On Friday I bought FIFA 2004 for my ps2, and bought the ps2 Network Adaptor so I could play it online.  I checked with the guy in GAME and he reckoned it would be just plug & play.

I could write this blog about how I started trying to install it on Friday night, and am still working at it now.

I could write about how instead of ‘just plug it into the phoneline’ I had to set up a network on the pc.  And that the cable supplied with the ps2 network kit isn’t the cable needed to network the ps2… I had to buy that seperately.

I could write about the crappy setup interface with no decent instructions and how it took the lucky press of a shoulder button that brought up the options I needed.

I could write about the fact that the registration code supplied with the adaptor had already been registered by someone else, meaning that with no code I can’t get online.  And that when I phoned the support line they said they knew of the problem, they’d accidentally printed duplicates, and would send me a new code, through the post, when they got some in stock, probably in about two weeks.

I could write about how I eventually got around registering for Sony, and could play FIFA by registering instead for EA .. except that every username I tried, no matter how stupid was supposedly taken.

I could write about how I phoned the 24 hour support number in the FIFA manual, who told me they know the problem, and gave me a new number to phone .. which is closed at the weekends.  And that eventually reading forums I found it was easier to register for EA on my pc.. so registed with EA UK .. that it still didn’t work, and that eventually registering for EA US got me in.

I could write about how once I got in, you can’t actually play games, EA have screwed the network thing, players are failing to connect with each other 19 times in 20.  The solutions on the forums talk about public and private IP addresses, port forwarding, triggerport numbers, virtual servers, ICS, DMZ, Network Address Translation and Port Address Translation.

I could mutter about just how far from ‘plug & play’ this actually is.

But the guys at Penny Arcade say it much better.
(just substitute Sony for Sega)