KEY POINTS:
For all the adventurous gamers who are exploring the new consoles, there are still thousands of happy campers clinging to their PS2 and horde of games - in fact others are taking advantage of the lower price of the console these days by grabbing it new or purchasing second hand.
So far there is no sign of the flow of PS2 titles slowing although that day may well come. Anyway, there are years of great titles available second hand even if PS2 production stopped now.
One of the reasons is not only the huge range of genres but that the PS2, before the Wii, was the interactive console that ventured into fun party games.
This trend has continued on this Christmas. While SingStar is appearing for the first time on PS3, the flow of SingStar - it almost feels like a flood - continues on PS2, the latest being SingStar Rock Ballads (Sony: rated G). As always, the mix includes plenty for those with a fondess for classic hits like Cyndi Lauper's Time after Time (back in 1984 when girls just wanted to have fun!), Nilsson's Without You (1971) , T'pau's China In Your Hand (1987) or Queen's The Show Must Go On (1991).
EyeToy Play's latest is Astro Zoo (Sony, rated G) which the young ones will enjoy with its more than 60 mini games. Kids play as a space zookeeper rounding up the animals after a meteor shower messed up the environment.
RPG fans will find a Christmas sci-fi combat treat in Rogue Galaxy (Sony, rated PG) with the promise of more than 100 hours gameplay from the Japanese developer that created the highly regarded Dark Cloud series and Dragon Quest VIII.
Dragonball Z is still a big deal for teens especially and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (Atari) is the latest (but last for PS2) in the 3D fighting game series with 150 playable characters, enhanced fighting techniques, more realistic character effects, and over 20 battle stages.
For the youngsters, Bee Movie Game (Activision, rated PG and also on other consoles) will keep young fans of the Seinfield movie happy as they, playing the movie chracter, courageous Barry B. Benson, race, chase, fly, and blast their way through the bee world in an adventure to save the bee's production of honey.
