The Gentle Giant: Happy Birthday, PlayStation 3

i hope that the maintenance today has something to do about this like bring something new like that rumour about a new XMB or something probaly not but it would be nice

Compared to the competition, it’s still way behind on UI, network features and performance.

The dropped a huge ball that although they’ve made headway, was just too difficult to pick up again.

Poor show, and the biggest waste of money in my 30-year gaming lifetime.

“Maybe there’ll be no clear “winner” of this generation, but one thing is certain – the PlayStation 3 will not be the loser.”

/Luthor

WRONG!

/Luthor

Shakey start but has proved over and over to be the console of choice for me in terms of variety, connectivity and, most importantly, CONTENT. The introduction of user-generated content really gives some of may favorites more mileage (playing inFamous2 at the moment and loving some of the inventive UGC the game offers).

One thing is certain, it shows that these stupid console wars are not a sprint but a marathon. You’d have to be heavily in denial to continue to dismiss the platform’s merits and standing.

Here’s hoping region-free games, rechargeable controllers and straightforward hard disk options remain part of Sony’s hardware policy and that others do the same.

(Still love my PC and my other consoles though. hehehe)

There already is a clear winner this generation. It’s called the Wii.

PS3? MOAR LIEK PSFAIL! AMIRITE?

I remember E3 2005.

I was totally hyped by the KZ2 and Motorstorm “footage”, NVIDIA’s presentation and all the possibilities that having a console that doubled as a wifi router, with not one, but TWO HDMI ports might bring.

Then the release came, with no games that I actually wanted, no difference in graphics to the 360, and a ridiculous price.

During that time I would look for reasons to buy a PS3. I was on the verge of ‘impulse buying’ one on a number of occasions, but every single time I found myself standing in the PS3 section of GAME, I just couldn’t justify it to myself.

It was only after a price drop in the Slim model that I finally picked one up. I bought one game, and after a short while, I didn’t turn it on much.

Even though I’ve now owned a PS3 for more than two years, I’ve hardly played it until recently. I’ve been on 360, so basically, I’ve become used to XBL and all of it’s features.

Recently, I decided to go against what I’ve been doing for years, and get the latest CoD, MW3, for PS3 instead of 360. Because of this, my PS3 is finally getting used on a daily basis, and let’s just say that I’m less than impressed.

Feature wise, it’s missing so many basic features that the 360 has. I mean seriously, what’s the point in ever looking at another player’s gamercard (or whatever it’s called)? You can’t see what they’re playing, where they’re from, or any other useful information. You can just see a list of their recent trophies and that they can apparently speak English and also know Chinese as a second language(!?). Because of this, I can’t do many things, like check where other players, such as the host, are playing from in MW3, for example.

There are no parties and the fact that I can only use a Bluetooth headset means that people like me who can’t be bothered with charging the thing every two days end up having to use the text chat all the time. This can also be a problem, because I’ve had my PS3 crash, apparently due to opening and closing the XMB too many times, before.

The whole experience just feels so restrictive and closed compared to the complete 360 experience, which also includes having a lot of XBL functionality available away from my 360, on xbox.com.

I also don’t personally like the trophy system as much as gamerpoints, but that’s just me.

I’m having loads of fun with the game I’m actually playing, but since 2005, the difference between what I was promised/expecting and what I’m actually using in 2012 are worlds apart.

“a fact Sony openly acknowledged, with Kaz Hirai even suggesting players might take a second job to ensure they obtained one”

It was actually Ken Kutaragi that made this comment. Hirai came in later and started stuffing humble pie into each and every employee’s throats in 06.

@6

You bored JC?

@8 thanks! Corrected.

It’s hard to believe it’s been five years already, it feels like it’s only just beginning to hit its stride.

Coming into this generation I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the PS3 would be the platform to own and that its overwhelming success was practically guaranteed. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ I would get a PS3 but ‘when’.

Five years later I’m a genuinely content 360 owner and still don’t have a PS3. Nor any plans to ever buy one. If you’d have suggested that to me back then I’d have laughed you out of the room.

