Hands up, I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the PlayStation. Sony’s first console got me back into gaming, after a few years away, and each new PlayStation has been a day-one purchase. I have two consoles beneath my living room TV – an original backwards-compatible PS3 and a PS5 – and between them they give me access to every PlayStation generation.
Of those generations, my absolute favourite is the PS2. In March 2000, in the same week Sony launched the PS2 in Japan, I started my first proper job at Live Publishing, a new startup based outside Macclesfield. At the time the company solely produced PC tech magazines, but in 2001. As the title suggests, this was a PlayStation tips ‘n’ cheats mag, and I jumped at the chance to work on it. Finally, I was getting paid to play videogames for a living. I recall updating my Friends Reunited profile to boast about the fact.
