PTE78: Playstation 3 - Eight Years On...

[Neon Ignition]

So many consoles all with such close launch dates.

The PS3 reaches its eighth anniversary in a few days time, its Japanese launch being so long ago. As a one off I've set up one of these threads to see where opinion stands as we reach the end time of the consoles life. It's been a turbulent run covering a botched launch, online hacks and struggle to gather an identity with gamers but it also seeded some of the build up to PS4 and saw Plus open up a door to high praise.

This far down the road, where has your opinion of the console landed and what are your best memories?

[112]

The ps3 is still my console of choice at the moment as I have a shed load of games still waiting to be played and completed... Although the ps4 has taken some time away from it if late, I still spend the majority of my gaming time on it...

After the dreamcast and maybe ps2, I don't think I have spent as much time on any other console...

112

[Mr Ono]

Still have my original 80gb USA one which is backwards compatible. It's my only one.

Do I love it? No. It is used for Singstar only and Rockband (back in the day). Have only kept it because I have all the UNcharted, LoU and other classics to find time for.

[Brad]

My favourite console ever. Such a diverse range of games. Littlebigplanet, Uncharted, call of duty, gran turismo, rfom, valkyria chronicles, singstar, sf4, last of us, flower, oblivion, Killzone 2! Fantastic single player and multiplayer games. Love it.

[teddymeow]

Amazing machine.

Got my 60Gb launch J-unit with Ridge Racer 7 a week after release and never looked back. Remember buying Resistance, Motorstorm, VF5 and Dynasty Warriors Gunman in Tokyo in February '07 for half the price of UK games and feeling super smug.

Considering the "mis-steps" that plagued the machine early on; Sixaxis, PSN issues, YLOD Sony did incredibly well to achieve what they did.

Two of my favourite ever series started on PS3 (Uncharted, The Last Of Us) and other great series were started on it (LBP, Motorstorm) and some classics were continued on it (WipEout, Ratchet & Clank).

Gaming gold.

Oh, and ROCK BAND!!!!!

[Neon Ignition]

I was almost against it at first, held off buying one until I got it free with a mobile contract a year later. My 360 was meeting all my needs but after another RROD I ended up spending more time with the PS3 around the time that its belated COD4 was doing the rounds and Sony was busy updating the XMB often and a love grew with it. Not long after UC2 was knocking at the door and it won me over. Its ports were always that little bit rougher than the 360's but taking the multi-platforms out of the equation I've always found MS's consoles to be very lacking in appeal and PS3 was there to meet that. I think I've enjoyed owning one more than I did either of its predecessors. There's one still here at home though its getting to the end of its backlog. Still plenty hours to go but the new releases or things left unplayed list is gettng very short now.

My fave of its gen.

[BaronSqwelch]

A distant, distant second place to the 360 for me...tbh if the 360 had a bluray drive I never would have bought one.
It was region free though so had fun with some Japanese games!

Did get some use out of it in the months before the PS4 launch as I tried to get used to the dualshock pad...The Last of Us was fantastic. Never really enjoyed the 2 Uncharteds I played tho (1+3).

[speedlolita]

Love it. I've always loved XMB since I used it on the PSP. I think I only bought a 360 initially as the PlayStation 3 was still ?300 when I bought it. My machine is a super slim with 320GB 7200rpm HDD and the official stand, which stands on top of one of my hi-fi speakers on my desk. Super quiet and cool and swapping discs is easy as pie.

Being region free was always amazing and there's still a bunch of games I want to grab such as Gal*Gun to use with the Move controllers I picked up a while back.

Would be mad to buy a PS4 right now in my situation.

[Brad]

Metal gear solid 4

[nakamura]

I like my PS3 but it was a crushing disappointment after the PS2. Software quality doesn't compare for me.
The Last of Us and Wipeout HD Fury is worth owning the machine for. Ridge Racer 7 is sadly dull.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Such an amazing machine with so many quality games. Having owned both the PS3 and 360 last gen, I can safely say that the PS3 is much the better console. Mainly because it caters for me more than the 360 did. Titles like Uncharted, Resistance, Everybody's Golf & the wealth of Gundam stuff, along with the Japanese exclusive titles like Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 and Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru make it a dream for me. The fact it's region free is just the icing on the cake. Can't moan at PS+ either.

[beecee]

i have a 60gb ps1/2 backward compatible, bought about a year after launch i think, didn't get it for the games, it was the cheapest blu-ray player going at the time by a long shot, currently sitting with my nephew as his broke about a year ago.

i have a load of games that i have never played on it, when i get it back i might play them... then again might not.

[gambit6613]

Quite hard to believe it's been 8 years now, they certainly have flown by. My early memories of the PS3 is of the US launch and the first consoles were being sold on eBay for ?1000 plus. I think this was the first console I did not actually import, price was too expensive. I remember getting my hands on one at the UK launch and have can fondly recall just have shinny it was, especially compared to my PS2 slim.

This week has been a rather sad one, I have finally decided to sell my old PS3, simply don't have the room in my small flat to keep it. After 8 amazing years that has provided many happy gaming hours the time has now come to move on.

[dave heats]

The PS3 is only beaten by Dreamcast in my affection league table. It’s been absolutely brilliant, and provided such a huge range of wonderful games. From a personal point of view, it also grabbed me from the brink of giving up gaming, and gave me a proper slap round the chops.

Blu-ray and online side of things i never cared about, it’s been purely about the single player games.

The launch was distinctly crap, but Ridge Racer is always more than enough. I remember watching replay after replay on RR7 with “Before You Reach For Love” on repeat, and just loving every second of it…and still do!
Highlights have been the usual Naughty Dog fare, Heavy Rain, Siren, Yakuza 3 & 4, GT5, Catherine and of course Journey. And the fact that I got to own my beloved JSR in HD was the icing on the cake.

The PS3 has also marked quite a big change for me….in that I now seem to anticipate, and enjoy, western games more than Japanese releases. This would have been unheard of back in the DC era, but it’s quite an interesting indication of how things have changed over the past 2 console generations.

Long live PS3!

[CMcK]

I bought a PS3 at launch but sold it a few years later. It had been relegated to Blu-Ray and Folding@Home duties due to the lack of decent games. Gradius never appeared and I didn't know Strangers Wrath was going to appear on the system. I suppose after the success of its predecessors I thought it was inevitable all the good stuff would appear on the PS3 and the 360 would become an also ran. Not really how it turned out.