PS2 online survivors guide

I originally posted this on my Gamepro.com blog


Note: I was originally going to use this in the new issue of 2.5D, but then I realized that it was just too damn big to use for the issue, So I decided to use it in a regular blog post instead.

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PS2 online Survivors Guide

A recent article on the Gamepro.com website about how "PlayStation 2 still thriving online" has finally made me decide to make a guide such as this. I put it off for a long time, because I figured that it was a lost cause with the GP community, but since there were a good amount of posts on there, and since the vids I post on youtube all the time are flooded with people wanting to know not only what games are good online for the PS2, but also how to get their PS2's online. The GP articles wasn't joking when it said "Interestingly, a majority of PS2 owners aren't even aware their console can be played online." I've even got many comments on my vids of people who were ignorant to that fact. They seemed surprised that Sony's little black box allowed for online play. So to answer any questions that you or my adoring youtube watchers may have, I decided to make this guide to all things PS2 online. I'm going to give you to the best of my knowledge instructions on how to get online, what games from my collection (sorry, I don't have an entire archive of games like Gp does to go back and check every PS2 online game) are still online, and even my opinion of how each game plays, and roughly how many people play it on a regular basis.

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Everything you'll need to play your PS2 online.

What you'll need depends on what model of PS2 you have. If you have the slim model, then you don't need to buy the Network adapter, because it's already built-in. However, if you have the old "Fat" model PS2 then you'll need to buy a network adapter. I'm not sure what stores if any still sell them, so you're probably going to have to go the Amazon or Ebay route to acquire one.

You'll also need a broadband connection. The PS2 does support Dialup connections for some games, but not enough games to bother with. You'll need your cable modem, and though it's not required, having a router is also a good idea though routers can cause some problems.

The most important thing you're going to need is the PS2 Online Startup Disk. The Startup Disk is required in order to get your PS2 online, but thankfully, many PS2 online games have the disk built into them. This is good, because many people can't get their PS2's online because their lack of said disk. I made a list of games that I've found from my collection that have the disk on them that I'll post further down.


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Broadband Connection with a cable modem, and an Ethernet cable.

This one goes without saying. The only thing I need to mention are that the PS2 doesn't support wireless internet out of the box. There are some ways to do it. Also some routers have an internal firewall that can block your PS2 from gaining access to the internet. In doing research for this article I found a really informative FAQ on various questions you may have about internet issues with your PS2.

The Ethernet cable is another obvious thing you'll need. It's pretty self explanatory what you need to do with it.

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The Network Adapter

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Here's a pic of what the Network adapter looks like when it's plugged int the fat model PS2

As you can see in this pic here the NA plugs into the back of the fat model system, and is anchored there by screws. The manual for the NA shows how easy it is to screw it on with a coin, so it's easy to install with minimal tools. Like I said earlier, the NA is built into the slim PS2, so if you have that model of PS2, you're already ahead of the game.

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Here's a comparison pic of the slim and fat model PS2s

Once you hook up your network adapter to your PS2, and your cable modem/router to it via the Ethernet cable, you should then put in your startup disk or the game with the startup disk built into it, and setup your connection, and then save it to a memory card. My advice is to let the disk automatically set up as much of it as possible. One potential hangup is is your ISP requires a login, and password in order to connect, but all you have to do it put it into the disk. It's actually a fairly easy process unless you have to manually put in your IP address and DNAS info. There may be other problems that block you from connecting. Some routers have internal firewalls that can block a connection. If this is happening, you may need to forward different ports in it. It's pretty complicated to get into. Once again, This FAQ that I found should help you a lot more in that department than this article will.

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What to expect out of the PS2 online.

Well, first and foremost, it's completely free to play your PS2 online unless otherwise stated in games like Everquest, and FFXI, and because of Sony's open approach to the PS2's online service, there is no centralized service meaning that most games' friend's lists don't carry over into other games. This makes it harder to link up with your online friends or send them invites. This will feel like a step back to anyone accustomed to Xbox Live, but it all depends on the games, and you can always link up the old fashioned way via cell phones, IM, and even forums. It'll take a little extra work to do though.

Some Gamespy and Ubisoft games do allow you to carry over your friends lists to other games via their online services. There's only a few, but the ones that force you to use a valid email address can be carried over as long as you remember all your login info (your username, email, and password). In fact I can even login to my ubi.com and gamespy arcade accounts (that use the same info as my PS2 accounts) on my computer and see my PS2 friend's lists, and who's playing what game. I can even send them messages as well. It's not replacement for Live, but it's a cool little feature that very few people know about.

