Playstation 2 for Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

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Product Description

With its Internet port, DVD player, and computing muscle -- not to mention its next-generation graphics -- Sony Playstation 2 is today's hottest entertainment platform. Written by the experts at GamePro magazine, this friendly guide shows you how to have more fun with Playstation 2, from the inside scoop on gaming techniques and video applications to a game directory complete with tips, tricks, and cheats.

Amazon.com Review

Don't worry. Playstation 2 for Dummies is not a how-to book about a computer that's sold exclusively for entertainment purposes. Unlike most books in the Dummies series, this one is more of a catalog than a user's guide. Dan Amrich--an editor of GamePro magazine--explains how to assemble and configure a Sony PlayStation 2 system and reveals quite a few cheat codes, but stops short of describing really interesting tweaks (like "chipping" your U.S. PS2 to run Japanese games) in detail. This is mostly an annotated list of PS2 games, weakened a bit by the fact that Amrich almost never writes anything negative about a game.

The burning question is, why? Even though Amrich is clearly a PS2 aficionado, and he's aptly documented the state-of-the-art in PS2 hardware and software, it's unclear what unique value this book provides. The universe of gamers has access to several print magazines and hundreds of Web sites dedicated to the same subjects Amrich covers. Most of them will be more up-to-date than this book, in terms of PlayStation news and game releases, within two months. Browsing this book will mostly entertain those unfamiliar with the PS2 scene ("Hm, a game entitled Bloody Roar, and another called Theme Hospital..."). --David Wall

Topics covered: The Sony PlayStation 2 game unit and DVD player--how to set it up, use it, and win at the games. A long, annotated list of PS2 games fills most of the book. Each write-up includes information about the game's theme, objective, notable features, and sometimes cheat codes, as well as details about publisher, price, and Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) age-level rating.