Congrats to Sony on turning that horrific start into a very decent success, but they will have to try very, very much harder to regain my interest next time out. But if this gen’s proven anything it’s that there’s no such thing as a sure-fire outcome. Nothing is impossible.

@7 G1GAHURTZ
Did you mean to type this?
what’s the point in ever looking at another player’s gamercard (or whatever it’s called)? You can’t see what they’re playing,

Gamecards on my PS3 tell me what Game a person is playing and what mode they’re playing as well.
Maybe you’re just not looking hard enough?

Maybe I’m missing something, but if you go to your ‘Players Met’ list and have a look at every single person whose online, it doesn’t show anywhere what they’re playing.

You can only see what someone’s playing if they’re on your friends list AFAIK.

@13 – Which is EXACTLY how it should be. I don’t want random people who aren’t on my friends list to see what I’m playing.

Ps3 has been by far the better buy this gen. Saved me 5years of Xbox live fees for a start. I’ve an Xbox360 as well as a ps3 and the white helicopter-noise making box has been pretty much unloved.

I have a wifi network in my house but the xbox can’t see it so I have to connect to it with a ethernet wire so I don’t bother as it is inconvenient.

Along with the fact that the blu-ray format was the right HD video format to go with it has been an excellent choice. I for once was an early adopter of Full-HD films and at a price below cost.

With the pick of the exclusives this gen and the best graphics on a console it is no surprise it has caught up with Xbox sales even though it has been on-sale for less time and for much of that time at a higher price.

If it is out selling xbox when available side-by-side then that is very positive. Nice1 big black grilling machine; loved it.

Man, just so much hate here, why? The PS3′s a great device. Sure, the PS3 shot itself in the foot at the starting gate, and I get everyone has their different console preferences, but its made really significant strides since its launch, and has come back really strong. It also looks to be a real brand of reliability going forward. I enjoy playing games on my PS3, and will continue to do so for years to come. It’s just kinda sad that 5 years into its life cycle, people still can’t break out of their stingy, ignorant, fanboy bubbles.

@11 “It’s hard to believe it’s been five years already, it feels like it’s only just beginning to hit its stride.”

And that’s its problem. It has gotten as far in five years as the PS2 got in two. And with all the added horsepower under the hood pushing development costs for games much higher, that’s not a good thing. It means there’s a much smaller market for the developers to profit from.

Regardless, the PS3 has an absolutely phenomenal line-ups of actual games, and no matter how much you can argue against its popularity, sales, or whatever else, that really is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. First party exclusives is Sony’s best strong point, and I hope they keep churning out the quality for many more years to come.

PS3 for me was just a massive dissapointment in every department.

I bought one when they hit a semi-reasonable price (slim) because of Demons Souls and a couple nice PSN games like PAIN and pixeljunk shooter, but it was gathering dust within a month or two and traded in for a 2nd 360 after less than a year of ownership.

So much about it seemed slow, dull or missing compared to the 360. It’s clearly not a machine designed for the online era, so it doesnt integrate with online well, updating and patching were a massive time-consuming pain in the ass, not though out at all, and it generally feels like it should be an offline console, much like the Wii does.

PSN itself also feels like a cobbled-together afterthought, especially when compared to XBL.

The biggest dissapointment was the games though. Sony were so very desperate to make the very expensive PS3 look like it had power to match it’s price (which it catagorically doesnt) that they put all thier resources into visuals and basically forgot to include any substancial gameplay in the bulk of thier first party efforts, instead relying on QTE’s, cutscenes and very narrow corridors.

Add to that the fact that 99% of games are multiplatform and run better on the 360 and there really was no reason for me to own one.

I can’t see myself buying a Sony console again, as much as I loved the PS1 and 2, the PS3 has put me off Playstation for life.

It genuinely amazes me that it’s sold so many, but there is a lot of brand loyalty hanging around from the days when Sony made good games consoles.

“Swings and roundabouts, through; it may well even out with the next batch.”

Did you mean “true”?

