As someone who can still remember the unbridled glee that greeted whichever new gaming system arrived  in our household of three brothers and one sister who wanted to be a part of it all, it just feels right to note the final journey of Sony’s Playstation 2. The company says the very last PS2 has shipped and there will be no more — zip, nada, nary a one — after delighting gamers everywhere for over 12 years.

The PS2 has stuck around long enough to sell 150 million units, but now that the last console has shipped in Japan, that’s that, reports Famitsu (via Ars Technica). When those are all sold, there won’t be any more available to buy.

The PS2 remained popular for many of its years — it can play about 10,000 games, a big draw for its fans— and was tweaked and slimmed down only a few times until 2007.

At that time it stopped evolving when the PlayStation 3 hit the scene. It was a strong contender even then, as Ars Technica cites Neilson ratings that scored it s the most-played console of 2008.

Smartphones and tablets might be the popular way to play games now, along with portable players like the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, but there will always be a corner of our hearts that loved the feel of that controller in our hands, tilting this way and that as we bounced up and down trying to maneuver imaginary worlds and beat 2D foes or score a touchdown as Brett Favre.

If you still have a PS2, you might want to give it an extra pat when you tuck it in tonight. I mean, if you do that kind of thing. We don’t judge.

Sony’s PlayStation 2 finally goes gentle into that good night [Ars Technica]

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