November 11^th, 2003 (12:00am) - SOCOM II, the sequel to the best game released last year, SOCOM US Navy Seals, was just released for the PS2 and is already making waves in the online gaming world. Waves to the tune of over 24,000 simultaneous users, a record for console games.

SOCOM II is now the #1 played console game online, knocking the original SOCOM all the way down to... #2. The game features the same deep and enjoyable gameplay as the original, only more refined and a lot of new weapons, modes and maps. Lack of maps was a constant gripe from fans, and SOCOM II solves that, featuring all 10 maps from the original plus 12 new ones for 22 maps overall. There’s also 2 new modes of play and tons of options to customize your games. I played SOCOM till the day I got SOCOM 2, and I’m sure I’ll be playing SOCOM 2 till the day SOCOM 3 is out. Also, SOCOM II will utilize the PS2 HDD, enabling gamers to download things such as new maps and weapons.

If you haven’t tried SOCOM online before, now’s as good a time as any. SOCOM II has just been released, and you can pickup the original for only $20 as a Greatest Hits game.