The

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

has had the ability for online gaming and other

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

capabilities. Games that were online-compatible could make use of the feature using a

network adapter A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter and physical network interface) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network. Early network interface ...

that plugged into the system's Expansion Bay (the adapter is integrated into the hardware on later " slimline" models) and an Internet connection, which connected to one of

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

's or a third-party's network, depending on region. The last official online game server was shut down in 2016 by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

; some games continue to have online functionality via unofficial fan-made servers.

Overview

Instead of having a unified online service such as

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

, online multiplayer on the PS2 was the responsibility of the game publisher and was run on

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

servers. However, later PS2 online games required the console to be authorized through Sony's Dynamic Network Authentication System (DNAS) before connecting to the server. Unofficial servers also exist which could be connected by setting up the

DNS The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various informatio ...

settings to connect to an unofficial DNS server. Some games also allowed online gameplay using a

dial-up Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...

connection (not available on all models), or LAN play by connecting two network adapters/slimline consoles together directly with an

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

cable or through the same router network. Most games, especially later ones, require the use of a broadband internet connection. The company also attempted in Japan to market the console as a

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

for other forms of entertainment using the PlayStation BB service.

Services and lifetime

In Japan, online functionalities were already rolled out in its first year in the form of third-party 56k modems. Sun Corporation for example released the OnlineStation, a

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

external modem with its EnjoyMagic software providing

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

and

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

to customers. EGBrowser was another third-party web browser for the PlayStation 2 released in 2001 for use with any compatible modem. SquareSoft also released a modem called PS2GATE around September 2001, to connect to its

PlayOnline PlayOnline is an online gaming service owned by Square Enix as the launcher application and Internet service for many of the online PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 games the company publishes. Launched on June 6, 2000, the service hosted games ...

service.

Aiwa Aiwa (, stylised aiwa) is a Japanese consumer electronics brand of Aiwa Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Towada Audio holdings. The current company was established in 2017 and creates mainly audio products; the brand is also licensed to or owned by othe ...

also released a modem preloaded with software called NetFront. Some games such as '' Age of Empires II'' (originally a

PC game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

) could be played online using a USB modem, and this title specifically could also make use of USB keyboard and mice on a PlayStation 2. The official network adapter featuring both broadband Ethernet and a 56k modem was released in Japan on July 19, 2001 alongside '' Final Fantasy X''. Sony Computer Entertainment itself launched the PlayStation BB service in Japan in April 2002 using a broadband internet connection. It also included a software service called Broadband Navigator which users to download PlayStation 2 software titles, download media and play music and video using

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...

software, and

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

. The broadband adapter was initially rented and included a hard disk, but it was later available to buy in retail stores. In North America, the online services launched on August 27, 2002. The initial online games at launch were SCE's '' SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs'', '' Twisted Metal: Black Online'', ''

NFL GameDay 2003 ''NFL GameDay 2003'' is a 2002 American football video game developed by Red Zone Interactive and 989 Sports and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. On the cover is Tom Brady. Reception The game ...

'' and ''FreQuency Online'', Sega's '' NFL 2K3'', EA Sports's ''

Madden NFL 2003 ''Madden NFL 2003'' is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series, the game features former St. ...

'', and Activision's ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' is a 2001 skateboarding video game and the third installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series. It was published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and ...

''. The adapter costed initially US$40 and included a start-up disc and a demo disc with two playable games, ''Madden NFL 2003'', and ''FreQuency Online''. It launched ahead of competitor

, which wouldn't launch until November 15 that year. SCEA had also partnered with

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

(to include

Netscape Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California, and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was o ...

web, AIM chat,

and other Internet services),

RealNetworks RealNetworks LLC is an American technology company and provider of Internet streaming media delivery software and services based in Seattle, Washington. The company also provides subscription-based online entertainment services and mobile enter ...

Macromedia Macromedia, Inc. was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Adobe Flash, Flash and Adobe Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its riv ...

