Peripherals!

At £300 for the console itself, you may be a little disappointed at only receiving one controller and a Demo Disc, and buyers who haven't picked up any games to speak of will certainly be feeling the boredom setting in about now. After all there's only so much fun you can have sticking PlayStation 1 titles into the new machine and seeing how they have been affected. Of course it's not hard to understand why people are unwilling to fork out for the likes of Wild Wild Racing and Wetrix 2, but peripheral sales have been quite impressive we're led to understand. We took a little time out to find out just what you can get your hands on today in the UK. The most popular purchase seems to be an additional controller or an 8Mb Memory Card, but third party peripherals including a "Jolt" controller from Joytech and a Thrustmaster 360 Modena steering wheel for racing sims have also reared their heads. Other things you could pick up include a vertical stand (this at least has a genuine use), a horizontal stand (a bit like putting your car on a trolley), a DVD/CD remote control and the slightly more practical multitap. Whether many gamers can justify spending £25 on this along with £20 times however many controllers extra they want is questionable. I would think it difficult. One of the most pointless things you can do though, if you can be bothered, is create your own vertical stand! It'll save you £10, so don't knock it. Luckily, all you need is the original box your PS2 came in. Unfasten it all and flatten the box out. The shape is somewhat odd, but don't let that perturb you. Rip off (odd turn of phrase, yet strangely appropriate.. hrm) both of the side panels (the ones with the PS2 logo on them), and crease them carefully after measuring them around the PS2's base itself. Using sellotape, complete the Blue Peter esque cardboard stand by fastening your little bracket down onto one of the remaining flat panels of the box. Now estimate carefully where the controller slots / memory card slots sit and using scissors cut out a hole large enough for both, or if you're a real perfectionist two holes! Done that? Then you really have wasted ten minutes. But have no fear, you will be admired up and down the land, and if you get bored of it, it makes a superb bed for the cat.