Rant - I miss my PS3 days

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

Sorry to hear your life situation isn't ideal currently. I've worked similar long hour jobs in the past and yeah, it really fucking sucks. It just feels like your entire life is work and little else. I ended up pulling all nighters or only getting 2-3 hours of sleep simply so I could spend a few hours on my hobbies in the evenings, instead of often not being able to, or not having the energy to do anything till weekends. I look back on those times as some of the worst of my life. Thankfully I've been luckier in recent years in being able to work flexible and part time jobs that I actually also enjoy to some extent, and I'm deeply grateful for it.

 

Anyway, to get back on the topic of gaming - for me personally, the PS3/360 era was kind of just "ok" for me. I got into it semi-late as well, getting my first PS3 in 2008 primarily for LittleBigPlanet, but still not really playing it a ton till 2011 or so. There were a lot of games during that period that didn't really interest me too much, but it definitely still had some great games, and I only really "finished" my backlog for the PS3 less than a year ago, and I still have a small 360 backlog to dig through.

 

The PS2/Gamecube era was more of my jam, and I still enjoy playing games from that generation today, games I never got around to, or never had a chance to play during the time the consoles were still relevant. I think I do actually prefer the PS4 to the PS3, personally, in terms of its library, but I also agree that the Dualshock 3 was a better controller than the DS4. Only thing I prefer about the DS4 is the triggers.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

SNES and PS2/Gamecube for myself, dam i really feel old now. My day 1 PS2 only recently started to kick the bucket, it has trouble reading disc now. My Gamecube still works just fine though it is not quite as old as the PS2, I bought it years later. Eternal Darkness and The Resident Evil Remake were the first 2 games I bought for it.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Void

[Zircon_Lotus]

I dont relate with those posts about the PS3 era. Personally it is the Playstation that I enjoyed the least. I dont know if it was because I got into it really late (2013) and had already played some of the multiplataform on PC, but it did not 'click' with me. I remember thinking that the games were not as good as I expected and had many poor experiences. It was actually the PS4 that reignited my passion from the PS2 days. Actually it is funny because my first time playing a PS3 was Assassin's Creed in 2008, and I experienced a mind blow, like that game was different from everything that I had played before.  

 

But I have to admit that the PS3 has something unique that is hard to describe. Got some plats on it in 2020 and there is something that the PS4 lacks, and it feels nostalgic even though I did not enjoy it that much. They could have kept the XMB. 

[steel6burgh]

My ps3 experience was buying one early and the hard drive burning out because I left it on.  That was it.  I have a friend who will loan me his ps3 anytime I feel the need to play something ps3 but tbh with the exception of planning to do the ps3 hitman collection at some point there is nothing I want to go back to that era for.  Maybe just cause 2.  Just stuff to finish out complete series for my list.  I may or may not ever do it.

Edited May 30, 2022 by steel6burgh

[x7251]

8 hours ago, lettmon said:

There was a special aura around the PS3, unique hardware, great exclusive games. 

 

PS3 had great online games like MAG, Killzone 2, and Resistance 2. 

[Jeanolt]

8 hours ago, Stan Lee said:

There's good and bad to all generations. PS3/ XB360-era had a wider variety of big games but they usually ran at 720p, 30 fps (if you were lucky) and for most of the gen a lot of games had that insufferable "piss-smear" filter that has contributed to a lot of the games aging quite horribly. Nostalgia plays a big part in how we remember that generation since we were younger and found more wonder in those things thus appreciated them more, plus we had fewer responsibilities and more time to play. In ten years' time we could very well be looking back more fondly on the PS4 generation than we do now and the ones that were more or less brought up on PS4/ XBOne will tell us about how that was the best generation ever. Not saying you or anyone else is wrong, I loved that generation too but by my own experience I think the PS2 was a superior console and some of my favourite games of all time even came out in the PS1 era. Hell, my uncle still tells me that the ZX Spectrum was the best gaming experience he ever had even though he still games today.

