Whither Convergence? (Sony deletes Firewire Port from PS2)

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Well this can't be good.



Just came from CNET, where I read that Sony is removing the Firewire port from PS2 machines.



Here's the link.



While I can't think of a use that cropped up for it yet, the PS2 did put 50,000,000 Firewire ports out there. Why didn't any third parties take advantage of it?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    I don't know why folks didn't use it, though maybe they just didn't come up with peripherals that made sense to market with the PS2...or maybe Sony's licensing terms are restrictive. I don't know.



    i do know that the improvements sound great for the console.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    They had Firewire ports? I didn't know that. I'm not sure how a Firewire port would be useful for a console though... maybe as some way to connect the console to a computer for recording movies.



    Well, I'm not surprised they're getting rid of them, after all, there was probably not enough of a market for the (few) Firewire devices for the PS2.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    I own a PS2 - I didn't know it had a FW port on it. I see two USB ports. Where's the FW port?



    Assuming I find it, what's it good for?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    spiffsterspiffster Posts: 327member
    I don't know why they were taken off, but i can think of some uses for the port.



    A firewire HD for saving games, pictures, movies etc. Given the small size of most memory cards, this would be a great alternative. Similar to the internal HD in the XBox. It wouldn't have to be a big HD, 2 Gb, 3 maybe. I would certainly get one if this was possiable.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    snofsnof Posts: 98member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by spotcatbug

    I own a PS2 - I didn't know it had a FW port on it. I see to USB ports. Where's the FW port?



    Sony calls it iLink, it's right next to the usb ports. It's got a different looking port than Apple's firewire.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    piwozniakpiwozniak Posts: 815member
    Step one:

    Find a buddy with PS2



    Step two:

    Connect 2 PS2 together by FW



    Step three:

    Get 2 LCD projectors, or one projector and one big screen tv, or 2 big screen tvs...



    Step four:

    Fire up GT3



    Step five:

    Hold on to your potatoes.



  • Reply 7 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Save games take up so little room there's no real need for anything more than a memory card that uses USB. And doesn't it have ethernet for network games? Or not? If not, it would be pretty cool if you could get a firewire cable to connect them, but the problem is that firewire has a limited length... you'd have to have two TVs set up near each other. Ethernet allows you to play in two different rooms far away if need be.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Common practice in the console world.



    Look at an old NES, Genesis or Playstation. They all have random expansion ports that were never used.



    Now look at the revised top-loading NES, the revised Genesis and the PSOne. Those connectors are gone because they weren't useful for the product.



    Sony never really provided guidelines or documentation for the i.Link port, so nobody really knew what to do with it. Now the big question is whether Sony will put FireWire on the next-generation console.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    A lot of high end audio components were shipping with firewire ports awhile back (or were supposed to). maybe that was the reason for the fw port on the ps2?
  • Reply 10 of 12
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Quote:

    While I can't think of a use that cropped up for it yet, the PS2 did put 50,000,000 Firewire ports out there. Why didn't any third parties take advantage of it?



    Sony didn't divulge much information about how to use it, except to a privileged few (e.g. Gran Turismo 3's developers). Does PS2 Linux actually have 1394 support?
  • Reply 11 of 12
    stevesteve Posts: 523member
    The FireWire port actually functioned as a LAN for some games, like Unreal Tournament and Gran Turismo. You could play console-to-console (-to-console-to-console) style, and each player could have his own TV, quite similarly to how the Xbox uses system link. It was an archaic method utilized before they had the Ethernet adapter on the PS2.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Maybe ethernet is more suitable for connecting to broadband modems (as there aren't many 1394 modems around ). Is an ethernet port standard on the PS2?
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