c/dusty-consoles

Overheard a kid at the thrift store call a PS2 a 'weird DVD player'

I was digging through a bin of cables at the local Value Village last Saturday when this teenager picks up a fat PS2 and asks his friend why anyone would want a 'weird DVD player.' Made me feel ancient. I had to hold back from explaining how many hours I put into SSX Tricky and GTA: Vice City on that exact model back in 2002. Anyone else get called out like that recently when you're just trying to find replacement controllers?

Rant: PS2 still beats the GameCube and I'll die on that hill

Had a chat with my buddy Dave at the retro shop on Broadway last Saturday, and he swore the GameCube library was deeper. I told him he's forgetting the PS2 had Gran Turismo 4, Final Fantasy X, and the whole Monster Hunter series before it blew up. How many GameCube exclusives actually hold up today besides the Zelda remakes and Metroid Prime?

Chat with my neighbor's kid made me rethink my old PS2 collection

He said my games were 'basically fossils' and it hit different because I realized he'd never held a CRT or blown into a cartridge, so now I'm wondering how do y'all explain physical media to people who grew up on digital downloads?

Warning: That $20 PS2 I found at a garage sale almost killed my whole collection

So I picked up a PS2 slim for cheap from a guy in Eugene, said it worked fine. Got it home, plugged it in, and it started making this grinding noise like a blender. I popped it open after about 10 minutes of searching online, and the laser ribbon cable had completely come loose and was getting chewed up by the disc drive gear. I had to carefully reseat it with some tweezers and electrical tape. Now it reads games fine, but I'm wondering if I should just buy a replacement laser module for like $15 or risk it dying again. Has anyone else dealt with a loose ribbon cable on these slims?

Spent 3 hours trying to find why a PS2 wouldn't read discs. The fix was a single screw.

Met a guy at a garage sale who told me why he still plays his original PlayStation every Sunday morning

He said it reminds him of being 12 and trading Pokémon with his best friend before they moved away, and I found myself tearing up over a $20 fat PS1 with a busted lid.

Stumbled past 300 PS2 games in my collection and suddenly felt weird about it

I hit 302 PS2 games last Tuesday after finding a copy of Silent Hill 2 at a pawn shop for $5. Part of me says that's just solid collecting, grabbing titles I loved as a kid and some hidden gems nobody talks about. But then I looked at the shelf and realized maybe I'm not playing games anymore, I'm just hoarding plastic. Is there a line where the hunt stops being fun and starts being a problem? Curious if anyone else hit a number that made them stop and think.

Picked up a PS2 from a thrift store for $15 and after cleaning off 7 years of dust inside it runs like a dream now.

The fan was completely caked with cat hair and grime, so I took it apart, used compressed air and a tiny brush, and now it's whisper quiet, has anyone else found a beat-up console that cleaned up way better than expected?