Sony to release PS2 hard drive in March for $99

Klostrophobic

Klostrophobic

12,993
United States
USA! USA!
Yeah.

The long-awaited $99 drive will come preloaded with the Square Enix Co. Ltd. online role-playing game "Final Fantasy XI," allowing users to play against both other PS2 owners and PC-based competitors.

Sony said it plans to load the 40-gigabyte hard drive with other games and game demos as well, although it did not announce those titles.

Rather than just use the hard drive for games, though, Sony said the drive would also include a media player that will let users play MP3s and view photos.
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Awesomely cool.
 
Hmm, MP3's eh?

I hope that means game companys will alow us to provide our own soundtrack, a-la X-Box.
 
I think you can find the harddrive online already with the linux package if you look on ebay. It has been out for a while, but it is kinda expensive if you get the linux package.
 
Whoa, that's freaking sweet...

Thanks for the info Jimmy, my brother in-law will love to hear this. :)
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
Yeah, considering it will come preloaded with FF11, demos, and possibly some other games.

Very good deal!
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FF11 is the suck though.

Although so is FF10, FF9, FF8........
 
You guys should have gotten the Linux Kit when it came out! (:

40GB HDD
Broadband Adaptor
USB Keyboard / Mouse
VGA/RCA video adaptor (video graphics adaptor video adaptor? ... (: )
Linux for PS2 DVDs

It's not really great for using as a Linux computer, but it was a good buy for the hardware.
 
I can play Divx and MP3's on my chipped PS2, with that reality mediaplayer software. I just forgot about it because I never use the damn thing.

Does the VGA adapter work with normal games?
 
Originally posted by Race Idiot
I can play Divx and MP3's on my chipped PS2, with that reality mediaplayer software. I just forgot about it because I never use the damn thing.

Does the VGA adapter work with normal games?
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Heh heh, unfortunately no. It's a completely different signal. But it's cool to have (:

My favorite part of the kit, odd as it is, is the USB keyboard and mouse. They have the PS2 branding on them. Probably the only in the world, I imagine. And they're nice quality. The mouse is even a two button with a wheel.
 
Earlier this year, at the industry's E3 trade show, Sony demonstrated a version of the AOL Internet service running on the PS2 and House said that, with the release of the hard drive, an AOL for PS2 would be out "definitely within the course of next year."
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Oh ****.

And it looks like that's the American release.

Also where the hell will the HDD be plugged in? USB socket? Firewire socket? The expansion bay? (Although wouldn't that stop the use of the network adapter).
 
I hope that when they release the HDD kit they will end-of-life the classic PS2. A new kit that includes the network adaptor and hard drive kit would be a great boost for PS2 games - the developers would be more inclined to write games which take advantage of both. And a 40GB hard drive is AMAZING.

PS2 - $150
HDD - $100
NIC - $50

That would take it back up to $300 ... but I bet they could sell it for $250 and make some mad cash. Especially if it had good media software to read files off of networked computers. Man, I'd buy two for my house! (:
 
Originally posted by Race Idiot
Oh ****.

And it looks like that's the American release.

Also where the hell will the HDD be plugged in? USB socket? Firewire socket? The expansion bay? (Although wouldn't that stop the use of the network adapter).
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the way it works in the Linux kit version is that the network adaptor actually sticks on the back of the PS2 using the expansion port's plug and has a plugin for a standard EIDE hard drive which slides into the PS2 expansion bay.
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
the way it works in the Linux kit version is that the network adaptor actually sticks on the back of the PS2 using the expansion port's plug and has a plugin for a standard EIDE hard drive which slides into the PS2 expansion bay.
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Ahh, that sounds allright.

As long as I don't have to have a huge box allongside the PS2 with yet another wire coming out of it.
 
The hard drive looks the same as a regualr computert harddrive. my question is does it need some type of OS on it and if you buy it from sony will it come with a cd you have to load. you can get a 40 gig hard drive for cheaper than 99.
 
It's obviously going to be designed for use specifically with the PS2.

You can't take the 50 GB hard drive out of you computer and tape it to the side of your PS2 and expect it to work.
 
Originally posted by J3CD3R
The hard drive looks the same as a regualr computert harddrive. my question is does it need some type of OS on it and if you buy it from sony will it come with a cd you have to load. you can get a 40 gig hard drive for cheaper than 99.
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That's the standard question. I believe games that use the harddrive will include software to configure it. That's how the network adaptor works anyway. I've got the Linux kit which comes with the network adaptor and when I put in Auto Modellista it had me configure my network settings.
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
It's obviously going to be designed for use specifically with the PS2.

You can't take the 50 GB hard drive out of you computer and tape it to the side of your PS2 and expect it to work.
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Actually, yes you can (: It's a standard IDE hard drive. I've thought about throwing in a 200GB and using it as a file server.
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
It's obviously going to be designed for use specifically with the PS2.

You can't take the 50 GB hard drive out of you computer and tape it to the side of your PS2 and expect it to work.
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Flerb put a standard 80gb eide HDD in his with the network adapter, seeing as it has a standard (to a point) EIDE interface. But he has no software to use it with, so it's useless.

My copy of winning 11 7 has a HDD option, that's greyed out at the moment. I'm not going to buy the network adapter and shove a spare unpartitioned HDD into it just to see what comes up. 👍
 
Originally posted by Race Idiot
Flerb put a standard 80gb eide HDD in his with the network adapter, seeing as it has a standard (to a point) EIDE interface. But he has no software to use it with, so it's useless.

My copy of winning 11 7 has a HDD option, that's greyed out at the moment. I'm not going to buy the network adapter and shove a spare unpartitioned HDD into it just to see what comes up. 👍
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... Is this on the US NTSC disk? I will buy it TODAY!
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
But there must be a special operating system on it, no?
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As I stated above, I do not believe the hard drive will come with anything that a game does not provide. Similar to the network adaptor situation.
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
... Is this on the US NTSC disk? I will buy it TODAY!
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Nada mate, I have the Japanese version. Well and the Hacked translated Japanese version, i'm pretty sure those options aren't on the PAL version so they probably wont be on the US version. I have no idea what the HDD option is for and i've been told that the online part is for stats and kit updates I think.

I'm assuming the specific games will deal with the HDD. Unless they get some major PS2 firmware updatage.
 
Well blast. Sony has severly let me down on the ongoing developement of the PS2. I mean, it's getting done, just at a snail's pace.
 

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