PlayStation 2 still thriving online

22.10.2008
Chris Bennett uses his PS2 religiously to play sports games. I know because he told me when I asked about his playing habits. And while surprised to discover that I write about games for a living, he seemed almost uninterested in newer, shiny consoles. For him, the PlayStation 2 does everything he needs and then some, including live competition.

"Currently more than 450 PS2 titles are operating online," says John Koller, director of hardware marketing at Sony of America. "Out of this number, more than 60 titles had at least 100 accesses last week -- a very high number for a platform entering its ninth year of life."

What's more, online PS2 games see little (if any) publicity when compared to Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 communities. But with more than 140 million PS2 owners worldwide, there's bound to be someone online at any given moment, especially with high-profile games like Madden.

Surprised by the ongoing support (I was one of many that never played PS2 online), I took to the GamePro library to sample some games.

A well-established community

At 10 AM on a Friday morning, I found more than 900 online gamers playing , 20 of which were using USB headsets (any type will do). While getting lag-free schooled by a gamer from Atlanta, I was informed that he still plays Madden, , , and a handful of other games using his PS2 network adapter.