A trade name , trading name , or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name . Registering the fictitious name with a relevant government body is often required.
115-490: Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. , doing business as Harmonix , is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts . The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy . Harmonix is perhaps best known as being the developer of music video games series Dance Central and Rock Band , as well as being the original developer and creator of
230-431: A Dragon Quest VIII "slime" controller, a Final Fantasy X-2 "Tiny Bee" dual pistol controller, an Onimusha 3 katana controller, and a Resident Evil 4 chainsaw controller. Optional hardware includes additional DualShock or DualShock 2 controllers, a PS2 DVD remote control , an internal or external hard disk drive (HDD), a network adapter, horizontal and vertical stands, PlayStation or PS2 memory cards ,
345-657: A digital video recorder and DVD burner in addition to playing PS2 games. The device was released in Japan on 13 December 2003, and was the first Sony product to include the XrossMediaBar interface. It did not sell well in the Japanese market and was not released anywhere else. PlayStation 2 users had the option to play select games over the Internet , using dial-up or a broadband Internet connection . The PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor
460-474: A "safe bet" despite not being the "newest or most powerful", noting that the console "yields in-game graphics with more jagged edges". CNET also criticized the DVD playback functionality, claiming that the console's video quality was "passable" and that the playback controls were "rudimentary", recommending users to purchase a remote control. The console's two controller ports and the high cost of its memory cards were also
575-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with
690-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In
805-535: A PC joystick . This product only sold about 300 copies, with Rigopulos and Egozy realizing that people, while initially entranced by the game, lost interest after 15 minutes of playing with it. Harmonix then designed "CamJam", which performed similar functions, this time using simple body gestures to trigger music sequences. CamJam was utilized at Disney theme parks. This led the two to consider approaching entertainment businesses like Dave & Buster's to include their products, but they soon realized that this would be
920-469: A computer music generation system that could algorithmically create music on the fly, the two considered how one could use a joystick to control the system, and set up a demonstration of the unit for the Lab, which gained interest from others in the Lab. The two realized that after graduation that they probably couldn't pursue such ideas working at any existing companies, so they chose to start their own. The company
1035-476: A contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from
1150-403: A controller for a futuristic extreme sports game. However, the game was poorly-received by critics, despite selling four times as many copies as FreQuency or Amplitude . These results left Rigopulos and Egozy depressed about the prospects for music games. At this time, RedOctane , a peripheral manufacturing company that had enjoyed Harmonix' previous games, approached Harmonix about developing
1265-571: A counter-suit in September 2011, suing Harmonix for $ 131 million believing the $ 150 million payout was overcalculated. In late 2011, BDO USA , the contract-assigned arbitrator on the matter, concluded that Viacom owed $ 383 million to Harmonix in addition to the money already paid out, a total of $ 708 million when combined with the initial purchase by Viacom and initial $ 150 million advance payment in 2007. Viacom disputed this figure, claiming that BDO's report excluded specific evidence supplied by Viacom. Of
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#17328560793691380-532: A decentralized model of online gaming where the responsibility is up to the developer to provide the servers, Sony's moves made online gaming a major selling point of the PS2. In September 2004, Sony revealed a newer, slimmer model of the PlayStation 2. In preparation for the launch of the new models (SCPH-700xx-9000x), Sony stopped making the older models (SCPH-3000x-500xx) to let the distribution channel empty its stock of
1495-486: A few weeks prior. There were shortages in more than 1,700 shops in North America on the day before Christmas. In 2010, Sony introduced a TV with a built-in PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 continued to be produced until 2013 when Sony announced that it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production—one of the longest lifespans of any video game console. New games for the console continued to be made until
1610-460: A larger team at Harmonix, many of whom were musicians. Featuring songs by a number of underground electronica artists, FreQuency allowed players to perform and remix a variety of music. The game was backed by SCEA Vice President of Product Development, Shuhei Yoshida . Released in 2001 on the PlayStation 2 , FreQuency was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards, though it failed to become
1725-517: A mainstream soundtrack and that the gameplay was difficult to connect to if one was not playing the game. After Amplitude , Harmonix was approached by Konami to create the Karaoke Revolution franchise. Konami, known for their Bemani line of music games, wanted to distribute their games in the United States, and Harmonix was the only music game developer in the country at the time. Konami
1840-406: A mainstream success. Harmonix developed a sequel, Amplitude , released in 2003. Several changes were made to its predecessor to broaden the game's appeal, from gameplay tweaks to a more mainstream soundtrack. And again, Amplitude achieved awards, critical praise, and a small cult following, but it was not a financial hit. The two attributed the poor response to the games due in part to the lack of
