Thursday 2 September 2010

PS2 emulator review

Introduction
The PS2 is probably my favourite console of all time, mainly due to it's incredible library of timeless games, but also because, to me atleast, it was the console that won the war between Nintendo (Gamecube/Gamecube), Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (PS2) and indeed started the next generation console war which Sony is arguably still winning.

I still remember when I first got a PS2, I felt privilaged, infact, I was... I was the envy of my older brother who used to repeatedly come into my room to steal it from me, causing me no end of distress. Admitidely, the PS2 was very expensive when it first came out, but to me, it was worth every penny.

Anyway, enough about me, let's get to the review. As the PS2 is my favourite console, it stands to reason that a PS2 emulator would be my favourite emulator, which is correct. This leads me on to the PCSX2, by far my favourite emulator for PC. This review will check out the PCSX2.

This review will not give detailed tutorials on how to use the PCSX2, as that would be reinventing the wheel, instead, I'll give my view on this amazing software.

History of the PCSX2
The PCSX2 was created by the PCSX team, the very same that brought you the PCSX (Playstation emulator). When the emulator was first publically released, framerate was between 2 to 15 FPS, depending on the game and the PC specs. Since its release in April 2006, it has made drastic inprovements, probably partially due to the fact that it is open source, allowing the entire emu scene offer their contributions.

To date, the PCSX2 is capable if running many games at full speed or even faster! In my experience a few games that run very well are the Final Fantasy series, but you will have to try for yourself. FFX is my favourite game on the PS2 so this couldn't be better for me.

Speed
The PCSX2 is one of, if the the most intensive emulators out there for the PC. Most games are playable but alot of games will be slow if your PC is not up to scratch, check the PCSX2 site or the forums for official requirements.

The PS2 is an extremely difficult machine to emulate, it has many different chips, and all of these must be emulated, so I give the PCSX2 team huge credit for creating such a masterpiece, and indeed, one of the most advanced emulators ever created.

What you need to play 
  • Like most modern consoles, the PS2 uses a BIOS that copyrighted by Sony, so downloading is illegal.You can however dump the BIOS from your own PS2 is relative ease. You need this file to use the PCSX2.
  • Games. You can either play the game directly from the Disk using the Gigahertz plugin, or you can rip these from your own disks using the DVD Decrypter, then play the games using the linuzappz plugin.
  • Plugins. Most plugins come with the PCSX2, but there are some others you may wih to download to get more speed or higher compatibility with games. 
  • Optional controller for ease of playing and more fun!
Many people complain of errors when trying to play games, the main problem is simply not running the PCSX2 as adminstrator. You should always run thr PCSX2 as admin or else your games won't run. You should also make sure you have selected all the correct plugins, for graphics, GSdx is fastest, but experiment with different plugins. ZZogl seems to support fullscreen by pressing Alt+Enter.

Playing the games
I have played quite a few games on the PCSX2, and even though alot run very slowly, some are playable to completion, like FFX, which i have gotten very far on the PCSX2 with. My PC specs are as follows.
  • CPU: AMD Athlon x4 620 @ (overclocked) 3.4GH/z
  • GPU: Nvideo Geforce 8800GTS
  • RAM: 4GB DDR3 @ 1333mhz
  • HDD: Sata 500GB
With these specs, I can enjoy the PCSX2 at full speed.
Remember though, if you want to play all the original games properly, at full speed, buy a PS2! This advice is straight from the PCSX2 team themselves.

Overall
What else can I say? The PCSX2 is awesome, I can hardly believe PS2 emulation is even possible, let alone so soon. The PCSX2 team have done a great job so appreciate their work and support them if you can by visting their site. Some people give the PCSX2 bad press for it's low framerate on some games, but this is out of ignorance of how difficult PS2 emulation really is.

Enjoy a video of FFX on the PCSX2


Peace

10 comments:

  1. this turned out better than I expected

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  2. ps2 is the best and i still got mine!!
    showing support and following

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  3. Shamefully, I recently sold mine, only because I needed the money, and because I can play the games I like on the PCSX2 anyway.

    if anyone wants any tuts on how to mod the PS2, I'll be happy to show you, it's very easy. Software mods are easy anyway.

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  4. hah, PCSX2 made me recently buy a ps2 ... mod help will be appreciated :)

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  5. PS2 was an amazing console

    Nice work, following

    http://marco-marcob.blogspot.com/

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  6. You are truly an inspiration! I will keep your thoughts in mind for my next blog posting.

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  7. Nice information, though I guess my laptop wouldn't be able to handle PCSX2.

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  8. Awesome post... can't wait to read more from you!

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  9. @Team Rocketman The authors of the PCSX2 recommend that your average laptops arn't used to run the PCSX2, due to the possibility of overheating due to the high CPU usage. Although, It depends what laptop you're using.

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  10. very nice blog and ps2 is the "best" console if you ask me too :) Give me a visit and keep it up!

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