After two days with the PS2, playing more than half of the available launch titles, I am impressed with its potential but distinctly underwhelmed by the gaming experience it offers for now. Unlike Nintendo's Mario or Dreamcast's Sonic, the PS2 has no broadly appealing title that wows us with the machine's potential. In specific genre titles (Madden, SSX, UT, Smuggler's Run, etc.) experienced players will of course see an incremental improvement in graphics and sound over what is available on the Dreamcast. And all of those titles are very well done. But “incremental” is the key word. The PS2 may be a quantum leap beyond the Playstation, but in many ways the Dreamcast seems to have stolen the PS2's thunder when it comes to 3D graphics. Sega got most of us used to seeing near PC quality 3D objects on our TV screens. In that context, the PS2's launch titles are good, even fun to play. But for now they do not point to any kind of gaming revolution.

The one killer app here is the DVD player. More than a few people in my circle of friends deliberately put off buying a standalone DVD player this year because they planned to use the PS2. In fact, among the few who did get their units this week, many already are spending more time discovering the world of DVD rentals than they are playing the uneven batch of launch titles. I would say my friends were wise in waiting for the PS2, because its basic DVD performance may not be stellar but it is good enough for most people, at least for now. For gamers who don't already have a DVD player, this $300 dual-function unit is a bargain – unless of course you're bidding for it on eBay.