Gaming

(Hopefully this kind of post is ok here, I know it’s not gaming news, but just trying to not sit and lurk, but actually create discussion)

The community is just called "Gaming" and describes itself as "All forms of game discussion go here [...]". So I would say such a discussion as yours perfectly fits here.

Anyway:

If you have to space to put one, owning another console is not that bad. However $120 feels too expensive for an old, outdated console. I would probably go for a cheap used one. They might even be sold with a whole bunch of games included, if someone just wants to get rid of it.

Do you own a relatively good PC by chance? If you are, you could give the RPC3 Emulator a chance. Its still in development and not everything runs perfect, but if your PC can handle it, it's a great alternative.

I started Red Dead Redemption on the PS3 and switched to RPC3 a while after, it had better FPS while having a better resolution.

imho no, because after more than a decade from production the TIM is caked and you must delid the CPU to get decent temperatures.

If they made a new ps3, i would buy it, i'd love to use it as a media center, the newer consoles can't even play music from CD. But when i realize that's it's an hair dryer using 170 watts in idle / playing media....

Why not pay for 1 month of streaming and see what kind of latency you’re dealing with? With games like Killzone and Resistance I believe servers are down and there’s no longer online play. So I imagine you’re only interested in the campaigns?

Unfortunately the architecture of the PS3 is a mess and so the best experience to be had is going to be physical games on the hardware, but if you’re only interested in a few games I’m not sure if it’s worth it to get a PS3.

If you have a PC, you can try ps3 emulator. The majority of games work, but of course, some don't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPCS3

I’d say this community is for all gaming including questions like this so you’re fine their in my opinion.

I own a ps1, ps2, ps4, and a ps5 so apparently I don’t like the 3 🤣 so I can’t answer your question about connectivity.

But my answer is if a game system plays games you like, you can find them, and isn’t too expensive I’d say go for it. The library for the ps4 is still huge and I have a psvr so I play it regularly. The older systems were for my younger boys who got into some of the older retro games.

Tl;dr I’d say go for it.

I bought one last year to play the Metal Gear games. There are quite a few good 'HD collections' available if you wanted to play upscaled PS2 games for pretty cheap. I don't have a PC powerful enough to emulate PS3 so it was worthwhile to me. Allegedly MGS4 is being ported to current gen, so that's one less exclusive!

All the basics still work with the online service, though you have to go through some extra steps to buy games on the PS3 store now.

GTA 5 runs ont he PS3 and its still the current GTA title. I was impressed recently with the graphics of MGS4. I bought it used many years ago for 120 eur in good condition.

If you're dead set on getting a PS3, check eBay. You'll probably get change from $100 at current prices.

The ps4 is a better option imo. If you need a ps3 get the latest revision the others have known failure issues.

Yes it's worth it. Yes you can still use the store. Yes you can still buy DLC (you can't get PS3 DLC through PS Plus streaming).

Aside from games like Killzone, Resistance, inFamous, etc. There are also a ton of PS1 games that you can buy on the digital store, which is a huge deal for me.

Also, you can check something like Facebook Marketplace to get a PS3 for sub-$100.

Do you have access to a computer that could either play ports of those games or is strong enough to emulate those games?

This would be my answer to that question

In fact I'd come up with a list of all the exclusives that you're interested in playing and use that in your reasoning as well.

I've got a PS3 that I haven't touched in years if you want it! Was thinking of just donating it somewhere. In Canada.

Just got an Xbox 360 (not a PS3, but same generation) and a pile of games and it is totally worth it IMO. I mean the graphics are a bit rough obviously, but there are still great games to play. I also have an Xbox (Series S), and the 360 (and PS3 would be similar) because you get to play games before everything became about MTX and Battlepasses etc (though there was some of that especially towards the end). You can also play them offline generally speaking.

From an architectural design standpoint, the PS3 is kind of fascinating. It's impressive how good many of its games still look today.

Rodrigo Copetti:

As you can imagine, while the multi-core design of Cell accelerates emerging techniques such as procedural generation, none of these designs are particularly simple to implement, especially considering game studios prefer codebases that can be shared across different platforms. […]

It appears that even with a supercomputer chip, Sony still had to fetch a GPU to finalise the PlayStation 3. This makes you wonder if IBM/Sony/Toshiba hit a wall while trying to scale Cell further, so Sony had no option but to get help from a graphics company.

https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/playstation-3/

i got a broken ps3 from a friend that i fixed and i'm having a blast but i would't say i recommend buying one, if you get one cheap, sure, go for it, i've seen people on reddit find the slim version for 50 bucks and many thrift store finds as well. if you're don't want the hassle of having an unsupported console, i would consider emulating on pc, i triend persona 5 a while ago and it looked better than on ps3

It's sad that these games are not covered by PS+ deluxe. $120 sounds a bit expensive to me, but it depends on eager you want to play these old games.

Quick calculation: Assuming you have 5 games to play on PS3, you spend $120 for the console and $200 for the pre-owned discs, you're spending $62 on average, which is almost the full price of a new release game. If you think these games are interesting enough, then this is a to-go decision.

As many people has pointed out, it's always worth to try the simulator on PC first

Yep, it's worth it. Yes it still connects to Playstation network. Yes you can get trophies. Yes you can download permanent digital copies of PS1, PS2 and PS3 games for $5--$10 ea. (probably less in USD) without a PS+ subscription and you can play them all offline.

Well, the Metal Gear Legacy Collection on PS3 is still a way better deal than whatever this garbage Konami is about to vomit up. I bet they want us to forget what an amazing collection they released for a mere $50.

Edit: Welp, nvm. I checked Amazon when MGS Vol 1 was just announced a couple weeks ago and Legacy was still available for $50. Now it can't be had for less than $120.

Unless you only plan on playing just a couple of specific games (in which scenario I'd recommend using rpcs3), I think a ps3 could be a cool investment.

The console itself is easily hackable and pretty good at emulation ~~and piracy~~ It's got a ton of amazing games and might even run quite a lot of ps2 games.

You could probably find one for even less than $120 so if you have some money you want to spend on games a ps3 is totally worth it