1955-438: A maximum colour depth of 16.7 million true colours . When accounting for features such as lighting , texture mapping , artificial intelligence , and game physics , the console has a real-world performance of 25 million polygons per second. The PlayStation 2 also features two USB ports, and one IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port for SCPH-10000 to 3900x models only. A hard disk drive can be installed in an expansion bay on
2070-480: A new title, Chroma , co-developed with Hidden Path Entertainment , which combines their music genre experience with first-person shooters . The players' actions are timed to the music in the game, influencing their effect with certain actions like gunfire, grenade explosions, and team healing. Chroma was planned for release in late 2014 on Microsoft Windows systems via Steam . In May 2014, along with about 37 layoffs, Alex Rigopulos stepped aside from CEO to become
2185-571: A part of MTV, Rock Band expanded upon the design of Guitar Hero by incorporating three different peripherals: guitar/bass, microphone, and drums. Harmonix continued to support the game after its initial release by offering a variety of downloadable songs to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 players on a weekly basis. As of March 2013 over 4,000 songs have been made available as downloadable content , with over 100 million songs downloaded. In October 2008, Harmonix, along with MTV Games , announced an exclusive agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. to produce
2300-416: A point of criticism. The slim model of the PlayStation 2 received positive reviews for its incredibly small size and built-in networking but received criticism for easily overheating due to the exclusion of the original model's built-in fan. The requirement for a separate power adapter was criticized while the top-loading disc drive was noted as being less likely to break compared to the tray-loading drive of
2415-403: A priority" for the team. On January 17, 2024, Harmonix announced that they would discontinue Rock Band 4 DLC, with the final DLC pack released on January 25, 2024. The company noted that "if you are a fan of the rhythm game category, Fortnite Festival is the place to be". Doing business as In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a ) is used to designate
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#17328560793692530-552: A publishing deal in August 2018 for an unspecified title developed by Harmonix and published by NCSoft across personal computers and console systems. This was revealed in February 2020 as Fuser , a DJ-inspired title to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 , Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in late 2020. Players, as a DJ, interactively mix tracks of popular licensed songs alongside specific rules as they appear on screen. Harmonix
2645-407: A realization that games like karaoke were popular not due to personal expression, but because they encouraged players to try to accurately recreate the songs through their actions. These games also focused on bringing musical experiences to gamers through simple, understandable interfaces commonly found in games. With this realization, the two returned to the United States and regrouped their company as
2760-434: A second console around the time of the original PlayStation's launch in late 1994. At some point during development, employees from Argonaut Games , under contract for semiconductor manufacturer LSI Corporation , were instructed to design a rendering chip for Sony's upcoming console. Jez San , founder of Argonaut, recalled that his team had no direct contact with Sony during the development process. Unbeknownst to him, Sony
2875-464: A similar approach to Rock Band , allowing players to match notes to popular songs, while also offering a "jam" mode that allows players to mix parts from different songs, as in Dropmix or Fuser . According to Rigopulos, the company plans to treat Fortnite Festival as a live-service musical experience for Fortnite . He also confirmed plans for instrument controller support, describing it as "very much
2990-434: A simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between a registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name,
3105-451: A specific task, integrated onto the same die . These units include a central CPU core, two Vector Processing Units (VPU), a 10-channel DMA unit, a memory controller , and an Image Processing Unit (IPU). There are three interfaces: an input output interface to the I/O processor running at a clock speed of 36.864 MHz, a graphics interface to the graphics synthesiser, and a memory interface to
3220-548: A standalone title based on the Rock Band premise and featuring the music of The Beatles , to be released late in 2009. The Beatles: Rock Band features a visual and musical history of the Beatles, and includes 45 songs from their 1962-69 tenure with EMI , using United Kingdom-released versions of their albums Please Please Me through Abbey Road . The developers have worked with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to gain input on
3335-451: A television as long as there is access to mains electricity or a similar power source. These screens can fold down onto the PS2 in a similar fashion to laptop screens. There are many accessories for musical games, such as dance pads for Dance Dance Revolution , In the Groove , and Pump It Up titles and High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance . Konami microphones for use with
