March Madness USA

The NCAA March Madness series is the main NCAA basketball series published by EA Sports, only on the two next-gen consoles (PS2 and Xbox) as of 2004.

The PlayStation 2 (abbreviated “PS2″) is Sony’s second video game console, the successor to the successful PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3 as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was released subsequently after a year in Japan.

The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and is the best-selling console to date, reaching total sales of 120 million console units by October 26th, 2007.  On November 19, 2005, the PS2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch.

Only a few million people had obtained consoles by the end of 2000 due to manufacturing delays.  The PS2 was so popular after its release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves. Another popular option was purchasing the console online through auction websites such as eBay. The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console’s backward compatibility, selling over 900,000 units in the first weekend in Japan. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation — another major selling point over the competition. Later, Sony gained steam with new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers.

A notable piece of advertising for the PS2 launch was accompanied by the popular “PS9″ television commercial. 9 was to be the epitome of development, which the PS2 was the next step on the way towards. The ad also presaged the development of a portable (first released in Japan on December 12, 2004).

Many analysts predicted a close three-way matchup between the PS2 and competitors Microsoft’s Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (which was the cheapest of the three consoles and had an open market of games); however, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season maintained sales momentum and held off the PS2’s rivals.