Among the biggest news announcements at this year's Gamers' Day were final details on the U.S. release of the PS2 hard drive. Sony has insisted that they would only put out the HDD here in the States (it's been out in Japan for over a year now) if/when they felt "the market was ready," and after the success of the Xbox's built-in hard drive and the added value of downloadable content via Xbox Live made obvious, it seems they're ready to agree with the big M.



While you may have a Network Adapter, the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the key to experiencing online gaming on the PlayStation 2 to the fullest. It's capabilities allow for the storage of downloadable content, faster load times on a your PS2, and even the ability to create your own jukebox. SCEA appears to be taking a step in the right direction of enhancing technology by allowing the PlayStation 2 to be the all-in-one entertainment system for games, movies, and even music. The Hard Disk Drive will build into this foundation by allowing users to receive the ultimate gaming experience (let us not forget that the PlayStation 2 is a gaming system for most of us) from their little black brick. Here's the poo:





The Specs



To put it as simply as possible, the main purpose of the Hard Disk Drive is to you allow you to do more "stuff" as well as store more "stuff" on your PS2. You have a hard drive on your personal computer, right? The HDD serves basically the same purpose, acting as a storage medium that will hopefully end the days of lost memory cards. And while the HDD will be perfect for storage solutions, it's truly meant to work its magic on online gaming. Sony has only begun its plan to creep into the online world via the PlayStation 2. The Network Adapter was a solid start, but the big S sees the HDD are the follow-up that will turn the average PS2 owner into an online gaming extraordinaire.



To kick things off with actually explaining HDD's specs, let's take a look at its gaming capabilities first. The Hard Disk Drive will serve for a variety of helpful purposes when attached to the Network Adapter (yes, that is how you set it up, and it will obviously require that you have the NA to properly connect it). Most importantly may be its space; the HDD includes 40GB of storage. When games utilize the HDD, players will be able to download content for the game, extras such as new levels, missions, and characters, onto their HDD, as well as acting as a cache and offering a bed for full installations (as in the case of Final Fantasy XI) to speed up load times.



Gaming is not the only PlayStation 2 aspect that will be enhanced by the Hard Disk Drive, however; Gamers will finally be able to store and customize music, as well as enable custom soundtracks in supported games via their HDD-rigged PS2 like Xbox owners. The foundation of this will be the unique media player included on the HDD that allows for playback and storage of MP3s, CDs, and the like – the music-related options you usually rely on your PC for. Amazingly, the HDD's media player will also incorporate a photo manager allowing users to store, display and even edit digital photos. Game saves will be located in a dedicated directory (not surprisingly titled My Game Saves), though it's not clear yet have games that were previously programmed to handle memory cards will work.



The Online Games



A good amount of current PlayStation 2 games have explored in the online gaming genre by allowing online play with their titles, and it's become an almost unspoken understanding that if developers offer multiplayer, there should be some form of online play. Newer games will piggyback on top of the NA use and include HDD support for the aforementioned downloadable extras that help keep games fresh even months after they've been beaten. To kick start things, SCEA and Square Enix will include a pre-installed full version copy of Final Fantasy XI on the hard drive. While they're still playing around with the pricing options, current plans point at a 30 day free trial and a finalized price point of $12.95/mo after that.



There are also plans to include sneak-peek product demos from a variety of publishers, and even TBA PlayStation 2 titles, all pre-installed as a part of the package. Though Final Fantasy XI is the first U.S. game to use the HDD, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs will actually get the jump on it with it's release in November before the release of the peripheral, as will Sony's Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. To get a better idea of the library that's already available, as well as what's coming in the near future, we've compiled a list of every online-enabled game that'll be available this year, as well as a few into 2004. HDD-enabled titles are marked with an appropriate tag.



Available Now



[li]All-Star Baseball 2004[/li]

[li]Amplitude[/li]

[li]ATV Offroad Fury2[/li]

[li]Auto Modellista[/li]

[li]Chessmaster[/li]

[li]ESPN NFL Football[/li]

[li]ESPN NHL Hockey[/li]

[li]EverQuest Online[/li]

[li]Madden NFL 2003[/li]

[li]Madden NFL 2004[/li]

[li]My Street[/li]

[li]NBA Live 2003[/li]

[li]NCAA Football 2004[/li]

[li]NCAA GameBreaker 2004[/li]

[li]NFL GameDay 2003[/li]

[li]NFL GameDay 2004[/li]

[li]SEGA Sports NBA 2K3[/li]

[li]SEGA Sports NCAA College Basketball 2K3[/li]

[li]SEGA Sports NFL 2K3[/li]

[li]SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs[/li]

[li]Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4[/li]

[li]Tribes Aerial Assault[/li]

[li]Twisted Metal: Black ONLINE[/li]





Fall/Winter 2003



[li]Deer Hunter (available October 28, 2003) [/li]

[li]ESPN NBA Basketball (available October 2003) [/li]

[li]ESPN College Hoops (available November 2003) [/li]

[li]EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers (November 17, 2003)[/li]

[li]FIFA Soccer 2004(available October 2003) [/li]

[li]NASCAR Thunder 2004 (available fall 2003) [/li]

[li]NBA Live 2004 (available October 2003) [/li]

[li]NBA ShootOut 2004 (available October 2003) [/li]

[li]NCAA March Madness 2004 (available November 2003) [/li]

[li]NCAA Final Four 2004 (available November 2003) [/li]

[li]Need for Speed Underground (available fall 2003) [/li]

[li]NFL Blitz Pro (available October 20, 2003) [/li]

[li]NHL 2004 (available September 2003) [/li]

[li]NHL Hitz Pro (available September 26, 2003) [/li]

[li]Risk: Global Domination (available December 28, 2003) [/li]

[li]SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs (available November 2003) [/li]

[li]SSX 3 (available October 2003) [/li]

[li]The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King (available fall 2003) [/li]

[li]The Sims Bustin' Out (available December 2003) [/li]

[li]Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (available September 23, 2003) [/li]

[li]Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (available November 2003) [/li]

[li]Tony Hawk's Underground (available October 28, 2003) [/li]

[li]Trivial Pursuit Unhinged (available December 9, 2003) [/li]

[li]Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (available fall 2003) [/li]

[li]World Championship Pool 2004 (available November 11, 2003) [/li]

[li]XIII (available fall 2003) [/li]





2004



[li]Final Fantasy XI (available March 2004) [/li]

[li]Resident Evil Outbreak (available March 2003) [/li]

[li]Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (available February 2004) [/li]





Now that you know what's in store for you, here's when the HDD will actually be in stores. The PlayStation 2 Hard Disk Drive will be available in March 2004 for the suggested retail price of $99. It's a steep price to be sure – especially for what amounts to a $100 copy of Final Fantasy XI (there won't be a separate version of the game on store shelves) and a couple of demos, so we'll have to wait and see how the release goes next year. For those doubting the peripheral has legs, however, we invite you to take a look at the sales of the Network Adaptor, which have reached nearly 900,000 already. If there's one thing Sony can do, it's tout its own wares. Be sure to check back for more details on HDD-enabled games in the future.