I was fortunate enough to get to test this before it was released. I reluctantly repackaged everything and sent it back to Sony. As a reward, they ended up sending me a retail copy with the HDD. I would have never been able to own this otherwise. I still have it to this day and the original box. I also received a beta disc in the mail to test SOCOM 2. I don't think many people owned a network adapter so Sony probably had few people to test and relied on the general public.
That is super cool that you were able to test games for Sony. Sounds like you have some nice pieces for your collection from them! I never heard of the SOCOM 2 beta disc.
Thank ya for watching! I keep wondering if I should go back and play FFXI but with not enough time and and probably getting super upset on my first delevel I'd better just stay away from it haha
Hello, My son and I started playing FFXI with the NA PS2 released in March 2004, and we still play today. Please note: I bought (from Best Buy at full retail) two of the following to play the game (with my son): 1) PS2; 2) FFXI; 3) Network adapter; 4) Keyboard; 5) Mouse. The mouse and keyboard are optional, but to communicate well in-game, you should have a keyboard. Given that SE dropped support for the PlayStation 2 (and beyond), you will be able to update the PlayOnline program, but the system, after rebooting,g will tell you that SE and PlayOnline no longer support the PS2.
That's pretty cool you are able to update PlayOnline. I wish I would have gotten into FFXI back in the day. I feel like I missed out on some prime MMO experiences. It's awesome you and your son are still playing!
@@EveryDayRetroGamingIt almost never got released in the US. And when it did in March 2004, it had short shelf life because the PS2 slim was released in October later that year. Same happened with PS2 HDD in the US, I believe Final Fantasy XI is the reason why the accessory even got released at all in the United States. Japan got the HDD very early on in the PlayStation 2 life, & the United States got it right as the fat model was discontinued.
Wish you hadn’t formatted the HDD tho, since the Sony DNAS is off and won’t allow you to install the game anymore. :’) Besides that, this is a amazing piece of history and neat collectors item! :)
I'm wondering if I can use a recovery program and see if I can get the data back. I did reinstall some of the minor drivers but I'm hoping i didn't overwrite anything.
I remember working at Montgomery Ward...they had one of these collecting dust in the ekectronics case....i wanted to buy it but like older big box stores, without a sku they wouldnt sell it lol....once they started closing Wards, they sold the thing for 15.00 brand new on my day off🤬🤬🤬🤬...
@@EveryDayRetroGamingA little late but its impossible ever since 2016. They terminated ps2 support that year, now its only playable on pc (ironically they still use ps2 devkits to update and support the pc game)
Oh man the memories. I still remembering opening my ps2 on my birthday.
Oh man you got me thinking... I don't even remember when I picked up my Ps2 lol
Same. 2002 for my 12th birthday. Will never forget it.
"whoever had this didnt use it much" Im sure they played the game a ton but once the game was on the hdd you didnt have to touch the dvds again!
Lol I started to wonder if that was the case! I figured you needed the disc to boot up the game
I was fortunate enough to get to test this before it was released. I reluctantly repackaged everything and sent it back to Sony. As a reward, they ended up sending me a retail copy with the HDD. I would have never been able to own this otherwise. I still have it to this day and the original box. I also received a beta disc in the mail to test SOCOM 2. I don't think many people owned a network adapter so Sony probably had few people to test and relied on the general public.
That is super cool that you were able to test games for Sony. Sounds like you have some nice pieces for your collection from them! I never heard of the SOCOM 2 beta disc.
Thank you so much for this video! For someone who didn't get to experience XI as a kiddo is cool to watch someone open and setup the game.
You're welcome! Yeah I thought this was pretty cool over all and deserved an unboxing.
Literally playing FFXI right now, while I watch this! Awesome video!
Thank ya for watching! I keep wondering if I should go back and play FFXI but with not enough time and and probably getting super upset on my first delevel I'd better just stay away from it haha
Mine is still in my PS2 and connected to my TV.
Lol I put everything back. I was worried something would happen to the hard drive.