Happy birthday big plastic box of electronics! If i didn’t have you I’d have…. well a different big plastic box of electronics tbh….

what everybody always seems to foget is the one year headstart the box had. 1 year without any competitor (dont even start with wii).

Happy birthday. Thanks for making my gaming experience the best it can be.

I think that the ps3 is the best home console of this gen, it has every multiplatform game(unlike the wii), a lot of good exclusives(more than 360) and a decent online service(unlike the wii) for free(unlike 360 … i think, i don’t know exactly how silver and gold work).

Almost word for word what G1GA said. Try as I have I just don’t like PS3 as much as xb360. G1GA nailed the friendlist/gamecard thingie perfectly. Well done.

Bought mine a few months after launch in the UK, and haven’t looked back since. It’s fed me a steady stream of excellent games and kept me coming back for more. I’ve never considered purchasing a 360, but I’ve only really got the time and money for one console and the PS3 has met my needs from day one. I imagine the reason I’m not weeping about the supposedly horrific online functionality is that I’ve nothing to compare it against – I play online occasionally with my mates and it works, which is good enough for me.

I have gotten to like the PS3 a lot despite its quirks and there are a few OG and Giga.
I would suggest sticking with it as there are a few gems in there.
I am glad I own both tbh.

@OG:

Yeah, it’s surprising all the little things that you don’t really notice that you get with XBL until they’re ‘gone’. What’s more, there’s a new dashboard due out, with supposedly even more features.

@reask:

Yeah well, I think I’ll be on my PS3 until I either get bored of MW3 (can’t see that happening any time soon…) or I buy it for 360 (which I’m tempted to do, just for the achievements). I might get one or two exclusives in a few months, if I can be bothered.

I just recently bought GT5, reask, and was very impressed. Its a great game. I am glad I own the system, lots of games I enjoy. None of them GoW, UC, KZ, or Infamous tho ironicly. Loved LBP, Warhawk(getting Starhawk day one),Dungeon Hunter, Fat Princess, Trine, and GT5. Of course others as well.

But if I had to pick just one system from the lot of em this gen. I’d take my XB360 hands down. The controler, the features, the online, party chat, … like G1GA its a lot of little things that mak ethe whole experience.

trust me, i have tried switching systems in the past. I just couldn’t do it.

I wasn’t up for the ps3 and was gonna get a 360 after the initial launch and had some decent games. M8s had already got launch 360s.

Then came over to NY for a holiday, went in the Sony store and saw the shiny goodness and just couldn’t resist. Got a launch 60Gb model which is still with me today.

I got a 360 shortly after and the ps3 was relegated to blu rays and occasional exculsives. Any multi platform was bought on 360 for Live and better pads (imo).

Wierdly though the ps3 has grown on me and become more and more prominent. PSN has improved (still not a patch on Live imo)and so have the exclusives and multiplatform titles (still not keen on the pad though).

I sold my 360 a year ago when I moved with the intention of replacing it with a Slim but have just never bothered. So now I have my ps3 and pc and just can’t bring myself to buy another 360 as it’s coming to the end and only a few titles I want to play on it.

Anyway, happy birthday ps3, an amazing bit of tech (on release) however you look at it which I like more and more.

“Happy birthday. Thanks for making my gaming experience the best it can be.”

Playing Skyrim?

I got the slim for kz2 and uc plus resistance, for the main part Im a shooter guy at heart.

KZ2 was disappointing, for me anyway as it seemed to want to be gears or something but never quite did it.
Good game in there somewhere but never really knew where to go imo.

UC 1 was decent if nothing else, what bugged me was the fact that the pistol was as powerful as any other gun but overall a decent game.

I played fall of man but it just looked and played like a ps2 game having been used to halo 3 and gears 1 and 2 to name a couple.
So I was not too impressed and went back to 360.

Then I got UC2 and I just thought the game was fabulous.
It done everything right from story telling to good shooting pieces to good puzzling.

