WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2020PS2, I LOVE YOU
The console redefined gaming – and its impact can be felt throughout
modern culture. Ed Power reminisces on its rise
Recognise these? PS2 games are woven into the cultural fabric (Alamy/Sony)
In December 2000, reports began to circulate within intelligence communities in the United States and
Europe of a powerful new technology acquired by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It would allow Saddam to
upgrade his guided missile programme and place many targets in the west within reach, went the
whisperings. The name of the technology was the Sony PlayStation 2.
Speculation that Saddam was “hoarding” hundreds of box-fresh PS2s in order to harness their extraordinary
processing power was eventually debunked. But not before the Pentagon had thoroughly investigated the
rumours. Sony, meanwhile, had to obtain a special permit from the Tokyo Trade Ministry to export a device
that, in theory at least, “could be adapted for military use”. At that point, eight months after the PlayStation