@@EveryDayRetroGaming I have had mine in the same PS2 since release day of FFXI. Many many hours on it. Has several game saves on it for other games.
Can you dump your HDD and memcards and send it to me so I can contact people for revival?
I hope that Playstation let's us use non official ssds in ps5
Oh man Sony better... I'm hoping they learned their lesson with the Vita and PsP memory cards.
Great video as always! I still have my original PS2. Maybe I'll hunt one of these hard drives down.
It's strange hearing the hard drive kicking on though. So not used to hearing that sound when playing Ps2.
I have this still brand new.
Unless you want the hard drive no real reason to open it. Keep that thing look good!
Hello, My son and I started playing FFXI with the NA PS2 released in March 2004, and we still play today.
Please note: I bought (from Best Buy at full retail) two of the following to play the game (with my son): 1) PS2; 2) FFXI; 3) Network adapter; 4) Keyboard; 5) Mouse. The mouse and keyboard are optional, but to communicate well in-game, you should have a keyboard. Given that SE dropped support for the PlayStation 2 (and beyond), you will be able to update the PlayOnline program, but the system, after rebooting,g will tell you that SE and PlayOnline no longer support the PS2.
That's pretty cool you are able to update PlayOnline. I wish I would have gotten into FFXI back in the day. I feel like I missed out on some prime MMO experiences. It's awesome you and your son are still playing!
Thanks for the memories, favorite game ever
I'm not sure what MMO I was playing at the time but I know I missed out not playing this one.
Was it a good idea to format the hard drive? Didnt it have things installed that cant be installed anymore?
It was a bad idea. Yeah all the final fantasy data that was installed is lost. I wonder if it's possible to recover it though.... I'll look into it
I actually bought this when it came out...only used it for an ALT character haha
Sounds like totally reasonable usage to me!
The only PS2 game to use the hard drive was FFXI. People found they could run Linux on the PS2 using the hard drive.
it was the only game to require the hard drive but other games could use it to improve loading times
Picked thr whole set for like 50$ like 6 months before they ended ffxi ps2 support. So I ended up just modded my ps2 with the hd lol
Where can u buy this Sony hard drive ???
Pretty sweet addition to the collection 👍
I think so too! Glad it was so well kept!
I wish this was released in Europe. Damn
I'm kind of shocked this wasn't something released in both regions.
@@EveryDayRetroGamingIt almost never got released in the US. And when it did in March 2004, it had short shelf life because the PS2 slim was released in October later that year. Same happened with PS2 HDD in the US, I believe Final Fantasy XI is the reason why the accessory even got released at all in the United States. Japan got the HDD very early on in the PlayStation 2 life, & the United States got it right as the fat model was discontinued.
Dope video thanks for this
Wow, this must be a really limited edition of Final Fantasy 11… is it still avaliable?
I'm sure you can still get them 2nd hand off of e-bay and such. I got mine from Goodwill
Wish you hadn’t formatted the HDD tho, since the Sony DNAS is off and won’t allow you to install the game anymore. :’)
Besides that, this is a amazing piece of history and neat collectors item! :)
I'm wondering if I can use a recovery program and see if I can get the data back. I did reinstall some of the minor drivers but I'm hoping i didn't overwrite anything.
Good times
I remember working at Montgomery Ward...they had one of these collecting dust in the ekectronics case....i wanted to buy it but like older big box stores, without a sku they wouldnt sell it lol....once they started closing Wards, they sold the thing for 15.00 brand new on my day off🤬🤬🤬🤬...
Please make a FFXI install video! I've always been curious to see what that was like on the PS2. Thanks for the insightful video!
Sounds interesting I'll have to throw a video up for ya. I wonder how long it takes to fully install... Hmmmm...
@@EveryDayRetroGaming I'd love that so much haha and yeah I wonder too 0.o
@@EveryDayRetroGamingA little late but its impossible ever since 2016. They terminated ps2 support that year, now its only playable on pc (ironically they still use ps2 devkits to update and support the pc game)