With the phasing out of PS2 games slowly coming to a close, I felt a nostalgic need to look back on the PS2 and all the great games, memories, and hours spent enhancing my thumb mobility, my eye to button coordination, and just plain having fun.

I suppose in a way this is my last salute to a great system that soon will no longer have its honored place among my other gaming platforms. It is true, the time for the PS3 is at hand, and sadly I will wrap up the cables to the PS2, place it reverently in a box, and then with a sadness only a gamer can know I will take the box out to the garage, and slowly, forget about it.

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I remember when the PS2 first came out. How you had to be on a waiting list to even have a chance at getting one. I remember thinking I would be smart and put myself on the list for the expected second wave only to be bumped by all the first wave people.

However eventually I had my PS2 and while at first there were not many games for it, they did come. I remember the marvel of Final Fantasy X, the sheer craziness of Ratchet and Clank. I remember one week I was sick and how even though I was sick, having a PS2 made being sick a little less hard to handle.

How many times did I stay up far to late with the promise to myself I would turn the game off after I completed this final level? How many days at work did I float in a zombie like haze, yet the instant I got home and turned on the console found a new burst of energy make its way through my body?

Finally how many times did I witness my wonderful wife roll her eyes as I held the baby in my lap and played a game telling the baby about all the secrets and easter eggs to be found.

To tell the truth, I almost don’t ever want to put away my PS2, I know that eventually no new games will come out for it. I know that sooner or later I will need to make room for the PS3. Yet I can’t help but feel my time with my PS2 is still not quite done…