3450-429: A total of 10,035 software titles had been released worldwide including games released in multiple regions as separate titles. Initial reviews of the PlayStation 2 from 2000 highly acclaimed the console, with reviewers commending its hardware and graphics capabilities, its ability to play DVDs, and the system's backward compatibility with games and hardware for the original PlayStation. Early points of criticism included
3565-413: A trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when a businessperson writes a trade name on
Harmonix - Misplaced Pages Continue
3680-471: A trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as " is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using
3795-482: A video game developer, though they had to let about 40% of their current staff go. Harmonix' first major video game was Frequency , with its development funded by Sony Computer Entertainment along with about $ 2 million in investments in the company. A key factor of Harmonix' contract with Sony was that it was allowed to keep its intellectual property , which allowed Harmonix to build on the game for its future endeavours. The game's development began in 1999, backed by
3910-514: A year to a year-and-a-half effort, too long for their needs. They then considered the entertainment industry in Japan , which in 1997, was taking off with the introduction of karaoke bars and music video games such as PaRappa the Rapper , Beatmania , and Dance Dance Revolution . They attempted to sell their CamJam equipment to these entertainment centers but found little interest for it. They came to
4025-488: Is available for the system to connect to older TVs. The PlayStation 2 has undergone many revisions, some only of internal construction and others involving substantial external changes. The PS2 is primarily differentiated between models featuring the original "fat" case design and "slimline" models, which were introduced at the end of 2004. In 2010, the Sony Bravia KDL-22PX300 was made available to consumers. It
4140-505: Is called a razón social . PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 ( PS2 ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment . It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, in Australia on 30 November 2000, and other regions thereafter. It is the successor to the PlayStation , as well as
4255-463: Is distributed on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM; the two formats are differentiated by their discs' bottoms, with CD-ROMs being blue and DVD-ROMs being silver. The PlayStation 2 offered some particularly high-profile exclusive games. Most main entries in the Grand Theft Auto , Final Fantasy , and Metal Gear Solid series were released exclusively for the console. Several prolific series got their start on
4370-498: Is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of the corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina ,
4485-516: The Guitar Hero series before development moved to Neversoft and Vicarious Visions . Harmonix was founded on May 10, 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy , who met while attending MIT . Egozy was an electrical/computer engineer with an interest in music, while Rigopulos was a music composition major with an interest in programming; both met while working in the MIT Media Lab . After building
4600-509: The Karaoke Revolution games, dual microphones (sold with and used exclusively for SingStar games), various "guitar" controllers (for the Guitar Freaks series and Guitar Hero series), the drum set controller (sold in a box set (or by itself) with a "guitar" controller and a USB microphone (for use with Rock Band and Guitar Hero series, World Tour and newer), and a taiko drum controller for Taiko: Drum Master . Unlike
4715-482: The Wall Street Journal , the sale of Harmonix was heavily discounted, possibly as low as fifty dollars, the equivalent of a fire sale and allowing Viacom to claim certain tax benefits; meanwhile, the new independent owners would assume all ongoing liability for Harmonix' projects, including music licensing fees and unsold inventory. Viacom later affirmed that they received nearly $ 115 million in tax benefits from
Harmonix - Misplaced Pages Continue
4830-558: The Nintendo DS reached 100 million shipments in 4 years and 5 months from its launch. By July 2009, the system had sold 138.8 million units worldwide, with 51 million of those units sold in PAL regions . By 31 March 2012, over 155 million PlayStation 2 units were sold worldwide, and in the same year, Sony officially stopped supplying updated sales numbers of the system. On 29 March 2024, Jim Ryan (CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment) stated on
4945-630: The Rock Band series in 2007, the shareholders are due a substantially larger sum for continued success in 2008, as determined by their proxy, Walter Winshall. Viacom countered the claims, stating that Winshall rejected various offers made by Viacom for the payout. The lawsuit also contends that Viacom has withheld $ 13 million in payouts from 2007, which Viacom had claimed at the time were to cover potential losses in patent lawsuits that were initiated against Harmonix by Activision and Gibson which have since been settled out of court. Viacom has stated it would "vigorously" defend itself in this lawsuit, and initiated
5060-459: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use
5175-431: The multitap accessory. There was, however, some concern about the system's abilities following the lack of anti-aliasing in the two most popular early titles, Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament . It was exacerbated for a period of time post-launch amid concerns about the relative lack of new quality software. This situation was eventually turned around following a spate of big and highly acclaimed games in
5290-500: The multitap for PlayStation or PS2, a USB motion camera ( EyeToy ), a USB keyboard and mouse , and a headset . The original PS2 multitap (SCPH-10090) cannot be plugged into the newer slim models. The multitap connects to the memory card slot and the controller slot, and the memory card slot on the slimline is shallower. New slim-design multitaps (SCPH-70120) were manufactured for these models; however, third-party adapters also permit original multitaps to be used. Early versions of
