This time next week we’ll be just about ready to see what Sony have been working on for the last couple of years or so. Suddenly, come February 20th, that PlayStation 3 you have, pride of place under your television yet, won’t be the latest home console bearing that brand name. So, what better a time than now to have a glance back at the history of the PlayStation 3 – highs and lows – since that first showing in 2005?
Ah, yes, 2005. E3. That silver machine, that weird, boomerang-like controller – it was a powerful enough first reveal, but you could tell that it was still very early stages. That didn’t stop Sony rolling out two now rather obviously pre-rendered movies to show off what the PS3 would be capable of, two target videos that the developers must have been furious about – surely they couldn’t ever match up to that standard, right?
The Killzone 2 one is legendary, of course, but there was also a video for Evolution’s MotorStorm (above) which doesn’t get nearly as much attention. MotorStorm, back in E3, looked incredible: did the game meet that level visually? No, of course not, but you’d be crazy to think the PS4 won’t be able to do that in its sleep. Would it be playable? Probably not, but just in terms of graphics that shouldn’t be an issue. Evolution are heavily rumoured to be working on a PS4 launch game, too…
Of course, by the time 2006 rolled around, things had changed. With the console merely months away (at least in some territories) Sony used E3 to show that the controller had been reverted back to the standard Dual Shock design (but with something called SIXAXIS control – someone should make a website about that) and that most of the superfluous stuff on the console itself had been paired back – the number of ethernet and HDMI ports, for example.
2006 was also the year of the silly quotes during the presentation. Nobody can forget Riiidge Raaacer! – something that’s managed to stick with Sony ever since, but that E3 was also the year of the massively hyped games: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII – and the massive prices:Â $599. But when the console actually released, in November, it brought with it two great examples of what the machine was capable of: Resistance, and MotorStorm. The PS3 would launch in Europe in March 2007.
2007 was a tough year for the PlayStation 3. Whilst Sony upped their game with regards to exclusive, first party titles (Warhawk, Heavenly Sword and Uncharted are great examples) there was a dirge of anything else notable and some of the third party ports were shockingly bad, with the Xbox 360 versions of most games generally much better looking. Developers weren’t used to the PS3’s fancy architecture, and wouldn’t be for at least a couple of years.
2007 also featured the PS3’s first EyeToy game: Eye of Judgment. It wasn’t a great success – it was too fussy and was definitely overpriced, but that along with SingStar (now famously locked onto the XMB of every PS3 in Europe) showed that Sony weren’t afraid to head off the beaten path a little. Lair also released, designed to showcase the SIXAXIS controls; a patch to add in analog stick control followed soon after but the game was still considered a bit of a mess.
Thankfully, 2008 started to see SCE on a roll. Metal Gear Solid 4 was a great third party exclusive to get (although the loss of a similar deal with Final Fantasy XIII saw an internet meltdown during Microsoft’s E3 conference, below) and in terms of first party titles the likes of LittleBigPlanet, Everybody’s Golf, Buzz, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, Resistance 2 and Gran Turismo Prologue showed a decent amount of depth to the line-up, and more importantly showed developers really starting to get to grips with the system.
A newly slimmed down PS3 was the hardware highlight of 2009, along with the release of Infamous, Uncharted 2, WipEout HD and the much anticipated Killzone 2 – that one still managed to get rave reviews and a massive community following despite years of hype. In Europe SCEE also launched the PSN Video Store, although that got off to a (literally) slow start. But Sony were still inventing, and at E3 there was a glimpse of what would become PlayStation Move. Oh, and the PSPgo.
In 2010, gaming got serious. The likes of MAG, Heavy Rain, God of War III, ModNation Racers and – yes – Gran Turismo 5 showed that the PS3 could hold its own, finally, with regards to console exclusives. The machine was suddenly getting superior cross-platform ports and Move games started to roll out – The Fight was one of the notable first wave of games that polarised the audience, although Sports Champions seemed to be a hit with most consumers.
On June 29, 2010 Sony also announced PlayStation Plus, although that wouldn’t really kick into life until the Instant Game Collection was added to the service in 2012. There was also a crazy leap year bug that affected original PS3 models, forcing the internal clock back to 1999 and preventing access to the PlayStation Network, and the private security keys for the system were breached.
But first – 2011. The year of the PSN hack which brought down the PlayStation Network for longer than most people would care to remember – it started on April 20th (affecting 77 million accounts) and lasted until May 14th, at which point Sony started to switch access back on territory by territory. In the US, Sony offered a year of free identity protection and then in June offered a couple of free PS3 games as a “welcome back” gesture. SCEE was eventually fined for the breach by the ICO  in the UK in January 2013.
Notable games in 2011 included Killzone 3, Infamous 2, Uncharted 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, MotorStorm Apocalypse and Resistance 3.
2012 saw yet another revision of the hardware, changes to the PSN Store and an E3 oddly focused on Wonderbook rather than the ailing Vita portable. However, Gamescom just a month or two later highlighted several exciting new PS3 games and showed that there’s still life in the old dog yet – with the likes of Rain and Puppeteer still to appear in 2013 alongside AAA titles like Beyond, The Last Of Us and God Of War Ascension.
