Why it still makes sense to buy a PS3 today

I’ve been a Playstation fan all my life, ever since the PS1 days as a kid enjoying the likes of the first Tony Hawk Pro Skater and lighter but just as good titles as Disney’s Hercules. Then when the PS2 revolution came around and my brother wanted one for Christmas, I was there just as excited to get a brand new Gameboy Advance as I was about becoming a partial owner of a PS2 system (GTA 3 included!). The years that followed proved that console to be, by far, the biggest influence on my love for gaming and would define my path through this wonderful world forever. After more than a decade of playing iconic titles such as every GTA, God of War I and II, Gran Turismo and many, many others, there finally came the time to make the upgrade and in 2013 I had a choice: “should I get a PS3 or a PS4?”

               

Why/ why not the PS4:

My line of thought was split between two main points: hardware vs value. On the one hand, this powerhouse of a console that had just come out could run some pretty awesome looking games with new-gen graphics, lots of fancy and dynamic connectivity features and so on. On the other hand, that list of games was ridiculously short. I can only think of a few cool titles that were available at launch (at least in Portugal), such as Infamous: Second Son, Killzone Shadow Fall, Assassins Creed 4 and… and… well. Furthermore, not only were the options scarce but most didn’t make me want to play them without having played the others beforehand. And oh right, there was also that slightly annoying aspect of each one costing around 60€. So on the PS4 side of things, I was left with being able to buy great hardware for 400€ which was also very pretty to look at while sitting still due to me having no games to play on it.

"I can only think of a few cool [PS4] titles

 that were available at launch (at least in Portugal)"

Why the PS3:

When I stopped to really think about this for a while, the PS3 was the only way to go. Yes, it has some pretty dated hardware and some PS3 games now more than ever look as if they were designed in the stone age, BUT – and it’s a big but – the value was unbeatable. Let’s grind some facts here and point out the real advantages of purchasing one:

• Value – the 500GB PS3 cost(s) almost 100€ less than a PS4. And mine even came with the GTA V bundle (my second one came with Far Cry 4). You might grab an even better deal if you buy a 12GB and purchase a new hard drive for it or simply buy used – however, when doing so, you should take into consideration that many units out there should be pretty worn out by now so be careful;

• Games library – what do you get when you take an almost 10 year old system up against a newborn PS4? You get the grandpa coming out on top because it has almost a decade’s worth of fantastic games. I mean, there’s a shitload of great games on the PS3, ranging from very old to very recent and most of them are pretty cheap nowadays. You can usually enjoy some pretty consistent sales on the Playstation Store to find some even cheaper gems and you can invest on the used games market to nail ridiculous deals. That was a big part of my plan upon purchasing the PS3 and boy, has it paid off. 

You've got a plethora of games to choose from

• Whatever the new standards might make you think, PS3 graphics aren’t bad – here we go with the caffeinated-forum-lover-haters’ age old issue. People need to be reminded that everything started somewhere and 9 years is a lot of time for developing and polishing technology.  In case you ever have the misfortune of getting tangled up with one of those annoying sugar-fed specimens in a conversation about graphics, just google games like The Last of Us, GTA V, God of War III, Killzone 3 or Uncharted 2 (especially) running on the PS3 and slowly walk away with your palm directly facing them. The burn will be strong. As a guy who actually does care a good deal about graphics, I can say there have been more than a few times in which I found myself staring at my screen, jaw-dropped and lost for words. Even I didn’t expect some of the things I’ve seen come out of my console.

God of War 3 is one of the many amazing-looking PS3 games

•  The XMB and general interface still look and feel solid – some things just don’t need to change all that much. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the PS3’s interface and XMB (Cross Media Bar) happen to work just fine. Sure, things like the social aspect could be more functional since all your PSN friends aren’t all that neatly arranged and even simple actions like sending messages or requests make for too big a chore but those are details in what I believe still remains a perfectly viable design choice.

The XMB is clean and easy to use

•          Some problems won’t magically disappear with the PS4 – I’m sure if you’ve been the least bit informed about Playstation business in the last few months you’ve heard about serious problems such as the PSN’s permeability to hacking, outages, DDOS attacks and the like. Well, that remains just that: Playstation Network problems, not confined to any one system but the general network. So unfortunately, whatever console you decide to get, you’ll still be as vulnerable as everyone else. Thank Sony for that.

Every PS gamer's holiday nightmare

•          The PS3 is a good media player – want to enjoy your movies, photos or music in one place with great quality? You can do so easily on the PS3, given that it also acts as a nice media player and makes sure you don’t have any hassle before sitting back and enjoying some quality time.

•         You have to pay to play online on the PS4 but not the PS3 – I laughed my ass off when I first heard you needed to be a PS Plus member to play anything online on the PS4. The same company who has already provided me with hundreds of online gaming hours on the PS3 without me having to be a Plus member or pay anything extra makes it so I’d actually have to do so on the PS4? What the hell is that about? Anyway, just know that if you get a PS3 today, you can still enjoy whatever online games you want without any complications. Yay last-gen!

Free online gaming awaits

I hope this helps any people out there who are still on the fence about which system to buy. Personally, given the still somewhat modest PS4 games library, the need to be a PS Plus member to enjoy online content on it, the much higher price when compared to the PS3 and, honestly, the not-so-revolutionary leap in graphical quality (of course it’s a lot better but I still find it debatable that they are worlds apart – sue me), I think the PS3 has still got a few good years ahead of it before it starts decaying. I can gladly say I’ve been enjoying my time on the system for almost two years now and it still feels like the journey has just begun. Choose wisely!

Boris