# PlayStation 3 35 Hacker News commenters recommended PlayStation 3 and 43 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for its Blu-ray playback, compatibility with earlier PlayStation discs, and strong value at launch; critics point to features removed by later updates. ## Why people recommend it - Blu-ray player bundled with console (5 comments): "getting a game console, CD player and DVD + Blu-Ray player all in one box was pretty convenient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940624)) "it was around the same price as a standalone Blu-ray player as those were just coming to market" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48942976)) "PS3 is a great Blu-ray player IMO. Solid console, solid controller, good laser implementation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50215512)) - Plays older PlayStation disc games (3 comments): "A launch model PS3 and a PS5 can play PS1/2/3/4/5 game discs, as well as PSN games, so that's pretty good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45924221)) "PS3 was peak PS split-screen gaming and peak PS compatibility with previous consoles." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737477)) "PS3 does it and has resumed discs I played years ago." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50006965)) - Good value for the hardware (3 comments): "It wasn't just cheap - it provided the compute of 30 desktop computers in the space, power, and price envelope of one." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912671)) "It was the best 40EUR spent on gaming, all it took was to install firmware with HEN" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47532180)) "The PS3 was incredible value dollar-to-flop, given that it was sold at a loss." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47416878)) - Online play without subscription (2 comments): "PS3 used the (free) servers only for matchmaking and all online games were hosted on the consoles themselves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49169155)) "it's a very usable console and can still play games online with no issues and no paid subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224258)) ## What people warn about - Features removed after purchase by updates (5 comments): "When Sony removed that in an update I was bummed because that's one of the reasons I bought it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47943075)) "Remember that time Sony took away features from the PS3 that were advertised selling points?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48865305)) "the advertised functionality of the device was crippled after the customers bought them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48758996)) - Slow loading and HDD copying (3 comments): "Ps3 is painful! You are waiting on a lot of stuff just to swap on and off the HDD" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48942081)) "having to wait for it to slowly copy XX gigabytes of data to the hard drive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752994)) "stationary gaming consoles have been held back by slow (optical) storage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46136534)) - Hardware failures and red lights (2 comments): "i went through four or five with varying issues. yellow light of death, blinking red light" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50216221)) "My ps3 stopped working shortly after receiving the check due to bad solder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751130)) - Constrained RAM and processing limits (3 comments): "the whole system was so RAM constrained" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49902339)) "the 7 usable Cell units have small memories of 256kb each so processing had to be moved to a compact/streamable memory format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47716271)) "as a negative in terms of practical usability" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518786)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Valve Steam Machine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam-machine.md): 326 recommend - [PlayStation 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-5.md): 121 recommend - [Xbox console](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox.md): 62 recommend - [Xbox 360](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox-360.md): 41 recommend - [PlayStation 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-2.md): 40 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sony+PlayStation+3+console&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://www.playstation.com/en-us/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "PlayStation 3", https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-3/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).