Exactly. It isn't about the games or the console but about the time period where you played it. No one can agree which one is better because everyone lived them in a different time of their lives, making the experience personal. Although I agree that the PS3 had a great atmosphere and it was somehow unique. 

I've been playing since PS2 and that doesn't hold me back on loving new games/consoles.

[DogalZ]

I miss the prime gaming days of playing PS3 and Xbox 360. Games these days are rather depressing, as there's too many letdowns/broken games, games filled with microtransactions/ads/dlc, cash grabs/clones and hardly any new IPs (just checked twitch and games such as GTA V, LoL, Minecraft, Fortnite have been at the top for years). Gaming is all about the money for developers/publishers this generation, the love and dedication for making great games is long gone and now a rarity. 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by DogalZ

[Aodir]

Hey now, you can't miss the PS3 days if you never stop using your PS3s.

 

/rant

[pavelbagirov]

11 hours ago, Stan Lee said:

There's good and bad to all generations. PS3/ XB360-era had a wider variety of big games but they usually ran at 720p, 30 fps (if you were lucky) and for most of the gen a lot of games had that insufferable "piss-smear" filter that has contributed to a lot of the games aging quite horribly. Nostalgia plays a big part in how we remember that generation since we were younger and found more wonder in those things thus appreciated them more, plus we had fewer responsibilities and more time to play. In ten years' time we could very well be looking back more fondly on the PS4 generation than we do now and the ones that were more or less brought up on PS4/ XBOne will tell us about how that was the best generation ever. Not saying you or anyone else is wrong, I loved that generation too but by my own experience I think the PS2 was a superior console and some of my favourite games of all time even came out in the PS1 era. Hell, my uncle still tells me that the ZX Spectrum was the best gaming experience he ever had even though he still games today.

PS2 was good but it also a platform that destroyed a lot of series like Crash Bandicoot/ Tenchu/Syphon Filter/ Army Men/Driver and more

[lettmon]

12 hours ago, Stan Lee said:

There's good and bad to all generations. PS3/ XB360-era had a wider variety of big games but they usually ran at 720p, 30 fps (if you were lucky) and for most of the gen a lot of games had that insufferable "piss-smear" filter that has contributed to a lot of the games aging quite horribly. [..] I think the PS2 was a superior console and some of my favourite games of all time even came out in the PS1 era. Hell, my uncle still tells me that the ZX Spectrum was the best gaming experience he ever had even though he still games today.

 

You contradict yourself. If you don't like that the PS3 is a 720p 30 fps, you should hate the PS2 which is sub 480p 24fps, if ure lucky. I won't say anything about the PS1 and it's 3D capabilities. The PS2 introduced me to the world of Playstation but I can't play it today on the original hardware because it looks horrible on a modern display while the PS3 looks fine, the PS360 defined the look of 'HD' games. But at the end of the day for me the grafix have never mattered with a few exceptions, e.g. nobody should play GTA4 on the PS3, it looks like blurry brown vomit, you can play it on a potato PC in high res.

[zeero7uk]

To be honest it sounds like you miss that time of your life rather than the PS3 era itself. Getting older sucks, our priorities change weather we like it or not.

 

The PS3/360 era was the beginning of the downfall for me. That gen shaped modern gaming for the worst. Broken games at launch, day1 patches, installs, DLC, MTX all reared their ugly heads that gen and are only getting more common

[fbdbh]

Unless you're a doctor (or financially in trouble), don't ever ever ever work more than 40 hours a week.

Edited May 30, 2022 by fbdbh

[lettmon]

17 minutes ago, fbdbh said:

Unless you're a doctor (or financially in trouble), don't ever ever ever work more than 40 hours a week.

 

I don't work work that many hours, I own a small business, inherited from my dad, and my employees do 90% of the work, but being the employer is a different grind and I'm not fit for it and therefore unhappier than before when I was a regular employee in a big IT company and it was more suitable for me.

