GameStop Taking Your Used PS2s Again
On January 1, 2013, Sony Computer Entertainment Pictures Inc. officially stopped production of their most successful console to date, the Playstation 2. Six months later, on June 1, 2013, GameStop officially quit accepting trade-ins of the console.
Now they changed their minds. (Not Sony, GameStop, but wouldn’t that have been keen?) The PS2 is coming back, the ubiquitous electronics pawn shop annnounced in a press release today. You can once again trade in any model of the PS2 for $25 in-store credit, or if you’re missing an important component like the controller or power cable, for $20 in-store credit. Refurbished PS2s will be available at most GameStops soon for $50. This is all fortunate news, as the resell value of the average PS2 was starting to creep up (a fact GS no doubt noticed).
What about the games? Well, believe it or not, GameStop has never actually stopped selling PS2 discs. You just haven’t been noticing them because they are mainly disc-only, sold in crude dirty envelopes jammed into one shelf. If you sold your collection and want to build it back up, I’d recommend online markets or one of those indie stores.
If your video game library doesn’t include a PS2, it should. No other console ever sold has such a wide variety of games, not to mention a complete absence of DRM, DLC, in-game purchases or any other such headaches of the modern age. It might look blocky on your HD set, but no console produced in the current market can come close to the PS2’s record.
It’s even better if you can find a backwards-compatible PS3, for the six months it will last you before it overheats and dies. On second thought, go for the PS2.