5405-460: The $ 383 million owed to Harmonix, Viacom agreed to pay $ 84 million in part to settle the 2007 payments, leaving the dispute for the 2008 payments in court. In August 2012, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed Viacom's claims, and ordered the company to pay Harmonix the remaining $ 299 million, though Viacom stated that it was seeking what further options it had. Viacom appealed the decision, but
5520-557: The 2001 holiday season with the release of several blockbuster games that maintained the PS2's sales momentum and held off its newer rivals. Sony also countered the Xbox by securing timed PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty . In a 2002 article analysis of the system up to that point, Edge noted: Now, 18 months on, things are looking much rosier for PS2 owners. Developers are coming to terms with
5635-483: The Harmonix sale. Following the purchase, Harmonix underwent a restructuring in February 2011, laying off about 12-15% of the 240-person staff. Shortly after this, Activision announced it was shuttering its Guitar Hero division and cancelling planned games for 2011, which many journalists considered to mark the end of the rhythm game genre; Harmonix's Director of Communications, John Drake, in response to this closure, called
5750-527: The Kinect-enabled Fantasia: Music Evolved produced in association with Disney Interactive . The game is based around the animated film Fantasia , and puts the player in control of music in a manner similar to Harmonix' previous rhythm games, affecting the virtual environment and interactive objects within it. The game is based on licensed contemporary rock music such as Queen and Bruno Mars . In February 2014, Harmonix announced
5865-692: The Official PlayStation Podcast that the PlayStation 2 had sold over 160 million units worldwide. This statement was not corroborated by Sony directly until nearly eight months later, with this figure appearing on the PlayStation 30th Anniversary website on 26 November 2024. Using homebrew programs, it is possible to play various audio and video file formats on a PS2. Homebrew programs can also play patched backups of original PS2 DVD games on unmodified consoles and install retail discs to an installed hard drive on older models. Homebrew emulators of older computer and gaming systems have been developed for
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#17328560793695980-437: The PS2 could be networked via an i.LINK port, though this had little game support and was dropped. Some third-party manufacturers have created devices that allow disabled people to access the PS2 through ordinary switches, etc. Some third-party companies, such as Joytech , have produced LCD monitor and speaker attachments for the PS2, which attach to the back of the console. These allow users to play games without access to
6095-454: The PS2 remained the only sixth-generation console for over 6 months before it faced competition from new rivals: Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox . Many analysts predicted a close three-way matchup among the three consoles. The Xbox had the most powerful hardware, while the GameCube was the least expensive console, and Nintendo changed its policy to encourage third-party developers. While
6210-551: The PlayStation 2 theoretically had the weakest hardware of the three, it had a head start due to its installed base plus strong developer commitment, as well as a built-in DVD player (the Xbox required an adapter, while the GameCube lacked support entirely). The PlayStation 2's initial games lineup was considered mediocre, with a lack of quality games especially amid the expectations of its hardware capabilities (partly caused due to its complex architecture for developers). This changed during
6325-551: The PlayStation 2, including God of War , Ratchet & Clank , Jak and Daxter , Devil May Cry , Kingdom Hearts , and Sly Cooper . Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best-selling game on the console. Game releases peaked in 2004, but declined with the release of the PlayStation 3 in 2006. The last new games for the console were Final Fantasy XI : Seekers of Adoulin in Asia, FIFA 14 in North America, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 in Europe. As of 30 June 2007,
6440-424: The PlayStation, which requires the use of an official Sony PlayStation Mouse to play mouse-compatible games, the few PS2 games with mouse support work with a standard USB mouse as well as a USB trackball . In addition, some of these games also support the usage of a USB keyboard for text input, game control (instead of a DualShock or DualShock 2 gamepad, in tandem with a USB mouse), or both. PlayStation 2 software
6555-460: The QA department. On 11 November 2010, Viacom stated that it was in talks with potential buyers for Harmonix, having already marked the unit as a discontinued operation to write off a $ 299 million loss for its 2010 third-quarter earnings statement. Such talks had been in place since September 2010, before the release of either Rock Band 3 or Dance Central . Viacom president and CEO, Philippe Dauman, stated
6670-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,
6785-529: The acquisition by MTV in December 2006, the initial discussion between Dhani Harrison , son of George Harrison , and MTV President Van Toffler occurred that would eventually lead to meetings between Harmonix and Apple Corps, Ltd. , leading to the creation of The Beatles: Rock Band , though this was not publicly revealed until late 2008. Harmonix released Rock Band in November 2007. As Harmonix's first game as