Started playing more with the 3 and downloaded infamous for a tenner whilst on plus.
not usually my type of game but it flowed smoothly and I really enjoyed it.

Then along came KZ3 and I thought I will just rent it out and see what its like.
I really really loved both sp and mp so I bought a new copy to support gg.
I know it came in for criticism for selling out to the casual but I preferred it over 2.

Met some really cool heads whilst on multi and played it for ages.
We set up a casual clan and played a few tourneys but mostly it was just a laugh and nobody cared how bad you where which suited me.

Overall I think in the round Sony got a lot wrong at the start with the 3 and if the brand name had not been there it would have sunk.

A lot of gamers have respect for Sony and I personally think having gone through a bad patch they are asserting themselves again.

Personally I think MS have been the frontrunners this gen on the hd front and I reckon when they bring out there next one a lot of gamers who cringed this gen will go out and buy it day one.

Overall MS,s entry in to the market has been a good thing as it shows that no one can take gamers for granted.

I remember E3 2005.

Oh wait, G1GAHURTZ already said that lol….
Unlike Giga, I never ended up buying a PS3, mainly because i cannot really afford to support two consoles. I don’t watch a ton of movies so the blu-ray never interested me so much early on.
I couldn’t allow myself to support a console at such a high launch price either, at $599.99, this was in the 3DO price range, and we all know how that ended up. If it would have been more powerful, with much better graphics, then I would have probably got one when the slim came out.
All the comparison videos with 360 VS PS3 showed the 360 had a superior GPU and memory configuration and could upscale 720p to 1080p where the PS3 couldn’t early on. I own a very nice CRT HDTV that doesn’t do 720p, only 1080i so that was a factor. The halved memory of 256/256 the PS3 has was a bad choice, much like Sony choosing the 4MB frame buffer the PS2 had, resulting in blurrier textures even compared to the dreamcast.
Even today you read someone post about the theoretical power of the PS3. Yes it has a more powerful CPU in the Cell, but games are mostly GPU limited. My PC has a great video card and an almost 5 year old dual core CPU and I can play most games at the highest res and all options turned on.
Anyone remember the E3 2005/2006 PS3 showings? They made it seem so awesome, but the actual result was really not much different than a 360.
The Blu-ray storage space is great, but the mandatory installs were a turn off. I like my console because it doesn’t make me install stuff like a PC.
Sony learned some very hard lessons with their arrogance, and I am glad to see them humbled. They are a better company for it. Listening to Ken and Kaz make baloney statements about the xbox was funny but a major turn off, and this coming from someone who had a PS1 and PS2. Sony seemed to have forgotten what made the PS1 so special against the Saturn, it’s cheaper price and it’s simple configuration which made it easy for development. They made the PS2 and developers hated the complexity but had no choice as it was the top console. Many developers loved the simple PC like config of the Xbox and even the 360, and that hurt the PS3 at the beginning as well.

What I have been hearing about the next gen has me concerned as MS might go a cheaper console route to include Kinect, the Wii factor, thanks Nintendo.
If MS does this, then Sony has a chance to release a very powerful console that isn’t about gimmicks and gives the hardcore what we want. If they do this, Sony could be on top again. I fear MS is just a bit too hipster and marketing group driven.
The People that started the 360′s climb and massive acceptance aren’t working for MS anymore. I am no fanboy, who ever releases the most powerful console will get my money. If they are both around the same performance, I would probably go Xbox again.

Sony has really made a massive turnaround with the PS3, MS doesn’t have Nintendo’s franchises, they have hardcore franchises. If the next gen COD looks better on PS4, that’s what consumers and I will buy.

@Mike
Nah man. I tried it out and it just isnt my thing. Ive been playing through Batman AC, BF3, MW3, Uncharted 3, Ultimate MvC3, and MGS Collection.

PS3 has been great! Shaky start! But is now overtaking 360 in WW sales and most importantly CONTENT! One thing we ps3 owners can not complain about if the variety of games there is on offer which are EXCLUSIVE! Plus the PS3 was not really that expensive at launch… CONSIDERING it was a blu-ray player and… at the time it was THE CHEAPEST 3D blu-player you could buy. (3D was implemented a few years later via an update)

@ jdfoster00
How in the name of f&&k thus that matter now?
I mean its probably or maybe or whatever going to take over 360 now.

