SNES perfected 2D technology. PS1 was the awkward acne-riddled brace-wearing first steps 3D games needed to go through so that the PS2 could soar. It's the first gen that effortlessly did 3D, but also the last console gen where developing games was still really cheap.
Jeff didn’t even need to say anything. Just nodding up and down. That’s my 2nd-favorite look for Brad, right behind the tux he wore to get all Jup in the “Wheel/Jeopardy” Quick Look.
I’ve noticed the 6th gen era was also the peak of “developers throwing fun stuff/extras on the disc just because they can”. Whether it’s behind the scenes videos, outtakes or the devs goofing off (like the Tony Hawk games), even special editions like Halo 2 having an entire second disc of bonus stuff about the game. Super neat. :) I miss it.
Having huge amounts of empty space on the disk was still a relatively new idea. And you couldn't save money by getting a smaller DVD like with cartridges.
I always run into weird issues with emulation so I just bought a japanese ps2 for cheap as hell and use FMCB to launch games without needing the disc tray.
To me, Alter Echo is THE gamestop shelf browsing game. You pick it up, think "huh this looks kinda cool" and then put it back and buy a pre-owned copy of Oddworld Stranger's Wrath instead
Alter Echo on the original Xbox at 60 frames per second is one of those random enduring memories I have of that generation that I can't ever explain to anyone and have them understand. Hell, even I forget the game's name half the time. But I always remember all the orange and purple. So glad to see it get a bit of appreciation here - it was such a cool, weird game!
The PS2 era was awesome and following your work at gamespot back durning the era was just as fun. I bet you have tons of stories from when these games came out so I'll keep tuning it. Thanks for the decades of good times.
The PS2 was my personal favourite era of gaming. I was just the right age for it. I'm so glad that emulation is a thing. So many all timer classics to revisit.
JEFF, i must tell you, i miss the 00´s so much, the 00´s were like party decade part 2, like the 80s part 2, and were great, kids today will never understand what was like when the ps2 launch or when for a brief period the dreamcast, ps2, xbox and gamecube were all in the market at the same time, will never understand magazines, secrets, previews, E3, watching the old Gamespot TV reviews i get very nostalgic when videogames were really at it´s peak, now might be making more money but the fun factor is gone
Alter Echo might be the most groundbreaking, revolutionary, innovative game ever made, but does it have double hand saluting pioneered by Iron Brigade? I don't think so.
56:03 i feel exactly the same. Even though I started to play games way earlier, this era has me nostalgic in a general sense. These 10 - 15 hour, $40 games that was pretty good and you finished in a couple of days and went on to the next thing. And there was always a next thing.
I don't think we really appreciated how good the PS2 era was until it was over. So many memorable games, many of which are still a blast to play to this day.
World Wrestling Championship is the second, maybe third best wrestling game I've ever seen in my life. Just an amazing thing to experience. I'm trembling in awe of it.
I remember going to pick up my pre order PS2 from a Kay Bee (RIP) toy store in the mall I worked at at that time. I got about 10 feet out of the store before I started getting flagged down by people making me offers because they HAD to have that PS2 for Christmas. I had to duck into my store for about an hour on my day off to dodge the people that were following me through the mall.
Soccom was possibly the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played. HOURS of time spent on demolition medley. The "soccom shuffle" was created at in this game which is now the go to defense in any shooter
November 4, 2003. My highschool was 80% girls and the rest were art kids, skaters and guys who who didn't skip to play SOCOM 2. I was like this is awesome and will never see anything like this again, but now I gotta go after school and help the third team because we already have one in the top 10 and one right on 20. I can't say I've seen anything like that ever.
I didn’t know at the time how good we had it during that era. I had all three consoles and played GameCube the most by a long shot. In hindsight I can admit that the ps2 was the best console that gen and probably ever. There were great games in every genre, truly unique game ideas and hardly any downtime between big releases. If only I had the financial freedom back then to actually buy most of them. That actually reminds me that game stores (especially GameStop) in that time had incredible deals on used games. Damn those were good times.
I never got a chance to play Alter Echo. It looks like a game that would have been right up my ally. 2003 was a pretty stacked year for game releases, and having a baby on the way. Money was tight lol
When I think of PS2 my mind goes to Shadow Hearts, .hack, the ARPG Baldur's Gate/Everquest games, and sports games. Played X-Men Legends on Gamecube since it had 4-player support that I never used.