6900-467: The advisory board for the crowdfunding site Fig , through which Harmonix would obtain funding for its next, yet-announced game. On 1 March 2016, Harmonix confirmed that the campaign was indeed to raise funds to port Rock Band 4 to the PC, but gamers would only have until 5 April to pledge US$ 1.5 million to make it happen. The campaign was unsuccessful raising a total of $ 792,817. Harmonix and NCSoft announced
7015-538: The announcement. In November 2008, Viacom paid Harmonix a $ 150 million bonus as part of the terms of the company's 2006 acquisition. The previous quarter's bonus was $ 150 million. In a 2009 survey of the best places to work in the Boston area, the Boston Globe ranked Harmonix as the 3rd best workplace overall, and the top mid-size business in its poll. On 10 December 2009, Harmonix laid off 39 of its employees, primarily in
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#17328560793697130-615: The back of the console, and is required to play certain games, notably the popular Final Fantasy XI . The system has 4 MB of Video RAM in the form of eDRAM . Software for the PlayStation 2 was distributed primarily on DVD-ROMs , with some titles being published on blue-tinted CD-ROM format. In addition, the console can play audio CDs and DVD films and is backward-compatible with almost all original PlayStation games. The PlayStation 2 also supports PlayStation memory cards and controllers, although original PlayStation memory cards will only work with original PlayStation games and
7245-513: The colour black as it represents the infinity of the universe. The blue represents the intelligence and life spouting up." —Teiyu Goto reflecting on the PlayStation 2's aesthetics Sony unveiled the PlayStation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show on 20 September 1999. Sony showed fully playable demos of upcoming PlayStation 2 games including Gran Turismo 2000 (later released as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec ) and Tekken Tag Tournament —which showed
7360-873: The company's chief creative officer, while Steve Janiak would take over as CEO. In March 2015, Harmonix announced their plan to return to Rock Band with the next major title in the series, Rock Band 4 . The new title, aimed to support backwards compatibility with all previous songs and instrument hardware, was aimed to be more of a platform for the eighth-generation consoles , the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One , as they have no plans to release another standalone title during this console generation but would continually provide free and paid features and content updates throughout its lifetime. Harmonix had $ 15 million in investor funding from Spark Capital and Foundry Group to support Rock Band 4 , Amplitude and additional projects going forward including virtual reality -based games. In September 2015, Rigopulos announced that he would go to
7475-601: The console continued to be released until shortly after the end of its life and support from Sony. Released in 1994, the original PlayStation proved to be a phenomenal worldwide success and signalled Sony's rise to power in the video game industry . Its launch elicited critical acclaim and strong sales; it eventually became the first computer entertainment platform to ship over 100 million units. The PlayStation enjoyed particular success outside Japan in part due to Sony's refined development kits , large-scale advertising campaigns, and strong third-party developer support. By
7590-500: The console with a smaller, lighter body officially known as the Slimline , popularly called the "PS2 Slim". Even after the release of its successor, the PlayStation 3 , it remained popular well into the seventh generation . It continued to be produced until the beginning of 2013 when Sony finally announced that it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production, one of the longest lifespans of any video game console. New games for
7705-519: The console's graphic abilities and power. The PS2 was launched in March 2000 in Japan, October in North America, and November in Europe. Sales of the console, games and accessories pulled in $ 250 million on the first day, beating the $ 97 million made on the first day of the Dreamcast. Directly after its release, it was difficult to find PS2 units on retailer shelves due to manufacturing delays. Another option
7820-476: The console, named the "Graphics Synthesizer". It has a fillrate of 2.4 gigapixels per second, capable of rendering up to 75 million polygons per second. The GPU also runs with a clock frequency of 147.456 MHz (which is half the clock speed of the Emotion Engine), 4 MB of DRAM is capable of transmitting a display output of 1280 x 1024 pixels on both PAL and NTSC televisions. The PlayStation 2 has
7935-685: The controllers may not support all functions (such as analogue buttons) for PlayStation 2 games. The standard PlayStation 2 memory card has an 8 megabyte (MB) capacity and features MagicGate encryption. There are a variety of non-Sony manufactured memory cards available for the PlayStation ;2, allowing for a memory capacity larger than the standard 8 MB. The PlayStation 2 can natively output video resolutions on SDTV and HDTV from 480i to 480p , and some games, such as Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy , are known to support up-scaled 1080i resolution. The PlayStation 2 supports
8050-522: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where
8165-478: The developers were doing well and in the news. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, commenting on the potential purchase of Harmonix by his company, called Harmonix a "falling knife" in regards to the diminishing size of the rhythm game market since 2009, and stated that "more people have been cut trying to catch falling knives than have benefited from getting the timing exactly right". John Drake of Harmonix affirmed that Viacom would continue to support Harmonix until
