The troubles surrounding the first three or so years of the PlayStation 3 have already been well documented at this point, and it's safe to say the console got off to a very rocky start that generation, regularly outsold by both the Xbox 360 and Wii.

But from 2009-2013, the PlayStation 3 saw a turnaround unlike any other console before it. What launched as an overpriced, over-enginered joke of a platform, memed on for having no games, eventually blossomed into arguably, not just the best console to buy during the later half of the seventh generation, but personally speaking, one of the best gaming consoles of all time IMO.

The significant price drop and Slim rebrand with the Kevin Butler ad campaign in 2009 did wonders in reversing the cosnole's image amongst the general public. For $299, you get a game console and Blu-Ray/Media player in one.

It was also around this time that Sony had finally gotten past the first party game droughts that plagued the PS3's early years, with the system now seeing a consistent exclusive release slate, with some of the best exclusives that generation, finally showcasing what the CELL was capable of. Compared to Microsoft, which felt like they were scaling back first party development (at least for non-Kinect titles), WWS was on fire during the later PS3 gen, with games like Infamous 1+2, Killzone 2, The Little Big Planet Trilogy, Uncharted 2+3, The Last of Us, and more.

For third party games, PS3 was also seeing improvement. Games came day and date with other versions more frequently, and the performance gap that plagued early third party releases on the console vs. the 360 versions, had now shrunk considerably for most titles. PS3 versions even started getting exclusive features and content, and the console even started getting third party exclusives outright, particularly from Japanese devs.

When Nintendo's Wii opened the door for motion gaming, PlayStation entered the ring with PlayStation Move. A motion control system for PS3 using a Wand-like orb controller and the PlayStation Eye camera for an advanced 3D motion control experience. While it may not have been quite as successful as Sony perhaps hoped, Move was a welcome addition to the PS3 ecosystem, extending it's support to nearly 80+ PS3 releases, and eventually served as the basis for PlayStation VR on PS4. And other additions such as native 3D TV support helped round out the versatility of the platform.

PlayStation Network, the great 2011 hack and lack of party chat aside, was also free compared to Xbox Live, and had come a long way from it's initial lackluster state during the PS3 launch period. Plus, PS One classics was a lovely way to experience the best of the original PlayStation library for those who couldn't get physical copies, and the addition of PS2 classics, and HD remasters of PS2 games, made up for the lack of PS2 backwards compatibility in later models. PlayStation Plus, a subscription service that launched in 2010, was also at the time a much better value than Xbox Live Gold was.

Overall, the PlayStation 3 had possibly one of the greatest turnarounds of any video game system to date. Going from being seen as the worst console of the generation, to quite possibly the best console of the generation, was quite the glow up nobody saw coming. It may have costed Sony billions in financial losses in trying to save it. But considering how the system ended up in the end, and that the lessons learned from it ultimately led to the PlayStation 4 dominating the next generation, I'd say it was worth it.

No it had a better first party lineup than the 360, free online and Blu-ray support so it had it's advantages.

But the Xbox 360 was a better device in my opinion, even if at the time I was more a PS3 gamer. Better third party performance, quieter, ability to install any game to storage for faster loading and no disc noise.

If a game is on PS3 and 360 it's generally a nicer experience using the 360 imo. It's the console I would prefer to use today.

No.

Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic console and I enjoyed it a lot for its phenomenal first party lineup, but for my money the 360 and Wii were better.

I could never decide which was better PS3 or Xbox 360. Both consoles were brilliant with their own set of great games but I guess often multi-platform games were better on Xbox 360 but then certain games had far better sound on PS3 with 7.1 sound which was amazing on my home cinema system and there were a lot more 3D TV and 1080p games on PS3. The Bluray disc meant many PS3 games had fantastic quality 1080p movies where as 360 had reduced sections or much lower resolution due to storage restraints. When the PS3 was properly programmed and all the little cell chips were working you got games like the Resistance series that just seemed to have so much happening on screen that the 360 could never achieve. However multi-platform titles probably 80% of the time had higher and more stable frame rates on Xbox 360 and often better graphics by a small margin. I had both consoles and loved both of them. It seemed like an absolutely fantastic generation of consoles with even the technically weak wii producing some very fine titles too despite being a turbo charged Gamecube.

My PS3 was the PS2 compatble version but the European PS2 compatible model i.e. had the PS2 graphics chip but the Mips CPU was emulated. There were quite a few issues with running PS2 games on it but generally it felt like most would play. I probably spent 20% of my time on PS3 playing PS2 games especially at the beginning.

My thoughts for the PS3/360 era are incredibly positive even though I had quite a lot of reliability issues to deal with, with 360 and it seemed to spend a lot of time in the post. Many seem to claim the PS3 was unreliable too but my original PS2 compatible PS3 is still working and I've never re-applied thermal paste or anything perhaps I should.

I have to say with the next generation the PS4 was by far the superior console to Xbox One. More exclusives and better performing games. An easy win for Playstation at least to me. I can't think of anything that performed better on Xbox One off the top of my head. Obviously later when the Xbox One X came out many games were best on that but a simple PS4 vs Xbox One is a massive win for Playstation.

I must be addicted to the BC PS3, I bought another one lol. But seriously, the 360 was the better all round console; minus the RROD bullshit. Fun times working at GAME during that period.

100% yes

PS3's first half being weak is a myth...

In 2008, the console's 2nd full year, it had exclusives like Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, MGS4, and Valkyria Chronicles.

In 2009, it got Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, Demon's Souls, a Crack in Time, and Fat Princess.

Early consoles had full backwards compatibility with the incredible PS1 and PS2 game libraries, later consoles only had full BC with PS1. It also had free online, a stronger 2nd half than X360, and the console itself was more reliable. Like countless others, my X360 died in 2008 (after 250+ hours into Tales of Vesperia).

Does this make it better than X360? I don't know. The X360 generally had the better versions of multiplatform games, and a great lineup of exclusives too. It was the better designed hardware all things considered.

Fun fact: Pre-Falcon Xbox 360 had around a 57% failure rate, lol.

To me PS3 is Sony's best console for its time.
Xbox have never been for me, focus on "hardcore gaming" often meaning shooters and online while I prefer single player experiences.
I like the Wii, probably more than the PS3 as well. But I played the PS3 for longer.

PS3 was better than 360 and Wii, but it still wasn't a good console.

Early PS3s had full BC, they later cut that. Later PS3 games were plagued with PS Move and wonderbook type games.

3rd Party support was lacking until late gen, but that didn't make up for the lack of {good} JRPGs in the early gen. The gen as a whole was pretty bad in terms of support. PS3s also had a failure rate much higher than other PS systems.

7th gen turned me into a majority PC gamer, and that hasn't changed since.