PS2 Won't Play PS2 Games

January 29, 2009 5:07 PM

Do you have a "slim" PlayStation 2 gaming system? Do all your PS2 games work with the system? What PS2 games are known to be incompatible with the slim PS2 system?

I have confirmed with Activision Value that the PlayStation 2 game Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan is not compatible with the slim PS2 system. I have contacted Sony and they blame the software, and the software publisher blames the hardware. I find it unacceptable that I have purchased a PS2 game system that doesn't play PS2 games. My questions are:

1) Are there other PS2 games that are incompatible with the PS2?

2) Shouldn't the game buying public be informed about this so they don't spend money on games they can't play?

3) Do consumers have any recourse against Sony for selling a PS2 game system that is incompatible with the games designed for the system?

posted by Otis to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

Here's a list, found here through a quick googling.

PlayStation 2 format software
Title Name - Publisher
ATV Offroad Fury™ 3 -SCEA
Big Mutha Truckers™ -THQ
Big Mutha Truckers™ 2 -THQ
ESPN NBA 2K5 -Sega
Everquest® Online Adventures: Frontiers™ -Sony Online Entertainment
F1 2001 Electronic -Arts
F1 2002 Electronic -Arts
Fight Night Round 2 -Electronic Arts
Ghost Recon™: Jungle Storm™ (Tom Clancy's) -Ubi Soft
Jak X: Combat Racing™ -SCEA
Major League Baseball 2K5 (ESPN) -Take Two
SRS: Street Racing Syndicate™ - Namco
Tiger Woods PGA Tour® 2005 -Electronic Arts
Tomorrow Never Dies (007) -Electronic Arts
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan -Activision
Beyond Good and Evil: Ubisoft

Beyond Good and Evil? Damn that hurts. Can't remember if I played it on my slim or not, I should give it a shot. I'd be pissed.
posted by yellowbinder at 5:45 PM on January 29

An article on it, although it mentions there's a list of games (more than yellowbinder listed) but doesn't link to the official list.
posted by sharkfu at 5:48 PM on January 29

It doesn't seem unusual, or something to get upset over. Systems often have revisions where hardware is changed for the purposes of cost/size reduction. This sometimes obsoletes some software due to the fact that they were using tricks that relied on some goofy part of that hardware. Sony publishes that list of obsoleted software publicly. When the smaller ps2 was released the various gaming sites talked about this. it isn't news now, and it wasn't that big of a deal then.

The option is always there for consumers to educate themselves on the compatibility of various kinds of hardware and software combinations, their knowledge or lack thereof isn't the fault of the seller. I could see you having a complaint if, say, 50% of the PS2's software catalog couldn't play, but this number is minuscule even if I enjoy some of those games (I own beyond good and evil).
posted by TimeDoctor at 5:56 PM on January 29

I could swear I played BG&E on my slim system. Hang on...

Yup, boots up and starts fine. I'm not going to play through it again, though.
posted by Aquaman at 6:06 PM on January 29

I can confirm that BG+E is entirely playable, all the way through, on a slim PS2. I've never had trouble with any games I own.
posted by LSK at 6:17 PM on January 29

Tiger Woods PGA Tour® 2005 -Electronic Arts works fine on mine.
posted by hmca at 1:18 AM on January 30

Sony publishes that list of obsoleted software publicly.

Really? Could you point me to where I could find it?

(I ask because the people I talked to at Sony completely deny that the revised hardware made any game obsolete.)
posted by Otis at 3:00 AM on January 30

It doesn't seem unusual, or something to get upset over. Systems often have revisions where hardware is changed for the purposes of cost/size reduction. This sometimes obsoletes some software due to the fact that they were using tricks that relied on some goofy part of that hardware.

I'd be pissed, too, because that's really lame. Incompatibility among console models ruins the single greatest advantage consoles have over PC gaming.
posted by 6550 at 10:44 AM on January 30

Jak X definitely worked fine on my slim PS2, though it randomly corrupted virtual memory cards on the PS3.

As another data point, God of War II never worked on my fat PS2. I suspect this is because it was a dual-layer DVD, and dual layer DVD movies never worked properly on that machine either, despite Sony's insistence that they did.

I don't think you can hold Sony responsible for this kind of incompatibility in the general case. I'd be shocked if you couldn't talk Activision or the store you bought it from into taking the game back and refunding your money.

However, given the number of people who disagree on which games work, the problem may be a specific hardware/firmware revision instead of the model, or there may just be something wonky with your machine.
posted by Caviar at 11:37 AM on January 30

Sony publishes that list of obsoleted software publicly.

Sony does publish a compatibility list for PS/PS2 games on the PS3. That may be what that comment refers to.
posted by Caviar at 11:41 AM on January 30

OK, tried Sony again with different results this time. Here's the scoop. The list of incompatible games has not been published by Sony. They would not e-mail me the list of games, however the customer service rep was kind enough to read to me over the phone the list of games he had showing on his CRM system as incompatible with the slim PS2. These games are:

ATV Offroad Fury 3
Big Mutha Truckers
Big Mutha Truckers 2
ESPN NBA 2K5
EverQuest Online Adventures
F1 2001
F1 2002
Fight Night Round 2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm
Jak X: Combat Racing
Major League Baseball 2K5
SRS: Street Racing Syndicate
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan

So if you own a slim PS2, stay away from the above titles.

From my experience the "Greatest Hits" version of Jak X works, but the original version of the game freezes when saving.

I don't think you can hold Sony responsible for this kind of incompatibility in the general case.

Well, whether I can hold them responsible is quite irrelevant as they will not take responsibility. Neither will Activision, as they blame Sony, who suggest I take the system back to where I bought it.

I guess I'll just lie back and think of England.
posted by Otis at 12:01 PM on January 30