I’ll make this crystal; the answer depends on you, not the ps3. Virtually all moddable consoles have their good and bad points but everything will eventually fall on you;
To keep this brief;
The ps3 got a phenomenal library of games
Slow download speeds and difficulty buying games digitally could be a hinderance
However, both backwards compatibility and being able to use the DualShock 4 can be a great advantage!
But many great ps3 games can be played on PC via abandonware or have an Xbox port thanks to the Xbox backwards compatibility program! The ps3-only games aren’t as frequent as they used to be!
You are pretty much left with the following games (give or take): inFamous 1&2, Ratchet & Clank ps3 quadrilogy and some Yakuza games. Solid list, but not something I’d consider getting a console for!
Bought one yesterday, it's great but you I'll need an Ethernet cable to download things or it will be too slow, another thing get a model with a lot of space because most of the exclusives are like 18gb or even 36gb in extreme cases, the PS2 games are a great addition and also download webman it helps a lot in maintaining the dust in your console
Tho when you get one, Replace the spinny-boy hdd with a Good SSD.
And a fairly large one, as ps3 games when installed <which alot of games require on actually ps3's> will EAT the SSD Space.
I dunno what good SSD does versus a good modern mechanical one in PS3, it really has a data access limit when it comes to boosting load times etc, reliability, maybe but there will be also a lot of writes for saving etc. To say, to me it is not worth the higher investment price when getting 1tb is also priority in my book. Like I would almost wholeheartedly go for 1tb mechanical over same price SSD unless it is also 1tb somehow. Though, get what you want, there is valid reasons to get SSD, though for PS3 not very humongous ones.
Aside that, I read it from some PS3 hackers in a discord that maximum is 1tb. Technical maximum was 1.5 or 2tb but if you ever crash your PS3 for example, the following Hard Drive Check that the system will run as precaution, will apparently just destroy the file system of the HDD/SSD. I forgot which one of the few HDD File system care features will do this, but it is one of them and especially modded the PS3 can end up into the worst one of them fairly easily, so, I will let you the reader pretend I did not even mention the 1.5-2Tb "compatbility" at all, the maximum is 1Tb HDD (HDD because SSD's and HDD's are actually different sizes from what is on the box, but SSD's lean even more lower than closest "milestone" so they are likely fine)
TL;DR: 1TiB is the maximum, one terabyte is the maximum, do not get a drive larger than one thousand cigarettes gigabytes. Your drive can be whatever you want as long as your PS3 loves it we can take that custody battle to a court but do not buy a larger than 1TiB drive for PS3 internal upgrade. If your system is CFW capable one, you can us NTFS or exFat external drives to play additional games from. Also remember to use this tool to minimize space lost to weird PS3 hard drive optimization quirk.
Bought one yesterday, it's great but you I'll need an Ethernet cable to download things or it will be too slow, another thing get a model with a lot of space because most of the exclusives are like 18gb or even 36gb in extreme cases, the PS2 games are a great addition and also download webman it helps a lot in maintaining the dust in your console
You can replace the hard drive yourself easily in most models. Hardest one is super slims that were bought without a HDD because like PS2 you are now missing the bracket to keep that HDD down right. You can just plop one SATA 2.5 inch HDD/SSD inside it, but it is quite a "plop in" so do not move that bou too much and improvise something to keep it nice.
I thought PS3 and to lesser extent PS4's and PS5's upgradable storage would be way more known of.
I own a jailbroken super slim model. It's 100% worth it since I can get all the ps3 exclusives I want to play. However, I read that the ps1 and ps2 emulation isn't always good.
I have the super slim but haven't done much with it in quite awhile other than dust it. Is jailbreaking it easy? I had no issue with PSP 3000. I heard it's a similar process. I just don't want to brick it.
I have the super slim but haven't done much with it in quite awhile other than dust it. Is jailbreaking it easy? I had no issue with PSP 3000. I heard it's a similar process. I just don't want to brick it.
It is not very hard but 3000 and 4000 slims have a exploit thing that you have to run from the XMB every boot to do shenanigans afterwards. There is some limitations and some things to avoid that are common with long time CFW users, though now everything is more than less proofed against HFW setups. Anything you'd wish from jailbroken console you can do on super slim you are just most crucially lacking in the console booting to homebrew enabled environment, it needs to be enabled every time.
Most "crucial" differences would be in less compatibility with PS3 formats, likely no compatibility with external USB drives for game backups, and no experimenting with PS3 Linux (even if in year 202X rare few would have any reason to, that still is available only for CFW compatible systems)
I own a jailbroken super slim model. It's 100% worth it since I can get all the ps3 exclusives I want to play. However, I read that the ps1 and ps2 emulation isn't always good.