[Baranov_925]

Though I began to play games in early 2000's, PS3 was the first device that pushed me to gaming more.
PS3 "gave birth" to some cool stuff like trophies and online gaming on Sony device.

[Conor]

10 hours ago, pavelbagirov said:

PS2 was good but it also a platform that destroyed a lot of series like Crash Bandicoot/ Tenchu/Syphon Filter/ Army Men/Driver and more

 

The platform did no such thing, incompetent devs did

 

9 hours ago, lettmon said:

 

You contradict yourself. If you don't like that the PS3 is a 720p 30 fps, you should hate the PS2 which is sub 480p 24fps, if ure lucky. I won't say anything about the PS1 and it's 3D capabilities. The PS2 introduced me to the world of Playstation but I can't play it today on the original hardware because it looks horrible on a modern display while the PS3 looks fine, the PS360 defined the look of 'HD' games. But at the end of the day for me the grafix have never mattered with a few exceptions, e.g. nobody should play GTA4 on the PS3, it looks like blurry brown vomit, you can play it on a potato PC in high res.

 

No, in fact it very much reinforces my point about nostalgia. Mind you I think the way some PS2-era games are animated and coloured actually look better than many games of the PS3 era. And about half to three quarters of the PS2 library ran at 60 fps.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Stan Lee

[damage_6-9]

Nostalgia.... it's not as good as it used to be.

[ResiGamer_28]

I bought my first ps3 in January 2022. I then bought another one, 2 more 360s and a vita and yes im a ps5/xbsx owner. I love 2010s era games, even though some boosts are grindy. Nothing wrong with nostalgia 

[LucasDragon570]

I have a greater affection for the PS3 for being my first console that I bought with my own money but I only managed to take advantage of its potential about 8 months later when I had decent internet at home.

I'm more fond of the PS1/Mega Drive/SNES/GBA, but the PS3 was the last platform I had the best entertainment on, especially with its vast library of games. Something that was lost with the PS4/XONE because the developers are less afraid of getting a yellow note on Metacritic, as this can cost some studios to go bankrupt (like Evolution Studios from Driveclub, the best racing game on the PS4). In addition to fully divided and repetitive games.

 

It's a shame that Sony doesn't value its old platforms, because PS5 would be much more attractive if it had backwards compatibility with PS3 games.

[AJ_Radio]

15 hours ago, DogalZ said:

I miss the prime gaming days of playing PS3 and Xbox 360. Games these days are rather depressing, as there's too many letdowns/broken games, games filled with microtransactions/ads/dlc, cash grabs/clones and hardly any new IPs (just checked twitch and games such as GTA V, LoL, Minecraft, Fortnite have been at the top for years). Gaming is all about the money for developers/publishers this generation, the love and dedication for making great games is long gone and now a rarity. 

 

 

I don’t want to let nostalgia cloud my judgement here, but there was simply more experimentation in those days. 
 

Take a look at old gaming magazines and old websites from the 90s and early 2000s. Completely different atmosphere compared to today. Even if the games sucked, and they actually did for a number of them, you have to give the magazine writers and advertisers credit. 
 

Today, journalists are almost entirely one sided and they parrot the same nonsense over and over. Journalism really is in a sense, dead. 
 

Nobody can tell me this era has been more exciting than the ‘Golden Era’ of the mid 1990s to roughly the mid - late 2000s (1995 to 2007/2009), give or take. 
 

Will 2007 ever be toppled? I doubt it.

[Sendai-Horatio]

20 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

I don’t want to let nostalgia cloud my judgement here, but there was simply more experimentation in those days. 
 

Take a look at old gaming magazines and old websites from the 90s and early 2000s. Completely different atmosphere compared to today. Even if the games sucked, and they actually did for a number of them, you have to give the magazine writers and advertisers credit. 
 

