If only there was some type of media that doesn't need to be stored on servers. That you could somehow store locally and play it whenever you want. Some kind of physical media if you will. Seems...
If only there was some type of media that doesn't need to be stored on servers. That you could somehow store locally and play it whenever you want. Some kind of physical media if you will. Seems like Sony should look into that.
Well, at least we have internet and can download games from there even after they are no longer for sale. And we also have hackers and crackers that allow usage of such downloaded games and...
Well, at least we have internet and can download games from there even after they are no longer for sale. And we also have hackers and crackers that allow usage of such downloaded games and microSD cards.
Wouldn't it be great if we didn't need any of this? If the company that makes the hardware did that for us in the beginning?
They looked in to it and decided they make more money by making you buy new games at full price rather than cheap old second hand ones they don’t profit at all from.
They looked in to it and decided they make more money by making you buy new games at full price rather than cheap old second hand ones they don’t profit at all from.
I applaud them for keeping an online service available for twenty years from the launch of the now-defunct hardware...and continuing to have partial support so it's still usable, even if you can't...
I applaud them for keeping an online service available for twenty years from the launch of the now-defunct hardware...and continuing to have partial support so it's still usable, even if you can't buy new additional titles. (Walmart won't sell you new physical ones either.) Most companies can't even be bothered to support your random appliance's online features for a handful of years.
I've seen two PS3s this year, and one was at a literal antique shop in a glass case. There have been about twice as many years between now and the PS3 as the PS3 and the PS1.
Fortunately, now that the platform has become more standardized over recent generations (a BSD running on x64 hardware), this will become even less of an issue. i.e. the PS5 can download and run PS4 games, and I would be fairly surprised if they didn't maintain support with the PS6. The new model seems to be more "store first, hardware second," with the expectation that the modern catalogue outlive consoles instead of being a side feature of a specific one.
You know what...no. Sony doesn't get bonus points for keeping a service that they demanded for the console to function online. That's what sane people call 'the absolute bare minimum.' Just...
You know what...no. Sony doesn't get bonus points for keeping a service that they demanded for the console to function online. That's what sane people call 'the absolute bare minimum.'
Just because other companies are even worse does not make their actions better.
Valve gets a lot of love because they do these bare minimums, and then some. I can still download and play the very first titles they released on Steam in 2003/4. They're still patching them periodically. I can still download every game I bought even if the publisher yanks it. And that's a pretty sad state of affairs that only 1 company in 20 years has been successful at that bare minimum.
There is precisely 0 reason that the PS3 server functionality rolled into the broader PlayStation offering other than "eh we don't feel like it and then people will just buy a new console and their games again."
Just because they decided it was defunct does not mean it is. Especially when it's obviously not a hardware limitation like "unpatchable firmware that can't do 802.11g."
Any service that is required for a given purchase to work should be forced to be kept online in perpetuity. And if they do want to desupport it? Then the source code gets deployed along with unlock keys and developer instructions to patch the devices in question.
If they don't want to do that? Then they should get precisely 0 legal protections from people cracking open their machines and DRM and reverse engineering and unlocking everything.
Unless you're a Mac user, then they just don't care. I lost several games from publishers deciding they didn't want to support the platform anymore (e.g. Rocket League, not related to any platform...
Valve gets a lot of love because they do these bare minimums, and then some. I can still download and play the very first titles they released on Steam in 2003/4.
Unless you're a Mac user, then they just don't care. I lost several games from publishers deciding they didn't want to support the platform anymore (e.g. Rocket League, not related to any platform changes), including several games that Valve developed. I can't play TF2 anymore, and they one day patched Counter-Strike GO, replacing it with Counter-Strike 2 and removed its ability to run overnight. All games that I had paid an initial retail price for, even if some became free-to-play later.
PC gaming is now a trifecta of companies I don't like: Microsoft, Valve and GOG (after the Nazi rune incident, and no course correction from the company).
I can still download every game I bought even if the publisher yanks it.
Same with PlayStation games. If you bought it, the game stays available for download. Including on this twenty year old hardware that practically nobody uses.
Any service that is required for a given purchase to work should be forced to be kept online in perpetuity.
This is a legal change you want, not the reality of the world today. Entirely not on Sony. But, again, the service required for your purchases to work is still being kept online.
Yeah I've seen a lot of cynical takes around this but supporting an online service for 20 years is still impressive to me. While it certainly is easier to get consoles with physical media up and...
Yeah I've seen a lot of cynical takes around this but supporting an online service for 20 years is still impressive to me. While it certainly is easier to get consoles with physical media up and running by just buying a cartridge or disc second hand, it doesn't mean that it is impossible to do with digital-only consoles.
Your point on seeing a PS3 at an antique shop reminded me that recently i saw a 3DS (released 2011) in a vintage tech museum, which hit me hard.
It's definitely interesting to see the convergence between PCs and consoles (at least at the architecture level). One other thing I do wonder is that with costs also converging between consoles and PCs (though PCs still being quite a bit more expensive at the higher end), is how multiplayer will be handled. Consoles for the last 20 years have charged users a subscription fee for multiplayer gaming but with Steam, that gaming is free. With the Steam Machine blurring the line between console and PC, would that push console manufacturers to a more similar structure? Is there a timeline where we might see console subscriptions be limited to game renting/streaming like Xbox Game Pass/Nvidia GeForce Now with multiplayer becoming free?