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The good

-The online play is free
-Many games have small but dedicated communities that still play all the time, so you'll have people to play.
-Smaller online communities means that everyone knows everyone. Think of it as the old Gamepro community.
-You're not stuck to one username meaning that if you don't like your name, you can change it at will. You can also have multiple people play one system online with various usernames.
-Centralized servers mean that more people can join the game. I'd say the average it 8 on 8 for most shooters on the system. There are even a few that support 16 on 16, and Battlefield 2 supports 12 on 12.
-Less annoying kids playing. I've noticed that there are less kids on the PS2 online which makes for more peaceful games. There are a few here and there, but overall I'd say there are more mature people playing the PS2's online service. There's less people screaming into the mics. Not to mention that most games only allow one person to talk at a time, so it's easier to have clear conversations.
-A more laid back feel. This one may be more my opinion than anything, but I find that I'm a lot more laid back when playing my PS2 online. I guess because some of the games are so old that it doesn't really matter. Plus if you mess up, you can always change your name. You don't have to worry about rep, or sometimes you just wanna get away from the current online games, so you go to a smaller game that has a no pressure feel to you.

The Bad

-Cheaters. Because of no centralized service, that means that many PS2 games are completely open to game ruining cheating ***holes. Cheaters ruined the original Socom, and now they've finally taken over Socom II (they weren't there while the servers were being maintained on a regular basis). There's always lag switching which is even a problem on Live, but on the PS2 there's also codebreakers, and people have found ways to change the code in the game, and burn a bootleg copy of the game and play it online. Also, now that there are PS2 emulators out there for the PC, expect more people to hack the games online.
-No centralized service means it's hard in some games to not only link up with your friend's but often times it's hard to even ad friends in the first place.
-Unmaintained servers. Unfortunately, now that developers have shifted focus to the current gen, they let many of their online games rot. This means that some are extremely laggy now.
-EA killing servers. The bad thing about EA is that they pretty much drop their games online after two years or so. They killed Medal of Honor: Rising Sun online, and worse yet, they killed Timesplitters: Future Perfect online, and are constantly killing their sports games as well. Battlefield 2 is still going pretty good for the time being.
-Ubisoft ports. I know that the PS2 wasn't as capable of playing games as well as the Xbox, or the PC, but most Ubi ports to the PS2 were half-assed and quite frankly pathetic cash-ins. Even for PS2 games they were sad ports. Just looking at the awesome 3 on 3 (that's not a typo) online play of Rainbow Six 3, the fact that for Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, you not only had to put in a cheat code to enable online voice chat, but you also had to put one in to allow 6 on 6 play (it's otherwise 4 on 4), and the fact that even when they finally did reach the 8 on 8 mark with voice chat in GR2, and Rainbow Six Lockdown, they reverted back to 4 on 4 for GRAW it's suffice to say that Ubi's PS2 efforts were a travesty. Aside from Lockdown, they're all crap.
-Some games force you to download patches which take up to 3MB of memory The PS2's 8 MB memory card space.
-Less people playing means that in some games it's very hard to pick up a game.


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Two must have accessories for online play

Two items that aren't required, but really help you our are a USB headset (the Gamepro article says that any will do), and a USB keyboard. The keyboard is not only good for communicating during the games that support it, but also make putting in login info a lot faster as well. Some games don't support it, but a lot of them do. Plus the USB Keyboard is usable on the 360, and PS3 as well, and makes typing messages a whole lot easier overall.

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The Games

Once you finally get it all setup, it's time to pick a game to play. I'm going to go through the ones in my collection, and give you a quick description of them, and their good and bad points.

Area 51- This game takes a pure mayhem approach to it's online mode, and is actually very fun. It's got a variety of modes to play. CTF, DM, team DM, and etc as well. It also has a very dedicated following. Though it rarely reaches above 30 people online anymore, those playing play it all the time. You won't have a hard time finding a match, but there also won't be many matches going either. (1-16 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Battlefield 2- This game has the biggest maps of any of the PS2 online games. Throughout the game you get the ability to jump in and out of a variety of vehicles from tanks to jeeps, to even helicopters, and the whole point is to capture spawn points. There's also various classes of soldiers you can play as like in Team Fortress. You got your engineers, your snipers, your soldiers, your support (heavy machine gunners) and your special ops. The game is very fun, but there are some annoyances. It's setup allows for easy spawn camping, and some people are huge vehicle whores who just stay in their tank or, especially, their helicopters all game. Furthermore, your own teammates will kill you fin order to be able to operate a vehicle (once again, especially the helicopters), and since most of the servers up (this is another one where you can't create your own game) allow the players to vote on the next map, you'll only play two or three maps. The community has no wish to play anything else but Bridge to Far or Backstab, with occasionally another map or two thrown in there. It makes the game get old pretty fast. (1-24 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

NOTE: EA has since killed the linking server that allows new players to sign up for Battlefield 2. THis means only those who had a previous account can play the game online anymore. This means that if there is no reason to buy this game if you didn't already have an account, because it's only useful as a coaster seeing as it's single player mode is pointless.


