users access to older games until a larger library of games was developed for the new system. As an added bonus, the PS2 had the ability to enhance PlayStation games by speeding up disc read time, adding texture smoothing to improve graphics, or both. While the texture smoothing was universally effective, faster disk reading could cause some games to fail to load or play incorrectly. A handful of PlayStation titles fail to run on the PS2 at all ( Special Missions fails to recognize Metal Gear Solid at the disc swap screen, for example). This problem appears to have been fixed in the slimline versions of the PS2, where most of the previously unplayable PlayStation games can now be played. It is a common misconception that disc swapping in a game (for example, for multi-disc games or expansion packs) is not possible on the PS2 without modifying the console.

Available in November 2004, it is smaller, thinner and quieter PS2 was released and includes a built-in Ethernet port. Due to its thinner profile, it does not contain the 3.5" expansion hdd bay and therefore does not support an internal hard drive. It also lacks an internal power supply, and has a modified MultiTap expansion. The removal of the expansion bay has been criticized as a limitation due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy 6, which requires the use of the HDD. Currently only the modified MultiTap is sold in stores, meaning that owners of older PS2s must find a used or non-Sony MultiTap in order to have 4 or 8 players during a single game. Third-party connectors can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support, however IDE connections were completely removed in the V14 revision, thereby eliminating this option.

There has been criticism about the early ps2's having faulty disc drives, owners of early PS2 models purchased from launch until spring 2003 often reported that their DVDs and game quit working. The earliest drives suffered from a constantly misaligning laser disc lens, but later defects were the result of a shift in voltage to the laser. The first problem was easily remedied by opening the console's casing and tweaking a cog that controlled the lens' distance from the disc. However, this action voided the console's warranty. After many consoles had broken down, a class action lawsuit was filed against Sony. Sony agreed to provide free repair or replacement for the faulty consoles and continued to do so until February 2005.