Why only 1 thread for 2 systems?
These platforms are just inseparable. It’s really hard to talk about one without the other, there are a huge number of cross platform games, and they are just similar and complementary in so many ways.
So let’s just live in harmony, and talk about fun games from the “HD Era.”
Things to talk about here
Which version of a game is the best. How much you love certain games. How much something disappointed you. A good price. Game recommendations. A recent pickup. And more!
What not to talk about
Why you think this generation is the worst, or how every good game is on PS4 or PC or something. Don’t shitpost! Recognize when a thread isn’t for you, do a 360 degree turn, and walk away.
Also maybe avoid the whole console war thing.
Why now?
These systems are getting old. It’s getting harder to find new PS3/360 games and systems on store shelves, but online there’s a ton of crazy cheap games new and used. Now’s the time to load up, before prices on the better games inevitably rise. But there’s another great reason…
The Looming Online Apocalypse
Some day in the not too distant future, a huge part of these systems is going to go offline forever. DLC, patches, download-only games, and online multiplayer are going to go away. Hell, it’s already happening with stuff getting delisted. I think it’s worth preparing for this eventuality while you still can.
Buy interesting DLC and expansions, and fill your hard drive with download-only games. Pay attention to sales! Get stuff patched while the patches are still available. Maybe even organize multiplayer matches of older 360 games while you still can play them.
Moreover, there are steps you can take to keep your stuff indefinitely. Worried your hard drive will fail some day? Make a full disk backup to your PC, and replace it with an SSD when prices go down. Worried your system will break? Get a newer, more reliable model or better still hack the system and get it set for playing backups. Figure out how to sideload patches onto your 360. Don’t just resign yourself to all this going away.
But they aren’t retro!
What? What are you talking about?
Yeah, yeah they are.
(Jump In.)
I mean… remember Spiderman fonts?
Look at this shit!
And even if you don’t think they’re retro or maybe that they can’t ever be, oh well maybe you’re still interested in picking up, talking about, and playing games from two fantastic platforms.
Models
PS3:
Gigantic Edition
It’s huge! Earlier ones are backwards compatible with PS2 games but it’s just not worth it; those ones are prone to failure because they run ridiculously hot. If you want to play PS2 games, buy a PS2. Don’t buy this.
Slim
Slim-ish, it’s still pretty big especially in depth. Later models run cool and quiet. This is a pretty good choice to pick up.
SuperSlim
The sexiest PS3, despite the burger grill on top. Why? Because you never see that shit in your shelf, you just see the slicker PS2-looking front. Plus it’s top-loading, which is just more reliable long run, with a neat sliding mechanism.
Also it has an awesome white variant.
Xbox 360:
Red Ring of Death Edition
This model looks OK but it’s big, most of them run really hot and… you know…
Like it’s hard to look at this thing on your shelf without thinking “it’s going to die.” Later models in this design are probably fine. Probably. But just don’t buy one if you don’t already have it.
S
Really nice looking redesign, most models run fairly quiet and uh warmish but not really cool. Significantly more reliable than the first revision 360, with a better thought out cooling system. Later models were matte for some reason. Probably the best option to pick up.
E
Kinda looks like a cheaper model Xbox One, which is probably what they were going for. Inside it’s pretty similar to later model S systems, only with no analog component/vga out and no optical audio. Still, if you’re only doing HDMI this is a good model to get. You can even get them new in store. Today. Like right now. With a copy of Peggle 2. Recommended!
There Is Another…
A lot of the best 360 and PS3 games have been ported to PC or PS4 or Xbox One. A large number of 360 games are also now on XB1 backwards compatibility, some with improved performance. These are some great options to play games from this era, so feel free to talk about that here.
Games
Shooters
There are a lot of them. Like, a lot. It was the most popular genre of the era, and there’s a really wide breadth of these games on both PS3 and 360. So if that’s your thing you’ve got some options.
JRPGs
Some people think this was the generation where JRPGs died. And they’re wrong, they were all on handheld. But there are quite a few really great JRPGs on PS3 and surprisingly a lot from the early days of 360.
Download Titles
Braid, Flower, Castle Crashers, Mega Man 9, Super Meat Boy, Journey, Pac Man CE DX, and more. Some of the best games of the era were download titles that wouldn’t have had a viable path to market without Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network. I mean, we got a new 8-bit Mega Man game, complete with a fake 1980s box art.
Actually, we got two!
That’s just great.
Cross gen games
There’s a version of MGS5 on PlayStation 3. Like that awesome looking, massive game actually runs on hardware from 2006 and fares pretty well considering. Not impressive enough? There’s a version of Rise of the Tomb Raider on 360. That doesn’t even make sense, but it’s there, and it’s kind of awesome and runs really well.
And more!
Talk about your favorite aspects of the PS3 and 360!
