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This year, the PlayStation 3 will turn 18 here in the States. It was released on November 17, 2006. Just enough to vote legally!

Anyway, with all the talk on the Xbox 360 Marketplace thread, I wanted to get a PS3 one going.

I currently have a PS3 Super Slim with 500GB that I got several years ago from Gamestop in used condition. The top loading design I personally prefer due to the complications of a slot loading disc drive which could break. I opened it up at the time to clean it and it wasn't too bad in both the opening/closing and the condition. The Dualshock 3 controller was lightly used so that was awesome. The battery in the controller is well over ten years old so that could be a problem down the line. Might need a replacement battery. So far, no issues.

The XrossMediaBar (XMB) is a such a fine piece of UI. Fast, clean, simple, and it actually runs at 1080p (I game on a 27" 1080p monitor). I know its on the PSP as well but seeing it at full HD on a larger screen is great.

The store is still up and running. However, you cannot use a credit card for purchases on the system itself. There's a PayPal option but I haven't tried it. In order to buy games, you need to add funds through a PSN card code or add funds through either the website, or the PS4/5. I made a few purchases: the GTA trilogy collection (PS2 Classics), God of War Ascension, and Metal Gear Solid 4. Those last two games took a combined total of about 12 hours to download and install. About 60GB total. Some purchases I made on the Vita and PS4 were cross-buy with the PS3 surprisingly.

So the games: the reason I hooked it back up was the games that are exclusive to it that I can't play on the PS4 that I have. On top of what I mentioned above, some of the "Tales of" game never got a re-release or remaster: Tales of Xillia 1 & 2. Every God of War game prior to 2018 got a re-release in one form or another, except for Ascension.

That's all I have to talk about for now. I'll have more later. What's your experience like with the roughly 18 year old PS3?

I waited quite a while to purchase a PS3 because of that huge initial price tag. I had a PS1 and PS2 near launch so it was the first time that I waited on a PlayStation console. I purchased my PS3 shortly after Final Fantasy XIII came out. In fact, I had the game before I had the console. They were tough to come by at the time because God of War III had also recently been released. I eventually got one and proceeded to go blind trying to read game text on my CRT tv. I got my first HDTV (which I still have in my gameroom) later that year. While FFXIII was a little disappointing for its linearity and long tutorial, it was graphically impressive and the music was great. FFXIII-2 was a solid game and I haven't played much of Lightning Returns.

Some games that I really enjoyed on PS3 include (in no particular order):
FFXIII-2
Mortal Kombat
Rayman Origins
Spider-man Shattered Dimensions
Puppeteer
TMNT Turtles in Time Reshelled
X-Men arcade
Dead Space
Valkyria Chronicles
Ni No Kuni
Uncharted series
The Last of Us

I also appreciated the plethora of HD conversions of PS2 titles. Most of them turned out alright as far as I know - Silent Hill Collection not withstanding. Additionally, the PS3 was also my main DVD/BluRay/Netflix player for many years.

I certainly have some fondness for the PS3. It is my second largest collection of games after PS1. I have around 20 games left on my want list and I hope to cross them off this year. The closure of the Xbox360 marketplace and the associated price increase for physical 360 games is a primary motivator. The same thing happened when the PS3 store was initially going to close in 2021. Prices have come down substantially since then so I plan to get while the getting is somewhat good and the store is still up so that DLC can be downloaded. I also plan to clone my PS3's hard drive once my collection is complete so that I have a backup of DLC, patches, and save files.

Here's a spreadsheet of exclusives that I made back when the PS3 store was allegedly going to shut down.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing I haven't updated it since then so there are bound to be some inaccuracies especially with what is currently available in the PS3 store.

I like the PS3 a lot. I have the regular Slim model and it still works like a champ (*knocks on wood*). My first game was Demon's Souls. It took me a few years to beat it. lol. By the time I got my system a lot of the big-name games were in the bargain bin or available as Greatest Hits. I played a lot of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and 3. Online play being free meant I could jump in and not worry about wasting money on an online subscription.

To be a bit objective, you'd probably have a better time playing multiplatform games on the 360. Most games did run better on the Xbox. I had one of the early 360's though (not slim) and I had to get rid of it before it completely died. That's why I got a PS3. Nowadays its mostly regulated to playing blu-rays or streaming but it survived my collection purge. lol

I still play the PS3 every now and then. I actually got a new game the other day. I finally have a copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes (a title I meant to grab back in the day). Looking forward to playing that.

edit:
Oh, and FFXIII is still the best looking game I've ever seen. (Not the most fun, mind you.)

My brother has a Slim. 160GB I think. Given the size of some of the late releases, I think that amount of space would get eaten up quickly. Can you attach an external drive to it? I heard you can upgrade the internal drive.

I was always a 360 guy and yes I did hear that some of the multiplatform games ran better on the 360. But the exclusives on the PS3 where are some of the best looking games from that generation. The Uncharted series and the Last of Us in particular.

Speaking of PS2 conversions: the PSN store has multiple PS2 Classics available for sale. Outside of the GTA trilogy recently, I picked up awhile back, all of the Shin Megami Tensei games on the marketplace.

These were:
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (2003)
Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner (2004)
Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2 (2005)
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (2006)
Persona 3 FES (2007)
Persona 4 (2008)
Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (2008)

They run fine from what I can see but the visuals on all of these PS2 Classics are not great. I don’t know if it’s a scaling issue or an emulation issue. The PS3 outputs to 1080p. The games from what I read online, output to either 480i or 480p for those that support it (I don’t have any that do). The PS button brings up a menu where you can force widescreen and turn smoothing on or off. Maybe I need to invest in one of those mClassic dongles?

I think you can upgrade the drive but I'm not into the hardware/software mod scene. Just keeping mine stock for now.

I have a couple of PS2 classics that I bought back in the day. But PS2 emulation on PC's has surpassed the "official" emulator. It's free and offers better performance and visual upscaling options.

I have about 100GB left on the drive and based on what I see on the marketplace, I don’t see anything else I plan on purchasing.

Very true regarding the PS2 emulation scene on the PC but it’s nice to have it on the hardware. I’ll get one of those mClassic things and see how that works.