my ps2

It "could" be the laser, but you should probably do a little more troubleshooting.

1. Is the game disc covered in fingerprints or scratches... even small ones?

2. Have you tried a laser lens cleaner disc in your PS2?
3. Does the game work in a different PS2? If not, I doubt yours is on the blink.
4. Take your PS2 to the EB store and try different copies of the game. If the game is bad, then a different copy will likely work.
5. If all else fails, you PS2 could be going south. You may want to think about repair or replacement.

Good luck, keep us posted.

One other thing.  What color is the disk?  It is possible that the laser is beginning to fail.  If it is weak, some games will play OK others will fail..  Since it is a new game, I'd expect no scratches.  If you can, try the game on another unit.  It is possible that the game disk is faulty although that is rare.

Dan