Playstation 2 Modems

Fellow UG member Infernos put together this great post about a little known part of the Playstation 2's online history.  While I never used the PS2 online via LAN, I did enjoy the Sega Dreamcast's build in 56k modem.  Yep used it so much I bought the Sega keyboard for $20.  Good times.  Many thanks to Infernos!

There were external USB modem for the PlayStation 2 available, in Japan only though. They attached through USB and allowed for 56K connections.
Like demonstrated in this pic below:

And since this stuff isn't that well documented at all, I thought I give it a try and shine a little light on them.

So here we go, as far as I could tell there were 6 of them in total:

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SUNTAC OnlineStation
 

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IO Data P2GATE

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AIWA PV-PS200

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Omron Viaggio ME56PS2

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Buffalo IGM-UB56PS2C
 

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ASCII MODEM USB

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And finally, here's the software (not all of these are games, mind you) that supported these USB Modems:

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Armored Core 2: Another Age
Armored Core 3
Battle Gear 2 (aka Tokyo Road Race)
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001
Chou! Rakushii Internet Tomodachi Nowa
Cyber Jansou
EGBrowser
Eisei Meijin VI
Final Fantasy XI
The Seed
Taikyoku Mahjong: Net de Ron!

The titles that were also released in the West (US and/or Europe) are in bold.
And as you can probably tell - out of those games that made it to the West, only FFXI carried over the online features.  Plus, I think it's safe to say that the online servers for these have been shut down a long time ago.
Well, hope you folks enjoyed this little history lesson Cheers! -Infernos

Reprogrammable NES cart

As featured before on this site there are some great aftermarket ROM readin' carts out there.  This fearless blogger has bypassed the $100+ price of these carts and started himself. Using two AT49F002 (256K) flash chips and some basic code recompilation he has created his own home brew vision.  I applaud  this project because now he can load any new home brew and any other misc rom straight through his nes.  There, as always, are a few issues with this project as it is currently.  One is the various mappers that Nintendo used throughout the nes's long lifespan. You see the NES sucked, hardware wise.  So too bypass the lack of power in the system they added it on the cart where it mattered.  The same idea was used later withe the Super Nintendo the the carts supporting the FX chip, like starfox and that horrible racing game.  Anywho, the other issues is that you would need to program the eprom chips with a piece of hardware know as a eprom programmer.  These gadgets range anywhere from $40-$500 bucks and unless you know what you are doing they are simply worthless.  This is one of those project I would like to tackle before I die  Or perhaps I may just hop over to retrousd.com and buy one outright. Either way THIS is a nicely detailed and informative site totally worht checking out! kaokensho

Old School Hybrid

Some may say that this mod isn't all that but as a big fan of the Playstation One I think that this mod has merit.  This modder placed a 1st generation PS1 into his son's PC case.   I think hybrid hardware is always cool.  The frightning thing is the very exposed PSX CD drive on the side.  There must be some sort of clam shell cover that could be added to protect it.  You can check out the modders site @ afrotechmods.   -kaokensho

Keep Dreamin'

For many many the Sega Dreamcast holds a special place in our hearts...not so much in our Cadillac. Don't get me wrong I know for a fact that 99% of the auto industry's built in video games are mere shadows of games that were never fun in the first place.   However, I just can't help but wonder about the technical issues here.  For example the Dreamcast uses a disc drive!  I understand that the Cadillac offers a smooth ride but this is the real world we're talking about. It also appears that the side cooling vents are covered, possibly leading to a shorter lifespan. If it needs to be portable than let's go back to the early 80's where the original portable entertainment system was born....the BOOMBOX!  There are many great DIY projects to check out on the Chinese based blog XCKDIY.  Of course there is much more there such as Gamecube and GBA projects as well.  There is more show then tell but Google Chrome will translate into English if you choose to do so. Oh yes and the Caddy mod is American made and not featured with the cool kids on XCKDIY.  Toodles! -kaokensho

Handheld Gamecube

The disc reader sits under the LCD display, which hinges up for access, and there are all the usual controls culled from an original Game Cube controller.  No word on how long it too nor how much it cost to put together, though.

To be fair, it’s apparently not entirely portable, since there’s no battery compartment; instead you have to plug it into an AC adapter.  Techknott made it on commission for someone, so if you like the style and handiwork and you want a classic console twisted into a portable housing, it might be worth giving him a shout.

Originally posted on slashgear-kaokensho