The question that Future Gamer would ask, though, is ‘Who can program PlayStation 2?’ That, ultimately, is the real issue. In the games industry, there is a creative hierarchy. While the likes of Rare, Nintendo, Sega and Square – among others, obviously – have the resources and skill to consistently create high-profile products, many publishers do not.

Of the many hundreds of games released each year, how many, in truth, are worth buying? The number is surprisingly low. It’s a lamentable fact, but the majority of titles published for PC and console formats are little more than shovelware, possessing little in the way of creative merit.

The additional processing power of PlayStation 2, then, may well be beyond the skills of many programming teams. To include the sheer level of visual and play-based detail that gaming superpowers will be aspiring to implement, the cost of development will rise. It’s up to Sony, then, to provide publishing and programming minnows with code ‘libraries’ to make PS2 a viable platform to work for.

It’s important to understand, however, that Future Gamer is not advocating the continued existence of inferior-quality products. The point, you see, is a little more prosaic. If PlayStation 2 were to be prohibitively expensive or difficult to program, it could deny worthy efforts from the ‘small’ developer. More importantly, it could further encourage publishers to stick with establish brands and genres, rather than investing in innovative yet risky projects. After all, who knows where the next Tomb Raider or Half-Life will come from?

Next week: A closer look at the raw power of the Next Generation PlayStation, its surprising expandability, and the type of games owners can epect to play…