Best gaming console?

[Chaos Butterfly]

I have a v old original playstation, and I have to say after playing some games on my friends PS2 I certainly feel like I'm playing a very secondrate machine when I occasionally play mine. Still I love Simpsons Wrestling. Go for PS2 over PS1 you'll be so disappointed otherwise + you can't play DVDS.

*laments the fact that she can't justify buying a PS2 with anything other than wanting a new toy*

[Jadian]

Yeah, I'd go with the PS2. It'll be harder to find/rent/buy PS1 games as each day goes by, and I can't think of any major keepers.

Plus, as CB says, you can't paly dvds on the PS1.

[dwim]

OH yeah, the DVD's oh yeah... and whoever wrote out that parental lock code thing... thank you, thank you Thank You, and THANK YOU!

It just gets annoying after awhile...

[Branflakes]

I'd say spend the money on the PS2. PS1 games are getting harder and harder to find and I think they've stopped making new games for it. Don't throw $50 at something when for a little more you can play those same games and get the newer ones (which lets the console grow with the kid).

[GeekGirl]

We do still publish new games for the PS one, but not many.

Would you be happy being limited to PS one games? There have been a lot of popular games released over the last eight years -- there are over 1,200 of them (not that you'd be able to find all of them in stores) -- so I'd say you would find many ones that you'd like. Graphics are much better on the PS2, and the larger capacity of the disc allows for more and or longer "levels" and such. But basically, I think in terms of the actual gameplay there is not a huge gap between the two. The way you play a platform/scrolling character game like "Spyro the Dragon" is much the same -- you wander around, overcome obstacles, collect tokens, solve the level. In racing games you drive, in shooter games you shoot, etc. But if you think that you'd want to buy a PS2 down the line anyway, with the backward compatibility of the PS2, it would make sense just to buy the PS2 to begin with.

Is there a GameStop or Electronics Boutique near you? They sell pre-owned games, so that helps on the cash layout.