I've been emulating the shit out of PS2 games for the last couple years. So much came out on the platform and honestly the PS2 was maybe the best console of all time. With a good frame rate many of the games still stand up, even with lower quality graphics.
there are also people playing the PS2 version Battlefield 2 online, though it takes a little more work as you also need to circumvent some broken gamespy authentication
I know games have their own engine. But the PS2 emotion engine rendering is just immediately apparent. It's kind of crazy that the PS2 is retro now. But it's also not crazy.. I'm turning 40 this week and I'm writing this with a three month old in a stroller in front of me right now, at the playground. Trying to get him to sleep. Yeah.. no, it's crazy. Hope your family is doing great, Jeff. Love ya.
Things are better now but it was wild how a developer would put camera controls in a game and everyone in that studio coming to the consensus that “this is the camera controls and no one else could possibly want it inverted and we’re not putting the option to change it in the game”
dude fuck yeah SOCOM was the shit. I remember the first game. me and my friend were on this jungle map with ruins. I was in the back looking down my scope when all of a sudden I see a guy jump across my scope, then my friend goes "uh oh" and then the MAN DOWN voice line played. Was funny as shit. We still laugh about it to this day.
Remember the legend of spyro games? I remembered hating that series so much for turning spyro into that dime a dozen action adventure god of war/dmc clone. But I recently fiinally tried them for the retroachievements and actually had a blast cause they just dont make games like those anymore. Funny how time changes that.
Back in the PS1 era I believe 250k copies sold was enough for a Platinum release similar to Greatest Hits in NA. Now 250k copies would make a company go bankrupt because it sold so poorly. A different time indeed.
I've never seen Alter Echo before. I wonder if Rare took some inspiration from it for Kameo? Although that timeline might not fit since they were already working on Kameo for Gamecube as early as 2002 as far as I'm aware? For me, the PS2 is the best console of all time, for the time period for which it existed. The amount of good to great games on the system is ridiculous. There's still so so many games on the system that I want to play and ones that I'm not even aware of yet that I will also want to play. The library is ridiculous. It was that sweet spot before the cost of games exploded. So long as you can get past 8 way directional movement and often not-so-great, experimental UIs. And thank god for emulators and being able to remap control schemes. That thing about only being able to invert on 1 axis was always so ridiculous. There's still some modern games that somehow do it as well.
I had it as a kid. Switching between the 4 characters on the fly was wonky but fun. Story was kind of lame though, even at 12 years old I remember thinking it was boring and predictable.
Jeff saying "They just don't make games like this anymore" and "You were always looking for something new" followed like 2 minutes later with "Why wouldn't I just play Max Payne instead?" says so much.
I find the PS1/N64/Saturn gen a lot more fascinating and I generally like the 360/PS3 gen games more than the coveted PS2 gen. My tolerance for generic cover shooters and FPS games is way higher than my tolerance for generic hack and slash action games and auto aim shooters. I'd rather play those modern warfare medal of honor reboots on the 360 than alter echo, which looks real bad
So i was interested to see if Alter Echo ever had sequels, and found the reception section of the game's Wikipedia page. Jeff Gerstmann, writing for GameSpot, commented: "It would have been nice to have seen some more variety in the environments, and the instances of backtracking through areas you've already visited are disappointing. But the game's exciting, free-form combat makes up for those deficiencies."
World Wrestling Championship seems like a fake video game on an episode of Law & Order: SVU where a kid gets beat up in a street fight and they're blaming games for it
The PS2 and the Game Boy Advance were the one-two punch of peak gaming for me
This so much!
Considering they were hassle free backwards compatible, just a massive amount of great games conveniently available!
PS2 was a magical era. The mid-budget game paradise.
You had a bit of everything. Sports, arcade, rpg, shooters.
The age of the 6/10 masterpiece
@@Vanity0666 I would say 7/10s but I agree with the sentiment
SNES perfected 2D technology. PS1 was the awkward acne-riddled brace-wearing first steps 3D games needed to go through so that the PS2 could soar. It's the first gen that effortlessly did 3D, but also the last console gen where developing games was still really cheap.
@@poika22SNES was not the peak of 2D games in anyway. I think you mean it was a refinement of what came before, such as the NES.
I will never get tired of seeing 2000's ska band Brad Muir. I will also never get tired of watching Ryan react in seeing 2000's ska band Brad Muir.
