Official PS2 Preview & Review discs from SCEE

Wow, very chuffed........

Just managed to aquire 3 PS2 Review/Preview discs from SCEE, printed on official PS2 media. They are professionally made by Sony, but won't run on a retail PS2.

They're really weird, I have never seen anything like these before....?

I managed to get a PREVIEW of Moto GP3 (NTSC U/C ver.) dated January 2003, a REVIEW version of The Mark of Kri (PAL) and a REVIEW version of War of the Monsters (PAL).

The really cool thing about the preview version of MOTO GP 3 is that when you play it it has all these random numbers in the top left corner of the screen. Is this to help with debugging or anything like that? Perhaps someone can clarify....?

Both review versions look and play like the final games.

The discs also look really strange but I'll take some pictures and post them up this evening if anybody is interested.

So, there you go, it looks as though PS2 test discs do come on official media after all (as I was never sure!).

 

Post pics.

 

This is Mark of Kri - PAL review version on DVD ROM

 

This is War of the Monsters - PAL review on DVD-R

This disc is a much brighter colour and the underside of the disc is the colour of a DVD-R (grey).

 

This is Moto GP 3 - It is NTSC Preview version and is on DVD ROM. This one displays randomly generated numbers the whole way through the game in the top right corner for some reason - a debug feature pehaps...? They only disappear when a video/CG video sequence is playing. It appears during menus, loading, and even game play.

 

Why would they burn games on dvd-r just to have the tops printed... surely it would be easier to have either all discs pressed or just use a pen!

 

I meant top left corner - oops!

 

You know theres an edit button on the bottom right of your posts right?

 

Paulo,

You do realize that you can simply print directly on to the top of a DVD-R?

Looks a lot more professional that just using a pen, if you care about those things.

-hl718

 

Nope - the discs are stored orange and pink i think - all they do is then print the title, tv format and date - don't they.......?

 

Actually what do the inner rings of the dvds say?

 

Yeah but do printers leave that finish on them? I thought they just printed on white tops and things and not with that kind of finish where it seems you can feel the lettering is raised.

 

The text feels just as "raised" as all the PS2 logos and DVD logo.......so maybe they are just plain orange discs and the whole lot gets printed..................just a guess though......

On the DVD ROM's the text on the underside of the discs says:

Mark of Kri (DVD ROM):
CD TEAM DVD IFPI L506 KRIDVD 01 (then it has a barcode thingy)

Moto GP 3 (DVD ROM):
CD TEAM DVD IFPIL506 MOTOGP3 DVD 01 (this too has a barcode thingy after too)

War of the Monsters (This one is DVD-R, not DVD ROM btw):

Nothing, a very very tiny print of: MDR22H51G - 015

This is actually printed a very tiny way into the DVD surface and not on the inner ring like the other two.

 

Notice something here...

http://www.cdteam.co.uk/graphics.htm

 

They must print the graphics for Sony on the discs then....

 

Wow, they do blue ones too.............! Wonder what they are?

 

See im kinda confused about these now... they made the cds/graphics but the media seems more widespread then i thought it would be. I was inclined to say these discs were made to order by Sony Uk rather then an official format like the dreamcast had with GD-R and the ps1 with those cd-rs...

However it wouldnt make much sence for namco and other out of the uk companies to be using them.

Why were they even duplicated in the UK!!!

 

If you notice, these three games were all published by SCEE, so SCEE have burnt the games onto their own official "sony" discs than using cheapo DVD-R's like most otherpublishing companies.

It doesn't surprise me that a third party company may have printed these discs, because SCEE publish games, they don't print discs!

 

The reason they may have been duplicated in the UK, is the format of the disc - look at it. It has the same format as a PAL PS2 retail game.

With all that text around the outer edge of the disc - it is word for word the same as a pressed retail PS2 disc.

 

or maybe this company just helped SCEE with their disc design.............. (read the text on that page you provided a link to......)

Or...........they may have just thieved the picture from Sony and we're both barking up the wrong tree!!!

lol