Call Of Duty: Finest Hour- There's never a whole lot of people on, but you'll have no problem getting people to join your game because it has a hardcore following. At peak hours I'd say more than 30 people will be on it, but like I said, it's a dedicated group. (1-16 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One- This one is pretty good. There is some lag on occasion making it hard to kill your opponents, but it doesn't get bad enough to ruin the experience. Many of it's levels are also fairly large. In fact, not only does The PS2 version of Big Red one allow for twice the number of players as Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360, but it's levels are also quite a big bigger. They're Not Battlefield 2 big, but they're still pretty impressive in scope. This is another one that has a small, but dedicated group playing. There are more people on this game than Finest hour though. I don't own Call of Duty 3, so I can't compare it's numbers, but there are probably more on CoD3 (1-16 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Cold Winter- There's only ever five people tops on this game, and they all play like *****es. They just camp by the grenades and toss them like crazy. It can be a blast at times, but like many others, the community ruins it. It's got a great singleplayer mode though, and you should give it a try for it's single player mode alone. (1-8 Players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Note: Though Cold Winter doesn't require you to download a patch to play online, it's game save alone takes up 2,604 KB on your memory card.


Conflict: Global Terror-
The strangest thing about this online coop game is that it has a dedicated community. There's are always people playing it, and that's impressive for a mere Coop game. The only other ones I can think of are Rogue Trooper, and both Full Spectrum Warrior games, and no one is ever on those ones.(1-4 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down- This is the game I've given most of my time up to on the PS2's online. It had everything I wanted 32 player servers, great arcadey/tactical shooting hybrid gameplay, and was just overall a blast to play. However, time has not been kind to this game. You see, the servers started to get laggy a few years back. At one time this game was a relatively lag free experience, but now it lags to a nearly unplayable level because of the lack of maintenance done on the servers. Not to mention that the official 32 man servers have officially been taken down, so all that's left is 8-man user hosted games, and some players have been renting servers from a special service for the game. There are a few 20-man or 16-man servers up at different times. (the 32-man servers are no more, but there are rented servers up for the time being.Otherwise it's 1-8 if you host your own game) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Team Sabre- This game started out laggy as hell. The developers killed any chance it ever had of being played by starting the game out on piss poor servers. Talk about a half-asses cash-in. They didn't even attempt fix anything, and in fact, I do believe the just pulled a few of the servers from the original Delta Force (which were already plenty laggy at the time) and added them to this game. Suffice to say this game died very fast. The original still has a decent following, but there's next to no one ever playing this version. The 32 man servers died in this game long before they did in the original. It's pretty much down to 1-8 people rooms now, because I don't even think anyone's even still renting servers on this one either. (1-32 players on the box, but in reality it's 1-8 players in user hosted games) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Ghost Recon 2- Ubi Strikes again. The single player campaign in this game is absolutely horrid. The only saving grace is it's online play which does an ok job of capturing the feel of the original PC version, but even then it's online play is only passable. The online interface really sucks though. You can't create your own room. You can only choose a room from a list of servers. This means that you'll often go into a server and instantly be voted out due to clans having matches in that room, because they can't setup their own private room to do so in. They can only select a server from a list. Also the game allows for rocket whoring. I've played a few rounds where people were just blowing others up. (1-16 players)

Killzone- Killzone's online play is a mixed bag. While, I've played many fun rounds, I've played a lot more where my fellow players ruin the experience for me. You see, the game offers no customization when it comes to what guns are and aren't allowed, so that means that the matches usually end up being nothing more than explosive whore-fests. All they end up doing is camp the explosive weapons, and then use to blow people up for the cheap, no-skill, kill. The game can be fun, but, most of the time, the cheap players prevent that from happening. Plus it kicks you back out to the server list after each round is over, so you have to either create, or enter a new game after every round. Those looking to practice up for Killzone 2 needn't bother with this game either, because the sequel is going to be completely different. (1-16 players)

Note: Killzone requires you to download a 3MB patch to your PS2 memroy card before you can play it online.