The PlayStation store on PS3 will close in select markets later this year, including Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua starting in August, with “additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries” to follow in late 2026.
The shutdown across both PS3 and PS Vita “in all other countries” will take effect in July 2027. After this date, Sony says that console owners will be unable to purchase new content, but can continue downloading games they’ve previously purchased “for the foreseeable future” after the deadline passes.
o7 to one of the best consoles I've ever owned. Flashing custom firmware on my 1st gen PS3 and turning it into a retro emulation powerhouse while still able to play games like Persona 5 and Diablo...
o7 to one of the best consoles I've ever owned.
Flashing custom firmware on my 1st gen PS3 and turning it into a retro emulation powerhouse while still able to play games like Persona 5 and Diablo III made the summer of 2016 truly memorable to me. Not to mention it pulling triple duty as a media player, DVD reader and YouTube/Spotify client. What else could I have asked for?
If only there was some type of media that doesn't need to be stored on servers. That you could somehow store locally and play it whenever you want. Some kind of physical media if you will. Seems like Sony should look into that.
Well, at least we have internet and can download games from there even after they are no longer for sale. And we also have hackers and crackers that allow usage of such downloaded games and microSD cards.
Wouldn't it be great if we didn't need any of this? If the company that makes the hardware did that for us in the beginning?
They looked in to it and decided they make more money by making you buy new games at full price rather than cheap old second hand ones they don’t profit at all from.
I applaud them for keeping an online service available for twenty years from the launch of the now-defunct hardware...and continuing to have partial support so it's still usable, even if you can't buy
newadditional titles. (Walmart won't sell you new physical ones either.) Most companies can't even be bothered to support your random appliance's online features for a handful of years.I've seen two PS3s this year, and one was at a literal antique shop in a glass case. There have been about twice as many years between now and the PS3 as the PS3 and the PS1.
Fortunately, now that the platform has become more standardized over recent generations (a BSD running on x64 hardware), this will become even less of an issue. i.e. the PS5 can download and run PS4 games, and I would be fairly surprised if they didn't maintain support with the PS6. The new model seems to be more "store first, hardware second," with the expectation that the modern catalogue outlive consoles instead of being a side feature of a specific one.
You know what...no. Sony doesn't get bonus points for keeping a service that they demanded for the console to function online. That's what sane people call 'the absolute bare minimum.'
Just because other companies are even worse does not make their actions better.
Valve gets a lot of love because they do these bare minimums, and then some. I can still download and play the very first titles they released on Steam in 2003/4. They're still patching them periodically. I can still download every game I bought even if the publisher yanks it. And that's a pretty sad state of affairs that only 1 company in 20 years has been successful at that bare minimum.
There is precisely 0 reason that the PS3 server functionality rolled into the broader PlayStation offering other than "eh we don't feel like it and then people will just buy a new console and their games again."
Just because they decided it was defunct does not mean it is. Especially when it's obviously not a hardware limitation like "unpatchable firmware that can't do 802.11g."
Any service that is required for a given purchase to work should be forced to be kept online in perpetuity. And if they do want to desupport it? Then the source code gets deployed along with unlock keys and developer instructions to patch the devices in question.
If they don't want to do that? Then they should get precisely 0 legal protections from people cracking open their machines and DRM and reverse engineering and unlocking everything.
Unless you're a Mac user, then they just don't care. I lost several games from publishers deciding they didn't want to support the platform anymore (e.g. Rocket League, not related to any platform changes), including several games that Valve developed. I can't play TF2 anymore, and they one day patched Counter-Strike GO, replacing it with Counter-Strike 2 and removed its ability to run overnight. All games that I had paid an initial retail price for, even if some became free-to-play later.
PC gaming is now a trifecta of companies I don't like: Microsoft, Valve and GOG (after the Nazi rune incident, and no course correction from the company).
Same with PlayStation games. If you bought it, the game stays available for download. Including on this twenty year old hardware that practically nobody uses.
This is a legal change you want, not the reality of the world today. Entirely not on Sony. But, again, the service required for your purchases to work is still being kept online.
Yeah I've seen a lot of cynical takes around this but supporting an online service for 20 years is still impressive to me. While it certainly is easier to get consoles with physical media up and running by just buying a cartridge or disc second hand, it doesn't mean that it is impossible to do with digital-only consoles.
Your point on seeing a PS3 at an antique shop reminded me that recently i saw a 3DS (released 2011) in a vintage tech museum, which hit me hard.
It's definitely interesting to see the convergence between PCs and consoles (at least at the architecture level). One other thing I do wonder is that with costs also converging between consoles and PCs (though PCs still being quite a bit more expensive at the higher end), is how multiplayer will be handled. Consoles for the last 20 years have charged users a subscription fee for multiplayer gaming but with Steam, that gaming is free. With the Steam Machine blurring the line between console and PC, would that push console manufacturers to a more similar structure? Is there a timeline where we might see console subscriptions be limited to game renting/streaming like Xbox Game Pass/Nvidia GeForce Now with multiplayer becoming free?
o7 to one of the best consoles I've ever owned.
Flashing custom firmware on my 1st gen PS3 and turning it into a retro emulation powerhouse while still able to play games like Persona 5 and Diablo III made the summer of 2016 truly memorable to me. Not to mention it pulling triple duty as a media player, DVD reader and YouTube/Spotify client. What else could I have asked for?
Sony completely enshitified itself in the span of 2 weeks.