Is the PS3 worth it in 2020?
Over a week ago now, I asked the question of whether the PSP is worth it in 2020? I came to the conclusions that it was, and a lot of you seemed to agree. I recently got my hands on a HEN-Enabled PS3 Slim (Unfortunately, not the full CFW model) which gave me the idea to write this. Due to the fact that I own a Slim, I will be focusing more on that model, although a lot of the points I make should apply to other models too. These are all my opinions of course, so feel free to disagree with me in the comments.
Physical Aspects:
While the PS3 definitely isn’t the smallest console in the world, it isn’t the largest either (especially with the Super Slim model) and can easily fit under most peoples TV. It does have quite some weight to it, while still being easily transportable, should the need arise. The power and eject buttons are nothing special, and overall the console can look quite sleek depending on where you put it. The controller is very nice and doesn’t feel to cheap. The analogue sticks are very nice, but I prefer the Xbox 360 ones due to them having an indent, whereas on the PS3 controller, it does not. All the buttons feel very solid, however I extremely dislike the triggers. When I press them down, it just doesn’t feel right to me. I suppose its because i’m more used to the X360 triggers.
Games:
The PS3 had plenty of solid titles (including one of my favorite games of all time, “The Last of Us”) and, although I had an Xbox 360 in that time, I know alot of the same games were on each system. Stuff like “Black Ops II” (one of the best Black Ops games in my opinion) and “Minecraft” were some of the game I used to play and, playign them on the PS3 today, they play just as well as how I remember on the X360. I have also tried many games that I haven’t played before, such as Sonic Unleashed which runs (almost) perfectly on the PS3. In 1080p, the games still look gorgeous (especially later releases in its lifetime). It’s safe to say, if you have a PS3, you have plenty of good games to pick from and you will not be disappointed.
Homebrew/CFW:
I don’t have a fully CFW/Rebug PS3 so I cant speak for that end, but for HEN, despite launching it every boot, its really good. It lets me run the majority of my favorite homebrew applications, including webMAN/MultiMAN. I can run game backups from my internal storage or a Hard Drive and I have backed up and played many different types of disc from my PS3’s internal hard-drive using MultiMAN. It’s a great experience, and with the addition of so many options for tweaking HEN (including Custom Themes), it really shows you just how much a PS3 was capable of doing. I am sure that a fully CFW/Rebug Ps3 is much better, but my PHAT PS3 died on me before I could get the chance to try it out. Installation of HEN is really easy as well as it uses the browser almost exclusively (near the end you have to enter remote play to finish installing it), and it takes less than 10 minutes. The benefits it provides you and your PS3 are good, and I cannot praise HEN enough. If you have an unhacked PS3 sitting in the basement, go CFW/HEN it and have some fun!
Overall Opinion:
As I said in the PSP article, unless you haven’t read what i’ve written, its pretty obvious what I think of the PS3. Amazing. Considering the fact that, with a PS2, you need an External SATA Hard Drive (Don’t quote me on that), and on the PS4 you need a specific firmware version to hack it, the PS3 is a great choice for people that are looking for an easy way to get into the scene. Hacking works on all versions of the System Software (as of writing), so it is well worth it to try it out if you have the time. I love seeing your opinions on these topics, so make sure you leave a comment before you go!
Mind with me please, I don’t have a PS3, what model & OFW version would be the best to have full CFW?
Best; cech-2100 & OFW 3.55
I beg to differ. CECH-2100 and earlier models have NEC/TOKIN capacitor issues that would cause the console to YLOD over time. CECH-25xx and later model consoles have this issue fixed, but only some CECH-25xx had OFW 3.55 and earlier preinstalled, so if you can hunt down that particular model or replace capacitors in earlier ones then this is your best bet.
I’d add that many games at the time were ps3/360 exclusives, and most of them never saw a pc/HD porting, plus the ps3 is the only console afaik that uses 3D in many games, like the ps2 HD trilogies (Prince of Persia, Ratchet, Jak, Sly..) or the PSP Remaster emulator, it has plenty of singleplayer/multiplayer good exclusives and the phat supports ps2 games too, it’s a very very good console, if you haven’t one already, make yourself a favor and buy one, used ones can be found at very cheap prices and it absolutely worths.
