The forgotten, beloved 60GB PS3: why it's still so popular

[racketboy]

Ok -- I'm planning on having one horizontal as well.
It will be my main home theater device once I redo my basement and get a plasma.
And I really don't want to hear it over quiet parts of a movie.

[Inazuma]

My Japanese 60 gig PS3 sits horizontal with plenty of open spaces for ventilation and has never made any audible sounds, at least I don't remember hearing any.

[bobbynewmarkiii]

60GB/20GB have full hardware PS2 BC, and some 80GB have hardware/software mix PS2 BC.

This is not the case in UK. We only got the 60Gb version at launch, so this is the only model with the emotion chip. 2nd gen had software based BC, and were released in 20 and 80Gb flavours. You are correct in that no further models have any BC.

[Ivo]

How good is the upscaling? Unlike many, I wouldn't mind too much having a PS2 (eventually) and a PS3 (eventually). I wouldn't have them connected at the same time probably. Or try to have a dedicated space for all my consoles. In any case, other than the convenience of having everything in a single machine, the upscaling seems to be a genuine "upgrade", and I would like to get an idea of how relevant it is.

Ivo.

[bobbynewmarkiii]

^^^

Dunno - sry! I've only got a CRT, and don't notice any difference.

[Inazuma]

How good is the upscaling? Unlike many, I wouldn't mind too much having a PS2 (eventually) and a PS3 (eventually). I wouldn't have them connected at the same time probably. Or try to have a dedicated space for all my consoles. In any case, other than the convenience of having everything in a single machine, the upscaling seems to be a genuine "upgrade", and I would like to get an idea of how relevant it is.

Ivo.

It works extremely well. Games that would normally look like shit on your HDTV will look pretty damn good. I think the XRGB upscaler device would do a slightly better job but you would need a PS2 for that. The 60 gig PS3 is ideal for someone who only wants one Sony machine connected to their HDTV. Plus, using the PS3 hard drive for virtual memory cards is really nice.

[RadarScope1]

I'm playing through metal gear solid 1 right now and the difference between having the upscaling on and off is huge. Not sure how it compares to playing on a ps1 + CRT but it looks quite nice on my big plasma despite mgs having pretty horendous textures by today's standards.

[Ramatut4001]

Nice article. I bought mine used after they started to get a little harder to find.

[nick944]

The 20GB happens to be forgotten much more than the 60GB I love the BC on mine just because my PS2 SCPH-39001 is so unreliable. (Though I did recently purchase a SCPH-90001) Perfect PS3 model for me, love the lack of chrome besides the Playstation 3 on the top. Ran out of hard drive space though, so I swapped up for a 120GB HDD in mine.

[dsheinem]

I have the 80gb with software BC, and have been pretty happy with it. The question I have, though, is why - if it is simply software - it can't be included on every ps3? Couldn't the software be installed on all models? Or downloaded?