Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)

The game console that cemented Sony's leadership in the field, the PlayStation 2's importance is hard to overstate. Released in October 2000 in the U.S. for $299 (and seven months earlier in Japan), the PS2 platform, including the "slimline" variant, was only discontinued very recently, after having sold more than 150 million units worldwide.

As part of the most crowded console field ever, the PS2 competed directly with the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. It was the last Sony living-room console to lack built-in memory or a built-in Internet connection (both were available through add-on devices). Much was made of the custom CPU, developed by Sony and Toshiba, and known as the Emotion Engine.