PS3 - retro??

[greenberet79]

No, it's not one of those questions lol.

I've noticed recently a few PS3s being sold second hand on gumtree etc. And they're quite cheap, and games are really cheap now.

I've never owned one - never even played on one. I had a PS1, PS2 and still have two PSPs and two Vita's, and PS classic, so I'm not totally in the dark. But I checked out of gaming around this era - HD, DLC etc - so am a bit clueless to the PS3 and its versions and tech etc.

So the question is - is it worth picking up a PS3 now (and games) while they're going cheap? What version and hard drive should I be looking for?

Or should I wait another year and pick up a PS4? Or even an Xbox 360?

Anyone else jumping in on the last generation while it's cheap?

[ALK]

Picked up quite a few PS3 games lately as my local GAME has been trying to get rid of its last gen stuff for 99p each, sometimes even as low as 10p (The stuff like Kinect Adventures but like hell I'm turning that down. ).

As for right now, I would look up the PS3 exclusives and see what has and hasnt had a rerelease/HD Remaster on PS4 or other systems and base your decision on that. The multiplats, I would lean more towards the 360 versions because a good chunk of them are backward compatible with the XBONE and will be for the upcoming Project Scarlet. Even better, some of those games even get a 4K upgrade at no extra charge, just pop your 360/OG XBox disc into an XBONE, wait while it does a download and away you go.

I'm probably not the best person to ask about exclusives as I've only had my PS3 Slim for nearly 3 years but not played it as much as say, my 360 or XBONE. Its a decent enough system and doubles as a cheap Blu Ray Player, but I've always found myself preferring Microsoft's consoles over Sony's.

[Big Shoes]

I got a PS3, 80gb fat, boxed with 2 controllers and 53 games for £40 from the car boot sale last year, only played it once. They are worth picking up cheap if you can get one. I prefer the 360 though

[oldtimer]

Wow that's cheap when you break it all down.
Ive not picked anything up at a carboot for simply ages, it all looks picked clean where I am .

[SJ_Sathanas]

Later models are supposed to be more reliable. The earlier fat models are PS2 backwards compatible but had many issues with the hardware.
I think all PS3s can play PS1 games?

[greenberet79]

So the later models would be the slims? What about hard drive size - just a case of bigger the better?

I do quite like the idea of a 360 actually. Either way, I'm just keeping my eye on Gumtree, see if I can get a bargain. Though I'm guessing once the next arrive then they'll be even cheaper. Before eventually going up in price ha.

[ALK]

So the later models would be the slims? What about hard drive size - just a case of bigger the better?

I do quite like the idea of a 360 actually. Either way, I'm just keeping my eye on Gumtree, see if I can get a bargain. Though I'm guessing once the next arrive then they'll be even cheaper. Before eventually going up in price ha.

Slims and Super Slims (Those have a door you physically have to slide open to put a game disc in instead of swallowing the disc for you.). Far as I'm aware, 500GB is the biggest sized PS3 you can find which should give you plenty of space should you decide to buy games digitally. You can upgrade the internal harddrive to 1TB, sometimes 1.5TB but results vary on what you use like the firmware updates might have issues with what you use, etc. You sadly can't use an external harddrive on a PS3 for extra game storage but you can on a 360 (My digital game library on 360 is over 700 games thanks to my 2TB external HDD, that and both Games with Gold and weekly sales. )

[greenberet79]

Ah that's another question - is online still running on the PS3 and 360?

[ALK]

Ah that's another question - is online still running on the PS3 and 360?

It sure is. Some games might of had their servers shutdown, some games might be dead lobbies with no players ever coming online, but you can still buy games digitally on both systems with regular sales still happening to this day, and you can still do online multiplayer with the games that still do have their servers but might want to either go with the most popular games or find some mates online to play with.

As for how much time they both have left, who knows. With PS5 and XBox Whatever coming next year, they might decide its not worth the costs to keep PS360 servers going (Some apps like the WWE Network have been shutdown on both systems for example). With 360 at least, a good lot of those games are backwards compatible with XBONE and should be with the next XBox, but with PS3 having no compatibility with PS4 or PS5 from the sounds of it, they might be more likely to shut their PS3 servers down, they already stopped giving us free PS3 and Vita games with PS+ this year.

Oh and if you're think of 360, be aware that some older models of 360 can't wirelessly connect online. For those you either need a wired connection or an adapter to connect wirelessly.

[Matt_B]

Individual games may fall by the wayside, but I'd think that at least some PS3 online services will survive so long as PSNow is a thing. The kicker being that it'll have to be mostly streaming, because they're so difficult to emulate that it'll probably require yet another generation of hardware before they could even offer as much as Microsoft can. Still, if you've got native PS3 hardware that's not going to be an issue, and you should be able to play games online for a good while yet.

[greenberet79]

Got a PS3 from Gumtree for £35. Comes with about 8 games, two official controllers and one third party wired controller which looks a bit naff but actually holds really nicely.

I'd gone off the idea but saw this going cheap so thought I'd be a fool not to pick it up. Good condition. Think it's a fat version but have no idea I've never seen a PS3 before haha.

EDIT - turns out it's a super slim version.

[English Invader]

I was a latecomer to the 360 (May 2016) and I can't recommend it enough. The PS4 and XB1 are still out of my price range but I've had a great time playing everyone's cast-offs at a fraction of their original prices. It seems like you're about to embark on a similar journey with the PS3 - have fun!

[kiwimike]

Lol I thought this was going to be a debate whether PS3 era was 'retro' - and of course following into the heated 'what is retro?!'

PS3/360 era is a great one to get NOW. It's dirt cheap, with tons and tons of AAA titles also dirt cheap

[greenberet79]

Lol I thought this was going to be a debate whether PS3 era was 'retro' - and of course following into the heated 'what is retro?!'

PS3/360 era is a great one to get NOW. It's dirt cheap, with tons and tons of AAA titles also dirt cheap

That was my thinking. I'd been in CEX and noticed some cheap games. It's an era I completely skipped (I did get a Wii about 2011 and as much as I love it it was hardly the new era of HD) so hopefully I can strike now while the iron is - well not hot, but cheap haha.

[greenberet79]

I was a latecomer to the 360 (May 2016) and I can't recommend it enough. The PS4 and XB1 are still out of my price range but I've had a great time playing everyone's cast-offs at a fraction of their original prices. It seems like you're about to embark on a similar journey with the PS3 - have fun!

Yeah there's no way I'm shelling out for a ps4 or Xbox one.

I gave the PS3 a whirl last night and enjoyed it. It actually came with ten games - there were a couple of games on the hard drive (it's a 500gb version which is a bonus). It has a similar OS to the PSP which I'm very familiar with.

I'll probably get GTA 5 and NHL 14 which will keep me happy for a long time.