Stark wrote:noiseredux wrote:when the PS2 came out, I bought it because I'd be getting a new game console PLUS I'd have access to this new hotness known as "DVD."
Seriously, I feel old.
I was similar. Although I viewed it as replacing the DVD player I had already bought for way too much. I still remember that GLORY was the first DVD I bought.
What was interesting to me was, after some experiments, finding out which DVDs the PS2 doesn't get along with. For example, in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, there are some scenes where the screen flashes white, and the PS2 just flips out and glitches for a second.
The DVD player function was never a draw for me, but I had special circumstances. When I was in Japan I entered a sweepstakes for Mandarake. They were planning on entering the US market. So I signed up on their US site for the sweepstakes, and won a DVD player. It was one of the early sub-$500 models and was actually a really well-featured player. It still works even today, because it's a Pioneer and is awesome. (DV-414 for anyone who cares.)
So, basically, when I got back from Japan there was a DVD player waiting for me, and I went back to college fall of 1999 with a DVD player. Only person I knew at college with one. I actually had to save my $$ for a while to buy a DVD to play in it (I think my first DVD was the Pioneer Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki box set: cost like $100). So I already had a DVD player when the Dreamcast came out, and I though the Dreamcast was pretty boss and didn't have any need for the PS2. I spend so much time collecting clearance/closeout DC titles that I didn't have any money (I was poor right after college for a while, paying off a car and rent and whatnot) or time for anything newer until the Gamebox Advance SP.
For anyone else, trying to decide between $399 for a dedicated DVD player or for a system that also plays games, maybe that calculus is a lot easier. For me, I already had a much better DVD player.