It’s been a long road for the system, but with the PS4 reveal around the corner, looking back on everything Sony have done and the games we’ve had indicates a console that struggled at the beginning but finally, at the end, managed to turn pretty much everything around. There have been notable hiccups along the way, but those that have stuck with Sony through thick and thin can hopefully find enough positives to suggest that mistakes have been taken onboard and next gen hopefully it’ll be a much smoother ride.
We’ll see what Sony have been doing next Wednesday.
jimmy-google
When you see the list of great exclusives each year written down it reminds me of why i chose the PS3. For all the issues and niggles the games still make it worth while.
anthro
Absolutely. And there are some exclusives that aren’t mentioned on here – notable examples are Journey, The Unfinished Swan, Ico/SOTC HD collection, Okami HD, Demons Souls, Ni No Kuni. All of which I absolutely loved, and are why I will always buy Sony consoles – Microsoft don’t like stepping out of their carefully-defined genre box.
Bilbo_bobbins
I have to say, I personally think this Generation has been a let down in all. I’ve played some great games, but I’ve had no where near as much fun as I did on the PS1 and the PS2. Mainly because games have not been as fun, and there are too many that are the same (FPS).
I’m looking forward to the PS4 still, and hope they can bring some new stuff to the table.
ron_mcphatty
Great article! Like jimmy says when you see it all summarised it’s had some excellent games, I think in the end my favourite exclusives were Wipeout HD, Uncharted Le First and Killzone 2. Its a shame the PS Eye’s augmented reality games didn’t take off early in the PS3’s life, that could perhaps have been a big boost had it been done right. At least that boomerang never materialsed!
Bunimomike, following the recent spate of Fringe references I’ve got another one, at 3.30ish in the E3 2006 video I believe an Observer has taken to the stage!
cc_star
It is a bit of chequered history, from ridiculous pre-launch claims like it being powerful to play 2 games simultaneously at 1080p60, when by & large most games haven’t even hit 720p30. To the almost confrontational, arrogance Sony showed around the launch window which lead to a year or so of rather negative coverage.
I loved Motorstorm it blew me away. It also highlighted a pretty major shortcoming of the PS3 tech in so much as the vehicles took almost a minute to load on the vehicle select screen, this was later fine tuned, but to someone who grew up with the Master System & Megadrive I still find loading times unacceptable.
Despite being there from the beginning it wasn’t until 2009 that the PlayStation hit its stride with me.
I was dogged with YLoD after YLoD with 60GB PS3’s and although I enjoyed some games immensely but I never felt wowed like past generations. The whole thing felt a complete let down.
The launch of the PS3Slim, the pricecut… a ridiculously good E3 by Sony with Uncharted2 taking centre stage, & finally some decent Sony ads that created buzz in the form of Kevin Butler it really came into its own after so many mis-steps, shortcomings and hit after hit appeared on the shelves and 3rd parties achieved parity with their work on the 360.
From then the PS3 had a couple of year high for me, I suppose the hack had something to do with it, then I found the PS3 fading as the generation outstayed its welcome and I started to find gaming on PC.
Everything I hear about the PS4 sounds like we’ll get the HD gaming console originally promised prior to the PS3 launch & games hopefully won’t run feel like you’re running through treacle as they run at half framerate or even below.
I’m excited for gaming’s future but I don’t think PlayStation will figure in my future unless something drastic changes.
Mr_writer
It’s been a rollercoaster for sure. I say that but none of the negative has really a affected me (hack, game delays on EU PSN) as I don’t get to invested in the company. I just want to play games.
And despite reading people claiming they don’t trust Sony anymore (lol who trusts a cooperation??) I am still excited for the PS4.
Even if it always has to be online, no BC and won’t allow second hand games. As long as the games are fun I will buy one happily.
Jakster123x
Great article. It’s really interesting to look back on the past 7 or so years and Sony’s amazing highs followed by career lows.
I hope all their arrogance has been lost by now, and it should be after the last few years, and we can just focus on games.
Btw, the mobile TSA’s looking great now :)
Starman
My highlights have been multiplayer, namely Warhawk and MAG. At their best no other online game can touch them for how immersed I could get in the epic battles they both provided.
I have to say I found the first Resistance massively overrated. After playing Gears of War not long before, I found it to be very plain & not very impressive at all.
the bottler
Totally agree on Warhawk – perhaps the best game this generation. I absolutely loved it, and put almost 300 hours of my life into it. Everything was so well balanced even if I was crap in a Warhawk. Give me a proper sequel to it at PS4s launch (not Starhawk) and I’ll be there no matter how much it costs!
cc_star
Yeah, Warhawk is my favourite game this generation.
By a bloody long way.
Starman
Me too, I was poor at flying but get me in a tank and its a guaranteed 30+ kills per round! I had over 500 hours playtime on Warhawk and 25,000 kills. Played it every night at its peak. Starhawk just never drew me in.
three_leg_jake
Good article but a slight error I think:
“there was a dirge of anything else notable”
I think that should be “dearth”
dearth
/dərTH/
Noun
A scarcity or lack of something: “there is a dearth of evidence”.
dirge
/dərj/
Noun
A lament for the dead, esp. one forming part of a funeral rite.
A mournful song, piece of music, or poem.