What Consoles Can Learn From the PS2

Welcome to “Siliconera Speaks Up,” our newsletter for the site! This’ll be a summary of the past week’s anime or gaming news, a little reminder of things to come, and our insight on what games you should pick up next. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Top 10 Stories From the Past Week

1. Build-a-Bear Sells Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, Kuromi Holiday Plush

2. How to Fix Monster Hunter Wilds Beta Unable to Connect Error

3. Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Final Fantasy Cards in Magic: The Gathering

4. Final Fantasy XIV Vaultroom Shirts and Hoodies Arrive in October

5. Anycolor Targeting Defamation Against Company and Nijisanji VTubers

6. FFXIV Gets War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Event

7. Is There Romance in Ys X: Nordics?

8. Honkai: Star Rail Kafka Figure is Playing the Violin

9. Recreate Sixth Street With Zenless Zone Zero Construction Toy Sets

10. How to Get Every Black Ops 6 Monster Energy Skin and Cosmetic

Notable Mentions

1. Gundam Seed Freedom Zero Prequel Is in the Works

2. Pokemon TCG Pocket Surpassed 10 Million Downloads

3. Famitsu Goddess of Victory: NIKKE Interview Reveals NIKKE Can Get Married

4. Build-a-Bear Selling Giant Pompompurin Plush Online

5. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete Full Features Outlined

Speak Up Sesh

Welcome to yet another week of Siliconera Speaks Up! The weather’s been getting quite cold lately so I hope everyone’s been staying warm and safe. Now let’s take a look back on the week!

I’m glad that Nintendo decided to keep Animal Crossing Pocket Camp around, considering how Dragalia Lost became truly lost after Nintendo and Cygames axed it. With how competitive the mobile game market is these days, it really isn’t surprising when companies pull a game for reasons like poor profits. But barring games that rely on an online connection (multiplayer games, for example), I really do wish companies releasing an offline version of the game would become a rule or general practice. Even if it’s something physical like the memorial book that Bandai Namco released for Tales of Asteria, it’d be nice to have some proof that the game existed.

As per usual at Siliconera, Sanrio reigns supreme, with many people curious about the latest goods and merchandise. This has been a very Final Fantasy heavy week as well, between the Magic collaboration, as well as events and goods. It’s pretty funny that it took a collaboration, of all things, before Tidus’s skin color became something closer to what it was on the PS2.

Speaking of Final Fantasy X, do you remember what its save icon was on the PS2? I can’t remember anymore if it was a Blitzball or a monster. For those who don’t know, a PS2 required an external memory card rather than one inside of the console. When you look through the save files on your memory card, they appear as little icons. You might have a mascot from the game, a picture of a character, or just a logo. Sometimes, these icons might have a different animation when you’re about to delete them. For example, it might show a character crying.

Modern consoles, even from the PSP era, discarded these moving icons for simplicity. Save files appear on your device as screenshots or logos, and that’s really it. When thinking back on the early 2000s, some of the aesthetics and creative choices are gaudy, or “cringe” as we’d say these days. But there’s a certain charm in these icons, since it’s a way for the game to show off what’s unique about it even when you don’t turn it on.

And of course, nothing in video game history can exist without an urban legend about it. Have you ever heard of 身, or “Mi”? This is a Japanese urban legend that first appeared in 2007 on Japanese forum 2ch. The Mi save file has a bugged icon, and the name of the game is the same kanji you might use for “body.” According to the thread, the OP discovered it on their memory card and had no idea what it was, since the game “Mi” simply doesn’t exist. Theories on the thread ranged between OP pranking 2ch, it being a corrupt save file, and Mi being a curse. The answer only came in 2020 after someone recreated Mi on their PS2 memory card, showing that it really is just a rare way your save file can bug out.

In the end, it was just an innocuous console error rather than a deadly curse or anything like that. Sadako isn’t going to climb out of your PS2 because you’ve got Mi on your memory card. But the Mi story is something that could’ve only existed during the PS2 era, since that was a time before our neat and sterile game logo save files. Times were so much simpler back then.

And speaking of time, you better get back to work or what have you! Have a great weekend!

Upcoming Releases

• Slitterhead (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Windows PC) - November 8

• Tetris Forever (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC) - November 12

• Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC) - November 14

• Mindcop (PS5, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC) - November 14

• Genshin Impact (Xbox Series X, Xbox One) - November 20