PS3 The sony Playstation 3 *is* a retro console.

[Hourai]

We called the SNES retro when it was 12 years old. As such, the PS4 is just about retro.

Really though, the PS3 has been retro for a long time. It's from an era that used composite cables at first, since SD TVs were still going strong. The technological leaps haven't been as strong, but that's because technological progress has shown down, rather than because it hasn't been making them. If hings progressed the same way it did the fourteen years before it, the PS3 would undeniably be retro. Why is the fact that it did not an exception? Because most of us grew up seeing the disaster of five hundred ninety nine US dollars?

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

Personally, retro in terms of video games feels more like a style rather than a set age. Anything beyond 32/64 bit graphics don't really have that retro look most are after. Maybe we need a new word for stuff that is old but doesn't fall into this category.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

PS3 came out in 2006/2007. That was still less than 20 years ago. And its lifespan lasted until 2015-2016ish. Basically 10 years ago they were still making PS3 games. So it still doesn't qualify as retro IMO.

 

[ChronoCloud]

MUH ARBITRARY TIME FRAMES!!!!!!

Worthless metric.

Instead of worthless release dates, games should be categorized based on the styles of the era, which (like architecture) is a product of the technology used. The "generation" should reflect the technology used and not the date. Look at the way architecture is categorized for example (Classical, Mid-century modern, Postmodern, Neomodern, New Classical, Contemporary, etc…). Mid century modern will never become classical. Similarly, Jazz music will never become classical. It's dumb to call an 8 bit hand held a later gen just because it came out later. The gamegear is literally just a master system. The Wii is literally just an overclocked gamecube and has a weaker CPU & GPU than the Xbox. When a hobbyist decides to manufacture his own delorean, it's not a "current gen" car, because the technology is old. Using this logic, here's the REAL gaming eras:

The Pixel Era:
1 bit - Literally just Pong
Low 8 bit - Atari 26/52/78, Vectrex, shitboxes nobody cares about
high 8 Bit - NES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Master System, Game Gear, PC 88, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Pico-8, TIC-80
16 bit - SNES, GBA, Genesis, PC98, TG16, Amiga, Neo Geo
32 bit 2D and 2.5D - Sega 32X, 3DO, PC-FX, and half of ps1/saturn

The Early 3D - Low Poly Era:
PS1, Saturn, N64, DS

The Early 3D - Mid Poly Era:
Dreamcast, PSP, 3DS, PS2, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox

Modern Era (HD widescreen, Microtransactions, Day 1 patches, hyper realism, Casualization, homogenized controllers, homogenized architecture, lazy mocap, soulless facescan, etc...):
ps360 and after

muh release dates don't matter

 

[FTLOTG]

"Retro" isn't about age necessarily, its specifically about a style of doing things that grew outdated, or simply fell in disuse. The entire industry still follows design conventions set on the PS2 era, so we cannot objectively call the PS2 retro, let alone the PS3.

Edit: Tho, there are things from the ps2 era that are objectively retro. CTRs, AV cables, 480p Resolution, cabled controllers, memory cards... The games themselves tho, that's a harder discussion.

Someone could make a modern game in a retrograde fashion, a team of less than 12 people putting out a full title in less than a year and a half. They make their entire engine and design everything in house and use resources like texture CDs.

That's what retro means. It's not age, it's about how things used to be done. On PS3 250+ man teams with 60mil+ budgets and 4+ years of dev time became the normal thing. Just like it is today. Now it's even bigger.

 

[Deleted member 420614]

So it´s Retro well then I became a pensioner when I turned 15 and im a bloody fossil now when im 40.

Yeah the PS3 is outdated but The switch was outdated already when it came out The damn system Came out 2017 and used a CPU ARM Cortex-A57 that came out 2012 so shit was outdated by 5 years hardware wise.

The PS3 just faced them same fate as all consoles to fall in to disuse when ever the next console came out so if Retro means the style of doing things grew outdated and fell in to disuse then the PS3 became retro the same day PS4 hit and the PS4 became retro the same day PS5 came out.

