New Game

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But the biggest prize of all lies in turning gaming consoles into broad-ranging entertainment centers. Sony acknowledges this future by calling PS2 not a game console but a "computer entertainment system." And Sony, with its wealth of consumer-electronics devices and enormous movie and music businesses, may have the most to gain by branching out. Count on it to use PlayStation2 in the future as a platform for an array of synergistic nongaming applications, from editing digital movies made on Sony camcorders to downloading Sony-brand music and music videos.

In this launch, Sony has played down those nongaming capacities. That is in part because some of these applications--like Internet connectivity--are not yet ready. But Sony may also be aware that by multi-tasking too aggressively, it risks alienating the core gaming community it is counting on to buy the new units. "PlayStation2 seems to be no more than a DVD player that can play games," grumbles Mike Roberts, an 18-year-old gamer from Missouri who says he won't be buying a PS2. "It should be the other way around."

There will no doubt be more griping this week, as gamers weigh the glitz of the PlayStation2 rollout with the reality of the gaming experience. "The PlayStation2 doesn't live up to Sony's hype," says Carmack. "It's just a next-generation machine, and they were acting like they'd invented the steam engine."

But most gamers remain bullish on PlayStation2 and Sony. "In the fullness of time, PlayStation2 will still be the primary console out there," says Jeremy Schwartz, a games analyst at Forrester Research. Which may not be terrible news for Microsoft, Sega and Nintendo. The way it's growing, this may be one category that's rich enough for many players to win big.