Rainbow Six: Lockdown- This is Ubi's only saving grace for the PS2 online with 8 on 8 gameplay, and even up to four people playing coop, this game actually made it seem like Ubi was willing to try and give the PS2 a good port. The only problem is that it's really hard to find games on this one. Often times I'll logon to find no one else online, but occasionally you'll find a coop game, or even a deathmatch running with 10+ players in it. (1-16 players death match, 1-4 in coop)

Serious Sam: The Next Encounter- It plays like the old school shooters like Quake. There's plenty of fast and furious mayhem to be had, but once again there's never anyone on. I've only ever run into one other person online. I'd love to be able to play it more online, because I dig Quake games, but no one seems to even know about this game. I guess the big nail in it's coffin was the fact that it doesn't support the headset, but it does support the use of a USB keyboard. (1-8 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefront II- These play similar to Battlefield. The whole game revolves around taking spawn points riddled throughout the map. They're open mic and you can download software that turns your PC into a dedicated server for the PS2 games (1-16 players on Battlefront and 1-24 battlefront 2 with dedicated server software. The most you can host on your PS2 is 1-4.) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second for Battlefront and Battlefront II.

Note: The original Star Wars Battlefront requires you to download a 1,860 KB patch. The sequel, however, don't require any patches.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs , SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, and SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs- The Socom series is the shining star of the PS2's online service. It still has thousands of people playing in online even as we speak. Taking the concept from Counterstrike, and putting a more strategic twist on it, Socom perfectly blended the feel of Rainbow Six, and CS. The first two games stick pretty much to the same formula, but Socom 3 took the series in another direction by adding 16 on 16 (instead of 8 on 8 like the first two), vehicles, and huge maps. I was not to fond of the changes made in Socom 3, and I've yet to get Combined Assault which ads online coop to the fray. Socom 1 and 2 especially are more to my preferences, because I hate vehicle whores. In fact, Battlefield was better with the vehicles, because it actually gave people the ability to combat such vehicles. Socom 3's vehicles are almost indestructible. Luckily, there is an option to play smaller versions of the maps to stay away from the vehicle whoring that takes place.

The worst part of the Socom games though is that cheaters have run rampant throughout the series' history. Starting in the first Scocom with codebreakers on to even Socom 3. Cheaters can really ruin your game. My best advice it to just play around them. I've noticed that the cheaters, while still present, are less of a problem on the original Socom, because most of them have moved on to Socom 2, 3, or CA. You'll still get a game where some little troll comes in a ruins it, but I've played more peaceful games on the original lately. Socom II also has less cheaters as well, butthey definitaly let their presence be known. (1-16 players socom 1&2, 1-32 players Socom 3)

Note: Both Socom 2 and Socom 3 require you to download a 3MB patch to your memory card.

Urban Chaos: Riot Response- This game is completely customizable if you're the host. That's good and bad, because if you get a dishonest host he can stack the deck really high against you. Plus it laggs and people cheat. It can be fun, but others kinda ruin it. (1-8 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior- I've only played this game once online, and I was alone. No one plays this game, but it seems like it'd be another arcadey fun Quake game as well. I don't believe that it supports a keyboard or a mouse either, so like XIII, you're a deaf mute playing random people. (1-8 players) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

XIII- This game's pretty fun online. It's got kinda an arcadey feel to it. The downside is that there's no mic or keyboard support and it's only 1-6 players. There are occasionally people on it playing, but never enough to even fill a room. Three or four tops. It's a fun game online, for those willing to look into it, and it's got a strong single player mode too.(1-6 players)

X-Men Legends II- It's an online coop RPG, but I've only seen one other person online, and that was only once. (2-4 players coop) Check the Gamespy Stats to see how many are playing right this second

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Online Games I have that are no longer online:

Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Amplitude
S.L.A.I. (Steel Lancer Arena International)
Twisted Metal Black: online
Timesplitters: Future Perfect
(snabo can go to hell)
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
Project Snowblind

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Online PS2 games that have the startup disk built into them:

I actually made a youtube vid listing the ones from my own personal collection that contain the startup disk.

Some other people on the vid have also listed Ratchet Deadlocked which I played at my friend's house that other day, and I can confirm that it does indeed have the startup disk as well.

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Well that's it for my PS2 online report. I hope that this has at least interested some of you into trying out the PS2 online. The service may be nonexistent, but the it's the games that matter, and in that regard, the PS2 has quite a few fun online games to play. If you're looking for some alternative online games to play then try looking into the PS2's library of online games. You may just find one that you like.

I know that I mainly have shooters online, but the PS2 has a good number of other types like sports games, racing games, and etc.

Here's the north American list of online PS2 games, and my source for the gamespy links.





Also note:

PS3 systems that are backwards compatible with PS2 games can play PS2 games online.

Comments

Unknown said…
Great guide!
Im trying to make a complete list of PAL Online Game activities at the moment.
You can view it here:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64164
lazyhoboguy said…
Nice Guide.

We have an in progress list of games with a network setup utility here:

http://www.ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=180