I bought my PlayStation (one) in September 1997 with a shiny copy of Final Fantasy 7. I played this game like the world was ending, and so many moments still resonate with me. To this day the thought of Aeris sinking below the water or the sound of Sephiroth's theme music sends chills down my spine. For the next three years I bought, played, and traded dozens of games for that system. But that wasn't the height of my obsession, for it was the PlayStation 2 that brought me to new heights of gaming geekdom.
In June of 2000 I placed my pre-order for my PlayStation 2. I had no DVD player at the time and that functionality was a huge draw of the machine for me. Not only could I keep playing my unfinished PS1 games (with better load times and smoother textures) but I could play new PS2 games and watch DVDs! Sold! 
On a cold morning of October 26, 2000 I woke up insanely early and got to EB Games at 6AM (3rd in line). I gleefully bought my PS2, a memory card, and three games, all for about 650 bucks. My wife (fiancé at the time) asked how much it cost, and in typical guy speak I said a few hundred dollars (this came back to bite me later).
I had taken the week off and went home and proceeded to geek out for days. I bought three launch games (Summoner, SSX and Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore) but only SSX and DOA 2 had a long life on my shelf. A few days later I bought The Matrix on DVD and saw why people were crazy about this newish format.
What can I say about the PS2 and how much I enjoyed playing on that system? Over the next five or so years my gaming encompassed so many different titles — games like Final Fantasy X and XII, Metal Gear Solid 2-3, Burnout 3, God of War 1-2, Tekken 5, Suikoden 3, Devil May Cry 1-3, Okami, the Prince of Persia series, and many, many more. I would safely say that between trading and buying I had dozens of PS2 games (over 100). I still have about 25 PS2 games in my collection today. 
Article comments
1 - WWII
"To be continued in Part 3 - The Gamer Evolves "
-Let me try to see the future! You then bought an X360 and now you're an Xbox fanboy that loves to play Halo? lol
2 - Michael Prince
Not quite! =-)
Love my 360, like Halo, but there are much more changes then that...what happens when a gamer grows up and still wants to play while building their life/career?
Part three will be up on the weekend.
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I then found out that Square would not support the Nintendo 64 due to their insistence on cartridges
Yea..Who would have thunk that such a brilliant video game company couldn't foresee the technical advantages of CD-Rom. I was really pissed at Nintendo at the time, though, I freakin loved Star Fox64. In essence, PS1 was supposed to be the CD-Rom drive for Nintendo. Can you imagine what the gaming world would be like if that deal got the green light?
4 - Jason Westhaver
Part Three, where Mike's relationship with Sony takes a Delivernce-esque turn. Squeel like a Sack-boy.