 

[Action_Hank]

I can't imagine having a strong opinion over this at all. I don't think it's retro but I don't really see how that would matter to.. anyone? Why would I care if you think it is retro? Why would you care if I don't?
Maybe I'm just being silly but I think it's kinda weird how the whole word "retro" is used in gaming btw. Usually (or even literally), in cultural context it's slapped on recreations of older things and vintage is the word for old junk but for gaming it's all just retro. It means just nothing. It means whatever you want it to mean.

read the url at the top of your browser. remember where you're at?

Post automatically merged: Apr 25, 2025

So it´s Retro well then I became a pensioner when I turned 15 and im a bloody fossil now when im 40.

Yeah the PS3 is outdated but The switch was outdated already when it came out The damn system Came out 2017 and used a CPU ARM Cortex-A57 that came out 2012 so shit was outdated by 5 years hardware wise.

The PS3 just faced them same fate as all consoles to fall in to disuse when ever the next console came out so if Retro means the style of doing things grew outdated and fell in to disuse then the PS3 became retro the same day PS4 hit and the PS4 became retro the same day PS5 came out.

Well said, man. We've been stuck in the same generation of gaming for almost 20 years according to my definition. No major improvements since xbox live.

 

[Geistmensch]

I didn't expect this thread to explode!

But every single of you made solid arguments ^^
I think eventually, whenever we like it or not video games change status. I mean, you would consider the VIC20 as a vintage console, (yeah i know its a computer) but this thing is exactly 45 years old, soon enough it will go into retirement!

To me the status order goes like

1. Modern
2. Retro
3. Classic
4. Vintage (Legacy)

 

[Deleted member 231262]

I know, unclench this fist, calm down.
But we're forgetting this console is almost 20 Years old, the PSN servers also won't be for around much longer. That to me screams retro, It's old enough to get a drivers license and go to college.

It was a catalyst for modernizing the current gaming industry yes, and it still has this "modern" feel in every release but this alone isn't enough for not to classify it as retro. I don't know if you haven't noticed, but more and more websites now host PS3 ISO files. Albeit your internet connection is decent enough to make it viable, and RPSC3 as it stands today is excellent an a very, very fast emulator with rapid progression.

not really bud, if you wanna say its old, sure enough but its not old enough to be retro.

I don't know if you haven't noticed, but more and more websites now host PS3 ISO files.

yeah, and also there is sites with PS4, and SWITCH roms, so not really a good point. : )

 

[MortyOnProton]

I think it speaks volumes of the staleness that has set into modern video games that the PS3 doesn't feel retro because game design hasn't really evolved beyond what was being developed on a console that is almost 20 years old.

 

[Yankee]

I think "retro" ends where mainstream and necessary Internet Connection begins. E.G. the PS360 and Steam era.

If you put a game in the console and it can't launch it because there's no response from Home-servers to verify you have the license to play that game, or to check for updates, or connect your GamerAccount or some such- then it's not retro IMO.

 

[Tonberry]

To me it's based on certain technical advancements. I don't know why though and I'm not sure I could defend that PoV under scrutiny.
I'll probably not consider any game that's made for HD resolutions as a "retro game" until something of greater or equal technological "value" supercedes it, since it's a digital visual medium. 4K still hasn't become the norm (in that 1080p isn't seen as completely worthless yet), so I figure it's still a ways to go for me at least.

But as I said, I'm not sure it holds up because stuff like the 3DS isn't made for HD and it released 4-5 years after the 360 and PS3, and I wouldn't consider the Wii retro either, I just base it off a feeling and I'm pretty content with it atm.

I guess if it's not primarily designed for a CRT, it's not proper retro to me (YET).

Post automatically merged: Apr 25, 2025

I think "retro" ends where mainstream and necessary Internet Connection begins. E.G. the PS360 and Steam era.

If you put a game in the console and it can't launch it because there's no response from Home-servers to verify you have the license to play that game, or to check for updates, or connect your GamerAccount or some such- then it's not retro IMO.

This is also a pretty good definition, I think. Never thought of it that way.

 

[nathman]

Well, it is older than Halo Reach... so yeah.

 

[solidbatman]

it cant be retro because that will make me feel incredibly old and i do not wish to feel older than my knees and back already make me feel.

