Expert: Octane - 12/4/2009

Question
i have a black older model ps2 that i just purchased from a friend of mine to give to my son for christmas.  i thought about getting him some guitar hero bundles and games but i heard that some guitar hero game bundles wont load on a ps2 even if the GH game bundles are for a playstation 2.  do i need to buy a different newer style of ps2 in order to play gutar hero games and bundles or will the one i have work ok?  i have been hesitant to buy GH games and bundles so far because i dont know if i need a new ps2 and if so what style or model do i need?  if my ps2 that i have will play some GH guitars and games (bundles) which GH bundels should i purchase?  please help!!!  thank you for your time

Answer
Gday Amanda,

If you have the older thicker style PS2 unit I believe the problem you are referring to is actually caused by the Laser intensity in the gaming unit growing weaker over time.  The units are designed to work with this type of game (the Guitar Hero Series) just because of age and use combined with the type of media used occasionally fail to work properly.  Usually resulting in either repair of the unit or due to costing associated with the repair of the older unit usually it cheaper to buy a newer PS2 Slim as a replacement.  Its not that they don't work because they do it just a higher majority of older units aren't up to the task of working to capacity due to age/use/design.  If you had a brand new olderstyle PS2 straight out of the box it would work fine but most units are have at least 5 years use in them, and they aren't designed like the systems of old to last forever.  The PS2 Slim models have a better laser in them then the older units.  (They are also much cheaper to replace if they fail $10 compared to $35)

The problem is the Guitar Hero games are actually the DVD9 media, with is dual layed DVD combined with a weaker or aging laser/Len causing them to not work properly.  Now there is only about 2 dozen games that use that type of media that why alot of people don't have the problem until they start to use Guitar hero which is by far the most popular of the DVD9 formatted games.

PS2 games come in 3 different formats.  CD based games (PS1 Games also use this), DVD Based Games and DVD9 Based games.  Each format allows for more data to be saved on a disk.  If you think of each type of media as a book and the Laser lens as glasses.  Now each book is the same size but each having more information in it.  So the CD book would have big print, the DVD book would have smaller print and the DVD9 Book to have tiny print.  If your glasses aren't great but okay you can read the CD okay, the DVD reasonable but the DVD9 you have problems with.

About the only thing you can do is try the game out on the unit and see if it works.  Occasionally buying a Len cleaning kit may help it work but usually if the laser is going out it better to replace the entire unit.

Here are a list of all DVD9 games.  Typically if it has problems playing one of these game it may have problems with all of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2_DVD-9_games

You could take the game unit to your local Gamestore get them to test it with the Guitar Hero game you want and see if it loads.  If it loads very slowly or not at all then you might be better off getting a new or Second hand Slim unit.  If it loads fine any PS2 bundle will work fine.

Hope this helps you out and I have not confused the subject.

Octane

Octane