Never heard of this one, but the PS2 might have the highest concentration of launch titles I've never heard of, for a major console. I don't know how much of this is about me and my growing disinterest in console launches the farther we got from the SNES launch, and how much is about the PS2 launch library itself.
Maybe the biggest travesty here is that this is a Sony-developed-and-published title. It would be one thing if a no-name company decided to go for a cash grab with a launch title like this; don't hate the player, hate the game. But Sony?
They could have made this a pack-in game, maybe as part of a disc that had a variety of simple puzzle games, and picked up a little goodwill. Kind of like Wii Sports, sometimes a disc of fun, simple little games is worth more in the collective consciousness than the sum of its parts. But they just had to charge full price, apparently. Given the PS2's level of success, I guess Sony didn't need the goodwill.
The PS2 launch library is surprisingly large and also filled with a lot of empty calories. A handful of big names, like Madden and Tekken Tag, SSX, etc., and a lot of garbage. Fantavision isn't garbage, per say, but there's a reason you could catch it for a fiver at your local EB Games in 2002. Nothing much of interest here.
Sony should have released this as a pack-in, like you suggested, or like a $20 budget game, a la Katamari Damacy in 2004. But even the latter has considerably more replay value than this bad boy.
I think Sony's consolation prize to consumers was its DVD playing capabilities in 2000. You get a DVD player and the next Playstation console for $299, that's a smoking deal. But sorry, you also have to pay 50 bucks for Fantavision. That's the deal
True about the PS2's DVD drive. A college roommate's PS2 was our DVD player at that time, and that probably contributed to the PS2's mega-success. Incidentally, in the early 90s my friend's Sega CD was the first CD player I was exposed to that wasn't inside a parent's car, and that we therefore had control over. We thought CD technology was awesome compared to cassettes and would sometimes just sit around listening to CDs on the Sega CD and watching its visualization. So the music CD capabilities actually WERE something of a selling point!
But I don't remember anyone ever listening to music CDs on the PS1, though I assume it had that functionality. By that time the CD was old news, and I think we all had portable CD players.
Sony tried to replicate the PS2 win with Blu-Ray on the PS3, but Blu-Ray ended up not being the success that DVD was as streaming took over the world. Most people have probably forgotten that Microsoft had a separate HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 as the two standards battled it out. I was at CES that year, for work, and the standards battle was all the talk of the consumer electronics world, so I still remember it very clearly, and how silly it seems in retrospect.
Still, when I received a $100 off coupon for a PS3, it ended up being my sole Blu-Ray player and TV streaming device for at least 5 years. I think I only had 3-4 games for it.
I also didn't realize Katamari Damacy launched as a budget game! That indeed is a game with a lot of meat on it for that price point. I recently picked up the remake of We Love Katamari, which I had never played before, unlike the first game. Great game to play with the kids, they get an absolute blast out of the mayhem from watching me play, although the controls are too tricky for young children.
That factor fave it so much replayability! I experienced so many albums with this game and the fireworks sticks in my mind when I relisten to certain songs.
This honestly seems like a tech demo that Sony decided to turn into a full retail release.
100%!
Oh yeah this game was so great when I found it for peanuts a decade after it came out! I love quirky weirdos like this one.
It is definitely worth a few ducats and not a farthing more.
Never heard of this one, but the PS2 might have the highest concentration of launch titles I've never heard of, for a major console. I don't know how much of this is about me and my growing disinterest in console launches the farther we got from the SNES launch, and how much is about the PS2 launch library itself.
Maybe the biggest travesty here is that this is a Sony-developed-and-published title. It would be one thing if a no-name company decided to go for a cash grab with a launch title like this; don't hate the player, hate the game. But Sony?
They could have made this a pack-in game, maybe as part of a disc that had a variety of simple puzzle games, and picked up a little goodwill. Kind of like Wii Sports, sometimes a disc of fun, simple little games is worth more in the collective consciousness than the sum of its parts. But they just had to charge full price, apparently. Given the PS2's level of success, I guess Sony didn't need the goodwill.
The PS2 launch library is surprisingly large and also filled with a lot of empty calories. A handful of big names, like Madden and Tekken Tag, SSX, etc., and a lot of garbage. Fantavision isn't garbage, per say, but there's a reason you could catch it for a fiver at your local EB Games in 2002. Nothing much of interest here.
Sony should have released this as a pack-in, like you suggested, or like a $20 budget game, a la Katamari Damacy in 2004. But even the latter has considerably more replay value than this bad boy.
I think Sony's consolation prize to consumers was its DVD playing capabilities in 2000. You get a DVD player and the next Playstation console for $299, that's a smoking deal. But sorry, you also have to pay 50 bucks for Fantavision. That's the deal
True about the PS2's DVD drive. A college roommate's PS2 was our DVD player at that time, and that probably contributed to the PS2's mega-success. Incidentally, in the early 90s my friend's Sega CD was the first CD player I was exposed to that wasn't inside a parent's car, and that we therefore had control over. We thought CD technology was awesome compared to cassettes and would sometimes just sit around listening to CDs on the Sega CD and watching its visualization. So the music CD capabilities actually WERE something of a selling point!
But I don't remember anyone ever listening to music CDs on the PS1, though I assume it had that functionality. By that time the CD was old news, and I think we all had portable CD players.
Sony tried to replicate the PS2 win with Blu-Ray on the PS3, but Blu-Ray ended up not being the success that DVD was as streaming took over the world. Most people have probably forgotten that Microsoft had a separate HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 as the two standards battled it out. I was at CES that year, for work, and the standards battle was all the talk of the consumer electronics world, so I still remember it very clearly, and how silly it seems in retrospect.
Still, when I received a $100 off coupon for a PS3, it ended up being my sole Blu-Ray player and TV streaming device for at least 5 years. I think I only had 3-4 games for it.
I also didn't realize Katamari Damacy launched as a budget game! That indeed is a game with a lot of meat on it for that price point. I recently picked up the remake of We Love Katamari, which I had never played before, unlike the first game. Great game to play with the kids, they get an absolute blast out of the mayhem from watching me play, although the controls are too tricky for young children.
I Fkn love this game! I remember me and my friends would put on our own CD's as soundtracks to the fireworks that was a blast.
Brooooo, why didn't I know that I could put in some Disturbed and blast fireworks to Stupify, that would have provided some amazing novelty factor.
That factor fave it so much replayability! I experienced so many albums with this game and the fireworks sticks in my mind when I relisten to certain songs.