8280-437: The development of these games. Continued support of the Rock Band franchise has remained a "meaningful source of profitability" to Harmonix through 2011, according to Rigopulos. Bloomberg then projected that Harmonix would post $ 100 million in profit in 2011, based on sales of Dance Central and continued downloadable content for the game. At the onset of the 2013 E3 conference, Harmonix announced that its next title would be
8395-602: The end of 2013, including Final Fantasy XI : Seekers of Adoulin for Japan, and FIFA 14 for North America. The last game to be released on the PlayStation 2 is Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 , which was released in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2013. Repair services for the system in Japan ended on 7 September 2018. The PlayStation 2's main central processing unit (CPU) is the 64-bit R5900-based " Emotion Engine ", custom-designed by Sony and Toshiba . The Emotion Engine consists of eight separate "units", each performing
8510-421: The final quarter of 2001. Later reviews, especially after the launch of the competing GameCube and Xbox systems, continued to praise the PlayStation 2's large game library and DVD playback, while routinely criticizing the PlayStation 2's lesser graphics performance compared to the newer systems and its rudimentary online service compared to Xbox Live . In 2002, CNET rated the console 7.3 out of 10, calling it
8625-439: The following standards: composite video (480i), S-Video (480i), RGB (480i/p), VGA (for progressive scan games and PS2 Linux only), YP B P R component video (which display most original PlayStation games in their native 240p mode which most HDTV sets do not support ), and D-Terminal . Cables are available for all of these signal types; these cables also output analogue stereo audio. Additionally, an RF modulator
8740-414: The game, and were using Giles Martin , son of Sir George Martin who produced most of the Beatles albums, as music director for the game. Harmonix stated, despite building on the Rock Band gameplay, this would not be a Rock Band branded title, and that the songs would not be available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. The agreement had been in discussion for more than 17 months before
8855-444: The gamer, as its debut pricing was less than many standalone DVD players on the market. This made the console a low-cost entry into the home theater market. The success of the PS2 at the end of 2000 caused Sega problems both financially and competitively, and Sega announced the discontinuation of the Dreamcast in March 2001, just 18 months after its successful Western launch. Despite the Dreamcast still receiving support through 2001,
8970-501: The immense success of its predecessor. The highlight of the system was its Emotion Engine processor, co-developed by Sony and Toshiba , which was said to be more powerful than personal computers. The PS2 offered backward-compatibility for its predecessor's DualShock controller, as well as its games. The PlayStation 2 received widespread critical acclaim upon release. A total of over 4,000 game titles were released worldwide, with over 1.527 billion copies sold. In 2004, Sony revised
9085-568: The internal hard disk drive. It also lacked an internal power supply until a later revision (excluding the Japanese version), similar to the GameCube , and had a modified Multitap expansion. The removal of the expansion bay was criticized as a limitation due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy XI , which required the HDD use. Sony also manufactured a consumer device called the PSX that can be used as
9200-562: The lack of online support at the time, its inclusion of only two controller ports, and the system's price at launch compared to the Dreamcast in 2000. PC Magazine in 2001 called the console "outstanding", praising its "noteworthy components" such as the Emotion Engine CPU, 32 MB of RAM, support for IEEE 1394 (branded as "i.LINK" by Sony and "FireWire" by Apple), and the console's two USB ports while criticizing its "expensive" games and its support for only two controllers without
9315-493: The late 1990s Sony had dethroned established rivals Sega and Nintendo in the global video game market. Sega, spurred on by its declining market share and significant financial losses, launched the Dreamcast in 1998 as a last-ditch attempt to stay in the industry. Though Sony has kept details of the PlayStation 2's development secret, Ken Kutaragi , the chief designer of the original PlayStation, reportedly began working on
9430-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business
9545-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of
9660-512: The news "discouraging", but affirmed that Harmonix would continue to invest itself in further Rock Band and Dance Central developments for the foreseeable future. While Viacom sought a buyer for Harmonix, shareholders of Harmonix, including founders Rigopulos and Egozy, filed a lawsuit against Viacom, alleging misconduct in providing performance payouts in line with the terms of the purchase of Harmonix by Viacom. Harmonix' suit contests that while Viacom had paid Harmonix $ 150 million for success of
9775-497: The online-capable Xbox. Coinciding with the release of Xbox Live , Sony released the PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor in late 2002, with several online first-party titles released alongside it, such as SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs to demonstrate its active support for Internet play. Sony also advertised heavily, and its online model had the support of Electronic Arts (EA); EA did not offer online Xbox titles until 2004. Although Sony and Nintendo both started late, and although both followed
9890-423: The original model. Demand for the PlayStation 2 remained strong throughout much of its lifespan, selling over 1.4 million units in Japan by 31 March 2000. Over 10.6 million units were sold worldwide by 31 March 2001. In 2005, the PlayStation 2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch; this was surpassed 4 years later when