Jeff didn’t even need to say anything. Just nodding up and down.
That’s my 2nd-favorite look for Brad, right behind the tux he wore to get all Jup in the “Wheel/Jeopardy” Quick Look.
This was an implicit, joyous and respectful Ryan Davis tribute. :)
I’ve noticed the 6th gen era was also the peak of “developers throwing fun stuff/extras on the disc just because they can”. Whether it’s behind the scenes videos, outtakes or the devs goofing off (like the Tony Hawk games), even special editions like Halo 2 having an entire second disc of bonus stuff about the game.
Super neat. :) I miss it.
Or tekken 5 just having 1,2 and 3 on there for no reason other than they could.
remember DVDs.
Having huge amounts of empty space on the disk was still a relatively new idea. And you couldn't save money by getting a smaller DVD like with cartridges.
I can't stress how thankful I am that emulation exists. 🙏
I still play PS2 games such as Burnout 3 etc. regularly.
I always run into weird issues with emulation so I just bought a japanese ps2 for cheap as hell and use FMCB to launch games without needing the disc tray.
Yea, as a fan of the last Timesplitters it was a gut punch to realize it doesn’t emulate properly on PS2 or GC :(
To me, Alter Echo is THE gamestop shelf browsing game. You pick it up, think "huh this looks kinda cool" and then put it back and buy a pre-owned copy of Oddworld Stranger's Wrath instead
Alter Echo on the original Xbox at 60 frames per second is one of those random enduring memories I have of that generation that I can't ever explain to anyone and have them understand. Hell, even I forget the game's name half the time. But I always remember all the orange and purple. So glad to see it get a bit of appreciation here - it was such a cool, weird game!
That gen was technically the peak of gaming PS2,Gamecube,Xbox,Dreamcast,GBA,DS,PSP so good!
The PS2 era was awesome and following your work at gamespot back durning the era was just as fun. I bet you have tons of stories from when these games came out so I'll keep tuning it. Thanks for the decades of good times.
Greatest game library for any console ever
Ps2 and ps1 for me
Its gigantic, so yeah 😊
That's because Sony was monopolizing the game market blocking games from coming to the GameCube and Xbox
it's crazy how soulreaver-esque alter echo is... looks like a total conversion mod in spots
Getting heavy Soul Reaver Vibes on the first game, broken wings, the animation cycles...even the way you are saved at the beginning
This was literally my first thought on seeing it
I was about to post this exact message but then wondered if anyone else had the same idea.
The voice for the AI sounded like it was Raziels voice actor.
@@PLightstar Apparently it is Raziel's voice actor that voiced EchoPlast.
I’m currently playing Michigan Report from Hell and let me tell you, I’d make a good cameraman.
Michigan: Fever Dream from Hell
That Alter Echo intro cinematic was peak cheese and I love it!
My brother and i have recently gotten into collecting ps2 and og xbox games... Its been an incredible journey thus far.
The PS2 was my personal favourite era of gaming. I was just the right age for it. I'm so glad that emulation is a thing. So many all timer classics to revisit.
Barbiturates, you know.
Never have I felt more represented.
Two of my all favourites are Spiderman 2 and The Warriors for the PS2. I go back to them regularly.
JEFF, i must tell you, i miss the 00´s so much, the 00´s were like party decade part 2, like the 80s part 2, and were great, kids today will never understand what was like when the ps2 launch or when for a brief period the dreamcast, ps2, xbox and gamecube were all in the market at the same time, will never understand magazines, secrets, previews, E3, watching the old Gamespot TV reviews i get very nostalgic when videogames were really at it´s peak, now might be making more money but the fun factor is gone
Alter Echo might be the most groundbreaking, revolutionary, innovative game ever made, but does it have double hand saluting pioneered by Iron Brigade? I don't think so.
56:03 i feel exactly the same. Even though I started to play games way earlier, this era has me nostalgic in a general sense. These 10 - 15 hour, $40 games that was pretty good and you finished in a couple of days and went on to the next thing. And there was always a next thing.
You had me at I miss the ps2.
Man I love the PS2. Going online with FFXI for the first time blew my mind. Miss those days.
Alter Echo! I bring that game up all the time, and no one ever remembers what I am talking about. This was a very pleasant surprise.
I don't think we really appreciated how good the PS2 era was until it was over. So many memorable games, many of which are still a blast to play to this day.