Sony lost this gen plain and simple bud.
Put it whatever way you like but that is what happened here.

Lets just take a look at the exclusives for example resistance, KZ, UC, GOW, LBP, etc etc.

KZ3 sold less than 2, r3 was a fu&&ing disaster sales wise, uc3 done excellent and gow and lbp are niche.

This gen is over man and the 3 failed to live up to the hype plain and simple.

Let me put it another way for you.
xbox sold 24 million I think.
PS2 sold what? 130 million.

360 at present is on close to 60 million and ps3 is about 2 million behind.

Fact is name brand saved the 3 from been a flop and ms are now the new Sony going in to next gen.

Some folks may not like that but it is fact.
360 is a gem which sells devs games by the truckload and that will be the thing that launches the next one.

Sony are now just a player like the rest.
5 years was more than enough to prove it was the best and the fact remains it is not the best but just a carbon copy of the 360.

Just look at Giga and other comments.
It failed to deliver anything the 360 was already doing.

We can talk about helicopter like sounds or rrod or whatever but at the end of the day guys like myself and others put on the machine to game and if that works the rest is just nothing.

Check out tonights headlines on vg247 about the new xbox.
Where does that leave the 10 year plan I mean cmon man.

I’m a late adopter to PS3 (dec 2010) I always wanted one when they first came out, but I wasn’t willing to pay £425 for one. I picked up an Original 60gb (ps2 compat) for £200 from CEX, and I love it, it’s a good machine that plays great games, only problem I have is PSN, what a load of shit, I stopped playing my PS2 back in 2006, and I went over to PC and I guess I was spoilt with Steam, as that platform shows how a gaming store/community should be ran, which I belive to be better than XBL, which out of the two consoles is suprier because online gaming for consoles owners or noobs who like to play in there living rooms won the console war, because online gaming is where it is at, bringing people together. I think SONY have clicked onto this and vita will push the social side of gaming, but if programed correctly you could therotically make better looking games with more happning with AI and other shit on the PSV. PS3′s downfall is also it’s memory. It’s ups are that you can upgrade you HDD no problem and it has some awesome first party games which xbox’s only players should be jelious of.

i love ps3, not for the system itself or the company behind it, but for all the amazing exclusive titles.

The PS3 was easy to resist at £425 but by the time I got my 80GB fat model I think it was finding it’s feet. Dualshocks were back with rumble, trophies were introduced to provide an answer to Xbox Achievements and with MGS4 and Uncharted, Resistance and Ratchet, there were enough great games to make it worthwhile. I’ve never looked back and nor have I ever been remotely tempted to get a 360. I’ve happily played the first Gears of War and Mass Effect on my PC and the range of brilliant and genuine platform exclusives Sony have offered us is unsurpassed – even by Nintendo. There’s just no way I’d give up Uncharted, Killzone, Heavy Rain, God of War, Gran Turismo, WipEout, Infamous, Flower, Resistance, Ratchet and very much not least Demon’s Souls for every Xbox game under the sun.

Genuinely, I don’t think gaming has ever been so good.

So much fail in most of here’s comments that i don’t know where to begin with.
One thing is certain.Most of the ps3 userbase, which is huge is actually “GAMING” on the damn thing than coming from nerd..ville commenting,moaning,trolling at gaming sites,forums almost 70% of their free time.
Good job Sony

‘ms are now the new Sony going in to next gen.’

What does that even mean?

@39 – ridiculous amounts of fail…

@kl
No fail really just opinions.
I could give a tits ass about Sony or MS.
I pay for a product and it should do what it says on the tin.

Both do that imo.

@ Deacon.
Think PS1 era to PS2 era and do the maths.

@reask
“No fail really just opinions”

C’mon who are we kidding?are you new here?
you mean biased opinions.