Sony PlayStation has announced product release information for their upcoming powerful home entertainment console, the PlayStation 2. The PS2 is slated to be released on October 26, 2000. The retail price of the unit will be the same as the original retail price of the original PlayStation console - $299 USD ! While this may be considerably higher than the current cost of the original PSX, it's a bit hard to complain about a price that is the same as 1995. In addition, the games (first party) will be retailing in the US market for $49 USD. Once again, they will be the same prices as the original PSX games were, and in fact, quite often are today.In addition, it has been confirmed that the North American PS2 will have some enhancements not found on the Japanese (import) unit. First of all, the PS2 overseas included a memory card which contained the necessary program for playing DVDs. The North American market system will not require this card, as the DVD functionality will be built in to the hardware. (Consequently, it will not include a memory card in the package.) This DVD software will be in 'firmware', allowing for the possibility of future updates to the software conveniently through the use of an 'update' disc.
Located in the back of the North American PS2 is a 'expansion' bay, of sorts. This bay will allow for the addition of a hard drive or a networking expansion to the PS2. These expansion devices will be available seperately or as a combination device, to eliminate the need to swap out expansions. Whether or not the hard drive expansion will be available at launch was unclear, depending to some extent on the dynamics of sales, but it was indicated that some unique marketing business model is under consideration... More details on that as they are released...