PS3 CFW is still better than PS4 CFW: Uncharted/Killzone/Resistance trilogies, always online with unBAN, ShowTime streaming from PirateBay…
in my experience, the ps2 sucks loading from usb, i vaguely remember giving up when i saw it still ran usb 1.0 or 1.1 spec.
it takes a while to boot, but SMB has been superior to disk after the 2-5 minute boot time is finished (per game).
for example usb loading dothack series apparently causes performance issues on the videos (something i had had the same issue, forgot though), need for speed undercover can’t map load fast enough.
I just loaded a game, and got a bottle of coke or something. by the time i got back, the game was usually loaded.
(or near).
I think a raspberry pi (or similar) as a server permanently attached to the ethernet port would be the ultimate setup… never got round to it since most of my library is either ported, working under pcsx2, or has a superior version on pc anyway. (preferred carbon’s gameplay to undercover for example).
(no i’m not a racing nut)
I’m back to PS3 after almost 10 years. This time with full CFW support. It’s a way better console now, sadly offline only (I don’t know how to set up online safely with the Rebug so I’ll not mess with it).
Oh, to safely set up the internet, you can download a proxy server (it’s only on Android, i’d advise you to Google it.
There’s another method with webman MOD, but that’s a bit risky.
The PS3 makes for a great cheap bluray player. But I cant say that piracy makes it a decent console. There isnt enough good homebrew (aside from multiman) to justify hacking the PS3.
I own a couple of slim models myself, and it gets used quite frequently as a blu-ray player.
There are way better homebrew-able devices out there.
Simply, just read tutorial and install psnpatch.
PS3 is a great choice for people who want to play online with backup for free…
Is Sony still hunting PS3 hackers in 2020? As far as I’m concerned they never banned any Vita hackers on PSN. PS3 has a much larger userbase, but banning anyone at this point is just silly.
HI
@Demian the slime version as article says.(i have one of CECH-20xxB ones and it is currently at full rebug)
@manuelx98 i need to add the slime ones do support PS2 but rather being hardware support like phat ones it is software support.(it is done trough cobra mode or something in that likely hood)
@Barney i am just like you. just started to use my old PS3 and installed rebug on it, also i am not sure how safe it is to set up online. Wished some one here who knew how told us!
I think PS3 is probably the most versatile previous gen console out there. If you can hunt down a proper model with an ability to install cfw (CECH-25xx is probably your best bet) then you have a PS1/PS2/PS3 capable console with ability to play blu-ray movies and proper network functionality, not to mention vast homebrew capabilities like RetroArch, Movian and others and an ability to connect to any TV either via AV MULTI out or HDMI.
To me, it’s definitely worth it. I never had the chance to jump in the PS4 wagon so I have been slowly but steadily playing my PS3 over the course of 10 years. I am now playing Yakuza Dead Souls and FF XIII. I can say with certainty that the PlayStation 3 is a very good system.
Mine is CFw’d and I’ve replaced the HDD with an SSD. I can enjoy a range of features such as cheat codes, dumping my own games and playing them from the SSD and controlling my console’s fans. I possess 24 big titles and won’t be ashamed to buy even more but only physical.
PS3 suffers from big temps normally (I have hugely mitigated this) and slow loading times due to the (in)famous internal bottleneck of its memory bus for the Disk drive. However, it has one of the best controllers ever, despite its horrendously sensitive triggers, titles with insanely good graphics and sound (FFXIII, MGS V, GoW III and Ascension, P5 are but a few) that are complete in their experience – no DLCs clusterfudge and scamming XP.
I believe the console rises to value now that PS5 has been announced supporting major PS4 titles and emulators of the console have yet to reach major efficiency (though RPCS3 can play well more than 50% of its gamebase). So, PS3 yet remains in a good standpoint which I expect to lower in the next 5 years when PCs will be even stronger in emulating this black beast of a console.
It’s great for PS3 exclusives and games that are well optimised/less demanding. But most multiplatform games run better on 360 and are smaller in size too. It’s usual to see an 8GB 360 game with a 2MB title update be 25GB on PS3 with a 5GB update, then you have the installation times too.
Hacking a 360 is much more difficult and costly however but is definitely the superior platform for that generation of games.
I have ps3 after 10 years I start to play game black ops and ps3 didn’t save my game profile online what should I do
You should check your PSN account online from Sony’s PSN website. Aaaand, if you don’t mind me saying that, isn’t this an irrelevant post to this article ? 😛
I have a ps3 should I get rid of it for a PS4 or should I keep it?
