Sony PlayStation 2 - Magazine Coverdisc Lists

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Revision as of 15:35, 2 February 2021

Official PlayStation 2 Magazine was released in the United States as well as many PAL territories with accompanying demo discs. All of the USA discs are dumped, so this list is only related to PAL OPS2M demos.

The PAL territory releases are particularly confusing for several reasons:

• Discs were often re-released in different regions.
• Discs were sometimes unique to different regions.
• Discs were often released with a different Issue number on packaging versus disc label. This occurred because UK discs were often repackaged to other PAL regions which followed a different numbering system.
• Usually serial numbers can differentiate whether a disc from one region will match a disc from another region. However in some instances, the same serial number from different regional OPS2M variants have different hashes [1].
• Serial numbers on the spines of some cases were sometimes not updated between issues, leaving an incorrect serial number on the spine (versus the disc), often repeating spine serial numbers across Issues. This phenomenon was noticed in Australia, but may extend to other regions.

The goals of this checklist:

1. Dump all unique serial numbers. They will all be unique dumps. Serial number extensions (example: SCED-12345-ANZ) are NOT likely to differ from their non-extended counterparts (SCED-12345).
2. Confirm regional variants with entries of matching serial numbers. For any regional variant verifications, please add the regional details to the master entry which is being verified.
3. To be accurate. Please only add data to this list if it can be confirmed coming from regional original packaging AND disc label info.

Since many regions have different Demo# on the Packaging vs Disc Label, an important question when building this list may arise: How do I know a disc hasn't been mixed up with the packaging? The answer is to compare the demos on the packaging with the contents of the disc. You cannot rely on numbering alone to match up Packaging Demo # with Disc Label Demo #.

Legend

UK

The final OPS2M UK demo disc was #100, released July 2008[2]. Many special OPS2M UK demos were released as well.

The OPS2M UK demo series is completely dumped in redump and has 0 MIA.

Specials:

The UK specials released were ordered with an incongruent numbering system, but none of them are missing. This is the complete list.

Australia

OPS2M Australia demo series completed with the final issue #62 [3] (numbering on discs went higher, see below how disc and sleeve numbering differs). Additional demos continued to be released after rebranding to "PlayStation Official Magazine – Australia", in which Demo # does not appear on the sleeve, later replaced by a double-sided DVD-Video/Asset disc.

Somewhere in between magazine Issue 11 and 12 or 13 the case Issue numbering stopped - almost for all of year 2002. Among the demos acquired with packaging inspected - there is no issue number on the case. I've tried to best document them below, but we really need someone with a fuller set of discs and sleeves to step forward to paint a clearer picture. Scans of sleeves and disc labels are vital for tracking down the full story - even better would be finding magazine release dates and which cover discs accompanied them.

Some reference scans are available here: [4]

Benelux

OPS2M got a "Benelux" (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) regional release. The region release is called out on the disc label of Demo #57 [11].

Denmark

"PlayStation 2 Officielt Dansk Magasin" was released in Denmark. Work in progress and more information is needed.

France

"PlayStation 2 Le Magazine Officiel" aka "PlayStation 2 Magazine" was released starting with issue #48 [12] (continuing from PS1 magazine [13]). The magazine ran from December 2000 through June/July of 2008 before likely being rebranded as "Playstation Le Magazine Officiel" [14].

Note "Packaging Title" number of the demo sleeve is different from Issue number on the magazines. "Packaging title" is the magazine name + number on demo case sleeve.

Specials:

Germany

Specials: For the Special Editions with titles formatted as "YYYY/##", the ## does not represent month - just but order of release for special editions that year. These also have "Sonderausgabe" on the box art sometimes, but "Special Edition" on disc label consistently.

Italy

"PlayStation 2 Magazine Ufficiale Italia" demo packaging referred to demos by Issue # on the packaging, starting with "01" (where a 0 is included on the art as a prefix on issues 1-9). The disc labels refer to the demos by date (NOT Issue #).

Special demos:

Portugal

"PlayStation 2 Revista Oficial - Portugal" shared many of the same unique discs as the Spanish magazine, however case art was localized and Issue Numbers were not synchronized between the two countries.

Starting with Issue 55, the magazine was rebranded as "Revista Oficial da Playstation - Portugal" no longer included PlayStation 2 demo discs (but later including DVD-Videos and PS3 demos). Dates sourced from here [23].

Spain

Title changed from "PlayStation 2 Revista Oficial - España" to "PlayStation Revista Oficial - España" with Issue #81 (see slide show text)[24], could the last PS2 demo disc be Issue #80?

Unlike other regions, the Issue "No." does not match the "Disco" number on the packaging. Some Issues must not have shipped with demo discs.

Any after 77?