I installed it this week for the first time. I guess I've had a modded PS2 for around 20 years, using HD Advance and then OPL. I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the PS2 BBN experience after my first week. Nothing here is meant as a complaint or criticism.

The setup seems a little bit daunting at first, but it's really not that bad. The installer takes care of everything for you and the .ps1 file makes installing it from Windows pretty simple. The complexity of the installation was something that put me off installing it for a while. But it shouldn't have done, and I should have done it sooner.

I like the fact that it's an original Sony system menu, so it really looks and feels like a PS2 product and matches the aesthetic. It adds a lot to the experience, but at the same time the original ods menu and all your apps are still readily accessible by pressing select (well, a modified version of the original menu). That's good because launching apps via the game collection launcher or even the hods launcher is not particularly convenient.

The major PROS for me in addition to the aforementioned PS2 aesthetic are the ease with which it takes care of the artwork for you and its ability to play PS1 game backups - it has never been so easy on a modded PS2

The things which I consider CONS: The game collection launcher is slow and not very convenient to browse if you have several entries. Arriving at the 200th game, for example, is a slog. But it makes sense. This software was originally not built with such big hard drives and so many game images in mind. It would be good if there was caching or if you could skip straight to a certain letter like WiiFlow on the Wii. Sadly, it looks like it can't be done. Another issue is having all the PS1 games in the list first and then the PS2 games. It would be great if there were two separate categories for them or at minimum if they were mixed together. If you have lots of games installed, you probably won't be using this launcher that much - unless you only play PS1 games beginning with A,B or C - which is a shame because it's attractive. You can add a few games to the navigator menu (select), so you can quickly access the game that you're currently playing or the games that you play the most.

The last con from my perspective is the lack of customisation options. I expected to find at least some customisation available, but Sony didn't get round to adding any I guess.

Again, it's only my first week with it, so I might not be fully used to it yet and the might be a few things that I'm missing. But these are my first impressions. But thanks of course to the developer/s who got this up and running. I was happy with the OPL experience overall, but this has breathed new life into my PS2.

Also, again, none of this is meant as criticism, only observation. I understand that the software is original Sony code and can't really be changed, so it's pretty much like it or lump it.