PS2 celebrates seventh anniversary

Sony Computer Entertainment America is celebrating the seven-year anniversary of the launch of the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system.

Since its release in North America on October 26, 2000, more than 120 million hardware units and more than a billion units of software for PlayStation 2 have been shipped worldwide, making it the best-selling gaming platform ever released.

The PS2 broke the record for the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch. This was faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation, which took 9 years and 6 months to reach the same milestone.

In this current fiscal year, 30 million software titles for the PS2 have already been sold, and 10 million additional PS2 consoles are expected to be sold worldwide by the end of March 2008.

"Never before has an in-home game system experienced this type of worldwide success on such a long-lasting scale," said Peter Dille, SCEA's senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation network.

"PlayStation 2 is a perfect example of our ten year product lifecycle promise and is a testament to the design and technology that continues to be at the core of the product. While today's anniversary celebrates PlayStation 2' past, weâre very excited for its future."

SCEA is still committed to a 10-year product lifecycle for the console, with 160 new titles expected in North America throughout the holidays and by the end of March 2008. Currently, there are more than 1,400 titles in the PS2's software library.

The company plans to release a limited edition ceramic white PlayStation 2 bundled with SingStar Pop and two USB microphones in November for a suggested retail price of US 149.99.

The top-selling PS2 titles worldwide are:

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (13 million)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million)
Grand Theft Auto III (11 million)
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (11 million)
Gran Turismo 4 (8.79 million)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million)
Kingdom Hearts (5.6 million)
Final Fantasy X (5 million)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (3.7 million)
Final Fantasy XII (3.68 million)