Me too man. Me too. I especially miss the RPGs of that era....they barely make them like them anymore.
Ahh Alter Echo, I remember playing this game back in 2009, until my disc never worked. Still finished the game though.
The generation was so good. So many unique games were created as developers were able to take risk.
OMFG... That SOCOM II briefing room music.... shit just sent the weirdest chill down my spine.
That Alter Echo preview trailer was like something out of Grandma's Boy
World Wrestling Championship is the second, maybe third best wrestling game I've ever seen in my life. Just an amazing thing to experience. I'm trembling in awe of it.
Is this going to be a series?
I don't know if it was just the tender age I was at at the time but I don't think there was ever a better time to be into games. It was magical.
SSX on PS2 was the first game that actually looked as good as an arcade game, I remember thinking...
Dammit, now I'm genuinely invested in Alter Echo lore and need to go watch a full playthrough.
I miss video games
I remember going to pick up my pre order PS2 from a Kay Bee (RIP) toy store in the mall I worked at at that time. I got about 10 feet out of the store before I started getting flagged down by people making me offers because they HAD to have that PS2 for Christmas. I had to duck into my store for about an hour on my day off to dodge the people that were following me through the mall.
Ps2 era was dope
I remember buying my PS2 and deciding that I'd rather get MotoGP with it instead of Timesplitters. The replays really impressed me. They still do.
Soccom was possibly the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played. HOURS of time spent on demolition medley. The "soccom shuffle" was created at in this game which is now the go to defense in any shooter
November 4, 2003. My highschool was 80% girls and the rest were art kids, skaters and guys who who didn't skip to play SOCOM 2. I was like this is awesome and will never see anything like this again, but now I gotta go after school and help the third team because we already have one in the top 10 and one right on 20. I can't say I've seen anything like that ever.
I didn’t know at the time how good we had it during that era. I had all three consoles and played GameCube the most by a long shot. In hindsight I can admit that the ps2 was the best console that gen and probably ever. There were great games in every genre, truly unique game ideas and hardly any downtime between big releases. If only I had the financial freedom back then to actually buy most of them. That actually reminds me that game stores (especially GameStop) in that time had incredible deals on used games. Damn those were good times.
Holy shit, never heard of Alter Echo -- I loved Outrage Games for Descent 3.
I never got a chance to play Alter Echo. It looks like a game that would have been right up my ally. 2003 was a pretty stacked year for game releases, and having a baby on the way. Money was tight lol
They made a second one? Whatever will they think of next!
When I think of PS2 my mind goes to Shadow Hearts, .hack, the ARPG Baldur's Gate/Everquest games, and sports games. Played X-Men Legends on Gamecube since it had 4-player support that I never used.
I've been emulating the shit out of PS2 games for the last couple years. So much came out on the platform and honestly the PS2 was maybe the best console of all time. With a good frame rate many of the games still stand up, even with lower quality graphics.
there are also people playing the PS2 version Battlefield 2 online, though it takes a little more work as you also need to circumvent some broken gamespy authentication
Ps2/Xbox PS3/360 era were just pure gaming
I know games have their own engine. But the PS2 emotion engine rendering is just immediately apparent.
It's kind of crazy that the PS2 is retro now.
But it's also not crazy..
I'm turning 40 this week and I'm writing this with a three month old in a stroller in front of me right now, at the playground. Trying to get him to sleep. Yeah.. no, it's crazy.
Hope your family is doing great, Jeff. Love ya.
y'all got that good stuff? some of that jake and dexter?
Me too, Jeff.
*Me too.*
Things are better now but it was wild how a developer would put camera controls in a game and everyone in that studio coming to the consensus that “this is the camera controls and no one else could possibly want it inverted and we’re not putting the option to change it in the game”
Where do these place on your ranking of the PS2?
dude fuck yeah SOCOM was the shit. I remember the first game. me and my friend were on this jungle map with ruins. I was in the back looking down my scope when all of a sudden I see a guy jump across my scope, then my friend goes "uh oh" and then the MAN DOWN voice line played. Was funny as shit. We still laugh about it to this day.
Brad Muir? Obligatory " :D "
Alter echo’s intro just being like a g4 segment about itself is pretty crazy
nailed it.
Remember the legend of spyro games? I remembered hating that series so much for turning spyro into that dime a dozen action adventure god of war/dmc clone. But I recently fiinally tried them for the retroachievements and actually had a blast cause they just dont make games like those anymore. Funny how time changes that.