10005-513: The parallel architecture and fears that the PS2 would suffer the same fate as the Sega Saturn now seem ridiculous. A mixture of hard work, trial and error and middleware tools is also ensuring that development cycles are getting shorter and game quality improving. It's taken much longer than anticipated, but exceptional titles are beginning to come through. Sony cut the price of the console in May 2002 from US$ 299 to $ 199 in North America, making it
10120-405: The physical distribution channels that other entertainment companies like Time Warner have, and instead were forced to rely on Electronic Arts to distribute the game and cut into their potential profits. Industry analyst Michael Pachter suggested that while Rock Band 3 and Dance Central would generate significant revenue in 2010 holiday sales, Viacom likely made the move to sell Harmonix while
10235-514: The previous judgement was upheld by the Delaware Supreme Court in July 2013. Approximately 6 to 9 months after its sale from Viacom, Harmonix started to grow again, boosted by sales of Dance Central which led to the development of its sequel Dance Central 2 in late 2011. By mid-2011, the company began developing new IP in both the mobile and social game markets, and began rehiring to aid in
10350-480: The reason they were selling the company was to refocus Viacom as an entertainment creator, and that "the console games business requires expertise [Viacom doesn't] have". Viacom also recognized that without dedicated resources to support video game development, the company was not able to take advantage of efficiencies the dedicated video game publishers have. Martin Peers of the Wall Street Journal noted that Viacom lacked
10465-402: The sale is complete, and the developer would still continue their normal operations for their games which is unaffected by the sale. In late December 2010, Viacom announced that it had sold Harmonix to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, a holding company for the family office of investor Jason Epstein. Epstein is a senior managing partner at investment firm Columbus Nova , though the buy-out of Harmonix
10580-531: The same functionality as its predecessor. However, it includes analogue pressure sensitivity to over 100 individual levels of depth on the face, shoulder and D-pad buttons, replacing the digital buttons of the original. Like its predecessor, the DualShock 2 controller has force feedback , or "vibration" functionality. It is lighter and includes two more levels of vibration . Specialized controllers include light guns ( GunCon ), fishing rod and reel controllers,
10695-457: The same level they did when they were 17. The slogan used was: Live in your world. Play in ours. (Stylized as: "LIVE IN Y [REDACTED] UR W [REDACTED] RLD. PL [REDACTED] Y IN [REDACTED] URS.") Backward compatibility had been widely seen as a desirable feature for consumers since the debut of the first successor video game console, but prior to the PlayStation 2 only one console had featured true backward compatibility (i.e. without
10810-412: The same price as the GameCube and $ 100 less than the Xbox. It also planned to cut the price in Japan around that time. It cut the price twice in Japan in 2003. In 2006, Sony cut the cost of the console in anticipation of the release of the PlayStation 3 . Unlike Sega's Dreamcast, Sony originally placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first few years, although that changed upon the launch of
10925-409: The second installment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth-generation console , it competed with Nintendo 's GameCube , Sega 's Dreamcast , and Microsoft 's Xbox . It is the best-selling video game console of all time , having sold over 160 million units worldwide, nearly triple the combined sales of its competing consoles. Announced in 1999, Sony began developing the console after
11040-471: The software for a game that would be based on a guitar-shaped controller, inspired by GuitarFreaks which was popular in Japan. This relationship led to the creation of Guitar Hero , published by RedOctane in 2005. The game features similar gameplay elements to FreQuency and Amplitude . Guitar Hero uses a guitar-shaped controller designed uniquely for the game. Specifically, the Guitar Hero controller
11155-454: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who
11270-405: The system memory. The Emotion Engine CPU has a clock rate of 294.912 MHz (299 MHz on newer versions) and 6,000 MIPS , with a floating point performance of 6.2 GFLOPS . The system's I/O processor was based on the PlayStation's CPU and was designed to provide full backward compatibility with the PlayStation. The system has 32 MB of RDRAM . The GPU is likewise custom-designed for
11385-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file
11500-639: The units. After an apparent manufacturing issue—Sony reportedly underestimated demand—caused some initial slowdown in producing the new unit caused in part by shortages between the time Sony cleared out the old units and the new units were ready. The issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal , blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK. During one week in November, British sales totalled 6,000 units—compared to 70,000 units
11615-480: The use of add-ons), the Atari 7800 , due to the added hardware costs and industry concerns that backward compatibility could cause the console to appear to be a merely a new model of its predecessor or lead developers to prefer making games for the predecessor system. Later, Sony added new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers. The PS2's built-in functionality also expanded its audience beyond