Today, journalists are almost entirely one sided and they parrot the same nonsense over and over. Journalism really is in a sense, dead. 
 

Nobody can tell me this era has been more exciting than the ‘Golden Era’ of the mid 1990s to roughly the mid - late 2000s (1995 to 2007/2009), give or take. 
 

Will 2007 ever be toppled? I doubt it.

Gaming Journalism has never been good at judging games and this has been something that was already decades in practice before the 2000's. Magazines like Nintendo Power were just advertisements and this persisted throughout their whole existence. They weren't the only ones either, the vast majority of gaming magazines operated like this because they enjoyed getting bonuses, exclusive event invitations and other kickbacks.

 

The only thing that changed was that people became more aware of these things, but you can even go back to when the Commodore 64 was current and see that many outlets were just supposed to be a glorified marketing department, they were not making actual informed criticism or anything resembling good journalism.

 

As far as games getting experimental, you still have that today. I have a good number of experimental games from the current era and the PS3 era completed on my profile. Games like Afrika and Aquanaut's Holiday were both very experimental when it came to PS3 games, but the experimentation didn't really click with everyone which is why they didn't do well and Aquanaut's Holiday wasn't given a world wide release.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Sendai-Horatio

[Jake-TheGreat97]

I got a PS3 Christmas of 2010 and was my main console until 2014 when I got a PS4. Although PS4 didn't become my main console until 2016. I'm more nostalgic for the PS4 because I had it pretty much from the start of the life cycle, where as with the PS3 I didn't own one close to the end of the life cycle.

[rebelkiller93]

The PS3 is the console I've spent the most time on in my life and it was during my formative years (14-21) - the last period of my life where I didn't really have any worries or responsibilities outside of school. Have fond memories of those summer breaks from school where I'd stay up late playing Resistance: Fall of Man multiplayer with a childhood friend of mine and some guys we met online. We'd play Capture the Flag every night and it was good fun. I also spent a lot of time playing Call of Duty MW2 split-screen multiplayer with my dad and brother; every day after school, we'd play for hours until my mother wanted the TV to watch her shows. Moving into the HD era after playing on the PS1 and PS2 meant your mind was constantly being blown as the years went by.

 

I still play my PS3 from time to time but I will admit that it is sometimes hard to go back and some games haven't aged well graphically. GTA IV in particular just looks really bad when you try to play it on PS3. But still, the memories from that era will live forever.

 

 

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, Sendai-Horatio said:

Gaming Journalism has never been good at judging games and this has been something that was already decades in practice before the 2000's. Magazines like Nintendo Power were just advertisements and this persisted throughout their whole existence. They weren't the only ones either, the vast majority of gaming magazines operated like this because they enjoyed getting bonuses, exclusive event invitations and other kickbacks.

 

The only thing that changed was that people became more aware of these things, but you can even go back to when the Commodore 64 was current and see that many outlets were just supposed to be a glorified marketing department, they were not making actual informed criticism or anything resembling good journalism.

 

As far as games getting experimental, you still have that today. I have a good number of experimental games from the current era and the PS3 era completed on my profile. Games like Afrika and Aquanaut's Holiday were both very experimental when it came to PS3 games, but the experimentation didn't really click with everyone which is why they didn't do well and Aquanaut's Holiday wasn't given a world wide release.

 

 

Most of the creativity at this point is coming from the indie and AA developers. My big problem is indie is generally very low budget. We have seen an influx of indies that were clearly inspired by old 1990s era platformers. Metroidvania as a genre is basically Super Metroid with some flavor. Some games are quite good, however for the most part, Metroidvanias have done little to really branch out from the Metroid franchise the games borrow so heavily from. 
 

In contrast, AAA games are more expensive than ever to produce. They are backed by billion dollar publishers who have the ultimate say in what goes and what doesn’t. So you end up with a bunch of games that start to feel the same. Japan is basically doing much better in terms of creativity as opposed to the West, whom have basically monetized their games for better or for worse. Still, Square Enix, Capcom and Konami have proven to be piss stains on the industry. 
 