Is there a version of Dynowarz: Destruction of Spondylous?
Have you ever played Michigan: Report from Hell?
Dont we all...
Back in the PS1 era I believe 250k copies sold was enough for a Platinum release similar to Greatest Hits in NA. Now 250k copies would make a company go bankrupt because it sold so poorly. A different time indeed.
There's a few ps2 games where inverting the camera in the settings didn't do anything. Dark Chronicle for example
I miss it too...
Literally about to set up OPL and here comes this
Can't believe they made a game based on the Brawl For All
They kind'a did the over-tutorializing in Hi-Fi Rush. I think it's why I bounced off of it so quickly.
I've never seen Alter Echo before. I wonder if Rare took some inspiration from it for Kameo? Although that timeline might not fit since they were already working on Kameo for Gamecube as early as 2002 as far as I'm aware?
For me, the PS2 is the best console of all time, for the time period for which it existed. The amount of good to great games on the system is ridiculous. There's still so so many games on the system that I want to play and ones that I'm not even aware of yet that I will also want to play. The library is ridiculous. It was that sweet spot before the cost of games exploded. So long as you can get past 8 way directional movement and often not-so-great, experimental UIs.
And thank god for emulators and being able to remap control schemes. That thing about only being able to invert on 1 axis was always so ridiculous. There's still some modern games that somehow do it as well.
Would love to see a revisit to Sudeki on the Xbox. That game always fascinated me
I had it as a kid. Switching between the 4 characters on the fly was wonky but fun. Story was kind of lame though, even at 12 years old I remember thinking it was boring and predictable.
jeff what is the best racing game on ps2
Probably Burnout 3
Jeff saying "They just don't make games like this anymore" and "You were always looking for something new" followed like 2 minutes later with "Why wouldn't I just play Max Payne instead?" says so much.
I don't miss the PS2... because I own 4 of them lol and I've been playing a lot of it.
I miss the PS2 era.
where'd it go?
This time I’m going IN with the trash!
I expected NARC since you talked about it yesterday
I seen socom so I had to click to hear what you say
I find the PS1/N64/Saturn gen a lot more fascinating and I generally like the 360/PS3 gen games more than the coveted PS2 gen. My tolerance for generic cover shooters and FPS games is way higher than my tolerance for generic hack and slash action games and auto aim shooters. I'd rather play those modern warfare medal of honor reboots on the 360 than alter echo, which looks real bad
Me too Jeff. Me too.
So i was interested to see if Alter Echo ever had sequels, and found the reception section of the game's Wikipedia page.
Jeff Gerstmann, writing for GameSpot, commented: "It would have been nice to have seen some more variety in the environments, and the instances of backtracking through areas you've already visited are disappointing. But the game's exciting, free-form combat makes up for those deficiencies."
Everyone should start calling Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat "action sports games", because obviously fighting games means stuff like Age of Empires
The english translation patch for Shadow Tower Abyss fuckin' rips
Ranking every PS2 game lets gooooooooooooooo
i dig the music not gonna lie
Aren't you gonna rank these ps2 games in order??
I don't think the games were better, but gaming sure was.
Enjoy your gaming
Its more dull now that everyone "knows what theyre doing" which really means theres less variety.
@@Tamacat388 I disagree, but I stay away from most AAA stuff. Pretty easy to find nearly any type of game now.
Good news for those who miss the ps2. It still exists so you can buy one. And it's cheaper than it used to be, so you should be missing it less.
PS2 will always be the best thing.
jeff you need to play chaindive!
altered echo looks like a fake game made for a film
World Wrestling Championship seems like a fake video game on an episode of Law & Order: SVU where a kid gets beat up in a street fight and they're blaming games for it
Alter Echo's intro cutscene is fucking UGLY.
That Alter Echo game looks rough to return to. I've played old JRPGs and I'm not sure it was worth the experience. Looking at you .Hack!
Me, I miss the 360, as Xbox gaming has never fully recovered since
Why won't the PS2 call me back?
Wait a minute, they made a _second_ PlayStation?!
VALVE'S VERY OWN, BRAD MUIR!
I learned Japanese solely to play Toro on Holiday
world wrestling championship is somehow worse than a parody ps2 game on an episode of SVU
sony is sitting on a gold mine with the socom franchise
Ranking all PS2 games series when?
Rank every PS2 game according to science.