(to include

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

) and

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

. Despite the advanced take-up of broadband in the United States compared to Japan, Sony decided to still include a 56k modem for narrowband dial-up customers. Testing for online services in Europe rolled out in the spring of 2003. SCEE provided a service named

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

with the setup discs that contained regular news of online services and provided a single sign-in username. Testing in Germany began on April 24; the test package included a network adapter, a hard disk drive, the Network Access Disc, a copy of ''SOCOM: US Navy SEALs'' and a USB headset.

or "Network Gaming" launched on June 11 in Britain, July 2 in France, August 13 in Sweden, September in the Netherlands. In Europe, online services on the PlayStation 2 required

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

broadband internet like

required. '' Hardware: Online Arena'' was developed and released as an exclusive online-only game in Europe in 2003.

Discontinuation

Over time, most game servers have been shut down. On August 31, 2012, SCEA shut down the servers for the ''SOCOM'' games after ten years. The last official online server, which was for ''

Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Square (video game company), Square and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installme ...

'', was ultimately shut down on March 31, 2016, with the DNAS following it a couple of days later on April 4, indirectly shutting down several remaining unofficial servers, with the exception of ones that support non-DNAS PS2 titles such as '' Tribes: Aerial Assault'' and ''

''. Despite the DNAS shutdown, several fan-created servers still exist; most require a DNAS workaround to connect, with some exceptions such as '' Call of Duty 3'' and '' Need For Speed: Underground''.

Adapter

For the original models (non-"Slimline") of the PlayStation 2 console, a network adapter was needed to play online and use a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

. The initial versions released only in Japan were designed for the launch model PlayStation 2 systems released for that region (the SCPH-10000 to SCPH-18000 series), as they utilized the

PCMCIA The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was an industry consortium of computer hardware manufacturers from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), it created v ...

slot on said consoles. Later versions of the network adapter such as those released in North America and Europe are built differently from the initial Japan-only versions, using a different form factor and was designed for the PlayStation 2's Expansion Bay that appeared on later revisions of the original PlayStation 2 models (the SCPH-3000x to SCPH-500xx series). All versions of the Network Adaptor provide an

port, while some versions (especially North American ones) also featured a phone-line port for dial-up connection. The newer slimline versions, however, have an Ethernet port (and in some early North American models, a phone-line port) built into them, making the Network Adaptor unnecessary and hard drive use nearly impossible, as well as ruling out any need to keep the network adapter in production. Sony-PlayStation-2-70001-Console-BR

Playing online games requires that users set up the system's network connection configuration, which is saved to a memory card. This can be done with the Network Startup Disc that came with the network adapter or using one of the many games that had the utility built into them, such as '' Resident Evil Outbreak'', to set up the network settings. The new slimline PlayStation 2 came with a disc in the box by default. The last version of the disc was Network Startup Disc 5.0, which was included with the newer SCPH-90004 model released in 2009.

Compatible games

'' Capcom vs. SNK 2'' was the first ever video game to offer

cross-platform play In video games with online gaming functionality, also called cross-compatible play, cross-platform play, crossplay, or cross-play describes the ability of Gamer, players using different video game hardware to play with each other simultaneously. ...

between two competing video game consoles, followed in 2002 by ''

'' which allowed connections between the PlayStation 2 and personal computers. '' SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs'', released in August of the same year, was one of the first video games that allowed voice chat on a console.

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

games that supported online gaming display a banner on the cover near the top stating (in English-language releases): ''WITH NETWORK PLAY'' (later ''WITH NET PLAY''). North American games feature an "Online" icon in the lower right corner of the cover; on games that do not support dial-up connectivity, "broadband only" is also found on the logo.

LAN tunneling

Computer programs such as XBSlink, SVDL and XLink Kai also allowed users to achieve online play for some PS2 games by using a network configuration that simulates a worldwide LAN.

References

{{Online video game networks Internet properties established in 2001 Multiplayer video game services Online video game networks PlayStation 2