The PlayStation 2 (abbreviated "PS2") is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000.
Released little more than a year after the Sega Dreamcast and a year before its main competitors Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, the PS2 is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles. It is the most dominant and commercially successful, fastest selling home console in video game history, with over 120 million units shipped worldwide by May 2007.