PS1 emulation is fine. High quality no difference from model to model, has issues but those are more of triggering anti piracy when it should not, not outright emulation errors that break the game majorly (Though it is funny that Sony first party emulator triggers Sony first party game anti piracy and it was never even addressed and fixed)
PS2 emulation is the hit and miss part. Massive input lag if you start testing it, unplayable for tournament level fighting game players, only OK to normal players. Loads of incompatible games loads of errors but games that work are playable and work. Not terrible given it is a full software emulator on PS3 but not great since it is also somewhat early full software emulator on PS3 of all things.
I still have mine and use it from time to time, some awesome games. Just buy one and put some custom firmware on it and use with external disk. I have a bit over 500 games ready to boot up, with DLC and updates, takes some time to do but 100% worth the time. Late last year I updated once again to the latest CFW, using 4.91.2 Evilnat Cobra 8.5 now, and it works like a charm.
There are some cool exclusives stuck on PS3 (MGS4, Folklore, Puppeteer, the Ico/SotC collection) and the library as a whole is good. Strongly recommend you hack it because many digital-only games have been delisted over time. The console itself is way too big for comfort (even the Slim) and the DualShock 3 sucks as a controller (and it especially sucks that it uses a proprietary charge cable). It can emulate PS1 games but so can a toaster with Duckstation. Over the last few years I have basically only used mine to play OG Demon's Souls and After Burner Climax. Both great games, but I'm considering selling it.
Oh yeah. If you're a light gun game fanatic, the PS Move works pretty well with Time Crisis: Razing Storm, The House of the Dead 4, and Deadstorm Pirates. It's a pretty big investment just to play three arcade ports, though.
I have a Slim PS3 still, I have long since sold my ps4 pro and ps5 but the ps3 called me back to it. I emulate my ps1, ps2, and psp game on Batocera while my PS3 is a physical collection. I especially love how it's region free out of the box so half of my collection are the mech games that Japan never gave us. There are a few titles that were digital only in the States that Europe got a physical disc for so very easy to build up a good collection of games. Also with blu ray I am less worried about disc rot than I am other formats. Though I should look into getting a SSD for it soon before Sony removes the PS Store from it and I can't download updates/digital purchases
Tools needed to softmod PS3 these days:
USB Stick (small, can be formatted FAT32 without issues and read by PS3)
New 2.5inch HDD/SSD, 1tb if you can get one, costs the most.
That is about it rest like a sizeable external drive if you have a CFW model is optional plus cannot even use one if you do not score a CFW compatible console.
Honestly? I'd say it's not worth it unless you really want to play the few games worth playing that are locked onto it. Most PS3 games worth playing were also released on PC, or ported to PC or other modern systems later. The performance of most AAA games of the time were, imo, pretty horrendous.
Like, it's a neat prospect as an all in one tool, and with modding I imagine it becomes a decent emulation box. But almost anything it can play and more, outside of PS3 games, is easily emulatable on any cheapo $200 office laptop or desktop.
With the og ps3s both dying on me due to the yellow light of death but by slim (not super slim) ps3 unmodded is doing alive and well, I think modding either or should be good enough for you to have the beast of the best decade of PlayStation.
Honestly? I'd say it's not worth it unless you really want to play the few games worth playing that are locked onto it. Most PS3 games worth playing were also released on PC, or ported to PC or other modern systems later. The performance of most AAA games of the time were, imo, pretty horrendous.
Like, it's a neat prospect as an all in one tool, and with modding I imagine it becomes a decent emulation box. But almost anything it can play and more, outside of PS3 games, is easily emulatable on any cheapo $200 office laptop or desktop.
Yeah I also think PC is the best way. But if it's affordable it could make a fine plug and play gift for a friend. The problem is with the crazy retro market prices out there, I wonder if the PS3 is starting to get overpriced.
absolutely, my friend lent me his ps3 and i really enjoy it. rpcs3 requires a really strong engine and still doesnt grant a 100% experience without crashes, whereas ps3 runs smoothly and has a huge games library. so if youre into ps1-3 games it absolutely worth it
Honestly? I'd say it's not worth it unless you really want to play the few games worth playing that are locked onto it. Most PS3 games worth playing were also released on PC, or ported to PC or other modern systems later. The performance of most AAA games of the time were, imo, pretty horrendous.
Like, it's a neat prospect as an all in one tool, and with modding I imagine it becomes a decent emulation box. But almost anything it can play and more, outside of PS3 games, is easily emulatable on any cheapo $200 office laptop or desktop.
Yes, MGS4 is on- OK wait not that one, But El Shadda- Wait not that one either, but yes Folklor- Wait not that one either. But Shadows of the Damn- Wait, that neither... BUT Tales of Xillia did c- wait no it didn't. Well at least Anarchy Reig- Oh damnit no it didn't. Well, at least Dragons Crow- Oh goddamnit. Well at least Odin Sphere Leif- GODDAMNIT. AT LEAST THEY RELEASED RIDGE RACER 7- SONOVAB-
Yes i did in feb 2025 and i think ive got close to 40 games already my last library didnt even come close as i was quite stuck in my ways with fifa and wwe and some PES maybe the odd fighting game.
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