11730-532: Was Ridge Racer V followed by Geki Kuukan Pro Baseball: At the End of the Century 1999 , Tekken Tag Tournament , Kessen , Dead or Alive 2 and Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball 7 . Marketing for the PlayStation 2 reverted to the same tactic used in the early days of the original PlayStation: use 17-year-olds as the target audience , since younger audiences aspire to be teenagers and older audiences enjoy video games at
11845-510: Was a 22" HD-Ready television which incorporated a built-in PlayStation 2. The standard color of the PS2 is matte black. Several variations in color were produced in different quantities and regions, including ceramic white, light yellow, metallic blue (aqua), metallic silver, navy (star blue), opaque blue (astral blue), opaque black (midnight black), pearl white, sakura purple, satin gold, satin silver, snow white, super red, transparent blue (ocean blue), and also Limited Edition color Pink, which
11960-445: Was acquired by Epic Games in November 2021. Harmonix stated that this would not affect their support for Rock Band 4 or Fuser DLC, though Fuser was discontinued in 2022. The company also stated it would develop "musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite " in addition to making musical projects in the metaverse . This ultimately culminated in the release of Fortnite Festival on December 9, 2023. Fortnite Festival follows
12075-474: Was acquiring Harmonix on behalf of MTV Networks for $ 175 million. Harmonix's last Guitar Hero game for RedOctane, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s , was released in July 2007, thus fulfilling their contractual obligations with the publisher. Before they left the series, Harmonix had already envisioned expanding the gameplay of Guitar Hero to multiple instruments, a concept that would eventually lead to Rock Band that would develop under MTV. Shortly after
12190-509: Was being developed. Chris Deering , then-president of SCEE recalled that there was a degree of trepidation among Sony leaders to produce a console which would recapture or exceed the success of its predecessor. Sony announced the PlayStation 2 on 2 March 1999. Sega's Dreamcast enjoyed a successful US launch on 9 September of that year; fuelled by a large marketing campaign, it sold over 500,000 units within two weeks. "PlayStation 2's real-time graphics have no limitations. That's why I chose
12305-424: Was built on the premise that the experience of performing music could become accessible to those who would otherwise have trouble learning a traditional instrument. The company was initially funded with about US$ 100,000, and for the first five years, had nearly zero revenue. The company's earliest product was The Axe on PC CD-ROM . The Axe enabled consumers to easily perform unique instrumental solos by using
12420-489: Was conducted by Epstein personally, and not Columbus Nova. The terms of the sale were undisclosed, though estimated at $ 200 million. This sale returned Harmonix to its origins as an independent developer. The resulting sale did not affect present or future support plans for Harmonix' games; Harmonix retained the intellectual property rights for Rock Band and Dance Central in the sale, allowing Harmonix Music Systems to continue to develop these series. According to Peter Kafka of
12535-458: Was designed with five color-coded "fret" buttons and a "strum bar". Guitar Hero became largely successful, both critically and commercially, resulting in the well-received 2006 sequel Guitar Hero II , also developed by Harmonix. In the early part of 2006, Activision acquired RedOctane, and several publishers became interested in acquiring Harmonix. In September 2006, MTV Networks , a division of media conglomerate Viacom , announced that it
12650-401: Was designing their own chip in-house and had instructed other companies to design rendering chips merely to diversify their options. By early 1997, the press was reporting that a new PlayStation was being developed and would have backward-compatibility with the original PlayStation, a built-in DVD player , and Internet connectivity. However, Sony continued to officially deny that a successor
12765-480: Was distributed in some regions such as Oceania, and parts of Asia. In September 2004, Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision. Available in late October 2004, it was smaller, thinner, and quieter than the original versions and included a built-in Ethernet port (in some markets it also had an integrated modem ). Due to its thinner profile, it did not contain the 3.5" expansion bay and therefore did not support
12880-545: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In
12995-449: Was purchasing the console online through auction websites such as eBay , where people paid over a thousand dollars for the console. The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility, selling its entire inventory of 1.4 million units in Japan by 31 March 2000, less than a month after launch. From its launch until the end of 2000 in Japan, its best-selling software
13110-514: Was required for the original models, while the slim models included built-in networking ports. Instead of having a unified, subscription-based online service like Xbox Live as competitor Microsoft later chose for its Xbox console, online multiplayer functionality on the PlayStation 2 was the responsibility of the game publisher and ran on third-party servers. Many games that supported online play exclusively supported broadband Internet access. The PlayStation 2's DualShock 2 controller retains most of
13225-511: Was responsible for publishing the Karaoke Revolution titles, of which Harmonix developed and released three "volumes" between 2003 and 2004. The series was much more successful due to its mainstream music and its marketability. Also in 2004, Sony Computer Entertainment released the Harmonix project EyeToy: AntiGrav . A departure from music games, the title used the PlayStation 2 EyeToy camera peripheral to enable one's body to perform as
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