Keep it ! PS5 is just around the corner and it will play (according to SONY officials) at least 100 major PS4 titles
My phat ps3 also died on me early .. paid 750 bucks for it brand new…wonder if they purposely made them defected ? Hmmmmm
I have 2 PS3, a Slim and one Super Slim, the first one has Chip Cobra with an external disk with tons of games, the second one has enabled HAN and I injected the games.
Like the author, I was X360 player but the Slim cames to my hands and got me.
Today I still playing with this consoles and the exclusive games are awesome. Yes, today the PS3 worths.
I have a hacked CECHA01 and I love it,I have tons of PS1/PS2/PS3 games on the 1TB harddrive,and it can read physical games of those consoles too,I can use it to watch HBO on movian,and I can even watch Netflix and Youtube when I want to,I installed Retroarch and now I can play NES/SNES/Megadrive games on 1080p too.
Great console,so much worth it
Yes the playstation 3 is still awesome in 2020.
It’s an awesome multimedia system with movian, and the game library is awesome.
And if you like classic games, the system emulates alot just fine.
Ps3 was such a powerful machine, what Sony got Wrong was the propriety cpu. It was difficult to be a dev in those days specifically for the hardware. Thats how they bounced back with the ps4. While I’ve had a ps3, Xbox 360, ps4 pro and xboxx i can tell you that ps has had an easy and fast ui. The ps3 and xbox360 on the other hand, Xbox won for me. Plugging in a USB and listening to music while I farmed wheat on Minecraft was delicious. I dont support the idea of being a fanboy but Xbox definitely won that generation. While blu-ray did have its perks the Xbox has compensated for that by having features the ps3 ui couldnt handle.
I have two PS3 laying around. I will definitely try all the suggestions here
Dude, what’s the number one rule of writing before you publish? Who hired you? Proof read buddy, then pass it off to someone else and have them proof read it. I swear, in today’s society, everyone’s so quick to get it done and get it up to claim “first” that they forget that they’re supposed to be a professional, otherwise anyone could write and post, I don’t know, maybe in today’s world the professional writer is out where you can self publish, but even that’s no excuse. Additionally, news is slow over the past week and this isn’t really competing with anyone, you could’ve taken the time–easily– to proofread your work because if you don’t, people are gonna notice and your credibility as a writer or a journalist is out the window. Just saying, man. Rise about the rest, being the first means jack if you can’t back it up with compitentcy. Work on it
I love my PS3 I still play my games & I watch my Netflix, YouTube, Spotify & my other apps I have my model is a 2012 3001A as of today 4/15/20 it still kicking *** until Sony decide to pull the plug on the server p.s I have a PS4 pro model 7015b
i HAVE 3 PS3’S, CAN’T gIVE THEM aWAy.
is it safr to install bf 4 premium from psndl on hen + play psn? Ban risk? Tnx
My OG 4 usb port phat ps3 stopped being able to connect to the internet. and the thermal paste under the cpu is very old and its over heating if i try to play games. got to back up everything on a SLOW usb HDD. before the network adaptor went out i was planning on backing it up over to newer modded ps3 slim i have over gigabyte Ethernet. Cant even get decent thermal paste to replace it rn. it still turns on so i am going to fix it, I’ve always cleaned it out and replaced the thermal paste (with arctic silver) every 4 years. delidding is going to be the LITERAL make or break moment!
I have bought 2 chech 25xx on release of ps3xploit opened up cleaned and refreshed cooler paste on gpu and cpu. Best money spend in years
As for controller i use dualshock 4 with cronusmax dualshock 3 are fkn expensive now and yes the triggers….
The build quality of dualshock 3 analog sticks where way better on dualshock 3. My son has broken 12 dualshock 4 analogs so far
I own 12 PS3s (yup – 12! – whenever I see one going for £20 (US$25 equivalent, I buy it and add it to the pile). PS3 is my favourite system of all time – that generation of console was when graphics really hit modern standards, with amazing looking games (Last of Us on PS3, Gears of War on Xbox 360). The PS3 is now fully hackable, and there’s enough great games on it to last a lifetime (certainly if you play as rarely as I do). One of the cool things to do is pick up a ‘broken’ PS3 for £10 (US$12) – ie, everything works apart from the disc drive. Since you don’t need a working disc drive to either hack it or play games/homebrew on it once hacked, they are 99% as useful as a fully functioning PS3. I’ve never had a PS3 die on me, unlike my Xbox 360s.
Of course it’s worth it. I just finished up my 2nd playthrough of Demon’s Souls and it still holds up. You can’t play it anywhere else.