The PS3/360 generation was for me the last generation when big name developers were given far more leeway to experiment. Taking risks, something that most corporations don’t bother doing as that potentially hurts their bottom line.

 

I think what people here are not pointing out was gaming used to be niche. Now it is the most profitable entertainment, more so than movies and television which have both suffered from creative bankruptcy. Unfortunately gaming is now going the same route, thanks to corporate suits with deep pockets. They had no interest in gaming as a medium when it was niche. 
 

While the PS5 is great in terms of performance, it feels utterly corporatized.

Edited May 31, 2022 by AJ_Radio

[Sendai-Horatio]

17 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

Most of the creativity at this point is coming from the indie and AA developers. My big problem is indie is generally very low budget. We have seen an influx of indies that were clearly inspired by old 1990s era platformers. Metroidvania as a genre is basically Super Metroid with some flavor. Some games are quite good, however for the most part, Metroidvanias have done little to really branch out from the Metroid franchise the games borrow so heavily from. 
 

In contrast, AAA games are more expensive than ever to produce. They are backed by billion dollar publishers who have the ultimate say in what goes and what doesn’t. So you end up with a bunch of games that start to feel the same. Japan is basically doing much better in terms of creativity as opposed to the West, whom have basically monetized their games for better or for worse. Still, Square Enid, Capcom and Konami have proven to be piss stains on the industry. 
 

The PS3/360 generation was for me the last generation when big name developers were given far more leeway to experiment. Taking risks, something that most corporations don’t bother doing as that potentially hurts their bottom line.

 

I think what people here are not pointing out was gaming used to be niche. Now it is the most profitable entertainment, more so than movies and television which have both suffered from creative bankruptcy. Unfortunately gaming is now going the same route, thanks to corporate suits with deep pockets. They had no interest in gaming as a medium when it was niche. 
 

While the PS5 is great in terms of performance, it feels utterly corporatized.

AAA games have mostly gone up in terms of advertising when it comes to budget, actual development costs have not risen as sharply. It's not to the point where they can't afford to take risks because games like Death Stranding was a game with a big development budget and it really didn't pan out. As far as monetization, Japan monetizes stuff a ton, they primarily play IOS and Android based games which have far more invasive monetization practices.

 

Most of your PS3 games on your profile seem to be point and click stuff, HD ports from earlier eras, and typical AAA stuff. All these genres are still widely available today. When you're talking about experimental I was thinking stuff like El Shaddai, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Tokyo Jungle, and the other games I've mentioned. Those were genuinely experimental but your trophy list doesn't seem to reflect that.

 

The PS5 really is no more or less corporate than the PS3 was, the PS3 was made to push the blu-ray format as the dominant form of physical media. Now granted we're still in a period where the PS4 still exists and both the PS4 and PS5 are getting ports of the same games. But something like Away: The Survival Series is a very experimental game and Void Terrarium is an RPG Roguelike. There's also the free game Astro's Playroom which is probably the best Platformer that sony has produced in recent memory (and platformers are a whole genre that Sony themselves usually farmed out to other developers like Naughty Dog and Insomniac and usually would not do themselves) and this is on top of all their VR games which is a whole subset of experimental games.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Sendai-Horatio

[Vampirehunter145]

Somebody touched my inner feelings. Yes, i was introduced to the PS3 era in 2012. Before that, i was only devoted to Xbox and Nintendo (mainly Nintendo consoles). Then, i watched some videos of people playing GOW 1 and 2 in a PS3 console and never looked behind. My first game in a PS3 was Dante's Inferno the last i buyed ( a few days ago) was Diablo III. Of course, things change. In 2012 i was still a college student. Ten years later, i have a job, a house, i live well but work absorbs a good chunk of my day and when i have free time, i'm all drained up and with 0% in the bar to play a videogame.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Vampirehunter145