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Sony won't explain what went wrong. Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai will say only that PlayStation2 is a "very complex machine that requires a lot of components." But the guessing in Japan is that the company botched the production of graphics chips. Skeptics in the gaming community are flooding the Internet with charges that Sony has created an artificial shortage in a calculated attempt to make PS2 this year's Furby, the gotta-have-it toy of the holiday season. But Sony says it isn't so. "It's absolutely ridiculous to suggest that by limiting our audience we would successfully be pursuing our business goals," insists Andrew House, a Sony vice president.
The gawky black PlayStation2 has all the visual charm of a low-end VCR. But it is packed with processing power. PS2's 128-bit processor (Sony calls it an Emotion Engine) is a big step up from the original PlayStation's 32 bits. That means the new units can play CDs and DVDs, and can accommodate add-ons for broadband Internet, digital cameras and digital music players. No modem is included with PS2, which puts it behind Sega's Internet-ready Dreamcast. But PS2 does have one feature parents will appreciate: it is backward compatible, meaning it can play the original PlayStation's 800 existing games.
The proof of a game platform is in the playing, and by that measure PS2 is getting mixed reviews. The gaming community has been grousing about the lack of top-grade games available at launch. There are only 26 PS2 software titles, and Sony is promising about 50 by the end of the year. The list contains some reputed standouts, including Madden NFL 2001 (which some are calling PlayStation2's killer app) and the snowboarding game SSX. But many of the most eagerly anticipated titles, like Metal Gear Solid 2 and the Bouncer, won't be available until spring at the earliest.
The early word on the playing experience--outside of Sony's launch party--is not particularly enthusiastic. "There is nothing on the PS2 that I've seen that gave me that jaw-dropping feeling I got with the Sega Dreamcast last year," says Dan Clark, 29, CEO of a New Hampshire credit union and an active gamer. Madden NFL 2001 is good, he says, but no better than games currently available on Dreamcast.
Part of the reason for the underwhelming array of games, gamemakers say, is that PS2 is hard to program for. "The PS2 is definitely more powerful than Dreamcast," says John Carmack, the multimillionaire, ponytailed master gamer behind legendary shooters like Doom and Quake. "But it's less convenient to extract performance from it." This is, however, a predictable stage in the gaming cycle: it's hard for gamemakers to do their best work on a platform that isn't available yet. The best PlayStation2 games are yet to come.
Who benefits if PS2 lags? Clearly Sega, the only other gamemaker with a next-generation platform on the market. Sega has been on a roll lately, racking up an installed base of 5 million units. That's way below the original PlayStation but far more than anyone would have guessed when the system was launched 15 months ago. And Sega's Dreamcast is outselling Nintendo 64. Sega also has a key advantage over the competition: its Sega Net makes it the only console that currently allows for online gaming.