 

[ChronoCloud]

I think it speaks volumes of the staleness that has set into modern video games that the PS3 doesn't feel retro because game design hasn't really evolved beyond what was being developed on a console that is almost 20 years old.

Doesn't help they're just remastering remakes of remasters like the last of us remakestered final mix plus turbo HD-er edition.

 

[partymembervii]

In my humble opinion, the ps3 and vita will become retro when their respective storefronts are no longer accessible, as one thing I think (I could be wrong) all retro consoles have in common is that their games are not accessible via official means, usually third party sellers (not including remasters and the like on modern hardware)

 

[brighter]

Every single deal-breaker people describe in this thread - at least the ones that are actually true - has exceptions going back to "objectively retro" times, especially if you've played PC games of that vintage (there are, in fact, games from the 90s+early 00s with always-online DRM).

The PS3 had native analog video output, extremely shitty online that was only marginally better than the Wii's, and a rash of styles of game that are very clearly of a bygone era. Put aside however you might feel about these things: When was the last time you saw a mid-budget action-adventure movie tie in? An open world game more inspired by GTA3 than Far Cry 3? Remember THQ? When there were mainstream games attempting to depict history by publishers other than Ubisoft? Those dying-breath mid-budget JRPGs? All those absolutely filthy looking third person action games? Would the Sony of today have the heart to publish Modnation or LittleBigPlanet without turning them into Robloxian microtransaction hell? They've already stopped making games like Noby Noby Boy, Tokyo Jungle, White Knight Chronicles, Patapon, Locoroco, Afrika, Echochrome...

Yes, sure, it's got Call of Duty & Madden on it. I don't really expect a forum for people who vocally prefer old Japanese games over "whatever it is my cousin plays on his ps5"† to pick up on the evolution of "normie" games between the PS3 and the PS5, but the difference in "a first person shooter that you play online" on the two (mentally comparing the original Modern Warfare to Warzone 2.0, here) is about as stark as humanly possible. It is not hard to play both & see this for yourself, and you should probably do so before speaking in confidence about such a thing. Even the gap between Madden 07 and Madden 25 is huge - the former is essentially a Dynasty Warriors: Empires game built around gridiron football, where the latter is a casino with an online-versus gridiron simulator stapled to it. It's insane! And the idea of the former making millions of dollars is unfathomable to industry shotcallers now.

Surely all of these add up to "a markedly different period in time," right?

Perhaps the biggest issue is the bloating of development times & budgets over the past decade. Many games which release now would have been technically impossible within the PS3's memory+streaming limitations, but the number of such games is so low, and the lofty expectations on them are so creatively paralyzing, that most find this difficult to notice from the outset. But you still couldn't have made Warzone or Elden Ring on a PS3, so nyehh.

† Genuine question: do you think your "CoD+annual sports game" playing cousin could tell the difference between Final Fantasy Tactics and Trails to Azure?

 

[Yousef]

 

[Android 18]

'Retro' is largely defined by an aesthetic of consumption rather than an arbitrary time frame. Whether or not something is 'retro' tends to depend on availability, cultural memory and its representation in the public eye as being emblematic of a certain era, on top of a lot of the considerations made by brighter's very good post.

The reason consoles like the PS3 additionally do not feel as retro as, say, the SNES or N64 is because of the relative stagnation of game production & the slowing of new franchises being added to the mix. The PS3 does not feel as old because many of us are either a) still playing the games directly on PS3 hardware or emulation, or b) we're in a game production environment globally comprised of few new chances and making large bets on additional entries or remakes/remasters for many of the same franchises that were dominant in the PS3 era and remain dominant today.

 

[bigstinkie]

Just nuts to think the PS3 has been out for almost 20 years. Its still a high quality system with some real gems. I always worry about if the PS3 controllers stop holding a charge. Not sure how easy/hard it is to replace batteries on them.

playstation 3 controllers are such nice things
i have been using the same playstation 3 dualshock 3 controller since 2012, using it then for my playstation 3 and during the past decade for my pc game playing needs
i have taken it apart multiple times to repair the little issues it faced such as buttons registering inputs with no actual button presses occurring and so on
i honestly do not remember what the battery life of the dualshock 3 was originally, but mine has maybe a 5 hour battery life maximum